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Zones of uncertainty in translation Traductologie de plein champ, 6th edition

Nicolas Froeliger, Christian Balliu, Lance Hewson

International Conference:

− Brussels, Saturday 20 September 2014 − Paris, Friday 12 December 2014 − Geneva, Saturday 17 January 2015

In translation, one thing is certain: we struggle against uncertainty. We fight against it, both for ourselves and for the readers of our texts, by seeking nuanced comprehension and even more finely nuanced turns of phrase. In the field of pragmatic translation, ambiguity, vagueness, polysemy, and unclear intentions are our enemies. Indeed, a good professional translation stands out through the ways its author manages to disarm these foes, generally through analysis, documentary research, terminology, and rhetoric. We all have opinions on the diverse array of tactics and strategies for reducing uncertainty, as well as how to incorporate them into our teaching, research, and professional activities. Of course, there are exceptions to this general rule: certain texts – and not just in literary translation – take advantage of these zones of uncertainty. The variety of stances taken by translators on these questions is one of the essential themes that we wish to address during the sixth edition of traductologie de plein champ. For example, we might analyze the situations in which uncertainty is most frequent: source text or target text; terminology, phraseology, or less entrenched components of texts; genres and text types; functions assigned to source documents and target documents…but also the ways of responding to uncertainty, of reducing (and sometimes amplifying) it, and of course the effects produced. And what is the role of translation memories, veritable catalogues of defeated uncertainties, in the struggle against the new ones lying in wait in each future text? We will also look at this topic from another perspective. Some sociological research encourages us to come at the question of uncertainty from the opposite direction, suggesting, as Michel Crozier does, that the translation process involves actors with distinct motivations, each with her own area of expertise, and that she can leverage to preserve, or even increase, her autonomy, her negotiating position, and therefore her remuneration. Considering uncertainty from this angle is useful for studying the

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distribution of roles and tasks among the different actors in the translation process, or among professionals in the many ever-evolving occupations associated with translation. At a time of increasing professionalization and systematization of training programs, at a time when professional associations are communicating with ever-greater certainty about what translations and translators are, it is fair to ask whether anyone is actually interested in protecting the secrets of the trade, the image of the translator as a miracle worker, able to conjure efficient communication from the rawest of linguistic components. How the devil does she do that? And what about ownership of the translation memories mentioned above? Who benefits economically from them? The translator? The software company? Society as a whole? So we see that uncertainty is both an enemy to be combated and an ally to be defended. Somewhere in between these communicational and sociological forms of uncertainty lies, perhaps, the optimal scenario, guaranteeing both the quality of delivered translations and the well-being of the agents who provide them. How are these questions addressed concretely in varying contexts? What sorts of intentions and interactions are revealed? What are the positive and negative effects? The question behind all these uncertainties about uncertainty (or vice versa) then becomes: what holds multilingual texts and societies – via translators – together: certainty or its opposite?

For the sixth edition of traductologie de plein champ we have chosen to replicate the modus operandi of the preceding conference, organizing three separate but coordinated events:

− 20 September 2014: at ISTI (the Institut supérieur de traducteurs et interprètes – Haute école de Bruxelles)

− 12 December 2014: at the University of Paris Diderot, in collaboration with its professionally oriented MA program on the language industry and specialized translation, the CLILLAC-ARP (Centre de Linguistique Inter-langues, de Lexicologie, de Linguistique Anglaise et de Corpus – Atelier de recherche sur la parole), and the Center for Translation Studies

− 17 January 2015: at the University of Geneva's Faculty of Translation and Interpreting (FTI)

It is our hope that this geographical diversity will have a cumulative effect, with each session building on the discussions and conclusions of the previous one(s).

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Each day of the international conference will feature the participation of the most representative professional organizations of the country in question. The proceedings of the coordinated, three-day conference will be published. Please send an abstract (500 words maximum) in English or French by 30 May 2014 to these three addresses: Nicolas Froeliger: nf@eila.univ-paris-diderot.fr Christian Balliu: cballiu@heb.be Lance Hewson: Lance.Hewson@unige.ch You will receive an answer by the end of June 2014. The program for the three days will then be drawn up by the organizers.