A perfect storm – journalistic translation: translingual quoting in Singapore

• Main Author: Ang, Yiying
• Other Authors: Sim Wai Chew
• Format: Thesis-Master by Coursework
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Humanities::Language; Social sciences::Journalism
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168488
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Translation is an omniscient yet largely invisible part of the news gathering and reporting process. In the context of Singapore, a multilingual country with its mix of four official languages as well as Singapore Colloquial English and variety of dialects, it is not uncommon for journalists to interview newsmakers or collect quotes in a different language from the target language of the media they work for, and then to translate the quotes for their target audience, a process known as translingual quoting. While the study of journalistic or news translation has been established for about 20 years, research focused on translingual quoting is a relatively new area with the term itself coined only in 2015. This study aims to add to the body of emerging research in this area through an examination of the considerations and challenges faced by journalists in Singapore in the translation of quotes. Ten Singapore-based journalists working in English-language and Chinese-language media took part in a small-scale study which showed that journalists translated according to their own devices and also revealed how Singapore’s English dominant environment creates different challenges for journalists working in different language media. Keywords:Singapore; journalism; translation; journalistic translation; translingual quoting