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The Translator's Invisibility
Thread poster: Iman Tahanan
Iman Tahanan
Iman Tahanan
Local time: 16:33
English to Persian (Farsi)
+ ...
Nov 7, 2024

Hello Everyone,
Venuti talks about invisibility in the process of translation. I am curious to know how you solve this issue. This feature, as I have experienced, downgrades the work of the translator making it seem unimportant.

Nabuyungo Joanita
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 14:03
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
The book Nov 7, 2024

Iman Tahanan wrote:
Venuti talks about invisibility in the process of translation. I am curious to know how you solve this issue.

I assume you're talking about his book:
"The Translator's Invisibility: A History of Translation", Lawrence Venuti, 2008 (2nd ed)

Your question seems to imply that you consider it a problem that the translator is or becomes invisible. Most translators do not consider this a problem -- indeed, most translators strive for invisibility.

Invisibility is, potentially, a problem for foreign-language authors if the translators favour fluency over accuracy in the translations, but I guess different authors will have different feelings about this. Some authors will want readers to experience them as they had originally intended to sound, while other authors will want readers to fall in love with the translated versions of their works, even if the translation speaks in a different voice from what the author had originally intended.

[Edited at 2024-11-07 11:23 GMT]

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
P.L.F. Persio
Kevin Fulton
Jorge Payan
Christine Andersen
Niina Lahokoski
neilmac
 
Niina Lahokoski
Niina Lahokoski  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 15:03
Member (2008)
English to Finnish
+ ...
The translator should be invisible *in the translated text* Nov 7, 2024

As I see it, the ideal is that the translator is "invisible" in the sense that the text isn't recognizable as a translation and reads like it was written in the target language. However, translators should be "visible" in the sense that they get credit for their work (which often doesn't happen, unfortunately).

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
P.L.F. Persio
Kevin Fulton
Iman Tahanan
Maria Laura Curzi
Christine Andersen
Daryo
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 13:03
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Visible vs invisible Nov 7, 2024

I understand the translator's invisibility not as a devaluation but as having done the job thoroughly, i.e. without it being noticeable that it is a translation. However, It is important to note that Valenti’s discussion around the translator’s invisibility is restricted to literature.

Maria Laura Curzi
Philip Lees
P.L.F. Persio
Daryo
neilmac
 


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The Translator's Invisibility







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