What is Gained in Translation?

FAIN: EH-50422-14

Kent State University (Kent, OH 44242-0001)
Francoise Massardier-Kenney (Project Director: March 2014 to April 2017)

A three-week institute for thirty college and university faculty on literature in translation as a means of enhancing cross-cultural understanding.

The three-week summer institute, What is Gained in Translation: Learning How to Read Translated Texts, to be held at Kent State University in June of 2015, is dedicated to the study of literature in translation as a way to develop cross-cultural literacy. The institute will focus on features of translated literary texts that distinguish them from texts that are written and read in the same language in order to explore the complexities involved in cross-cultural communication. Specifically, the institute will explore the role played by translators in presenting the cultural beliefs and assumptions shaping the original text to a new audience. Informed by contemporary scholarship in translation studies, participants will consider translated texts not as copies of an original, but as versions that provide points of access to both the source and target cultures. The readings and discussions will enable participants to use translated texts more knowledgeably in their teaching and research.