Interactive reception of online literary translation: the translator-readers dynamics in a discussion forum

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the reception of Xiao Mao’s online translation of Charlotte’s Web through the interaction between readers and the translator posted on an Internet discussion forum. In 2000, Xiao Mao’s translation was one of the first Chinese literary translations published online. In the analysis, I use Fish’s concept of ‘interpretive community’ in this research. I first collected forum messages between the translator and his readers. Through a content and conversation analysis of these posts, I identified recurring themes, including comparisons with multiple translations, and considerations about the translation of children’s literature. How Xiao Mao’s translation was received is then analyzed as a type of ‘interactive reception’, showing that the readers’ reception is collectively mediated and constructed through interactions between readers and translator. This study shows that, in the age of the Internet, reception is a socially situated communicative activity conditioned by interactional dynamics and shared understanding between readers. The roles of readers and translators appear to have become fluid and mutually constitutive, while such shifting roles increase empathy and achieve intersubjective understanding.

KEYWORDS:

• Online translation
• reception
• translator-reader interaction
• discussion forums

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Founded in March 1999, this community, characterized by the ethos of ‘openness, inclusiveness, and humanism’, is among the most popular online communities in mainland China. See its introduction on its official website. https://rb.gy/7cs7vi (accessed 30 May 2021).

2 See Xiao Mao’s article. https://rb.gy/k004gp (accessed 30 May 2021).

3 https://rb.gy/1h63ob (accessed 30 May 2021).

4 https://rb.gy/8heeoa (accessed 30 May 2021).

5 My PhD thesis (Chen 2021) has discussed other codes.

6 For anonymity, all posters/readers are de-identified by employing a coding system (R1, R2, … Rn, R = reader).

7 There are eight printed Chinese translations of Charlotte spanning from 1979 to 2004, of which the most popular in mainland China are Kang’s version and Ren’s.

8 P4 refers to the fourth post in this thread.

9 Xiao Mao deletes the auxiliary word ‘的’ (similar to ‘of’) in Kang’s version.

Additional information

Funding

This article was supported by the BNU-HKBU United International College, under project code UICR0700011-22.

Notes on contributors

Xuemei Chen

Xuemei Chen (陈雪梅) is Assistant Professor in the Programme of Applied Translation Studies at Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, Zhuhai, China. Her research interests are reception studies, paratext-related translation studies, online literary translation, and translation of children’s literature.