Translated interviews in printed media - A case study of the Spanish daily El Mundo
Across Languages and Cultures, 11 (2):
217-232 (December 2010)DOI: 10.1556/acr.11.2010.2.5
Abstract
The journalistic interview is a highly accepted genre in all the media (TV, radio, newspapers) and equally a much-translated genre. Just like many other news products, the distribution of interviews is governed by news organisations and alliances between media companies. This mode of news presentation goes across linguistic and cultural boundaries in a process of transcultural communication possible only through translation. Based on a comparative analysis of 21 interviews translated and published in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo in 2008, this study analyses the type of interviews selected for translation, the strategies used in the translational process, and whether these are similar to strategies in news translation in general. It also considers whether this material is translated as a stable source, respecting the original, or as an unstable source. Printed media have their own translation policies, which involve a complex process of recontextualization of the information in order to localise it to suit the interests of the media themselves and of their audience. This complex process of translation is widely misunderstood at an academic level in both the fields of Journalism Studies and Translation Studies.