Translation and the ‘soft’ bridges of communication

Abstract

Translation Studies scholars, on the whole, have struggled to reconcile abstract, meta­phorical concepts of translation with the notion of translation as understood in the commer­cial world of communication, that of a product to be obtained through quick, efficient and cost-cutting processes of transfer across verbal languages. Yet both ideas of translation imply exchanges of perspective between domains, cultures and senses and are inspiring conceptual­ly, artistically and socially. Bonds between metaphorical and practical ideas of translation are essential today and are conceptualised in this article. Translation is crucial as both instru­ment of equivalence between things and ideas, and as agent revealing differences between them. I will consider how the translation of texts, which do not primarily rely on the verbal depends on those two elements and can favour a reconciliation between the two ideas of trans­lation. I will use the concept of translation as ‘cluster’, examining epistemological and social resonances in musical texts, where expression does not depend primarily on semantic mean­ing. I will show how translation of the non-verbal can be an instrument of empowerment for 21st century humans and work as agent of social and intellectual cohesion in a fragmented world which has to be interpreted in multiple ways to be meaningful.

Keywords

• translation of the non-verbal
• translating music
• intersemiotic translation
• music translation
• biosemiotics
• björk