Negotiating communicative style, situational context and TT models in advanced cultural mediation pedagogy: a case study from Italian-English translation

摘要

L2 translation is increasingly viewed as a legitimate and consolidated area of research within udTranslation Studies. In this paper, the feasibility of training L2 translators as cultural mediators is examined. The udanalysis is presented in the form of a case study of advanced L2 students translating from Italian into English. udThis sample was assessed primarily in terms of cultural mediation. Given this emphasis, the source text (ST) was udtaken from the domain of cultural information for the general public. The principal assessment criterion was the udsource language (SL) conventional metaphor “percorso”, a pervasive JOURNEY metaphor, widely used in that uddomain. This trope was chosen because it combines significant source culture (SC) attitudes to communicative udstyle and expresses values attributed to official culture itself. The paper analyses how students responded to the udchallenge of negotiating between SC values, situational context, possible target language (TL) models and udlegitimate target text (TT) reader expectations. The sample is then assessed referring to Bennett's (1993) udDevelopmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. Significantly different levels of cultural competence emerged, udand these accounted for important differences in the effectiveness of the translations. On the basis of this udpreliminary case study, a tentative model of advanced L2 cultural mediators is proposed.