Reading, Interpreting and Mediating Texts: (In)Visibility in Translation?

What is a translation? Is it possible to translate everything? What is the translator’s job? Different languages may have different ways of expressing specific concepts or words, especially in cases where there are culture-bound terms. Furthermore, when translators face the challenge of dealing with sensitive texts, e.g. feminist, religious, political or even sexually-explicit texts, they might have to employ different strategies and think of several approaches to render the source text (ST) in the most acceptable way for the target audience. This paper focuses on the translators’ role as first readers and mediators of the original ST in order to detect any form of visibility in their translations. Translation does not only involve a cross-cultural transfer but also an ideological transfer based upon the translator’s own interpretation of the ST as well as on his or her socio-cultural background expectations and conventions. The translation process starts with a careful reading of the ST since reading contributes to the creation of meaning and, just like translations, it implies a continuous process of decision-making. Translators’ mediation and (in)visibility play an important role in the translation process their choices and strategies legitimate a linguistic analysis and, more precisely, a contrastive linguistic analysis. The current work will explore, as a case study, a provocative Italian novel translated into English by one of the most well-known translators and translation scholars, Lawrence Venuti.