METM25 presentation

Translation in a tourism and heritage landscape: a pragmatic view

Clare Vassallo, Malta

The session will focus on two issues, What can the translator in the tourism and heritage industry assume as common knowledge? and When is the translator justified in intervening in the text and adding information? Malta will be used as a case study of a heritage and tourist destination currently welcoming visitors from outside Europe. The different cultural encyclopaedic backgrounds of such visitors require that the translator question whether usually assumed cultural knowledge and references can be taken for granted.

The examples discussed in the presentation will include translation errors and less-than-ideal translations of signs, labels and brochures drawn from current tourist and museum information material translated from English and Maltese into Chinese and Spanish (for South American tourists).

The presentation will also make a case for less translator intervention through the retention of local terms (food, geography, traditions, transport, etc.) in the original Maltese language rather than creating pseudo-equivalents that often result in “diluting” local culture. Tourists are a special kind of target audience, since they are usually open to absorbing the local as part and parcel of the experience of travel itself. Examples of translations and adaptations from Maltese to English will be provided.

This session on the pragmatics of preparing translations and adaptations for the tourism market will be of interest to translators with clients in related industries, since the issues discussed are not specific to Malta but are applicable to any other destination, such as Spain. Moreover, it also shows how translation competence can be expanded to become a form of cultural mediation, an additional skill that language professionals can offer to clients in the tourism and heritage industry.

Reference

Robert Neather. Translating for Museums, Galleries and Heritage Sites, in the series Translation Practices Explained, Routledge: 2025.

About the presenter

Clare Vassallo is Professor of Translation Studies and Semiotics at the University of Malta. Her areas of interest are history and theory of translation; pragmatics and semiotics; literary translation; and adaptation studies. She has published literary translations from Maltese into English and a number of academic papers and chapters in international journals.