Aplicación del procedimiento para la gestión por procesos en el gobierno de

Both translations were initiated by the producing theatres. Geister was offered the first production under a new artistic director in the studio theatre of the Deutsches Theater

in Göttingen.82 She suggested Passing Places as a play for young people to the head dramaturg and was given permission for the translation. Geister was not given any guidelines by the German publisher and the TT was not subjected to any editorial process. Heinrich does not discuss the reasons for the choice of ST but emphasises that the decision was taken by him in close consultation with the director.83 While Geister translated directly from the foreign ST; Heinrich et al. based their translation on both Geister’s standard German TT and the original.

It is obvious that both translations were made with a specific production in mind, i.e. they are production translations. In Geister’s case this seems surprising at first, as the assumption (that has been confirmed by responses to the survey discussed in Chapter 3.3.) was that the majority of translations (into standard) are initiated by publishers rather than theatres. However, some of the case studies discussed by scholars, of the translation of particular plays suggest they are sometimes, as in this case, for specific productions and only later published. Also, as highlighted above, many translators work in the theatre, particularly as directors and actors, translating primarily for a particular production, and only for publication as a secondary purpose

82 _{The following discussion of the translation process of Surfing Scotland is informed by statements}

provided by the translator (Geister, email of 22 October 2008) which can be viewed in Appendix A.

83 _{The following discussion of the translation process of Gletschersurfen is informed by statements}

115 because, in the end, it is the publishers who hold all the rights. The consideration that, ultimately, plays will be published and offered to theatres all over the German- language area may have had an impact on the decision to translate into standard in many cases, compounded by the traditions in language use at the particular theatre, the skills of the cast, and the decisions by the director.

The jtb translation confirms more specifically results of my research: dialect translations are usually prepared for a particular production at a specific theatre and not many are published, at least not in the publishing houses that specialise in professional theatre. As far as could be ascertained, Gletschersurfen has not been published and/or produced by any other German-language theatre, possibly because the use of dialect would make it incomprehensible in a different region, but also because of the cultural relocation.

As to the process itself, Geister explains that after the initial translation, the TT was tested in rehearsals and “wenn etwas hakte oder sich nicht erzählte, konsultierte ich das Original und wir fanden bessere Alternativen”, i.e. “if we got stuck or the story did not flow we consulted the original and found a better alternative” (Geister, email of 22 October 2008). The Swiss German version was produced during the first two weeks of rehearsal time. For the relocation a route was devised through Switzerland for both the main characters Alex and Beni and their persecutor Mistah Binggs. Cast, director and dramaturg then made an overnight trip from Basle to Pontresina along Alex and Beni’s route and returned on Binggs’ route. Some of the original scenes and characters were cut and new scenes introduced. The production script provided by Heinrich shows further amendments (cuts, additions, changes), which imply that the TT continued to be shaped after the initial translation period.

As to the choice of language variety, it is not clear whether the translators of either TT were aware of the particularities in the ST. Geister defines the background of the main characters as Scottish “Unterschicht”, i.e. “lower class”, and using colloquial language, but does not refer to the marked use of Scots and Scottish English, especially by Binks (email of 22 October 2009). The play was translated into a German that is colloquial in a similar way to the original. Geister’s use of the term colloquial German is ambigious. In dialectology it refers to a variety on the dialect- standard continuum that is close to standard but still retains certain dialect features. However, non-linguists often use the term to refer to everyday speech as against

116 formal. I was not able to ascertain which concept the translator had in mind. However, she points out that there is no distinct dialect in Göttingen which she could have used, and would not have considered it anyway as she did not want to relocate the play to Germany. Thus, Geister provides a reason for not using dialect highlighted before: the discrepancy between ST culture and TL dialect.

Similarly, Heinrich does not refer to the language use in the ST as reason for the translation into Swiss German. The productions of the jtb are always in Swiss German because of the background of the audience and actors:

Die Jugendlichen haben keine Schauspielausbildung und Hochdeutsch ist für sie eine Fremdsprache. Die Direktheit des Spiels wird gebrochen, wenn sie für den Text erst in den Kopf müssen. Das Gleiche gilt für das Publikum. Durch den Dialekt können wir eine direktere Brücke in den Kopf und den Bauch schlagen.84 (Heinrich, email of 29 September 2008)

Thus, the characters in Gletschersurfen speak the local dialects of their actors or of the particular (Swiss) region where the characters live.

Heinrich’s arguments for the use of Swiss German are similar to those given by Swiss German theatre practitioners in the amateur sector (Wilkinson 2005: 77-8, see also Chapter 1.3.1.) and, like those of Geister, refer to the situation in the target culture rather than the language use in the ST. This confirms my initial assumption that the decision to translate into dialect reflects the needs of the target culture, such as attitudes towards dialect, the policy of the theatre as regards its use, the background and training of the actors as well as the expectations of the (youth) audience.