MATEJ BEL UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF AMERICAN AND ENGLISH STUDIES

ON CULTURAL TRANSLATION Essay

LUCIA URBANOVA (Slovak Language and Literature - English Language and culture)

Bansk Bystrica 2011

On Cultural Translation
This paper looks at the general terms of translation studies and its new area of interest and that is cultural translation. It provides short history of cultural translation and its basic difficulties that translation theorists and linguists often come into contact with. We also try to look at the possibilities that cultural translation brings and we try to look at the possible solutions in this problematic area. The problem of cultural translation is not only a problem translation theorists should deal with but it is also an area interesting for linguists. At the beginning we have to describe the relationship between language and culture. Culture and language are phenomena that are very closely related. They are based on the social conventions and all together they create a complex of mutually conditioned bonds. At the same time there are many differences between these two phenomena. One of the most important fact we consider is the one that states that language is an instrumental system used for expressing contents of thoughts meanwhile culture represents the content itself, it is the content which is being mediated through language. Translation involves two equivalent messages in two different codes. Equivalence difference is the cardinal problem of language and the pivotal concern of linguistics. Like any receiver of verbal messages, the linguist acts as their interpreter. No linguistic specimen may be interpreted by the science of language without a translation of its signs and features into other signs and features of the same system or into signs and features of another system. And this is the same thing when transmitting features from one culture (source culture) to another (target culture). Any comparison of two languages (or cultures) implies an examination of their mutual translatability and widespread practice of interlingual (intercultural) communication, particularly translating activities must be kept under constant scrutiny by linguistic science. Translation studies is an interdisciplinary discipline containing elements of social science and the humanities. It "deals with the systematic study of the theory, the

description and the application of translation, interpreting or both these activities."1 It combines knowledge from various disciplines, e.g. linguistics, history, philosophy, science of literature, comparative literature, semiotics, etc. It is important to define what translation is. According to Anton Popovi (1983) translation is the recoding of a linguistic text. Meanwhile the recoding a new linguistic form and stylistic shape is being created. Translation is a transition of textual invariant from one text into another with maximum respect of expression and semantic properties of the original text. Taking into account the differences which exist between languages, styles and cultures, translation cannot be made in a linear way but it has to be based on the principle of equivalence. In this sense translation activity is the process of creating the variant, so it is an experimental production. According to the differences between languages while translating from one language to another, from one style to another, a new problem appeared - and that is translating from one culture from another. This problem caused the creation of a new area of interest in the field of translation studies and that is cultural translation. "Cultural translation is a concept used in cultural studies to denote the process of transformation, linguistic or otherwise, in a given culture. The concept uses linguistic translation as a tool or metaphor in analyzing the nature of transformation in cultures."2 For translation is very important translator's competence 3. Specifically when we are talking about cultural translation, culture and intercultural competence and awareness of translator play an important role. "Cultural and intercultural competence and awareness that rise out of experience of culture, are far more complex phenomenon than it may seem to the translator. The more a translator is aware of complexities of differences between cultures, the better translator s/he will be."4 There has always been a problem how to translate words and phrases that are heavily and exclusively grounded in one culture that they are almost impossible to
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation_studies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_translation The translators competence surpasses pure foreign language competence as acquired in foreign language classes. The translators competence, as the ability to produce a target language text for a source language text according to certain requirements, the so-called equivalence requirements, is qualitatively different from the mastery of the languages involved, thus different from pure language competence. (Koller, 1992, p. 19-20) http://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article1507.php

translate into the terms of another culture. So a new dilemma appeared and theorists had another problem to discuss and at the end they have come with many different approaches. All together they came with four basic possible methods - paraphrase, usage of the nearest local equivalent, coinage of a new word (literal translation) or transcription. First theory was introduced by Mounin in 1963. He "underlined the importance of the signification of a lexical item claiming that the best translation is the one which just the cultural items are correctly translated that only if this notion is considered will the translated item fulfill its function correctly." 5 At first we shall ask a question - what is more important when translating whether to keep cultural significance and cultural concept or to use a translation method which does not pay much attention to cultural matters but on the other hand highlights the message. In this area Newmark's approach from 1988 was very significant. He divided words into different categories of cultural words: ecology (flora, fauna, hills, etc.), material culture (food, clothes, transport, towns, etc.), social culture (work and leisure), organizations, customs, activities, procedures and gestures and habits. Similar distinction comes from J. Vilikovsk (1984). He divided such words into three main categories according to their specification: 1. words of material specifics realia, colorit, names of institutions; 2. words of language - slang words, phraseology, proper nouns and 3. words of cultural and contextual specifics, poetic forms, allusions and ideologies. There has always been a question what to do when we cross upon the words belonging to categories mentioned above - mainly those of cultural concept. There are several basic principles we may follow: 1. method of "exotisation" - when features of the original text dominates also in the text of the translation, 2. method of "naturalisation" - the environment of target culture in the text of translation is domnineering, 3. method of "creolization" - blending or mixing of exotic and native or domestic features, exotic and domestic features are in balance.
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We think that the best method used in this kind of translation (cultural translation) is the method of "creolisation", but also with the effort to preserve some cultural specifics because when we try to preserve and use as many exotic features (source culture features) as possible, it may lead to the situation that the final translation will be incomprehensible. On the other hand, when we try to use target culture features more, it may lead to adaptation, that is why we think that extreme naturalisation is not good solution and it is the reason why we consider the method of creolisation more useful. There is also a possibility that when there is a word of cultural specifics, we do not have to translate it, we can use a footnote and explain what does the word mean. Another great discussion to this matter brings the following fact (e.g. when we translate Slovak text into English one): everything that is typically Slovak and for us it is something domestic or internal, in this case for other English recipient it is something exotic, something foreign - it's an foreign element that is being imported into the culture of anglophone countries. We are talking about a text that is related and tied to the source culture so from the aspect of translation we have to realize that "the translator has to decide in the process of creating his own translation strategy to what extent he will preserve the features of source culture or to what extent he will substitute the foreign elements with domestic features."6 So the emphasis is also on the intercultural competence of the translator. Very common situations occur when there are some lexical items very strongly tied to the Slovak culture and its historical period. It is often very difficult job for the translator how to deal with such a problem, because usually there are no equivalents for these lexical items in English. In some cases the translator works with such an expression which there does not exist an equivalent for, because "that thing" or "that term" does not exist in the other world, civilization or culture. For example when we want to translate a text that was written in the period of communism in Slovakia, we may come across some problems when translating some slogans, names of institutions or designation of individuals of that period. For example when we have to translate Slovak expression sdruhovia (designation or mutual addressing of members of the
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Gromov - Mglov, 2005, s. 17

communist or socialist party, colloquially a communist). There is no equivalent for this lexical item in English. But e.g. Peter Petro who translated a novel Rivers of Babylon (written by Peter Pianek) to English used the following lexical item: "Moc sa op vrti do rk pracujcim masm. Dovtedy vak musme vydra! povie odhodlane. Vazstvo je nablzku! Len nezavi zo svojej ostraitosti, sdruhovia!" "Power will be restored to the working masses. Until then, we have to keep the faith, he says resolutely. Victory is near. We mustn't let our guard down, comrades." In the case of cultural translation the semiotic aspect is also very important. It means that we have to respect and mainly we have to solve the problems that occur in translations when there is a different implementation of cultural time and space. "A variety of different approaches have been examined in relation to the cultural implications for translation. It is necessary to examine these approaches bearing in mind the inevitability of translation loss when the text is, as here, culture bound. Considering the nature of the text and the similarities between the ideal source text and target text reader, an important aspect is to determine how much missing background information should be provided by the translator using these methods."7 Of course it is upon the translator for which method he will decide, but he should think of the fact whom the text is going to be intended for. Translation has become a more prolific, more visible and more respectable activity than perhaps ever before. The translation of literary texts became a translation not just between two languages but as Catford had put it, rather a more complex negotiation between two cultures. The unit of translation was no longer a word or a sentence or a paragraph or a page or even a text but indeed the whole language and culture in which that text was constituted. The conclusion is that the role of translator dealing with text with such a cultural aspect is more than important. All of this support the fact that the translator must have a great translation and cultural competence. He must understands the historical, social,
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economical and cultural background of both civilizations and cultures but also he has to be aware of significant language and cultural differences in order to translate the source text into the target text with respect to both cultures correctly with all the linguistic, cultural, geographical and historical discrepancies s/he comes across during the whole translation process.

BIBLIOGRAPHY POPOVI, A. 1983. Originl/Preklad. Bratislava : Tatran, 1983. GROMOV, E. - MGLOV, D. 2005. Kultra - Interkulturalita - Translcia. Nitra : UKF, Filozofick fakulta. 2005. VILIKOVSK, J. 1984. Preklad ako tvorba. Bratislava : Slovensk spisovate, 1984. http://www.articlesbase.com/languages-articles/cultural-translation1085989.html#axzz1PBFGFyMG http://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article1507.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_translation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation_studies http://referaty.atlas.sk/ostatne/nezaradene/24737/medzipriestorovy-faktor-v-preklade