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14 January 2019 | Story Charlene Stanley | Photo Anja Aucamp
Dr David Patrick
Dr David Patrick hopes that his book will encourage a more sceptical view of Western media’s portrayal of enocides.

A movie night 10 years ago featuring Hotel Rwanda, set a young Scottish Social Sciences scholar off on a disturbing journey of discovery about just how twisted the portrayal of genocide by Western media houses can be.

Dr David Patrick found the mass slaughter of Tutsis, directed by members of the Hutu majority government during a 100-day period in 1994, to be totally incomprehensible. It is believed that between 500 000 and two million people were killed.

 

Research interest

It sparked a research interest and has led to the recent publishing of his monograph: Reporting Genocide: Media, Mass Violence and Human Rights.

He found liberal democratic countries’ advocacy of human rights to be little more than positive-sounding rhetoric when it came to their reaction to genocide in the rest of the world. There was also a remarkable contrast between places like Bosnia and Rwanda in terms of overall news coverage, with Bosnia consistently receiving far more coverage than Rwanda.

“Given that the Rwandan genocide was far more destructive – both in terms of speed and scale – provides ample evidence of the importance placed on both geographical location and race in relation to setting the news agenda,” Dr Patrick says.

 

International Studies Group

He’s been coming to South Africa as part of the UFS International Studies Group under the leadership of Professor Ian Phimister since 2014.

“Being exposed to so many people from different countries has been incredibly enriching,” Dr Patrick says.

“I love the texture and vibrancy of the South African society and also the braaiing culture – seeing that it rains back in Scotland almost 300 days of the year!”

He’s found a happy home in the south of Bloemfontein with his wife Tamsin, a teacher of Academic English at the UFS, and their three dogs.

 

Effect of findings

He is sober about whether his book will help change the prevailing news agenda. “Media institutions are not really known for critical self-reflection,” he says.

“But I do hope that people who read my book will at least adopt a more sceptical view of Western media’s portrayal of genocides.”

News Archive

The science of translation
2015-09-16

What is the relationship between a translator, information, and an audience? Professor Christiane Nord explored the connection in a series of lectures hosted by the Linguistics and Language Practice Department and the Department of Hebrew of the University of the Free State (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus.

Since 2007, the professor for Translation Studies has been a research associate and professor extraordinary in the department, assisting translation and interpreting students in gaining a global perspective on their disciplines.

The world-renowned German scholar and trained translator for Spanish and English is also an author, with over 200 published articles on the so-called Skopos Theory, which formed the basis of the lectures on 7 and 8 September 2015. The addresses were centered on the functionality and limitations of translations.

Translation as a purposeful activity

According to Prof Nord, all translations should be geared towards conveying messages which the audience understands. This communicative purpose involves taking into consideration the cultural background of the recipient.

As a seasoned practitioner, Prof Nord has been guided by Skopos Theory in her teaching endeavours. Hence her firm stance: “If you do not have a theory, you cannot justify your translational decisions.”

Within the context of the Skopos Theory, she explains that, in order to produce a functional translation, the translator must analyse the purpose of the translated text, which includes the questions for whom, when, where, and through which medium will it reach the intended audience.

How to deal with doubt in functional translation

“Doubt is something we are accompanied by when we’re translating.” Such doubt may be caused by “insufficient proficiency with regards to source and target languages and cultures, domain and terminological knowledge, and knowledge in translation theory and methodology,” said Prof Nord. However, the top-down approach offers a solution to overcome uncertainty, at least to some extent. This approach considers, first and foremost, the target audience for which the translation is tailored. Based on this consideration, the translator is able to determine the approach that is most suitable for the audience, hence eliminating doubt.

In sum, the extraordinary professor asserted that there are no rules for translation, contrary to popular belief. According to Prof Nord, the main focus of a translator or interpreter should be to produce texts in the target language and culture which meet the requirements of the translation brief set by the client or commissioner.

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