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"Translation Students' and Professional Translators' Strategies and Ideologies in Response to a LGBT-Themed Storybook for Children"

Gomez, Hannelore

Abstract Details

2020, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies.
The present study investigates whether translation students’ and professional translators’ ideological position in regard to LGBT issues (e.g., gender identity, same-sex marriage, same-sex parent adoption, LGBT rights, gender neutrality policies and gender change) affects translation strategy choices when they are confronted with gender-neutral texts intended to support the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender people) community’s advocacy efforts. For the particular purposes of this empirical research, professional translators and translation students were presented with an English translation of a Swedish children’s storybook, Kivi & Monsterhund [Kivi & Monster Dog by Jesper Lundqvist], that has been written using a gender-neutral pronoun (hen) and portmanteaus (including mappor and pammor to replace the terms mammor and pappor, meaning mom and dad in Swedish) to refer to people without specifying the gender. The primary aim of the study was to test the following propositions: (a) a translator’s decisions are conditioned by personal views, place of birth, political inclinations, behaviors, culture, social context, religious beliefs and/or by countries’ attitudes of acceptance or rejection of homosexuality and (b) a translator’s personal ethics and/or professional ethics also influence their choice of strategies. In order to pursue this idea further, nine translator and/or interpreter training programs from 13 different countries offering different academic levels were involved in this research—Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Iran, Jordan, Spain, Sweden and the U.S.— and 26 professional translators were chosen to participate in the experimental phase of this study. Participants answered a questionnaire with a set of questions (33) about translators’ demographics, gender identity, religion and political preferences, views on homosexuality and ethical issues, participants’ family and their government’s stance on homosexuality, ideology issues and choice of strategies. The findings of this research show that a significant relationship exists between religious beliefs, country of origin and political inclinations and respondents’ unwillingness to translate a text that they perceived to be against their personal beliefs, their country’s attitude of rejection towards homosexuality and against their religious convictions.
Kelly Washbourne (Advisor)
167 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Gomez, H. (2020). "Translation Students' and Professional Translators' Strategies and Ideologies in Response to a LGBT-Themed Storybook for Children" [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1587411810712228

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Gomez, Hannelore. "Translation Students' and Professional Translators' Strategies and Ideologies in Response to a LGBT-Themed Storybook for Children". 2020. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1587411810712228.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Gomez, Hannelore. ""Translation Students' and Professional Translators' Strategies and Ideologies in Response to a LGBT-Themed Storybook for Children"." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1587411810712228

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)