Xiaohui Yuan
Lecturer, Chinese-English Translation and Interpreting, Faculty of Arts
Contact
Biography
BA, MA, PhD
I am interested in Politeness Studies (Face Management) and its representation in audiovisual translation, literary translation and interpreting.
Expertise Summary
Pragmatics, Sociolinguistics, Intercultural Communication, Translation and Interpreting
Teaching Summary
Sight Translation, Consecutive Interpreting, Simultaneous Interpreting
Research Summary
Face Management in Literary Translation
I am currently investigating how politeness is represented in literary translation and its impact on reader response. This project bridges politeness (face) studies with literary translation. It seeks to explore the nature of the translator's discursive presence by examining the representation of face management in originals and translations. Specifically, this study aims to answer the following questions:
1 What happens to the representation of face management in the literary translations through the linguistic and narratological choices made by the translators, compared with that of the authors?
2 How do readers actually respond to face management conveyed in the translations? In other words, how do readers interpret heroes' and heroines' personalities, attitudes, points of view, intentions, and moral values relying on the translated texts?
This project is funded by the University of Nottingham Early Career Researcher Award.
Translating Cultures in International Mediation
The activities are intended to provide an invaluable opportunity to bring together academics specialising in language, translation and intercultural studies, and professionals with profound experience and interest in cross-cultural and intercultural mediations. Professionals will discuss and debate with academics how research into languages, intercultural studies and translation studies can contribute effectively to the process of mediation in achieving desired outcomes. This project can enhance the understanding of 1) how language is used and phrased sensitively to manage interpersonal interactions in mediations, 2)the pivotal role of cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity in cross-cultural and intercultural mediations and how such cultural awareness and sensitivity are represented or reflected in the use of language, for example, through a particular language pattern, and the ensuing impact on the mediation process, 3) when interpretation is used to facilitate intercultural mediations, whether such cultural awareness and sensitivity are represented in interpretation, for example, how face is managed in intercultural mediation and how it is represented through interpretation.
This project is funded by the AHRC Translating Cultures Research Development Networking Grants.
Please visit the project website for more information http://translating-cultures-networking-development.com/
Recent Publications
2013. Face Revisited - Negative Face Wants in Chinese Culture China media research. (In Press.)
YUAN, X., 2012. Politeness and audience response in Chinese-English subtitling Peter Lang.
Past Research
Politeness and Audience Response in Chinese-English Subtitling
it investigates how people use languages in society to negotiate face and to manage rapport across cultures, how it is delineated in Chinese and English films respectively and what Chinese and British audiences' interpretations of dynamic rapport interactions represented in films via subtitling are. This project bridges together intercultural studies and translation studies. A few original contributions have been made in the research. The first original contribution is that drawing upon the strengths of Brown and Levinson's (1987) face notion and Spencer-Oatey's (2000) rapport management theory, I established a Composite Model of Relationship Management, incorporating salient cultural differences between volition and discernment, to unpackage people's conflict and rapport management characteristics in Western and Far East cultures. This constitutes a major contribution to the conceptualisation of relationship management in intercultural and/or cross-cultural communication. The second original contribution is that it is the first to use Chinese-English language data in examining face management in subtitling. Thirdly, the research, for the first time, devised audience response tests in investigating reception and response towards face management in subtitling. Fourthly, it is the first to highlight the importance of incorporating face markers underpinned by cultural variables in the codification of body language in subtitling.
Future Research
Incorporate Intercultural Competence in Translation and Interpreting Training