The Translation Process: The Status of Tranface (the Translator’s Preface) Among Iranian Readers

The Translation Process: The Status of Tranface (the Translator’s Preface) Among Iranian Readers

Tranface is a valuable resource for the readers that contains useful information about the translator and translation. It also enables the translator to become more visible and promote his/her status in the society. The present study investigated the status of tranface among Iranian readers. To do so, a questionnaire consisting of 12 questions of both open-ended and closed-ended items was prepared based on Genette’s (1997) definition of the preface/tranface and the importance he considers for both. Furthermore, a semi-interview was set up with the three translation teachers, who were the faculty members of Iranian translation universities, to have a rich discussion and obtain the desired results. As the results indicated, a great majority of the participants either were unfamiliar with tranface or ignored it when reading the book. This alludes to the unsatisfactory position of tranface and its low status among Iranian readers, which unfortunately tranface enjoys it.

___

  • Aktener, I. (2019). A case study of translator’s preface in Yok Edici. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, (14), 439-453. doi: 10.29000/rumelide.541081
  • Batchelor, K. (2018). Translation and paratexts. London: Routledge.
  • Bikmanienė, M. (2019). Translator’s preface as a genre: A comparative analysis of Lithuanian and English prefaces. Sciendo: Sustainable Multilingualism, 12, 184-201.
  • Buhler, H., (1979). Superasentential semantics and translation. Meta, 24(4), 451-458.
  • Dimitriu, R. (2009). Translators’ prefaces as documentary sources for translation studies. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 17(3), 193-206.
  • Genette, G. (1997). Paratexts: Thresholds of interpretation (J. E. Lewin, Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Original book published 1987)
  • Gomez, M. C. B. (2003). The preface as a genre in English translations in the 17th century. Estudios Humanísticos Filología, 185-196. doi:10.18002/ehf.v0i25.2697
  • Haroon, H. (2017). The translator's preface as a paratextual device in Malay-English literary translations. Translation and Interpreting 9(2), 100-113.
  • Hatim, B. & Munday, J. (2004). Translation: An advanced resource book. London: Routledge.
  • Hlebec, B. (1989). Factors and steps in translating. Babel, 35(3), 129-141.
  • Hayes, A. (2020, October 7). Chi-square (χ2) statistic definition. Investopedia. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/chi-square-statistic.asp
  • McRae, E. (2010). The role of translators’ prefaces to contemporary literary translations into English (master’s thesis). Retrieved from https://www.researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/ bitstream/handle/2292/5972/whole.pdf?sequence=5
  • Newmark, P. (1991). About translation multilingual matters. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
  • Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. London: Longman.
  • Pellatt, V. (Ed.). (2013). Text, extratext, metatext and paratext in translation. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Preston, V. (2009). Questionnaire survey. International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 46-52.
  • Price, P., Jhangiani, R., & Chiang, I. (2015). Research methods of psychology (2nd Canadian ed.). Victoria, B.C.: BCcampus. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/researchmethods/.
  • Sheikhi, M. (2019). Iranians spend 7 hours per month reading. Mehr News Agency. Retrieved from https://en.mehrnews.com/news/141143/
  • Wilss, W. (1982), The Science of Translation. Tübingen: Günter Narr.