Cover not available

Article published In: Translaboration: Exploring Collaboration in Translation and Translation in Collaboration
Edited by Alexa Alfer and Cornelia Zwischenberger
[Target 32:2] 2020
► pp. 239–260

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Translaboration as legitimation of philosophical translation

 | Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz
Published online: 15 June 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.20078.hel
Abstract
Even highly regarded translators cannot escape the common suspicion that philosophical ideas are not communicable in foreign languages – a suspicion that plagues philosophical translation. Translators effectively counter this distrust of translation when they explicitly claim to have collaborated with the author. This paper focuses on the Italian translation of Sein und Zeit (Being and Time) (first published in 1927; . 1986a. Sein und Zeit. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), titled Essere e tempo (. 2006. Essere e tempo. Translated by Alfredo Marini. Milano: Mondadori.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, trans. Marini), whose translator, Alfredo Marini, took particularly interesting measures to legitimate his work. This case is especially intriguing because Pietro Chiodi’s earlier translation (Heidegger, Martin. 1953. Essere e tempo. Translated by Pietro Chiodi. Milano: Bocca.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 1976. Essere e tempo. Translated by Pietro Chiodi. Milano: Longanesi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2005. Essere e tempo. Translated by Pietro Chiodi. Revised by Franco Volpi. Milano: Longanesi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) is still popular in Italy despite Chiodi’s own complaints that the German text is untranslatable. The widespread acceptance of the earlier Italian translation presents a considerable problem of legitimation for Marini, who counters Chiodi’s views by arguing for the translatability of the text and supports his argument through a rhetorically constructed scene of collaborative translation. I begin this paper by retracing Marini’s strategy for presenting Essere e tempo (. 2006. Essere e tempo. Translated by Alfredo Marini. Milano: Mondadori.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, trans. Marini) as a ‘translaboration’ (a collaborative translation), before addressing concerns that collaborative translation could hinder the translator’s creativity. I show that Marini’s translation achieves its most creative, and at times eccentric, effects through his close collaboration with the (deceased) philosopher, Martin Heidegger.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translating against philosophical and terminological resistance
  • 3.(Translated) paratextual paths to legitimate hermeneutic guidance
  • 4.Translating in keeping with Heidegger’s ‘instructions’ for translation practice
  • 5.Conclusion: Philosophical translation as translaboration
  • Notes
  • References
References (67)
References
Editions and translations of Sein und Zeit
Heidegger, Martin. 1953. Essere e tempo. Translated by Pietro Chiodi. Milano: Bocca.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1964. L‘Être et le temps. Translated by Rudolf Boehm and Alphonse de Waelhens. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1976. Essere e tempo. Translated by Pietro Chiodi. Milano: Longanesi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1985. Être et temps. Translated by Emmanuel Martineau. Paris: Authentica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1986a. Sein und Zeit. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1986b. Être et Temps. Translated by François Vezin. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1996a. Being and Time. Translated by Joan Stambaugh. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. El Ser y el tiempo. Translated by José Gaos. Madrid/Barcelona: Fondo de Cultura Económica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. Essere e tempo. Translated by Pietro Chiodi. Revised by Franco Volpi. Milano: Longanesi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2006. Essere e tempo. Translated by Alfredo Marini. Milano: Mondadori.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. Essere e tempo. Translated by Pietro Chiodi. Revised by Franco Volpi. Milano: Longanesi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Other references
Albert, Sándor. 2001. Übersetzung und Philosophie: Wissenschaftsphilosophische Probleme der Übersetzungstheorie – die Fragen der Übersetzung von philosophischen Texten. Wien: Ed. Praesens.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Albrecht, Jörn, and Iris Plack. 2012. “‘Tradierte Äquivalenz’: Gibt es ‘feste Wechselkurse’ zwischen den Wortschätzen von Kultursprachen?” In “Es geht sich aus…” Zwischen Philologie und Translationswissenschaft: Translation als Interdisziplin. Festschrift für Wolfgang Pöckl, edited by Peter Holzer, Cornelia Feyrer, and Vanessa Gampert, 13–25. Innsbrucker Beiträge zu Sprache, Kultur und Translation 51. Frankfurt am Main: Lang InnTrans.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benjamin, Walter. 1963. “Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers.” In Das Problem des Übersetzens, edited by Hans Joachim Störig, 182–195. Stuttgart: Goverts.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bianco, Franco. 1989. “L’eredità di Heidegger.” In La Recezione Italiana di Heidegger, edited by Marco M. Oliveti, 517–530. Padova: CEDAM.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biuso, Alberto Giovanni. 2006. “Book review: Martin Heidegger: Essere e tempo”. Accessed April 18, 2018. [URL]
Cassin, Barbara. 2004. Vocabulaire Européen des philosophies dictionnaire des intraduisibles. Paris: Le Robert, Ed. du Seuil.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ciocan, Christian. 2005. Translating Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit. Studia Phaenomenologica. Romanian Journal for Phenomenology 5. Bucharest: Humanitas.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chesterman, Andrew. 2009. “The Name and Nature of Translator Studies.” Hermes 421: 13–22.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chiodi, Pietro. 1976. “Glossario.” In Heidegger, Essere e tempo, translated by Pietro Chiodi, 539–549.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cordingley, Anthony, and Céline Frigau Manning. 2017. Collaborative Translation: From the Renaissance to the Digital Age. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Curcio, Nicola. 2005. “‘Dasselbe ist niemals das Gleiche’: Heidegger auf Italienisch und die Debatte im letzten Jahrzehnt (1995–2005).” Studia Phaenomenologica V1: 317–326. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dickinson, Angela, and Hanna Risku. 2009. “Translators as Networkers: The Role of Virtual Communities.” Hermes 421: 49–70.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eucken, Rudolf. 1964. Geschichte der philosophischen Terminologie im Umriss dargestellt. Olms-Paperbacks 6. Hildesheim: Olms.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Feick, Hildegard. 1961. Index zu Heideggers ‘Sein und Zeit’. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1968. Index zu Heideggers ‘Sein und Zeit’. 2nd ed. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1980. Index zu Heideggers ‘Sein und Zeit’. 3rd ed. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Feick, Hildegard, and Susanne Ziegler. 1991. Index zu Heideggers ‘Sein und Zeit’. 4th ed. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garroni, Emilio. 1989. “Questione estetica e domanda fondamentale” In La Recezione Italiana di Heidegger, edited by Marco M. Oliveti, 21–50. Padova: CEDAM.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gipper, Andreas, and Lavinia Heller. 2020. “Probleme philosophischer Übersetzung aus translationswissenschaftlicher Sicht.” In Kants Schriften in Übersetzungen, Sonderband Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte, edited by Gisela Schlüter. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin. 1963. “Der Spruch des Anaximander.” In Holzwege, 296–343. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1968. What is Called Thinking? Translated by Fred D. Wieck and J. Glenn Gray. New York: Harper & Roe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1980. “Frau Dr. Hildegard Feick, der langjährigen getreuen Mitarbeiterin zum Gedächtnis.” In Index zu Heideggers ‘Sein und Zeit’ by Hildegard Feick, v–vi. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1987. Segnavia. Translated by Franco Volpi. Milano: Adelphi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1996b. Hölderlin’s Hymn‚ “The Ister”. Translated by William McNeill and Julia Davis. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. “Anaximander’s Saying.” In Off the Beaten Track, translated by Julian Young and Kenneth Haynes, 242–281. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Held, Klaus, Alfredo Marini, and Lina Rizzoli. 2000. “La traduzione di Husserl e di Heidegger: Intervista a Klaus Held.” Magazzino di Filosofia 21: 5–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heller, Lavinia. 2013. Translationswissenschaftliche Begriffsbildung und das Problem der performativen Unauffälligkeit von Translation. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. “Heidegger (wieder) in Italien: Philosophische Translationsprozesse und Besitzansprüche auf einen Denker.” Zibaldone: Zeitschrift für italienische Kultur der Gegenwart, Themenheft Übersetzungsland Italien: 93–108.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “Philosophen übersetzen – Schleiermachers Platon und Marinis Heidegger: Zur Genese von Methoden philosophischer Übersetzung.“ In Über-Setzen: Sprachendiversität und interkulturelle Hermeneutik, edited by Gabriele Münnix, 253–275. Freiburg: Karl Alber.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2019. “Where does Philosophy take Place in Translation? Reflections on the Relevance of Microstructural Translation Units within Philosophical Discourse.” Chronotopos 11: 147–172.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hirsch, Alfred. 1997. Übersetzung und Dekonstruktion. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holz-Mänttäri, Justa. 1984. Translatorisches Handeln: Theorie und Methode. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jansen, Hanne, and Anna Wegener. 2013. Authorial and Editorial Voices in Translation 1: Collaborative Relationships between Authors, Translators, and Performers. Montreal: Éds. québécoises de l’œuvre (Vita Traductiva).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koch-Weser, Ammassari. 2003. “Kommunikationstheorie und Übersetzungspraxis: Überlegungen anhand von Beispielen aus den Annali di Sociologia / Soziologisches Jahrbuch. Teoria della comunicazione e prassi traduttiva: Riflessioni sulla scorta di alcuni esempi tratti dagli Annali di Sociologia / Soziologisches Jahrbuch.” In Sozialwissenschaftliches Übersetzen als interkulturelle Hermeneutik Il tradurre nelle scienze sociali come ermeneutica interculturale, edited by Arnold Zingerle and Gabriele Cappai, 157–170. Associazione Italo-Tedesca di Sociologia/Italienisch-Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie: Contributi / Beiträge, vol. 31. Berlin: Dunker & Humblot.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lazzari, Riccardo. 2000. “Prassi linguistica di Heidegger e traduzione di Essere e tempo.” Magazzino di Filosofia 21: 118–129.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lombardi, Stefano. 2006. “La nuova traduzione italiana di Essere e Tempo di Alfredo Marini.” Giornale di Filosofia Italiana: 1–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Macquarrie, John, and Edward Robinson. 2001. “Glossary of German Expressions.” In Heidegger, Being and Time, translated by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson, 505–523.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marini, Alfredo. 2000a. “La nuova traduzione die ET.” Magazzino di Filosofia 21: 17–26.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2000b. “Martin Heidegger: Traduzione impropria, essenziale, storica ed… etnica.” Magazzino di Filosofia 21: 107–117.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. “Il traduttore lamentoso: È impossibile tradurre ‘Essere e tempo?’ (Existenz – Dasein – Vorhandenheit).” Enrahonar 341: 59–71. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. “La nouvelle traduction italienne d’Être et temps.” Studia Phaenomenologica V1: 137–151. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2006a. “Postfazione: Tradurre ‘Sein und Zeit’”. In Heidegger, Essere e tempo, translated by Alfredo Marini, 1251–1402.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2006b. “Lessico di ‘Essere e tempo’.” In Heidegger, Essere e tempo, translated by Alfredo Marini, 1403–1498.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Monti, Enrico, and Peter Schneyder. 2018. Traduire à plusieurs: Collaborative Translation. Mulhouse Cedex: Orizons.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nuzzo, Angelica. 2000. “Geschichte der Philosophie als Übersetzungsprozeß.” In Übersetzung – Sprache und Interpretation, edited by Wilhelm Büttemeyer and Hans Jörg Sandkühler, 25–50. Philosophie und Geschichte der Wissenschaften 44. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oduwole, Ebunoluwa. 2010. “Sprache und die Authentizität der afrikanischen Philosophie.” Polylog 241: 17–27.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Papenfuss, Dietrich, and Otto Pöggeler. 1992. Zur philosophischen Aktualität Heideggers 3. Im Spiegel der Welt: Sprache, Übersetzung, Auseinandersetzung. Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rawling, Piers, and Philip Wilson. 2019. The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Philosophy. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schleiermacher, Friedrich. 1963. “Ueber die verschiedenen Methoden des Uebersetzens.” In Das Problem des Übersetzens, edited by Hans-Joachim Störig, 38–70. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schneider, Ulrich Johannes. 1999. “Zur Geschichte und zur Kritik philosophischer Übersetzungen.” In Das Problem der Übersetzung – Le problème de la traduction, edited by Günter Abel, 127–149. Schriftenreihe des Frankreich-Zentrums der Technischen Universität Berlin 1. Berlin: Nomos.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vanderschelden, Isabelle. 1998. “Authority in Literary Translation: Collaborating with the Author.” Translation Review 56 (1): 22–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Volpi, Franco. 2010. “Avvertenza del curatore della nuova edizione italiana.” In Heidegger, Essere e tempo, translated by Pietro Chiodi, 3–4.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Von Herrmann, Friedrich-Wilhelm. 1992. “Übersetzung als philosophisches Problem.” In Zur philosophischen Aktualität Heideggers. Im Spiegel der Welt: Sprache, Übersetzung, Auseinandersetzung 3, edited by Dietrich Papenfuss and Otto Pöggeler, 108–124. Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ziegler, Susanne. 1991. “Vorwort zur vierten Auflage”. In Index zu Heideggers ‘Sein und Zeit’, by Hildegard Feick and Susanne Ziegler. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zychlinski, Arkadiusz. 2006. Unterwegs zu einem Denker: Eine Studie zur Übersetzbarkeit dichterischer Philosophie am Beispiel der polnischen Übersetzung von Martin Heideggers ‘Sein und Zeit’. Dresden: Neisse Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Li, Barbara Jiawei
2024. (Pseudo-)collaborative translation as a legitimization of authority: a case study of the National Theatre Movement. Perspectives 32:3 ► pp. 539 ff. DOI logo
Sarıgül, Semih
2023. Online Translaboration in Video Game Localisation. In Translaboration in Analogue and Digital Practice [Transkulturalität – Translation – Transfer, 57], ► pp. 53 ff. DOI logo
Hawkins, Spencer
2022. “Good translating is very hard work”. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 34:1 ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
Dai, Yun-fang
2021. Power imbalance in translaboration: a perspective from Chinese translation history. Neohelicon 48:2 ► pp. 599 ff. DOI logo
Dai, Yun-fang
2022.  Yinbian yanyu in twentieth-century China. Translation and Interpreting Studies 17:2 ► pp. 199 ff. DOI logo
Dai, Yun-fang
2024. Conflict in Translaboration: Contract, Ideology, and Translation Strategy. Translation Review 120:1 ► pp. 40 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue