Article published In: Translation Practice in the Field: Current research on socio-cognitive processes
Edited by Hanna Risku, Regina Rogl and Jelena Milosevic
[Translation Spaces 6:1] 2017
► pp. 27–43
“It was on my mind all day”
Literary translators working from home – some implications of workplace dynamics
Published online: 26 October 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.6.1.02kol
https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.6.1.02kol
Abstract
This paper explores authentically situated translation processes of literary translators, based on an empirical study of five professional German literary translators translating a short story by Ernest Hemingway. It focuses on macro-level workplace dynamics: How do translators working from home organize their task? With whom do they interact? Situational factors will emerge as constitutive elements of translatorial cognition and action, and it will be shown how the fragmentation of the translation process and the blurring of boundaries between the professional and personal spheres of life significantly impact the emergence of the translator’s voice and the translation product.
Keywords: Translation process, literary translation, workplace, cognition, situatedness, voice
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Study design
- 2.1Participants
- 2.2Material for translation
- 2.3Tools and production of data
- 2.4Nature of data
- 3.Outline of task organization
- 3.1Timelines and sessions
- 3.2Phases
- 3.3Fragmentation of the translation process
- 3.4Hybridity of the translator’s voice
- 4.Conclusion
- Note
References
References (39)
Alves, Fabio. 2015. “Translation Process Research at the Interface.” In Psycholinguistic and Cognitive Inquiries into Translation and Interpreting, edited by A. Ferreira, and J. W. Schwieter, 17–40. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Alvstad, Cecilia, and Alexandra Assis Rosa. 2015a. “Voice in Retranslation. An Overview and Some Trends.” Target 27 (1): 3–24. .
, eds. 2015b. Voice in Retranslation. Special Issue, Target 27 (1). .
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. “The Forms of Capital.” In Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, edited by J. G. Richardson, 241–258. New York: Greenwood.
Buzelin, Hélène. 2005. “Unexpected Allies. How Latour’s Network Theory Could Complement Bourdieusian Analyses in Translation Studies.” The Translator 11 (2): 193–218. .
. 2007. “Translations ‘in the Making’.” In Constructing a Sociology of Translation, edited by M. Wolf, and A. Fukari, 135–169. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen. 2014. “Challenges of Translation Process Research at the Workplace.” In Minding Translation, guest edited by R. Muñoz, 355–383. Special Issue 1 of MonTI. .
Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen, and Brigitta Englund Dimitrova, guest eds. 2016. Cognitive Space: Exploring the Situational Interface. Special Issue of Translation Spaces 5 (1). .
Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen, and Andrea Hunziker Heeb. 2016. “Investigating the Ergonomics of a Technologized Translation Workplace.” In Reembedding Translation Process Research, edited by R. Muñoz, 69–88. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Ericsson, K. Anders, and Herbert A. Simon. 1993. Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Fock, Holger, Martin de Haan, and Alena Lhotová. 2008. Comparative Income of Literary Translators in Europe. Brussels: CEATL.
. 1986. “A Very Short Story.” In The Short Stories, by Ernest Hemingway, 141–142. New York: Macmillan.
Hermans, Theo. 2009. “The Translator’s Voice in Translated Narrative.” In Translation Studies. Critical Concepts in Linguistics, edited by M. Baker, 283–305. London: Routledge.
Jääskeläinen, Riitta. 2010. “Are All Professionals Experts? Definitions of Expertise and Reinterpretation of Research Evidence in Process Studies.” In Translation and Cognition, edited by G. M. Shreve, and E. Angelone, 213–227. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Jakobsen, Arnt Lykke, and Lasse Schou. 1999. “Translog Documentation.” In Probing the Process in Translation: Methods and Results, edited by G. Hansen, 151–186. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.
Jansen, Hanne, and Anna Wegener. 2013a. “Multiple Translatorship.” In Authorial and Editorial Voices in Translation 1 – Collaborative Relationships between Authors, Translators, and Performers, edited by H. Jansen, and A. Wegener, 1–39. Montreal: Éditions québécoises de l’œuvre.
, eds. 2013b. Authorial and Editorial Voices in Translation 1 – Collaborative Relationships between Authors, Translators, and Performers. Montreal: Éditions québécoises de l’œuvre.
, eds. 2013c. Authorial and Editorial Voices in Translation 2 – Editorial and Publishing Practices. Montreal: Éditions québécoises de l’œuvre.
Jones, Francis R. 2011. Poetry Translating as Expert Action: Processes, Priorities and Networks. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Knight, Christopher J. 1995. The Patient Particulars: American Modernism and the Technique of Originality. Lewisburg: Associated University Presses.
Kolb, Waltraud. 2011. “The Making of Literary Translations: Repetition and Ambiguity in a Short Story by Ernest Hemingway.” Across Languages and Cultures 12 (2): 259–274. .
. 2013. “‘Who are they?’: Decision-Making in Literary Translation.” In Tracks and Treks in Translation Studies, edited by C. Way, S. Vandepitte, R. Meylaerts, and M. Bartłomiejczyk, 207–221. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Koskinen, Kaisa, and Outi Paloposki. 2015. “Anxieties of Influence. The Voice of the First Translator in Retranslation.“ Target 27 (1): 25–39. .
Kuznik, Anna, and Joan M. Verd Pericàs. 2010. “Investigating Real Work Situations in Translation Agencies. Work Content and its Components.” Hermes – Journal of Language and Communication Studies 441: 25–43. Accessed February 21, 2017. [URL].
Merriam Webster. 2017. “Hybrid.” Accessed March 14, 2017. [URL].
Mossop, Brian. 2000. “The Workplace Procedures of Professional Translators.” In Translation in Context, edited by A. Chesterman, N. Gallardo San Salvador, and Y. Gambier, 39–48. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Muñoz Martín, Ricardo. 2016. “Processes of What Models? On the Cognitive Indivisibility of Translation Acts and Events.” Translation Spaces 5 (1): 145–161. .
, ed. 2016. Reembedding Translation Process Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
O’Brien, Sharon. 2012. “Translation as Human-Computer Interaction.” Translation Spaces 11: 101–122. .
Risku, Hanna. 2010. “A Cognitive Scientific View on Technical Communication and Translation. Do Embodiment and Situatedness Really Make a Difference?” Target 22 (1): 94–111. .
. 2014. “Translation Process Research as Interaction Research: From Mental to Socio-Cognitive Processes.” In Minding Translation, guest edited by R. Muñoz, 331–353. Special Issue 1 of MonTI. .
Risku, Hanna, and Angela Dickinson. 2009. “Translators as Networkers. The Role of Virtual Communities.” Hermes – Journal of Language and Communication Studies 421: 49–70. Accessed February 21, 2017. [URL].
Risku, Hanna, Florian Windhager, and Matthias Apfelthaler. 2013. “A Dynamic Network Model of Translatorial Cognition and Action.” Translation Spaces 21, 151–182. .
Stillinger, Jack. 1991. Multiple Authorship and the Myth of Solitary Genius. New York: Oxford University Press.
Taivalkoski-Shilov, Kristiina. 2013. “Voice in the Field of Translation Studies.” In La Traduction des voix intra-textuelles / Intratextual Voices in Translation, edited by K. Taivalkoski-Shilov, and M. Suchet, 1–9. Montreal: Éditions québécoises de l’œuvre.
Cited by (6)
Cited by six other publications
Chen, Xuemei
Musumeci, Andrea & Dominic Glynn
Pan, Qi & Weiqing Xiao
Ruffo, Paola
Pleijel, Richard
Kenny, Dorothy & Marion Winters
2020. Machine translation, ethics and the literary translator’s voice. Translation Spaces 9:1 ► pp. 123 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 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.
