17.721, Review: Translation: Zatlin (2005)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-17-721. Wed Mar 08 2006. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 17.721, Review: Translation: Zatlin (2005)

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1)
Date: 04-Mar-2006
From: Ka-Wai Yeung < kawaii at hkusua.hku.hk >
Subject: Theatrical Translation and Film Adaptation 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2006 16:02:06
From: Ka-Wai Yeung < kawaii at hkusua.hku.hk >
Subject: Theatrical Translation and Film Adaptation 
 

AUTHOR: Zatlin, Phyllis 
TITLE: Theatrical Translation and Film Adaptation
SUBTITLE: A Practitioner's View
SERIES: Topics in Translation 29
PUBLISHER: Multilingual Matters
YEAR: 2005
Announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-2972.html 

Ka-Wai Yeung, Department of Chinese, The University of Hong Kong

INTRODUCTION

This book belongs to the Topics in Translation series published by 
Multilingual Matters. Even though it is not the first in the series on 
drama/ theatre translation, the practical suggestions to theatre 
translators and the in-depth realistic illustrations the book provides are 
informative and unprecedented. The book subtitle correctly depicts 
the focus of the author's analysis and this book has to be on the shelf 
of anybody who has an aspiration to become a theatrical translator or 
playwright. The observations and suggestions are based on the 
author's years of experiences as a theatrical translator, as well as the 
responses to questionnaires from veteran translators and theatrical 
professionals in several countries. The book also presents 
discussions of bilingual theatres and subtitling and dubbing practices 
for stage plays, which have received little attention in previous studies. 
Another neglected area the book explores is the application of film 
adaptation theories and strategies in translating stage plays to films. 

MAIN CONTENTS

The book is divided into eight chapters with a preface and an 
appendix. The major focus of the first five chapters is in theatrical 
translation. The sixth chapter discusses cases applicable to both 
theatre and film. The last two chapters are devoted to the theories 
and strategies in film adaptations from stage plays. The appendix is 
the questionnaire for veteran theatrical translators, from which 
responses are adopted in the book.

Chapter 1 ''In Theatrical Translation, There is No Lack of Conflict'' 
serves as the introductory chapter of the book that identifies the 
possible difficulties encountered by a theatrical translator. It discusses 
the role of a translator from a perspective of practicality and relates 
the confrontations (and sometimes collaborations) between translators 
and other stage personnel, including playwrights, actors, directors, 
editors, as well as audiences. All problems are revealed from real 
experiences encountered by the author, as well as by other theatrical 
translators, and they range from academic ones, like the discussion 
of ''performability'', to practical ones, like the possible judicial 
confrontation between a playwright and a translator in play 
adaptation. Also included is a discussion of political and economic 
censorship, which poses the greatest difficulties for a translator who 
adapts a play from one place to another.

Chapter 2 ''Out of the Shadows: The Translators Speak for 
Themselves'' reports and evaluates the responses to a questionnaire 
from 36 veteran theatrical translators working in Western Europe and 
the States, sometimes complemented with author's own experiences 
and personal communications with other translators. The 
questionnaire explores some of the greatly concerned presumptions 
regarding theatrical translation. For instance, the responses have 
revealed that in reality, theatrical translators take dramatic skills and 
the knowledge of the source language very seriously and they object 
strongly to adaptations based on ''literal translations'', but consulting 
other' translations as references is legitimate. The responses also 
give some sound advices for aspiring theatrical translators on how to 
get into the field and share some of their own experiences with regard 
to practical issues, including the meager incomes generated by play 
translation, how to get a play translation staged or published, the 
marginal role of agents and the helpfulness of membership in 
playwrights/play translators societies.

Chapter 3 ''Networking: Collaborative Ventures'' is devoted to 
introducing several projects and associations that foster and network 
for theatrical translation. The chapter narrates the missions, history, 
and functions of various collaborative ventures in France, Germany, 
Spain, the United Kingdom and the States. Some cases in which 
translators acquired help from these ventures are also described.

Chapter 4 ''Practical Approaches to Translating Theatre'' shifts the 
discussion from practical issues to approaches to translating. The 
author illustrates the common problems encountered in theatrical 
translation with realistic examples. Examined problems include the 
setting of a translated play, translating character names and forms of 
address, the rhythmic and syntactic differences between original and 
translated texts, recreating characters' ''voices'', the creative 
adaptations in translation, translating dialect, slang and idioms, 
representing literary references within the text, translating or 
substituting song lyrics in text, tackling wordplay or puns, and deciding 
play titles.

Chapter 5 ''Variations on the Bilingual Play Text'' elevates the 
discussion of translating dialect and explores the paradoxical situation 
confronted by theatrical translators when the source text is bilingual or 
multilingual. It examines the possible extent and impact of the use of a 
second (or third) language in a play and presents the varying 
strategies adopted by translators in different cases.

Chapter 6 ''Titling and Dubbing for Stage and Screen'' discusses 
issues more than the practical approaches of subtitling and dubbing 
for theatre and films. It reports a small-scale research about the 
acceptance and popularity of subtitling vs. dubbing in theatres and 
movies in various countries. Some technical considerations of 
subtitling and dubbing, such as formatting rules of subtitling, teletext 
technology, subtitling and dubbing technology in theatres, are 
provided. Also included is the various strategies of dubbing 
and ''simultaneous translation'' for theatres.

 Chapter 7 ''On and Off the Screen: The Many Faces of Adaptation'' 
reviews the theories of film adaptations and pinpoints the negative 
criticisms and neglect on the studies of film adaptations from stage 
plays. It reasserts the importance of adaptation of plays in film history 
by providing concrete examples of film adaptation from plays.

Chapter 8 ''From Stage to Screen: Strategies for Film Adaptation'' 
presents a general study on film adaptations from stage plays based 
on Wagner's (1975) and Andrew's (2000) film adaptation theories. 
Realistic illustrations of film adaptations from stage plays are analyzed 
according to the three film adaptation strategies, 
namely ''transposition'' (''intersecting''), ''analogy'' (''borrowing''), 
and ''commentary'' (''transformation''). 

CRITICAL EVALUATION

Bassnett (2002:119) has correctly stated that in literary translation 
studies, ''theatre is one of the most neglected areas''. Most analyses 
on literary translation have been focused on narratives and poetry. In 
light of this, this book successfully achieved its objective by providing 
a unified account on special problems of translating theatrical texts. As 
Zatlin (2005: viii) observes, ''there is a growing bibliography on 
theatre'', such as edited anthologies by Johnston (1996) and Upton 
(2000); or the theoretical work by Aaltonen (2000), another book 
published in the same series by Multilingual Matters. Contrasting a 
descriptive theoretical approach to theatrical translation like Aaltonen 
(2000), the book is distinctive of focusing its concerns over the 
practical problems encountered by theatrical practitioners. For 
instance, previous studies have suggested that a translator has to 
collaborate with other members of the theatre (e.g. 
Bassnett,1998:106). This book applies a practitioner's approach on 
the issue and provides practical suggestions on HOW to collaborate 
with playwrights, authors and editors. These advices are based on the 
author's years of immersion in theatres, as well as realistic 
experiences confronted by veteran theatrical translators and they 
make the book an outstanding mine of information for theatrical 
translators.

The surveys and interviews conducted with seasoned translators and 
theatre professionals in different countries in Chapter 2 have 
contributed to the richness and depths of discussions on practical 
approaches to aspiring theatrical translators. The responses to the 
questionnaire, together with the author's expertise as a theatrical 
translator and professor, have presented a realistic portrayal of the 
theatrical translation industry. Another excellent instance of the 
informative nature of the book is the chapter on various networking 
ventures in Western Europe and the States (Chapter 3). The 
discussions presented in the first three chapters have provided crucial 
prerequisite understandings of theatrical translation practice in 
addition to the practical approaches to theatre translating, which is 
also included in a separate chapter (Chapter 4).

Practical approaches to theatre translating have been introduced in 
Chapter 4. It deals with most of the commonly encountered problems 
in theatrical translation, such as adaptation of settings, translation of 
names, wordplays, slang, dialects, recreating characters' voices, etc. 
The problems examined are specific to theatrical translation and are 
illustrated with appropriate examples mostly drawn from contemporary 
theatres. The diversified array of problems explored in the chapter 
resembles the approach taken in Lander (2001) and results in a 
reader-friendly practical guide to theatrical translation. Due to its 
limited length, the condensed discussion in this chapter does not aim 
at, as Zatlin (2005:ix) confesses, providing an ''all-inclusive study''; 
hence, some issues are left unexplored, such as translation of verse 
drama, opera libretti, musical comedies, etc. Still, the illustrations have 
adequately highlighted some important strategies adopted by 
theatrical translators during the translating process.

Unique to the book are the analyses presented in the later chapters 
(Chapter 5, 6 & 8). Even though many translators have identified the 
most difficult task in theatrical translation is to deal with the dialectal 
variations within the play text, the examination of bilingual or 
multilingual play texts in relation to theatrical translation has been 
missing in the literature. Chapter 5 has been the first published work 
that provides a general analysis of the subject. The research on the 
practices of subtitling and dubbing for films in Chapter 6 has refreshed 
the general beliefs on the subject in previous studies. In addition, the 
examination of the practices for theatres has been a rarely explored 
area and the investigation presented here is unparalleled. Although 
the author does not propose any new theories on film adaptation, the 
application of Wagner's (1975) and Andrew's (2000) film adaptation 
theories to the translation of stage plays to films in Chapter 8 is 
unprecedented. Practical approaches to the adaptations of movies 
from plays based on concrete illustrative examples of adapted films 
are also exceptional in the literature, which has tended to concentrate 
on narrative into film. All these analyses contribute to the current 
studies on literary translation, subtitling and dubbing, and film 
adaptation that have overlooked the theatres.

Being an experienced theatrical practitioner, the author puts theatre 
under the spotlight and all the discussions in the book center around 
theatre. The later part of the book is distinguished in probing into 
various unexplored areas regarding theatrical translation, while the 
earlier part excels in providing sound practical advices to theatrical 
practitioners. Both directions are potential areas for further pursuit 
and the effort in addressing these neglected areas in this book is 
highly appreciated.

REFERENCES

Aaltonen, Sirkku (2000) Time-sharing on stage: drama translation and 
society. Clevedon, Buffalo: Multilingual Matters.

Andrew, Dudley (2000) Adaptation. In Naremore (2000), 28-37.

Bassnett, Susan (1998) Still Trapped in the Labyrinth: Further 
Reflections on Translation and Theatre. In Bassnett & Lefevere 
(1998), 90-108.

Bassnett, Susan (2002) Translation studies. London: Routledge. 

Bassnett, Susan & A. Lefevere (1998) Constructing cultures: essays 
on literary translation. Clevedon, Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters. 

Johnston, David, ed. (1996) Stages of translation. Bath, England: 
Absolute Classics.

Lander, Clifford E. (2001) Literary Translation: a practical guide. 
Clevedon, Buffalo: Multilingual Matters.

Naremore, James, ed. (2000) Film Adaptation. London: Athlone Press.

Upton, Carole-Anne, ed. (2000) Moving target: theatre translation and 
cultural relocation. Manchester, Northampton: St. Jerome.

Wagner, Geoffrey (1975) The novel and the cinema. Rutherford, N.J.: 
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.

Zatlin, Phyllis (2005) Theatrical Translation and Film Adaptation: A 
Practitioner's View. Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters. 

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Ka-Wai Yeung is a doctoral candidate in the University of Hong Kong. 
Her doctoral research attempts to apply linguistic theories into 
translation practices with specific reference to Chinese-English and 
English-Chinese translation. Her master thesis is a comparative 
linguistic study between Chinese and English to the problems of 
syntactic categories. Her major research interests include syntactic 
categories, pragmatics, comparative linguistics and translation 
theories.





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