money money money
Since the article discusses publishing houses and how they have their own agendas, does this influence a translator’s decision to go work for a publishing company?
Maria
Wenzhi: 1. 回报 2. 出版社的权威性 3相处的关系，合作的历史之类的
Does the fact that Western, especially American children’s literature dominates the market of children’s literature somehow restrict the opportunities to read and learn about other cultures?
The market of published children’s books is imbalanced due to various factors mentioned in Benmessaoud and Buzelin’s study. Is it better to keep the situation or encourage more translation work on less popular children’s literature from other countries or areas?
Xiaoyu Z
On page 160 The author states “On the other hand, this process also led to the phenomenon of bestsellerisation. In this context, censorship is no longer governed by the state or religious institutions, but by the market.” Is this a good or bad thing for the public? Explain!
Stephen G
Wenzhi: "censorship is necessary"
How could translators attempt to lessen the disparity between the ways they are treated by countries that support their own sustainable translation industry and by countries that prioritize importing translations from other countries that are able to sustain their translators?
Tommy M
In the article, Benmessaoud and Buzelin mention that “[d]igitalisation has already transformed the publishing process and is likely to transform reading” (Benmessaoud and Buzelin, 160). What are some ways in which this has made an impact on the publishing process? How will it continue to impact reading and the publishing process?
Stephanie E.
On page 159 the author writes that the method for selling books has changed and the new style was a promotion at grabbing as much money as possible. She writes “The new model was not only based on the idea that every title produced should yield returns in the short run, but it also prescribed levels of profitability that were about four times higher than those generally met in the book trade.” How can ideas like this hurt the book industry and also affect things like translation?
Stephen G
如果把书比作食物（确实是一个很常见的隐喻，乔治·莱考夫在《我们赖以生存的隐喻》中也如此说），现在的快餐文化确实很流行，菜品的色泽和上菜的速度往往更加吸引读者，对于一些出版商而言，图书封面和宣传的重要性可能比内容要大得多。对翻译也是一样，是一个劣币驱逐良币的过程，用心的翻译不一定能获得足够的回报，也会影响翻译质量
The article mentions how in "the late 1970s and early 1980s … the publishing industry worldwide underwent a profound structural transformation as media corporations and international holdings took over many independent houses” (Benmessaoud and Buzelin, 159). How have media corporations impacted the publishing industries and the sales of books? What are some of the influences of social media platforms in the past couple of decades on sales and publishing books?
Stephanie E
According to Sanaa and Helene, translation is a site where symbolic capital can be gained, literary prestige transferred, and hegemony established or overthrown, involving political, economic, and cultural power relations (p167). As mentioned in last Thursday's reading, translation is often subject to status as a commodity demand. How should translators deal with these constraints? Are these complex power relations not present in the case of fan translation?
Wanlu W
Another quote from the text states, “English enjoys a ‘hypercentral’ position with the largest shares of the global market for translation, while some languages with large numbers of speakers, like Chinese and Arabic, remain peripheral” why do you think that English is prioritized not just in translation, but as a language in general?
Stephen G
According to Sanaa and Helene on page 159, the expansion of international communication, the increase in the world's purchasing power, and the use and digitization of computer files, and so on, have all contributed to the spread and demand for book translations. So, is the existence and emergence of machine translation create a positive benefit or an increase in efficiency for translation?
Wanlu W
How severely does capitalism affect the ethics of the publishing world?
Maria P
Since literature translation can alter so much of the content of the source text, do you think it is the responsibility of the publisher or the translator to maintain as much authenticity as they can?
Maria P
What level of influence do publishing houses deserve to have over the resulting translations that they facilitate the creation of? Should translators that have more of a trusted reputation be on the same level of authority over a translation's outcome as the publishing company that oversees it?
Tommy
Wenzhi: 我个人觉得如果是符合出版规范的文字，一般是尊重译者的表述；如果做修改，是需要和译者沟通的。现实情况是，译者可能未必有足够的时间和编辑打磨文章。因为稿酬本来就很现实……靠翻译无法make a living。
As the reading says, machines and new technologies have improved the efficiency of translation to a large extent. However, McMurran’s research finds that when translators work too fast, translations are turned to ‘hackwork’. Should translators still slow down their pace and take their time to go over the translation multiple times, without any trust in machine translation?
Xiaoyu Z