譯隻綠蠵龜

Mona Baker’s Framing narratives in translation explains with examples the different framing functions of translation used by translators and interpreters (or the patrons behind them) to accentuate, undermine or modify aspects of the narrative in the source text. The author has also introduced four strategies for mediating the narratives expressed in a source text: spatial and/or temporal reframing, framing through selective appropriation, framing by labeling, and repositioning of participants. Translators sometimes make use of the context to elaborate certain aspects of the narratives it depicts, while sometime they alter the texts in order to reach the set goal.

As people prefer using as little thinking as possible and they tend to make use of past schema to make sense of new information, translators and interpreters are no longer in a passive role, but “consciously participate in the construction of reality” (p.106) and “translation may be seen as a frame” (p.106). Both translators and interpreters face a dilemma: should they present ideologies illustrated in the narratives in the source text? Or should they interpret them in a particular context? It is impossible for translators to stay neutral as they have been placed inside specific narratives. From the moment they translate, they have in some way stated their narrative to the target culture and also had influence on them. For instance, using the word “中國” or “內地” signals the narrative location of a translator as recognizing himself or herself as a citizen of China.

Racism and xenophobia is now omitted from the English original texts of Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton but is still retained in the Spain translation. This leads to two questions: Is it appropriate to erase these ideas from the story? Is the society pattern of behavior in Spain supportive of racism? I personally think that modification seems to hinder readers from knowing the past and this act seems to erase the ugly past from the present and pretend the world is peaceful and people are friendly and nice. Racism and xenophobia is part of our human history and people simply cannot disregard history by modifying the facts. In this way, there is no real history at all as history can be easily changed or edited in whatever way people prefer to fit the narrative of the ruling power. In this context, translators sometimes create reality rather than render facts from one language to another.

Translators are always regarded as mediators or bridges between two languages. It seems that they are faithful to their duties: to enhance communication. But can they fulfill this duty without the ideological interference of the society, patronage or even themselves? The examples shown in this essay signal readers that the translated texts, or even the original texts they read, have undergone a certain level of manipulation before they are produced. Translators, restrained by ideology, can never be faithful.