NASCIMENTO, Vinicius (org.). Perspectiva dialógica nos estudos de tradução e interpretação da língua de sinais [Dialogic Perspective in Sign Language Translation and Interpretation Studies]. São Paulo: Hucitec, 2023. 254 p. (Coleção Licores, v. 7)

Nascimento, Vinicius. Perspectiva dialógica nos estudos de tradução e interpretação da língua de sinais [Dialogic Perspective in Sign Language Translation and Interpretation Studies]. São Paulo: Hucitec, 2023. 254 p. (Coleção Licores, v. 7)

The LiCorEs collection, directed by professors Beth Brait/PUC-SP and Jean Carlos Gonçalves/UFPR, from Hucitec Editors, has in their collection works that discuss various forms of expression, based on studies of language, body, and aesthetics. Hence, the name LiCorEs, quite suggestive, since the drink, the liqueur (Licor in Portuguese) in order to be fully appreciated, must be savored in small sips, so that the liquid, when touching different parts of the tongue, allows you to feel all aspects of its flavor.

With this recent book, Perspectiva dialógica nos estudos de tradução e interpretação da língua de sinais [Dialogic Perspective on Sign Language Translation and Interpretation Studies], edited by Vinícius Nascimento, the experience is no different. With its eight chapters, in addition to the presentation and preface, the book offers the reader rich and in-depth content on the studies of interpretation and translation in sign language. Sipping it slowly is necessary so that the reader is completely touched by the complexity of the theme. Reading this work is, in itself, an ethical and aesthetic experience of enormous importance not only for the academic sphere of language studies, but also for life in society.

Vinícius Nascimento has a doctorate and master’s degree in Linguística Aplicada e Estudos da Linguagem [Applied Linguistics and Language Studies], by Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo [Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo] (PUC-SP). He has a bachelor’s degree in Speech Therapy, also from the same institution, and a post-doctorate in Linguistics from the Universidade de São Paulo [University of São Paulo] (USP). He is a professor at the Universidade Federal de São Carlos [Federal University of São Carlos] (UFSCar) working in the translation and interpretation axis of the Bachelor’s degree in Tradução e Interpretação em Libras e Língua Portuguesa [Translation and Interpretation in Libras and Portuguese]; permanent professor of the Programa de Pós-graduação em Estudos da Tradução da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina [Postgraduate Program in Translation Studies at the Federal University of Santa Catarina] (UFSC); coordinator of the Laboratório de Tradução Audiovisual da Língua de Sinais [Sign Language Audiovisual Translation Laboratory], also at UFSCar; leader of the Grupo de Estudos Discursivos da Língua de Sinais [Sign Language Discursive Studies Group] (GEDiLS/UFSCar/CNPq); researcher in the field of sign language translation and interpretation studies; libras [Brazilian Sign Language] translator and interpreter.

Vinícius has an aggregative and dialogical spirit. In this book, he brings together authors who are professionals in the field dedicated to research, an aspect that I consider fundamental for scientific production in any area of knowledge: studies that start from human activities - in this specific case, activities in which people communicate in different languages - to return with the responsibility of transforming realities. Even though we have expanded scientific production in the area, there is much to be done with regard to the citizen rights guaranteed to deaf people. This book adds to this production with emphasis because it addresses several topics that are still sensitive and necessary to be known not only by those who are already in the field of translation studies, and especially the studies of translation and interpretation in sign language, but above all by the public who know little about this area of knowledge and social reality. My desire is for the theme to resonate with an increasingly wider audience.

In his presentation, supported by Bakhtinian dialogic theory, Vinícius Nascimento presents the activity of translation as one of the most complex and fascinating, “one that promotes and allows unfinished dialogue between communities that communicate through different languages” (p. 10).¹ By mobilizing different cultures, values and knowledge, the translator finds itself in a place still full of questions and, therefore, increasingly studied from different aspects: semiotic, discursive, interactional, labor. For the organizer, the Bakhtinian perspective, the basis for analyzing the themes present in all chapters, is what allows us to look at this human activity as a discursive practice.

Adail Sobral, author of the book’s preface, is a professional translator working between different languages: Portuguese, French, English and Spanish, in various areas of humanities and health sciences. With an exquisite text, he presents the book’s authors, highlighting the political nature of their work. For him, the texts gathered there “create spaces of resistance, either giving visibility to silenced narratives or enabling narratives in other languages” (p. 20),² as well as valuing life in its diversity.

I agree with Sobral when he says that “these are not naive academic studies, but rather declarations that the world gives meaning to the academy that studies it” (p. 20).³ There are also, in society, countless examples of situations of erasure of subjects, both deaf and interpreters, lack of knowledge of the complexity of sign language, devaluation of a task, mechanisms for excluding what is different. Understanding the role of the interpreter is still fragile, not only by the listening community, but sometimes by the interpreters themselves.

Seeking to target a larger audience for reading this book, it is necessary to say that what unites all sign language translators and interpreters (TILS) is the constant battle for the recognition and appreciation of what is different. The choice for the dialogical perspective of translation invariably places the translator in the face of taking a position; there is no doing neutral. All agents involved in the act of translation or interpretation are historically determined, constituted and crossed by social voices, which mobilize them. “Responsible act” is an expression specific to Bakhtinian thought, which is also linked to the meaning of responsive. Responsibility, for Bakhtin, is essentially dialogical, because each responsible act involves the recognition of the other. And it is from the experience of encountering others that responsible consciousness is formed.

As Ponzio says, in the preface to the Brazilian edition of Por uma filosofia do ato responsável [Toward a Philosophy of the Act], “responsive understanding highlights the connection between understanding and listening, listening that speaks, that responds, even if not immediately and directly; through understanding and participatory thinking” (Ponzio, 2010, p. 11).⁴ There is, in the translation and interpretative act, a process of construction of meanings, in which two distinct cultures and a singular subject, the translator, are present in a concrete situation marked by a time and a space.

Neiva de Aquino Albres is the author of the chapter entitled “O movediço lugar da tradução: contribuições da perspectiva dialógica da linguagem” [The shifting place of translation: contributions from the dialogical perspective of language], which opens the book with the very successful proposal of presenting studies on translation and interpretation based on the dialogical perspective of discourse. In this sense, she places Libras as “a language that embodies and places subjects at center” (p. 41).⁵ PhD in Educação Especial [Special Education], among many other academic and scientific activities, she has dedicated herself to research in the field of analyzing the implementation of inclusive education and education for the deaf. In this chapter, she states that the translator is in a shifting field, as he has to move from one language to another, considering values ​​and cultures on both sides and, in addition, the context in which the discourses are being produced. Context is, certainly, and as Sobral highlighted in the preface, the aspect most worked on by all authors. There is always something specific to each context that must be considered by the sign language translator and interpreter (TILS) in their translation or interpretation.

Let’s look at the following hypothetical, but plausible, situations: (a) in a court hearing, the judge does not address to the person claiming the action, because he thinks that, because he is deaf, he will not understand the sentence and the directions of the case. So, he decides to speak only with the interpreter, as if the applicant was not in the room, which embarrasses him; (b) in an educational institution, an interpreter accompanies a girl, in a class, in which almost all the students are singing a song full of profanity. The performer, who knows the girl and is aware of her shyness, decides to omit the swear words from his interpretation of the song. All the students laugh at the situation, except for her, who doesn’t understand why they are laughing so much; (c) the deaf girl who always liked theater only really understood what was happening on stage when she watched a play in which the performers participated in the scene, alongside the actors. This made all the difference in helping her understand the sense of belonging; (d) A teacher found it strange that he had to pass on the content and material of his classes, in advance, to the interpreter. He found him incompetent. Isn’t it enough to be in class to know what you’re going to interpret? What to do: continue talking to the judge or, in some way, show him that the dialogue should involve the applicant? What is the point of whether the performer is on stage accompanying the actors? What does not interpret everything that goes on in the classroom mean? Is interpreting a spontaneous and immediate act that requires no preparation?

Decision-making, especially in interpretation, as it is immediate, does not only refer to the choice of the sign to be used. It is necessary to be aware of the conditions of production, circulation, and reception of translated or interpreted speeches, as such decisions involve different dimensions of otherness and, therefore, different ethical and aesthetic dimensions.

Vânia de Aquino Albres Santiago has a PhD in Linguística Aplicada e Estudos da Linguagem. She works as a consultant in accessibility and education for the deaf. She is also a teacher on the Postgraduate course in Libras/Portuguese Translation and Interpretation at Instituto Singularidades [Singularities Institute]. In its chapter, “Atividades de tradução, interpretação e guia-interpretação: o ético e o estético” [Translation, interpretation and guide-interpretation activities: the ethical and the aesthetic], she discusses these dimensions, in order to understand the relationships and axiological representations of the world involved in the activities of translation, interpretation and guide-interpretation. To this end, she assumes, supported by Bakhtin, that every responsible act unites ethics and aesthetics. Each act carries within itself a conscious choice arising from values ​​and intentions, determined by historical reality and experienced as a unique event. Analyzing the aforementioned activities implies understanding the conditions of production, circulation, and reception within different spheres of human activity and different discursive genres. Therefore, it’s extremely necessary to have qualified knowledge of the human activity in question.

Human activity is also the starting point of Bakhtinian theory. There is no study of language in use outside human activity. Understanding what it is, from the perspective of Bakhtin and the Circle, is to consider it as relational, ethical and creative, therefore, dialogical. And it is, in this sense, that all the authors of the texts are unanimous in saying that the translator is not limited to acting in the abstract dimension of the languages involved. The dialogical character of Bakhtinian thought, present throughout the book, is what sustains the translator’s work, building bridges between different worlds and realities.

From this common horizon, the author of each chapter discusses his sphere of study and action and, in this sense, the concepts of “discursive genre,” “concrete utterance” and otherness are recurrent. Despite the common presence of these concepts in all chapters, each one develops it based on the peculiarities and complexity of each sphere and each activity.

The reader will see these concepts developed by Vinícius Nascimento, in his chapter, entitled “O desenrolar do novelo conceitual bakhtiniano na formação de tradutores audiovisuais da Libras” [The unfolding of the Bakhtinian conceptual thread in the training of Libras audiovisual translators]. For the author, the understanding of any interactions between men and the world, in real and concrete situations, is greatly enriched from the Bakhtinian dialogical perspective that gives rise to Discursive Dialogical Analysis, defended by Brait (2008). And it should be no different for the activity of sign language translation and interpretation. Throughout his chapter, Vinícius Nascimento explains why he used the term conceptual skein. For him, there is no way to use an isolated concept, as they are all related in the original conception of Bakhtin and members of the Circle, highlighted here, Voloshinov and Medvedev.

Some chapters deal with different themes within the same sphere of activity, offering the reader valuable insight.

In the educational sphere, for example, we have Rodrigo Custódio da Silva, whose chapter entitled “Gêneros do discurso em libras videossinalizada da esfera acadêmica na perspectiva bakhtiniana” [Genders of video-signaled speech in the academic sphere from the Bakhtinian perspective] talks about the need to expand the production of educational materials for deaf students to optimize their learning processes. Rodrigo has a PhD in Linguistics from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and currently works as a professor at the undergraduate course at UFSC. Based on the concept of discursive genres, the author discusses the creation of material in video-signaled Libras, in seven most frequent genres in the academic sphere, namely, dictionaries and glossaries; teaching materials; theses and dissertations; monographs; scientific articles; summaries and proofs. With this detailed study, it aims to increase the entry and retention of deaf students in the educational sphere, at all levels. What may seem obvious, such as a diversification of educational materials in the deaf person’s first language, is not yet a reality.

Also Priscila Regina Gonçalves de Melo Giamlourenço and Cristina Broglia Feitosa de Lacerda, with the chapter entitled “A produção e a posição discursiva do TILS no processo tradutório no campo educacional” [The production and discursive position of TILS in the translation process in the educational field], point out that, in federal higher education institutions, the need to improve the TILS work is urgent. Lack of familiarity with the content, lack of knowledge of the student’s area of training, lack of technical terms can create problems in understanding the content, making the interpreter’s work difficult. Damage to the interpreter’s work, also damage to the training of deaf students, who find it difficult to enter the work spheres of interest to them. Priscila Regina Gonçalves de Melo Giamlourenço, educational psychologist, has a PhD in Educação Especial [Special Education] from the Universidade Federal de São Carlos. Cristina Broglia Feitosa de Lacerda, speech therapist, has a PhD from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas [Campinas State University], professor at Universidade Federal de São Carlos in the Licenciatura e Pós-graduação em Educação Especial [Licenciate and Postgraduate course in Special Education] and has extensive experience with international research groups between Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

Even though the research is in another sphere of activity, in the same direction of analyzing the conditions of preparation for entry into the world of work, Beth Brait, Amanda Assis and Luana Manini, in the chapter entitled “O papel fundamental do TILS no acesso do surdo à justiça: uma perspectiva verbo-visual dialógica” [The fundamental role of TILS in access to deaf to justice: a dialogic verbal-visual perspective], address the lack of equity between deaf and hearing candidates for vacancies in public competitions. Tests accessible for study, on the internet, are offered in Portuguese, but not in Libras, which puts deaf people at a disadvantage in relation to opportunities to access public services. Beth Brait is an essayist, critic, and associate professor at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP), working at the Pós-graduação de Linguística Aplicada e Estudos da Linguagem e Literatura [Postgraduate courses in Applied Linguistics and Language Studies] e Crítica Literária [Literature and Literary Critique]. Amanda Assis is a master’s student in Applied Linguistics and Language Studies at PUC-SP and works on the themes of Libra interpretation, TILS, Libra window and audiovisual interpretation. Luana Manini has a master’s degree in Linguística Aplicada e Estudos da Linguagem, lawyer, teacher at the Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Comercial [National Service of Commercial Learning] (SENAC) and effective member of the OAB’s [Order of Lawyers in Brazil] Comissão de Direitos Humanos da Pessoa com Deficiência [Human Rights Commission for Persons with Disabilities].

In the media and cultural sphere, studies show that deaf people are also at a disadvantage in relation to hearing people.

Carolina Fernandes Rodrigues Fomin, who deeply studies the performance of TILS in the theater, addresses in her chapter, “The interpretation into Libras of sound utterances in the theater and the interpretation notes,”⁶ the translation into Libras of the sound effects that make up the whole of the scene theatrical. We know that, within Bakhtinian theory, the concrete statement is intrinsically constituted by the verbal portion and the extraverbal portion. Brait (2013) expands this concept when she highlights in her research the importance of visuality in the construction of meanings of different texts. A theatrical scene is essentially, in Brait’s conception, verbal-visual: to the text are added the lights, costumes, objects placed on stage, scenery and effects, all contributing to the construction of meanings of the show. How to signal sound effects, so that the theatrical experience is full for deaf spectators, is one of Fomin’s contributions to improving TILS’ work in theater. Carolina Fernandes Rodrigues Fomin has a PhD in Linguística Aplicada e Estudos da Linguagem; An architect by training, she specializes in Acessibilidade e em Tradução e Interpretação em Libras [Accessibility and Translation and Interpretation in Libras]. She currently works as a Libras’ interpreter in the cultural area and is coordinator of Pós-graduação em Tradução e Interpretação em Libras/Português no Instituto de Educação Superior de São Paulo - Singularidades [Postgraduate Course in Translation and Interpretation in Libras/Portuguese at the Institute of Higher Education of São Paulo - Singularities] Brazil.

Natalia Francisca Frazão and Ana Claudia Balieiro Lodi, with their chapter “Interpretation in the television sphere: the deaf interpreter in focus,”⁷ talk about the importance of the presence of a deaf interpreter on television talk shows, as he is the one who will bring to the team a take a closer look at statements in Libras, in order to ensure greater quality of interpretation. Furthermore, they describe step by step how an interview carried out on TV Cultura was interpreted, listing all the aspects that were raised to guarantee the deaf person a greater understanding of the dialogue that took place between interviewer and interviewee. Ana Claudia Balieiro Lodi, a speech therapist by training, has a PhD in Linguística Aplicada e Estudos da Linguagem from PUC-SP and a professorship at the Universidade de São Paulo [University of São Paulo] (USP); She is currently an associate professor at the Universidade de São Paulo, working on the degree courses at the Licenciatura da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto/Departamento de Educação, Informação e Comunicação [Licenciate Course at Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Ribeirão Preto/Department of Education, Information and Communication] (FFCLRP/Dedic) and in the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação [Postgraduate Program in Education] (PPGEdu) and participates in an international research group in Uruguay. Natalia Francisca Frazão, training administrator, has a master’s degree in the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação [Postgraduate Program in Education] at Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto da Universidade de São Paulo [Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Ribeirão Preto at the University of São Paulo] (USP). She works as a Support Interpreter, Translator and Libras Interpreter for the journalistic and media spheres at Fundação Padre Anchieta - Centro Paulista de Rádio e TV Educativas (TV Cultura) [Father Anchieta - Paulistan Center of Educational Radio and TV (Culture TV)].

The composition of authors in this book can be compared to Bakhtinian circles in terms of the training of its members and the contribution to the scientific production of an era in a collaborative way. Here, there are professionals from areas such as administration, architecture, education, law, speech therapy, linguistics, psychopedagogy united in dialogue about language and, specifically, the deaf community, sign language, inclusion.

Understanding the need and complexity of inserting deaf people with a sense of belonging in all spheres of human activity seems to me to be the greatest result of reading this book and therein lies its greatest merit. All chapters show how deeply their authors are committed to this goal, with the utmost scientific rigor.

A few years ago, I taught an introductory course from the Bakhtinian dialogical perspective, in the Pós-graduação em Tradução e Interpretação, no Instituto Singularidades. I remember that, in the first class of one of the first groups of the course, a participant declared, in her presentation to the group, that she would like to see Libras circulating in our country, just as we see a simple pen available on the counters of every public establishments throughout the country. I never forgot that image. Her desire to equate Libras with the presence of pens available at each and every counter was, rather, a denunciation of the lack of accessibility, as well as the curtailment of the right to come and go for those belonging to communities that communicate in languages ​​other than orality. Many things have changed, but the struggle for the inclusion of deaf people in the dynamics of life in society is still significant. Vinicius Nascimento warns us about this, in his chapter already mentioned, describing how intense the preparation and conflicts are around the placement of Libras windows on TV programs. There is a huge difference between existing by law and existing by right.

Fortunately, books like this help us recognize the complexity of this task so that we can value it and demand it as mandatory, in any institution, in any situation where there is the possibility of the presence of people who use Libras.

REFERÊNCIAS

• BRAIT, Beth. Análise e teoria do discurso. In: BRAIT, B. (org.). Bakhtin, outros conceitos-chave. São Paulo: Editora Contexto, 2008. p. 9-31.
• BRAIT, Beth. Olhar e ler: verbo-visualidade em perspectiva dialógica. Bakhtiniana. Revista de Estudos do Discurso, vol. 8(2), p. 43-66, dez. 2013. https://doi.org/10.1590/S2176-45732013000200004 Acesso 11 de março de 2024.
  » https://doi.org/10.1590/S2176-45732013000200004
• PONZIO, Augusto. A concepção bakhtiniana do ato como dar um passo. In: BAKHTIN, Mikhail. Para uma filosofia do ato responsável. Tradução aos cuidados de Valdemir Miotello e Carlos Alberto Faraco. São Carlos: Pedro e João Editores, 2010. p. 9-38.

• Research Data and Other Materials Availability

  The research text includes all the underlying content within its own manuscript.

• Reviews

  Due to the commitment assumed by Bakhtiniana. Revista de Estudos do Discurso [Bakhtiniana. Journal of Discourse Studies] to Open Science, this journal publishes only reviews that have been authorized by all involved.

• 1
  In Portuguese: “aquela que promove e permite o diálogo inconcluso entre comunidades que se comunicam por línguas distintas.”
• 2
  In Portuguese: “criam espaços de resistência, seja dando visibilidade a narrativas silenciadas, seja possibilitando narrativas em outras línguas.”
• 3
  In Portuguese: “não se trata de estudos acadêmicos ingênuos, mas sim declarações de que o mundo dota de sentido a academia que o estuda.”
• 4
  In Portuguese: “a compreensão responsiva salienta a conexão entre compreensão e escuta, escuta que fala, que responde, mesmo que não imediata e diretamente; por meio da compreensão e pensamento participante.”
• 5
  In Portuguese: “língua que corporifica e coloca em centralidade os sujeitos.”
• 6
  In Portuguese: “A interpretação para Libras de enunciados sonoros no teatro e as notas de interpretação.”
• 7
  In Portuguese: “Interpretação na esfera televisiva: o intérprete surdo em foco.”

Data availability

The research text includes all the underlying content within its own manuscript.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  27 May 2024
• Date of issue
  Oct-Dec 2024

History

• Received
  31 Jan 2024
• Accepted
  16 Apr 2024