Interpreting Taboo: Developing and Evaluating Strategies in the Transfer of Taboo Language
Year: 2015
Type: conference-paper
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Taboo is anything which is said or done that is seen as offensive or embarrassing. Equally it is \nan agreement amongst people to NOT say or do something as it may be seen as embarrassing or offensive! To \ninterpret taboo is hard within the same language community as the definition of taboo differs according to many \nfactors such as gender, age, social class, era and context, but it is even harder to interpret between two language \ncommunities especially if the two belong to cultures that are vastly different. However, omitting taboo can lead \nto severe consequences that may have legal implications or may even be fatal; hence it can no longer be ignored. \nSome scholars have described taboo in its cultural and linguistic forms while others discuss to a small extent a \nmethod to translate swear words by freeing them from their referential duties. However, not much literature has \nbeen found so far on interpreting or the teaching of interpreting of taboo or on the consequences of avoiding \ninterpreting taboo. This paper will attempt to raise awareness of the consequences of not interpreting taboo in \npublic service interpreting (PSI). The author has undertaken a pilot study on 20 public service interpreting \nstudents, as part of her PhD research, with the aim of showing and quantifying attitudes towards interpreting \ntaboo and to compare them with what is described in the literature review.
Author: Summer Mouallem
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2783471932