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Article published In: Babel
Vol. 63:3 (2017) ► pp.322–342

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Strategies for translating racist discourse about African-Americans into Slovenian

 | University of Maribor
Published online: 3 November 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.63.3.02tru
Abstract
This article examines how racist discourse about African-Americans has been translated from English into Slovenian throughout history. Strategies for translating explicitly racist discourse, racial terminology and African American Vernacular English in translations published between 1853 and 2007 are analyzed. The results of the textual comparison are considered in the light of contemporary Slovenian attitudes towards black people and the socio-political situation in the target culture. The results show that the strategies for translating racist discourse in pre-World War II translations differed significantly from those used after a socialist regime was established in Slovenia. Translation strategies were also influenced by the important role that the Slovenian language played in the development of the national identity, by the target readership of the translations, as well as by contemporary relations between the source and target culture. Ideological interventions sometimes considerably affected the interpretive possibilities of a particular literary work.
Résumé
Cet article examine comment le discours raciste sur les Afro-Américains a été traduit de l’anglais en slovène à travers l’histoire. Il analyse les stratégies de traduction d’un discours explicitement raciste, d’une terminologie raciale et de l’anglais vernaculaire afro-américain dans les traductions publiées entre 1853 et 2007. Les résultats de la comparaison textuelle sont examinés à la lumière des attitudes slovènes contemporaines à l’égard des Noirs et de la situation sociopolitique dans la culture cible. Les résultats montrent que les stratégies de traduction d’un discours raciste dans les traductions antérieures à la Première Guerre mondiale diffèrent considérablement de celles utilisées après l’instauration du régime socialiste en Slovénie. Les stratégies de traduction ont également été influencées par le rôle important que la langue slovène a joué dans le développement de l’identité nationale, par les lecteurs cibles des traductions, ainsi que par les relations contemporaines entre les cultures source et cible. Les interventions idéologiques ont parfois considérablement influencé les possibilités interprétatives d’une œuvre littéraire particulière.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The Slovenian perception of black people
  • 3.The Slovenian terms for black people
  • 4.Translating explicitly racist discourse
  • 5.Translating racist terms for black people
  • 6.Translating African American Vernacular English
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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Cited by (2)

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Gao, Xinru
2023. Translating African-American English into Chinese: A Case Study of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences 14 ► pp. 54 ff. DOI logo
Onič, Tomaž
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