Representing and Mediating Otherness. Language, Translation, Media and Global-local Reception

Linguistic representation is rooted in a universe perceived as “other”, which such representation attempts to capture, encompass and convey. When talking about something, we need to refer to our own linguistic and mental categories, precisely because we acknowledge what we are trying to represent as something “other” in the first place. If communication has an addressee, otherness – understood as what is not me – comes into play in two forms: a universe represented by and/or created within the language, and one or more individuals receiving a message. Moreover, every linguistic formulation of thought and reality presupposes a relationship with someone and something. Such complex relationships are even more tangible in translation, though these are part of every form of linguistic communication where speakers “translate” their perceptions into the representation – and creation – of a world, and “translate” such representation for others. The mass communication technologies of our globalised world have broadened opportunities to communicate with others as well as changed ways of representing the universe as we know it: everybody has access to an enormous amount of information, and of views and interpretations of the world; everybody can build relationships and keep in touch with others even when these live far away. The multimediality of new technologies makes it possible to use visual and musical languages, which apparently do not need to be translated, but is it really so? Many websites are available in more than one language, so that they can be accessed by speakers of different languages and with different cultural backgrounds. Multimedia communication often implies the creation of virtual communities, whose identity is defined in comparison with someone or something perceived as different. Thus, today's information society poses ever increasing challenges to the various actors who are involved and work within it. Interaction takes place at various levels and in a number of different ways. Communication is becoming more rapid, more frequent and more complex, as well as more inter- and multi-disciplinary. Hence communication, to be successful, needs to be more ‘shared', therefore constructed by various actors (i.e. ‘co-constructed'). Therefore, it is interesting to investigate the linguistic, translational and sociological features as well as the critical aspects of such a huge amount of contacts and representations of otherness in old and new media. The intersection of various levels means that it is necessary to consider not only how texts are produced but also, and above all, how they are received in multilingual and multicultural communities. In other words, appropriate to consider that modes of reception increasingly affect and constrain modes of production, if the goal is for communication to contribute to the development of a society that is inclusive (a society in which all actors feel accepted, involved and represented), integrated (a society which recognises and values the diversity of languages and cultures) and supportive (a society which respects and supports identity and individuality). These manifold forms of interaction are made up of one or more transfers in which different languages are used, driven by intentions which derive from factors such as globalisation, internationalisation, cosmopolitanism and interculturality. Communication no longer takes place in the context of traditional locations, codes and means. It is no longer predominantly written or oral, but is increasingly multimedia and multimodal communication. Individual languages and codes adapt to the changing situation and context, but must also allow for appropriate transfer of information through different languages and must therefore also involve important intercultural aspects. The intersection of various levels means that it is necessary to consider not only how texts are produced but also, and above all, how they are received in multilingual and multicultural communities. Hence the need to adopt methods from other disciplines and sciences to investigate all the features of multimedia and multimodal communication and in particular those aspects highlighting otherness and/or carrying cultural values. The present volume focuses on the one hand on the perception and representation of “otherness” and/or “for others” in written texts, multimedia products, translation, audiovisual translation and the reception of audiovisual products and on the other hand on text hybridisation subsequent to the development of the internet and the social media, and, on text rewriting, transediting and cultural mediation to clarify and in general make the text more accessible, to meet the expectations of the receivers. Some contributions highlight the perception and representation of otherness or of people from other countries and/or other language communities when they become the subjects or addressees of communication; or else on the technological and multimedia applications enhancing intercultural communication and translation. Other papers discuss the processes of recontextualisation and reconceptualisation which are needed in relation to the varying objectives, values and interests of the actors present in the contemporary linguistic-cultural context. In all cases, papers will focus on aspects of the quality, effectiveness, understandability, clarity and accessibility of the texts and with a view to identifying a series of criteria to be used as parameters for the reformulation and transcreation of texts in order for them to be functional in the local and multi-cultural context in which they occur. Research disciplines and techniques to be brought into this debate include not only those overlapping with Translation Studies (linguistics, pragmatics, socio-linguistics, corpus linguistics, cultural approaches, etc.) but also others such as appraisal analysis, social anthropology, eyetracking, neuromarketing, neurolinguistic programming (NLP), and social media marketing.