In Translation studies, it has long been understood that when translation is integrated into journalism, concepts such as equivalence and authorship become highly problematic. However, there is still no reference to a general method that might explain why news production impacts the very process of translation and affects the translated texts themselves. In this paper, we introduce a new semiotic approach that measures shifts in translated texts by using semiotic modalities and relates these shifts to axiologies by actants of the practice of translation. Translated texts by an Italian weekly magazine are adopted as a case study and an analysis of the textual corpora is coupled with think-aloud protocols by editors. The semiotic approach reveals that the actantial dynamics are conflictual: while the translators’ performance is compatible with the equivalence value, journalists endorse values that result in the content of the original being altered. The divergence between the axiology of the actant initiating the practice and the axiology pursued by the translators affects the way the concept of translation is generated.
This article outlines some representative epistemological attitudes in translation studies and presents a model for defining translation. Basing our reflection on the work of translation scholars, we identify approaches that avoid the problem and others that claim to deal with it but fail to do so. The article is guided by the following questions: Is there a need to define the object of study when studying translation? If so, what are the origins and consequences of such a definition? How might this affect certain beliefs in the translation theories? Drawing on a Greimassian semiotic approach, we present a new model for defining the concept of Translation.
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