scholarly journals Culture-related decision conflicts in the translation process

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 369-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terje Loogus

Translators as members of a certain culture, generally that of the target culture, base their translation-relevant decisions on their own culture, while the decisions are motivated by the (alien) source culture. In the translation process, cultural differences may lead to various decision-making conflicts and the translator has to find a compromise between the author of the source text, the target recipient and finally, of course, the translator him/herself. In this article, proceeding from functionalist approaches to translation, the discussion focuses on the decision conflicts related to translating culturespecific elements. Culture-related decision conflicts, as considered here, refer to the translator's inner indecision with reference to his/her goals, interests, values, beliefs, methodological approach, or any consequences thereof, attributable to the different cultural embeddings of the source text and the target text. In general, decision conflicts are perceived as subjective translation problems. The translator has to be able to  constantly act between separate perspectives, continuously see things from different viewpoints. The conflicts arise when the translator attempts to bring together two incongruent cultures without prejudice to any of the parties involved in the process. Acting within the interface of two different cultures, bearing in mind the interests of several participants, is what makes translation-relevant decisions a highly complex matter.

2011 ◽  
Vol 347-353 ◽  
pp. 426-430
Author(s):  
Da Lai Wang

This paper aims to account for sustainable development of different cultures in the context of globalization from the perspective of cultural functions of translation, which wield enormous power in constructing representations of the foreign culture and have far reaching effects in the target culture. According to cultural communication of translation, the major task of translation is to turn the cultural information in one language into another. Therefore, in the process of translating, the translator should try his utmost to allow his target language reader to acquire cultural information of the source text in order to promote mutual understanding between Western people and Eastern people and make different cultures co-exist peacefully and achieve sustainable development.


2016 ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Reginaldo Francisco

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-4237.2014n16p91O teórico e crítico de tradução francês Antoine Berman afirma que as traduções literárias em suas formas tradicionais e dominantes representam um ato culturalmente etnocêntrico, isto é, que traz tudo à sua própria cultura, às suas normas e valores, buscando fazer com que se esqueça que se trata de uma tradução. Para se opor a essa prática dominante, o autor propõe uma tradução que não esconda o elemento estrangeiro na obra traduzida, e que para isso seja fiel à “letra” (lettre) do original. Essa oposição é muito conhecida também nos termos utilizados pelo teórico norte-americano Lawrence Venuti, que fala em “domesticação” (domestication) e “estrangeirização” (foreignization) para se referir respectivamente às práticas tradutórias que ocultam as diferenças culturais, adaptando tudo à cultura de chegada, e àquelas que mantêm a estranheza do texto original e da cultura de partida. Interpretações mais radicais das ideias desses autores podem levar a pensar a tradução como dividida nessas duas possibilidades, e muitas vezes à escolha de uma delas como ideal e a outra como condenável. Entretanto, assim como com dicotomias mais antigas (literal x livre, equivalência formal x equivalência dinâmica, etc.), também estas não são duas categorias estanques, podendo haver diferentes combinações de ambas na tradução de um mesmo texto, além de estratégias híbridas ou soluções que não representam nem uma nem outra posição. Neste trabalho discuto a problematização dessa dicotomia, incluindo exemplos de minha tradução do italiano para o português do livro infantojuvenil O diário de Gian Burrasca, de Luigi Bertelli (Vamba).ABSTRACTFrench translation theorist and critic Antoine Berman states that in their traditional and dominant forms literary translations represent a culturally ethnocentric act, which adapts everything to its own culture, standards and values, seeking to make readers forget that they are reading a translation. To oppose this dominant practice, the author suggests a kind of translation that would not hide the foreign element in the translated work, one that is faithful to the “letter” (lettre) of the original text. A similar opposition to that / to Berman’s is also well-known through the terms “domestication” and “foreignization” as defined by American theorist Lawrence Venuti, who uses them to refer to translation practices that on one hand conceal cultural differences, adapting everything to the target culture, and on the other keep the strangeness of both source text and culture in the translation. Radical interpretations of these authors’ ideas may lead to the misconception that translation is divided into those two possibilities, and often to the judgement that one of them is ideal and the other condemnable. Nevertheless, as with other older dichotomies (literal vs. free translation, formal vs. dynamic equivalence, etc.), these are not clearly distinguishable and opposed categories. There may be different combinations of them in the translation of a text, as well as hybrid strategies or solutions that do not represent either one of them. In this paper I discuss the problems of such dichotomy, drawing examples from my translation of Luigi Bertelli’s book Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca from Italian to Portuguese.Keywords: foreignization; domestication; dichotomy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Atikah Wati

The aim of this paper is to find out the important of cultural filtering that used by translator in language translation. As we know that language and culture being inextricably interwoven, the transference of the linguistic expression is precisely an attempt to integrate elements of one culture into another. Translation, thus, becomes a cross cultural event and the translator has to formulate his translation strategies to translate source culture into target culture. To deal with these cultural problems, translator is supposed to insert cultural filter in the initial stage of understanding and analyzing codification of the source text in the first stance. Here the cultural filter helps translator in obtain various elements of source culture which cannot go as they are in the target culture because of cultural differences.


Target ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Nord

Abstract As a text-type in their own right, titles and headings are intended to achieve six functions: distinctive, metatextual, phatic, referential, expressive, and appellative. Taking as a point of departure the hypothesis that translated texts have to "function" in the target situation for which they are produced by serving the purpose(s) they are intended for (which may or may not be the "same" as those of the source text), it is argued that the translator has to reconcile the conditions of functionality prevailing in the target culture with the communicative intentions of the source-title sender (= functionality + loyalty). The discussion of several examples from an extensive corpus of German, French, English, and Spanish titles and their translations shows how this methodological approach can be put into practice, establishing a model for the functional translation of other texts and text-types.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 93-110
Author(s):  
Laura Santoo

Comics, as other written works, contains allusions that serve many functions and might be difficult to translate due to cultural differences. The aim of this article is to analyse the selected allusions and popular culture references in the Finnish comic Northern Overexposure and compare the Finnish source text with the English target text. In addition, the function of these allusions as well as the relevant cultural background are covered. The examples were analysed with Ritva Leppihalme’s (1997) strategies for translating allusions. The article also provides insight into the Finnish field of comics and the translation process of the selected comic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Eko Saputra

This study examines the behaviors, interactions and alkururation of intercultural communication with students Faculty of Adab dan Ilmu Budaya at the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University in Yogyakarta (UIN-SUKA).  Intercultural communication for new students at the Faculty Adab dan Ilmu Budaya UIN-SUKA has become an annual tradition for them to get to know each other, learn and understand the cultural characteristics of their respective faculty friends.  In this paper, the author will explore the intercultural communication of local ethnicities with ethnic migrants in the Faculty of Adab and Ilmu Budaya at UIN-SUKA which covers the introduction, adaptation, symbolic interactionalism and cultural accuracy. Answer these various questions, the author made a qualitative methodological approach by conducting interviews and observations to some of the Faculty of Adab dan Ilmu Budaya UIN-SUKA of Culture students. The results of this study show that their intercultural communication is very intensive to their friends who are of different cultures.  They communicate between their cultures in classrooms, halls, lobbies, canteens, seats, and campus grounds.  Then, it is not uncommon for them to do intercultural collaboration at certain events, for example Pekan Budya, Disaster Care Students, and Social Solidarity.  The contribution of this study is to provide readers with literature about intercultural communication with new students who have cultural differences, because every year new students experience the same case.


Translationes ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-97
Author(s):  
Elodie Weber

AbstractThis paper explores the constraints language deconstruction and ungrammaticality in Margerite Duras’s novels impose on the translation process. Given its “value” in Duras’s work, ungrammaticality seems to dictate the translator’s choice of literal translation to English or Spanish, except when the differences between language systems do not allow for literal translation and require creative ways to capture the source text and its effects. However, a review of several published English and Spanish translations of Duras’s novels has revealed that a more powerful constraint is imposed on translation and conflicts with the above-mentioned mechanism. This fundamental constraint is the acceptability of the proposed translation by the target culture.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Leni Tiwiyanti ◽  
Ayu Bandu Retnomurti

Culture-specific items (CSIs) are difficult to translate since they are related to cultural knowledge and cultural background of the given culture. The distance and differences between two different cultures determine the extent of the gain or loss that will be exprienced by the CSIs as they are translated. From Indonesian into English The purposes of this research were to identify the translation procedures applied in translating CSIs which caused loss and gained in the translation process and to identify how the translator compensated the loss in translating CSIs. The method used was qualitative descriptive method. The result shows that loss is more prevalent than gain although the translator has enough knowledge on the source text culture as he has spent some years doing some researches in Banyumas society. There are two kinds of losses found in this research; inevitable and avertable losses. Translation procedures used which result in loss in translation are translation by a more general word (subordinate), translation by a more neutral/less expressive word and translation by cultural substitution. Gain is realized mostly through the creativity of the translator when they are able to explain the culture-specific items for effectivecommunication. In order to compensate the loss that might have occurred, translator uses some translation procedures. They are translation by loan word with explanation, translation by paraphrase using related word, and translation by paraphrase using unrelated word. In short, gain in translation for better communication is not easy to achieve especially in the case oftranslating CSIs.


Babel ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 501-518
Author(s):  
Nikolina Zobenica

Abstract According to functional theories, the translation process is a specific and receiver-dependent action, the Skopos of which, however, does not always have to correspond to that of the source text. According to functionalism, the communicative function of a text can be different in the target culture, and the translation should be adapted accordingly to the new Skopos. In translating, the focus is no longer on equivalence but on the adequacy of the translation, although in the best case equivalence or consistency of function should be sought. Since this is rarely entirely feasible, the translators themselves should decide in the course of the translation process which text dimension they would give priority to: semantic (content), syntactic (form) or pragmatic (meaning). A text grammatical and text semantic analysis of the coherence and isotope in the translation of Georg Trakl’s poems into Serbian aims to determine which dimension the translator Branimir Živojinović preferred. The study has shown that he almost completely achieves text equivalence, with few deviations in favour of form, which, however, do not disturb the coherence of the selected corpus.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146-158
Author(s):  
Iryna Shargay

Discussion of the translation process is complex and fraught with pitfalls, especially when it concerns the notions of translation equivalence and adequacy. This issue is of crucial importance concerning the translation of literary works. This article is dedicated to the study of the fundamental problem which translators of all times and all countries encounter, that is, to convey the creative idea of the author of the original work without perverting it, to preserve, throughout the translation process, all the semantic and stylistic nuances which form its content. This is the question around which our research problem revolves. We study here the approaches chosen by the Ukrainian translator Yarema Kravets, in order to recreate in his translation, the sound image that J. M. G. Le Clézio succeeded in creating in his novel Ritournelle de la faim. In order to render this research more usable, we have adopted the following methodological approach, founded on these two axes: the collection of lexical units from the source text which serve to create the sound image; and the comparative analysis of the original text with its translation, of the novel by J. M. G. Le Clézio, Ritournelle de la faim, with the goal of recreating the sound of the source text by identifying its means of transmission. The anticipated result of the given study, which is dedicated to the recreation of the sound effects in the translation of the J. M. G. Le Clézio’s novel Ritournelle de la faim, will be either to confirm or refute our primary hypothesis: that the translation proposed by Y. Kravets respects the spirit and the letter of the source text.


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