Cross-cultural literary translation strategies within a Maltese bilingual context

Babel ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-168
Author(s):  
Kenneth Grima
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Strategic Processes ◽  
Useful Flow ◽  
Culture Bias

Abstract The process of literary translation includes the source culture-specific elements that constitute an integral part of the source text. This paper aims to identify and analyse various translation strategic processes that could be adopted in translating cultural factors within the parameters of a Maltese bilingual, but not necessarily bicultural, context. Each of the suggested strategic procedures is presented in useful flow-chart formats, varying from source language/source culture to target language/target culture bias approach in order to keep cultural losses to a minimum whilst maximising cultural gains and, therefore, to make the transformation of the source text into the target text successful. Such flow-charts are aimed to provide the literary translator with a rapid means of achieving an adequate and satisfying suggested solution for a quality cross-cultural transposition of the cultural elements encountered within a bilingual context. In certain instances, it is also suggested that some strategies are used concurrently with others. To achieve this aim, an extended practical translation exercise by the author himself is used. This paper also helps to strengthen further both the level of research in narrative translation studies in general, and the research done in Maltese narrative literary translation from a cultural point of view.

scholarly journals LINGUISTIC PERSONALITY OF A TRANSLATOR

2021 ◽  
pp. 165-176
Keyword(s):  
Literary Text ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Anthropological Linguistics ◽  
Cognitive Experience ◽  
Definition Of

The article discusses the problems related to the specification of the levels of linguistic personality of a literary translation. Translator’s linguistic personality is a subtype of a linguistic personality, which is always limited to a special social function and conditioned by the ideas, style, linguistic peculiarities and preferences of the source text author. Therefore, a literary translator represents the reality that was perceived through the prism of a source text author’s mentality and cognitive experience, but with the attraction of own cognitive baggage and understanding of the foreign culture. The topicality of the research is conditioned by the necessity of definition of key components of s linguistic personality as essential elements of a literary text translation from the point of view of pragmatics. Moreover, the development of linguopersonology contributed seriously to the development of anthropological linguistics, therefore, the literary translation, being a part of anthropocentric paradigm, needs more detailed elaboration of a linguistic personality of a literary translator as this sphere is insufficiently researched. According to the understanding of a literary text as a complicated and multilevel phenomena representing a secondary objective reality and involving various contexts, it is necessary to take into consideration that a literary translator is also a secondary linguistic personality whose main goal is to represent an adequate text in the target language. Basing on the functional approaches, the levels (which are: linguocreative, pragmatic, cognitive, ideological and socio-cultural) reflecting the specificity of literary contexts were defined and justified. Each level is illustrated with the relevant examples that provide practical application of the developed theory. It is also emphasized that the differences in perception of a linguistic picture of the world by different cultures may affect the adequacy of translation, therefore, only linguistic knowledge is not enough for developing good translation skills in the sphere of a literary translation.

Transposing Proper Names in Frank McCourt’s Memoir Angela’s Ashes from English into Maltese

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Grima
Keyword(s):  
Proper Names ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Common People ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Conventional Meaning ◽  
Cultural Implications ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Processing Effort

This paper focuses on the transposition from English into Maltese of the various proper names encountered in Frank McCourt’s memoir Angela’s Ashes (Chapter 1). To achieve this aim, an extended practical translation exercise by the author himself is used. Eight different categories of proper names were identified in the source-text ranging from common people names to nicknames, titles and forms of address. Four different categories of cross-cultural transposition of proper names were considered, although only two were actually used. Various translation strategies were adopted ranging from non-translation to modification, depending on whether the particular proper name has a ‘conventional’ meaning or a culturally ‘loaded’ meaning. Although cultural losses were unavoidable, cultural gains were also experienced. Wherever possible, the original proper names were preserved to avoid any change in meaning and interference in their functionality as cultural markers. Moreover, a semantic creative translation was preferred, especially with proper names that were culturally and semantically loaded to reduce the amount of processing effort required by the target-reader and to minimize the cultural losses of relevant contextual and cultural implications in the target-text.

A corpus-based study on imagery and symbolism in Goldblatt’s translation of Red Sorghum

Babel ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng-Lin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Literary Translation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Mo Yan ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
Literal Translation ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
Translation Study ◽  
Key Word

Abstract Research on Goldblatt’s translation of Red Sorghum has attracted more attention in recent years after its author Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for this work. This translation study has addressed the imagery and symbolism in this classic Chinese work, an area that has yet to be investigated with the use of empirical data. The study employed the corpus-based approach, and analysed the translation of images and symbols based on a parallel translation corpus of Chapters 1 and 2 found in the text of Red Sorghum. Most important images and symbols are represented by 30 distinct nouns in the novel as successfully translated into English as a result of the translator’s adoption of a literal translation strategy. A more focused examination of a translation of the most prominent key word, sorghum, finds that the translator has faithfully adopted the imagery and symbolism techniques in the source text whenever conveying the images and symbols of sorghum across cultures. Based on the findings, this study argues that images and symbols in the source text may present themselves in the translation of novels if translators adopt a source-oriented translation strategy. Our analyses of the translation of figures of speech, namely similes, personifications and repetitions further highlight the importance of taking concert and literal translation strategies into the realm of literary translation.

Translation of Persian Mystic Terms into English: A Case Study of Conference of the Birds by Attar

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 552
Author(s):  
Sadaf Khosroshahi ◽  
Ahmad Sedighi
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Strategy ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Direct Transfer ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
English Translations ◽  
The One ◽  
Persian Translation

Translation of mystic terms or metaphors is a very important portion of rendering a text from a source language to a target language, because some of mystic terms do not exist in the target language and this point makes the translation harder. This paper aimed at identifying the translation strategies and procedures used by Darbandi and Davis (1984) in The Conference of the Birds of Attar Neishabouri. To achieve the objectives, Attar’s Persian original work (Shafiei Kadkani, 2010) was read carefully to extract mystical terms.  Then, the translated text by Darbandi, and Davis (1984) was carefully read and the corresponding English translations of Persian mystical term were found.  The original mystical terms and their Persian translation were analyzed based on Van Doorslaer’s (2007) map to find out translation strategies and procedures used by the translators on the one hand and indicate the dominant strategy and procedure in the whole work of translation on the other. The result showed that literal translation strategy (72.41%) was the most frequently used strategy and direct transfer procedure (68.96%) was the most frequently used procedure.  This paper may have some implications in literary translation and help translation instructors and translation trainees as well in translation classes.

scholarly journals The Application of Translation Strategies to Cope With Equivalence Problems in Translating Texts

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Dhini Aulia
Keyword(s):  
Equivalence Problem ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Specific Concept ◽  
Equivalence Problems

Translation is a process to render the meaning from the source text into the target text. A translator, however, will find some problems during translation process. Equivalence is the case which often appears (i.e. culture specific concept, the source-language concept is not lexicalized in the target language, source-language word is semantically complex, etc). To cope with equivalnce problems in translation process, some experts suggest some strategies which can be applied in doing translation. Some strategies are transference, naturalization, cultural equivalent, etc. The strategies which often appears in the example texts in this paper are transference, naturalization, descriptive equivalent, couplet and  through-translation. It is recomended that translator apply the strategies if only there is no equivalence problem in target language. 

scholarly journals CULTURAL FILTERING IN LANGUAGE TRANSLATION

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Atikah Wati
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Language Translation ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Linguistic Expression ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Cultural Event ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Target Culture

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.

scholarly journals Pragmatic Coherence and Equivalence in Literary Translation

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-154
Author(s):  
Shushanik Paronyan
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Pragmatic Equivalence

The topic of the present paper concerns cultural translation and focuses on the cross-cultural aspect of pragmatic equivalence. It is based on the hypothesis that the pragmatic framework of the literary work, i.e.  the deliberate choice of  tied verbal actions and the interpretations of these actions, forms  an important slot in the overall structure of cultural context and displays the artistic literary idea of the writer.  Hence the research work clearly shows that literary translation should adequately transmit the intentions and ideas encoded in the original text to the readers from the respective culture. The cross-cultural pragmatic analysis of the speech act sequences and reporting words carried out on the material of a literary work in English and its Armenian translation has enabled us to determine that the violation of pragmatic coherence of the source text distorts the cultural context planned by the author.

Ethics and aesthetics are one

Babel ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-263
Author(s):  
Virginia Kwok
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Content ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Cultural Mediators ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Right ◽  
Fundamental Values

Abstract In the post-modern world where thinking of pluralism and relativism is prevalent (Honeysett 2002), fundamental values such as respect for life pertinent to the health and welfare of humanity should remain unchanged in order to preserve the culture from corrosion. In this paper, through examining creativity in translation and creative writing (Zawawy 2008; Perteghella and Loffredo 2006), macro- and micro- strategies of translating a Chinese prose into an English play will be discussed, with the aim to explore the notion, “creativity is culturally variable” (Carter 2016) in literary translation. I would concur with Ludwig Wittgenstein who stated, “ethics and aesthetics are one” (1961), and argue that genres and forms of expression might vary in cross-cultural translation, semantic content and message should still be unaltered. Literary translators can act as cultural mediators to advocate peace. So to “develop an understanding of translation strategies and of the vital role that creativity plays throughout the translation/interpreting process” (Levý in Beylard-Ozeroff, Králová and Moser-Mercer 1998) can help translators build bridges rather than promote violence, to foster diversity rather than divisiveness. As such, I would explore how a translator can translate cultures with respect, integrity and creativity in the midst of tensions, confrontations and conflicts due to misunderstandings linguistically and culturally. As Vezzaro (2010: 10) put it, “to come closer to feeling compassion, which is what writing and translating is ultimately all about.” This will call for efforts to translate texts with faithfulness and the right degree of creativity (Grassilli 2014), making good decisions at individual levels and beyond. This will also require cultural understanding and collaboration at national and even international levels.

scholarly journals The status of intercultural mediation in translation: Is it an absolute licence?

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Akbari ◽  
Parviz Ahmadi Darani
Keyword(s):  
Target Language ◽  
Cultural Translation ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Persian Language ◽  
The Status ◽  
Role Of The Reader ◽  
Cultural Turn

Abstract The role of translator as Sprachmittler or intercultural mediator has welcomed much attention since the advent of the “cultural turn” paradigm. The present research paper seeks to figure out how the manifestations of intercultural mediation are achieved via translation in terms of two mediation facets, viz, personal and communicated interpretations. Whereas the former deals with the presence of the translator between the source and target cultures, the latter concerns the role of the reader of the translated text in the target language through several mediational strategies including: expansion, reframing, replacement, eschewing of dispreferred structure, and dispensation to capture the message of the source text. The rationale for focusing on these strategies lies in the fact that translators often utilize transliteration and literal translation strategies when it comes to cultural items and concepts. As far as review of the literature indicates, mediational translation has not received due attention in the Persian language since it differs in comparison with other languages such as English, French etc. In the case of language patterning, such study reveals some novel but applicable cultural translation strategies that highlight the nature of mediation in cultural translation.

scholarly journals Analyzing of translation of similes from Russian into English in the novel “Eugene Onegin” by Pushkin

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 161-172
Author(s):  
Fidan Majidova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Approximate Methods ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Full Picture ◽  
Eugene Onegin

“Eugene Onegin” is the first Russian realistic novel. Pushkin noted that all events in it he wrote due to the calendar. In “Eugene Onegin” Pushkin gave the full picture of the life in Russia in 20s. For this reason, Belinski called the novel “encyclopedia of Russian life”. In comparison with the other languages there are a lot of adjectives in Russian. As it is seen from the Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” the author used adjectives in order to describe the objects. The novel was translated into English by Johnston and Ledger. Translation of the similes is complicated, because there is not such a notion “simile” in Russian. Therefore, it is very important to differentiate comparison and simile. What kind of translation preferred more? There are equivalent, analogical, descriptive and approximate methods of translation, which both translators used in their translations. The reason of which method of translation the translators preferred depends on the context and cultural elements, realties, historical facts, traditions and customs, which are different in Russia and in England. Therefore, the translators selected the best method which transfers the meaning of the Source Text perfectly, without losing its colorfulness. In general, the article consists of the lines taken from the original which are compared with the two versions of translations made by Johnston and Ledger. Both translators tried to transfer all colorfulness, emotions, customs and traditions to the Target language reader. The methods of translations used by translators are reflected in analyzes which are given under each example.

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