Web translation within the Maltese context : a translation and an analysis of the Valletta 2018 website

Abstract

With the advent of the internet, communication practices have undergone radical changes and generated new translation needs. The translation of web texts is becoming increasingly important in our globalised world and is growing rapidly within the area of translation. The main objective of this study is to fill the gap present in translation studies on the topic of website translation. The practical component involves the translation of selected parts of the Valletta 2018 website (www.valletta2018.org) from English to Maltese. The translation will illustrate how the unique style and structure of a web text can influence the translation process and give rise to certain challenges. The introductory chapter will discuss the significance of translation in a multilingual world and within a European community. The strategies employed in translating EU websites and the role that the Valletta 2018 website will play in the years to come will also be outlined. The successive chapter will give a comprehensive review of the literature on the geneses of the web translation genre and the peculiarities of the internet medium. A number of dissimilarities between texts published on the Internet and those found in traditional print media will be delineated and other characteristics often found in web texts will also be explained. The third chapter will include the methodology applied for the choice of text from the web page, the analysis of the ST and the methods of translation. The central part of this study will then follow, which constitutes the translation of the selected text from the V18 website. The analysis chapter will draw attention to the various approaches employed and will discuss both the practical and theoretical issues involved in the course of translation. The final concluding remarks will include the outcomes of this research and possible future contributions to the web translation realm.