Invitation to the International Academic Conference
Blind Spots in Literary Translation from/into Czech
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Slepé skvrny v literárních překladech z/do češtiny
| Date of event: | 22 – 23 April 2024 |
| Venue: | Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc (Křížkovského 10) |
| Conference languages: | Czech/Slovak and English |
| Length of presentation: | 15–20 minutes |
| Admission fee: | 50€ (designated exclusively for publication) |
| Application form: | no later than 28 February 2024 (jiri.hrabal@upol.cz) |
All of us who have at least once attempted to translate a work of literature from one language to another have very quickly discovered that even with the best knowledge of both languages, during the translation process we come upon “blind spots” and “non-translatable areas” (or areas that can be translated only very approximately).
Language is inseparably linked with culture, history and a way of thinking of the people who have used and continue to use the language, and whose level of knowledge of that language is dependent on their level of knowledge of the history and thinking of its users. “Blind spots” therefore cannot be removed even by the most comprehensive dictionary, since it would be impossible to compile such a work that would condense the complete human experience. Or will something change with the arrival of artificial intelligence? Will AI succeed in erasing blind spots in future?
How, in the target language, are we to differentiate between nuances existing in the source language that are “unknown” in the target language? How, for example, are we to translate speech in dialects which are linked with specific local customs, a way of life or a region? What do we do with established formulations or
references that are bound together with long-forgotten films, statements by politicians or all manner of curious historical events that the source language has enshrined? How are we to convey a historical experience that has projected itself into a linguistic expression if this is entirely different from the experiences of the users of the target language? How, in the target language, are we to make “visible” places that this language is unable to “see”?
The aim of our conference is to thematise these “blind spots”, and to contemplate how to deal with them when translating, to attempt to propose solutions.
Within the conference framework, we welcome contributions that deal with the translatability of cultures in the most general sense of the word (whether their point of departure is within the field of philosophy, sociology, cultural studies, history or philological disciplines etc.), as well as contributions that focus on highly individual solutions of fragmentary linguistic phenomena in the translation of specific works of literature from various languages into Czech (and vice versa).
Organising partner universities:
- Palacký University Olomouc, Faculty of Arts, Department of Czech Studies (Jiří Hrabal)
- Charles University Prague, Faculty of Arts, Department of Czech and Comparative Literature (Petr A. Bílek)
- Sveučiliště u Zagrebu, Filozofski fakultet, Odsjek za zapadnoslavenske jezike i književnosti (Matija Ivačić)
- Universita degli studi di Udine, Dipartimento di Lingue e Letterature Straniere Department (Anna Maria Perissutti)
- Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie, Instytut Filologii Słowiańskiej (Natalia Palich)
- Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicach, Wydział Humanistyczny, Filologia słowiańska (Joanna Derdowska)
The conference is being held as part of the research and education week Czech-in to Literary Culture II (within the programme Cooperation within Blended Intensive Programme within Erasmus, 2022-1-CZ01-KA131-HED-0000057137-8)
Please send the completed application forms by 28 February 2024 to the address: jiri.hrabal@upol.cz