Translation in cross-language international business research: Beyond equivalence

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chidlow, Agnieszka; Plakoyiannaki, Emmanuella; Welch, Catherine
• 署名单位: Manchester Metropolitan University; Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; University of Sydney
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/jibs.2013.67
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 562-582
• 关键词: language (language design; silent language; translation); Content analysis; qualitative/quantitative comparisons

摘要

In this paper, we problematise the way translation has been treated in international business (IB) research. We start by conducting an interpretive content analysis of both qualitative and quantitative cross-language studies published in four core IB journals over the course of a decade. Our analysis shows the dominance of a technicist view of translation associated with the equivalence paradigm. In contrast, we advocate a shift to a more contextualised approach informed by theoretical developments in translation studies. More specifically, we focus on two theoretical perspectives - skopos theory and cultural politics which offer related but distinct approaches to rethinking equivalence. We conclude by advocating that the translation process be reframed as a process of intercultural interaction, rather than a lexical transfer of meaning. This reconceptualisation would, we argue, open up what is currently a black box in most IB studies. The contextualised approach that we offer has the potential not just to enrich the findings of studies, but also provide insights that are of multi-disciplinary relevance.