Volume 7, Number 1/2

Universality In Translation: An Analysis of Translation Interference in Multimodal Texts

  Authors

Peng Yin, Northwest Normal University, China & State University of New York at Binghamton, USA

  Abstract

Universality in translation has been a research focus in translation studies since the publication of Mona Baker’s seminal paper in 1990s. The relevant studies mainly explore the various universality rules governing translation in written texts, however, little attention has been devoted to translation universality in translating multi-modal texts. This study, with Systemic Functional Grammar and Visual Grammar as theoretical framework, verifies the validity of Law of Interference, one of the universal translation rules, in multimodal texts. By statistically comparing transitivity, theme choice, thematic progression and information value of two magazine articles and their translations, the paper finds that most make-up of the source text is transferred into the target text or rendered into existing patterns, and that more negative transfers are observed in transitivity, split theme TP and information value when translating from a major language. The paper concludes that the Law of Interference is stronger in visual mode while weaker in verbal mode. The present study shows that the law of interference can be observed in translating multimodal texts. It also implies that the translation of multimodal texts makes more visible the power of English, and it helps to perpetuate the hegemony of English in the global world.

  Keywords

interference, transfer, multimodal texts translation, Systemic Functional Grammar, visual grammar.