This thesis examines the role and function translations played in Turkish history, especially within the framework of its Westernisation movement from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries. A descriptive approach is adopted, aiming to identify cultural patterns which shape and reflect translational decisions and help to a better portrayal of the socio-cultural context of translation during the time span examined. To this end, the thesis seeks to describe in detail historical, political, literary and linguistic factors which have affected the translation activity. The main assumption of this thesis is that acculturation was used as the main strategy in translations from Western languages during the periods which were marked with an extensive translation activity, especially during the nineteenth century and the first decades of the Republican era. This acculturation strategy not only helped to enrich the target literary system, bringing new literary models (genres), new subject matter, developing the language and giving rise to a new Turkish literature, it also had an effect upon the broader socio-cultural polysystem, especially on the process of identity creation. The analysis of the social, political and cultural conditions and policies suggests that the status given both to the source and target cultures has been the main factor for the acculturation. As examined in the last part of the thesis, a shift of power relations in the Turkish context, especially after the 1980s, marked a new kind of an acculturation strategy and a certain movement of resistance. The thesis concludes that there is need to know more about different translation histories in order to learn more about the acculturation process and to move beyond a Eurocentric view, and an interdisciplinary approach should be taken for such research.

In this dissertation, the various strategies of humour translation have been analysed by taking various cartoons with speech bubbles from the popular Turkish humour weekly magazine Leman and other similar publications. Generally considered as an extremely problematic, sometimes next to impossible, task within the translation studies, humour translation requires and deserves special attention since, as it was explained in the related sections, it may unite or separate people within the context of one single joke. As we also have stated elsewhere in the text, the description of both humour and translation, as two separate concepts, are not available in certain and decisive terms. This is especially true for the concept of humour which also covers the areas of laughter, jokes, wit, satire, irony and many others which are all interchangeable with each other. This fact makes an all-round definition very difficult. We also tried to show that, the visual humour or the visual aspect of humour could be a valuable asset for a foreign recipient who genuinely wishing to understand humour products from a different and remote culture. We wanted to show, and to some extent share, that the cartoons, provided they are not strictly political or crammed with regional issues and accents, could be fathomed by an outsider with the help of a decent translation and an adequate amount of contextual and cultural background information. We have assumed, from the very beginning of this project, that the contemporary Turkish humour, particularly cartoons that are represented in Leman and other similar publications, was interesting enough to become a dissertation subject, particularly those with stock types or characters since they have the potential of becoming snapshots of a country which is still considered as alien (or other) by the West. As far as this writer concerned, the main points of interest concerning Turkey by the British public could roughly be summarised in two points: a bargain trip to the seaside during the summer season and some occasional football matches Manchester United plays against Turkish teams in Istanbul. Especially the latter always attracts heavy press coverage during and after a match. We wanted to show that there are other cultural aspects exist in Turkey as well and such aspects could be transferred to other cultures by ways of translation. The material we have chosen is both visual and prose at the same time and although they function as a unity, they also complement each other. It is proposed that, although a perfect translation is always a desirable concept in almost every field, the translation of humour is possible within certain frameworks. The visual side of cartoons, as in situation comedies, contributes immensely to the comprehension of the message, which should be considered as the most important feature of the joke. To this end, a variety of cartoons are selected from both Lenicyn and other similar humour weeklies and translated with an adequate amount of background and contextual information that provided beforehand. This background information also includes, as far as the material in question permits, a close analysis of the language and the subject matter. To provide a better insight for the reader, a summary of Turkish humour and humour magazines are added alongside a section on the issue of humour itself.

Word order is a textual means available to text producers to arrange their messages in order to convey different communicative functions, the choice of sentence initial position being one of the strategies commonly used to relay pragmatic or textual functions such as emphasis or topic continuity. In Arabic, the use of an initial pre-verbal constituent determines the difference between two types of sentences: the verbal sentence and the nominal sentence. Adopting the Prague School functional approach to grammar as a framework, this study argues that the position of the initial pre-verbal constituent is decided by textual and extra- textual factors. It examines the mechanism of this interaction and its consequences on word order. Arabic word order however, has generally been studied within the transformational-generative framework using sentence-based grammar; even the few cases of functional studies favour this same type of decontextualized data. Very little work of any real significance has been undertaken that attempts to relate sentence type to context and/or text type. In response to this, the data used in this study is text-based and taken from a variety of sources, and the sentences are analyzed in context. Chapter one outlines the aim of the study and reviews current trends in word order research with special regard to Arabic word order, and attempts to highlight the theoretical and empirical limitations of these approaches. Chapter two gives a detailed presentation of the theoretical framework chosen for the analysis. it introduces the corpus used for the analysis, and explains the general method and principles which govern this analysis. Chapter three is the text analysis proper. After a brief presentation of the source text, its general background and organization, each nominal sentence is analyzed textually, contextually, syntactically and functionally. Chapter four discusses the results of the data analysis. The principles at work in word order organization in Arabic are determined, particularly of initial position, and therefore the difference between nominal and verbal sentences. The textual and contextual behaviour of the sentence initial pre-verbal constituent is examined allowing conclusions about the information structure of the Arabic sentence to be drawn.

Effective communication in a foreign language depends on more than knowing the rules of its lexicon, grammar, and phonology. It involves the processing of cultural as well as linguistic knowledge. Any form of communication (and language is one form of communication) has its own strategies. The strategies of language communication vary systematically across languages and cultures. The differences in the general ethos of one community as compared to another lead to differences in the strategies of communication, as certain aspects of the communicative properties of languages might be culture- and language-specific. As a result, foreign language learners might fail to communicate effectively in the foreign language. This failure seems to be greatly due to a transferance of the native-language communicative strategies to the foreign language. The most appropriate way to solve this problem as suggested in this thesis, alongside many other foreign language teachers and applied linguists, is contrastive language work through translation. Such approach makes possible the juxtaposition of the native language and the foreign language, thus allowing the students to see practically and for themselves the culturo-linguistic differences and similarities between the two languages. Otherwise, native language interference will persist and successful performance in the foreign language will not be achieved. The present study sets to investigate two major factors that seem to considerably affect Arab students' learning of English as a foreign language. First, the culturo- educational background which is almost totally ignored as being the second major factor affecting foreign language learning. Second, the linguistic (or mother tongue) factor which, though more researched, no appropriate solutions are yet provided. Due to culturo-educational influence --dealt with in the first part of this thesis-- Arab students tend to approach the foreign language in the same way they approach their native language. They seem to rely on memorization in the study of the foreign language and in their essay-writing. For this reason, they are often accused of plagiarism, a practice for which the blame should not be laid upon them alone. The Arab educational system should undergo- the biggest portion of the blame. Arab students, from a very young age and from the earliest educational stage, the kuttaab, are instructed basically orally and trained to rely heavily on their memories. Though such training suits young children and the major subject they are taught (Qurlan), it does not stop at this stage, nor does it confine itself to that particular subject. Rather, it escorts them up till university level and extends to most subjects. A solution to get over such a problem as to EFL teaching is suggested in the concluding chapter to this thesis. The second major factor affecting foreign language learning --dealt with in the second part of this thesis-- is the influence from the native language, which is seen to manifest itself on the two major levels of language: the micro and the macro levels. The micro level of language is that of the word and sentence. Influence at such a level appears from the early stages of foreign language learning. However, it is not as serious and as persistent as that at the macro level, ie. the discourse or text level. Here, Arab students often make grave deviations from the norms of the foreign language. Such deviations, their nature, and their cultural and linguistic background are discussed through the examination of the major rhetorical and textual characteristics pertaining to Arabic and English. Translation is proposed as an effective approach of teaching composition to advanced EFL students. Such approach, if applied methodically, will help students develop a much needed awareness of the textual pecularities of the, foreign language; an awareness which will sensitize them to the general linguistic differences and, in particular, those of composing that exist between their mother tongue and the foreign language. Besides, it will certainly help them enlarge more quickly and more practically their EFL lexical and idiomatic repertoire.

In recent years, more and more Chinese films have been exported abroad. This thesis intends to explore the subtitling of Chinese cinema into English, with Zhang Yimou’s films as a case study. Zhang Yimou is arguably the most critically and internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker, who has experimented with a variety of genres of films. I argue that in the subtitling of his films, there is an obvious adoption of the domestication translation strategy that reduces or even omits Chinese cultural references. I try to discover what cultural categories or perspectives of China are prone to the domestication of translation and have formulated five categories: humour, politeness, dialect, history and songs and the Peking Opera. My methodology is that I compare the source Chinese dialogue lines with the existing English subtitles by providing literal translations of the source lines, and I will also give my alternative translations that tend to retain the source cultural references better. I also speculate that the domestication strategy is frequently employed by subtitlers possibly because the subtitlers assume the source cultural references are difficult for target language subtitle readers to comprehend, even if they are translated into a target language. However, subtitle readers are very likely to understand more than what the dialogue lines and the target language subtitles express, because films are multimodal entities and verbal information is not the only source of information for subtitle readers. The image and the sound are also significant sources of information for subtitle readers who are constantly involved in a dynamic film-watching experience. They are also expected to grasp visual and acoustic information. The complete omission or domestication of source cultural references might also affect their interpretation of the non-verbal cues. I also contemplate that the translation, which frequently domesticates the source culture carried out by a translator who is also a native speaker of the source language, is ‘submissive translation’.

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As a global language, English has spread to the extent that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers. In the last few decades, a body of research literature has emerged demonstrating the decreasing global relevance of native English speakers, and calling for a re-evaluation of English Language Teaching (ELT) practices, in order to better prepare students for using English as a global lingua franca. However, students’ needs and attitudes towards English and ELT must be fully investigated before curriculum changes can be suggested. Many attitude studies conclude that students favour native varieties of English. However, such research often uses single research methods and very few relate attitude studies to ELT. Further research is required regarding students’ attitudes towards English, the factors influencing these attitudes and how they relate to ELT. Moreover, few studies have investigated these proposals in any depth or explored the impact of course instruction in the global uses of English on students’ attitudes. This thesis is an investigation of Japanese university students’ attitudes towards English and English teachers in relation to the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF). In order to widen the scope of understanding, this research employed a mixture of quantitative and qualitative measures to obtain data about the participants and their attitudes. Thus, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups were used. Following the introduction, chapter two and three provide a literature review. Chapter four outlines the methodology, and the results are presented in chapters five, six and seven. Chapter eight presents a discussion of the results and the implications of this study for teaching English are discussed in chapter nine. The findings suggest that English is seen as a language belonging to native English speakers and those students want to learn native English. However, the results highlighted that a number of factors influence students’ attitudes. The findings also demonstrated that the study of Global Englishes influenced students in a number of ways, including their motivation for learning English, attitudes towards varieties of English and attitudes towards English teachers. It encouraged them to question notions of ‘standard English’, was helpful for future ELF communication and raised their confidence as English speakers. In sum, the findings of this study provide an empirical basis for a re-evaluation of ELT and suggest that Global Englishes Language Teaching is something that should be further investigated.

The current language teaching and learning environment in British higher educational establishments appears to have two main characteristics. Firstly, an unprecedented number of students from various cultural backgrounds now study in the UK, including students with a cultural background that is very different from the Anglophone educational culture. Secondly, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) remains the prevailing teaching method used in higher educational establishments, however, CLT is based on assumptions that relate closely to the Anglophone language teaching and learning environment. This study poses a question of whether CLT should continue to be valued and relied upon in this new international teaching and learning environment. Out of many non-Anglophone educational cultures in the world, Japanese educational culture was selected as the focus of this study to help explore this question. In the empirical study, two teaching methods, Japanisation and CLT, were used to investigate the impact of Japanese educational culture in a British university's Japanese language teaching classes where the British educational culture currently dominates. The study was conducted for one semester at the University of Southampton. The concept of Japanisation is drawn from the study of the Japanese car manufacturing industry and is transferred to a language teaching context. The study was investigated by tests (two assignments and Reading and Written Test) that provided quantitative data, questionnaires that provided quantitative and qualitative data and classroom observation that provided qualitative data. There was no statistically significant difference between the two teaching methods regarding attainment in the two assignments. However, Japanisation was associated with significantly improved results in the Reading and Writing Test, compared with CLT. These results seem to suggest that embedding elements of Japanisation and Japanese educational culture into the teaching of Japanese to non-Japanese speakers in British language classrooms might possibly enhance students' learning of reading and writing skills. This study also presents possibilities as to how the Japanese educational cultural method of teaching could be incorporated into the teaching of Japanese to non-Japanese speakers. In addition, this study indicates that language teachers facing a multicultural classroom might consider the international students' educational cultural expectations and needs in learning. Those who develop the teaching curriculum are encouraged at a strategic level to examine other educational cultures and teaching practices from non-Anglophone countries and assess how they may be combined with CLT to reflect the new international characteristics of teaching and learning environments.

Thai characters pose some unique problems, which differ from English and other oriental scripts. The structure of Thai characters consists of small loops combined with curves and there is an absence of spaces between each word and sentence. In each line, moreover, Thai characters can be composed on four levels, depending on the type of character being written. This research focuses on OCR for the Thai language: printed and offline handwritten character recognition. An attempt to overcome the problems by simple but effective methods is the main consideration. A printed OCR developed by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) uses Kohonen self- organising maps (SOMs) for rough classification and back-propagation neural networks for fine classification. An evaluation of the NECTEC OCR is performed on a printed dataset that contains over 0.6 million tokens. Comparisons of the classifier, with and without the aspect ratio, and with and without SOMs, yield small, but statistically significant differences in recognition rate. A very straightforward classifier, the nearest neighbour, was examined to evaluate overall recognition performance and to compare with the classifier. It shows a significant improvement in recognition rate (about 98%) over the NECTEC classifier (about 96%) on both the original and distorted data (rotated and noisy), but at the expense of longer recognition times. For offline handwritten character recognition, three different classifiers are evaluated on three different datasets that contain, on average, approximately 10,000 tokens each. The neural network and HMMs are more effective and give higher recognition rates than the nearest neighbour classifier on three datasets. The best result obtained from the HMMs is 91.1% on ThaiCAM dataset. However, when evaluated on a different dataset, the recognition rates drastically reduce, due to differences in many aspects of online and offline handwritten data. An improvement in classification rates was obtained by adjusting the stroke width of a character in the online handwritten dataset (12 percentage points) and combining the training sets from the three datasets (7.6 percentage points). A boosting algorithm called AdaBoost yields a slight improvement in recognition rate (1.2 percentage points) over the original classifiers (without applying the AdaBoost algorithm).

Translation is not simply a transmission from one language to another language, but the bridge connecting languages, cultures, and people around the world throughout history, from past to present, in time and space. In the mutual relationship with literary systems, translation in some cases is the pioneer orienting domestic literature from stylistics, genres to content. Translation in Viet Nam, however, has never been studied systematically, and at present is like a chaotic market in which the rhythm of three main factors, translation, proof-reading, and criticism are marching to different tunes. The thesis focuses on evaluating the functions and contributions of translation in the development of literature and society in Vietnam. Besides, the thesis uses Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as a case study to clarify problems in translation in Vietnam. The results synthesized from the formulation of research questions have revealed that translation in Vietnam is absolutely a great transformer of culture and a fertilizer of Vietnamese literature. The case study Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has pointed out that present problems of translation in Vietnam are the shortage of criticism which consequently produces many poor quality translations called ‘disasters’, and of classic books for high education and research. Within deep analysis into the sematic features of the Vietnamese translation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in comparison to its Shakespeare’s English, the thesis has concluded that this translation, which has been used popularly in schools over fifty years, is no longer suitable for present audiences. It is, therefore, encouraged to re-translate the text. The thesis besides providing a whole picture of translation in Vietnam and insights into the practice of translating Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into Vietnamese, is a valuable source for Vietnamese translation scholars to indicate strategies for the development of translation in Vietnam, and for Vietnamese translators to re-translate not only other plays of Shakespeare but also classical works of the world.