Representations of the dead and the afterlife in translations of Mudan Ting, a masterpiece in Chinese Kunqu theatre

Babel ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy S.B. Ngai
Keyword(s):  
Target Language ◽  
English Text ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Related Material ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Semantic Translation ◽  
Cultural Taboos ◽  
Peony Pavilion ◽  
Target Readership

The aim of this paper is to identify and analyze the strategies used to translate into English death related cultural taboos viz. death, ghost and resurrection represented in the prominent classical Chinese drama Mudan Ting. Particular reference is made to the articulation of these taboos in three seminal English versions of Mudan Ting (as Peony Pavilion) by Cyril Birch, Wang Rongpei and Zhang Guanqian, respectively. Although these translators all follow the source text closely, certain differences in their translation strategies warrant attention. Cyril Birch takes an acculturation approach to the translation of death-related material, whereas Wang Rongpei adheres to the original text and tends to use semantic translation. In contrast, Zhang Guanqian usually translates literally, infusing the English text with a “foreign” flavor. These differences are examined in light of the general propensity among translators to take an avoidance approach to death-related material. The strategies used to translate taboo subjects are found to depend on the translator’s intentions, the target readership, the specific nature of the culturally loaded elements and the availability of equivalent expressions in the target language and culture.

scholarly journals The Disappearing Medium: Remarks on Language in Translation

2011 ◽  
pp. 165-179
Author(s):  
George Varsos
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Recent Criticism ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
German Romanticism ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Language And Culture

This essay discusses problems pertaining to the disappearance of the language of the original text in the case of literary translation. After a reminder of recent criticism directed against ethnocentric translation strategies, the question is raised of the theoretical promises of alternative strategies. The text examines the different ways in which the relations between language and culture are theorized, taking two lines of inquiry that have strongly infl uenced contemporary translation theory: that of German Romanticism and that of Walter Benjamin.

scholarly journals Translation Teaching Strategies For Arabic Language Education Students at The State Islamic Institute (IAIN) Ponorogo

ASALIBUNA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Mukminin
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Text Understanding ◽  
Semantic Translation

This study aims to explore teaching methods and strategies in teaching translation among lecturers at IAIN Ponorogo. In their teaching, the lecturers determine the high goals, that is being able to translate Arabic into Indonesian, and the reverse; However, students' language competence is not good enough to achieve that goal because translation is a work that must be supported by various types of competencies such as understanding text, understanding Arabic grammar, understanding methods and translation strategies, and so on. Student competencies are not in accordance with the specific goals in this education, and this fact is what leads lecturers to carry out effective teaching and use good types of teaching methods and strategies so that education is successful and students can achieve the goals. Researchers used a qualitative approach and explored descriptive facts such as written voices or individual speeches, contemplative traits and data sources. The data analysis method is descriptive analysis with three methods, namely data reduction and data presentation. The results of this study are 1) The method used in teaching translation: translation is word by word, because translation is done between separation by placing the translation under the source language in order to maintain word order. The word is translated as a word in a general sense. Pro translation because it produces contextual meaning of the source language into the target language appropriately. Therefore, translators are careful in translating cultural vocabulary and adjusting grammar. This method seeks to achieve the author's goals. 2) The strategy used is an expansion against the target, and the word element is an expansion in the target language, semantic translation, ordinal translation, transcription or semantic translation intersection. 3) And the learning outcomes obtained by students are good, academic results are not good. The result of the equation 70 (seventy) 

Use of vocabulary translation strategies: A semantic translation analysis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Rietveld
Keyword(s):  
Text Messages ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Semantic Translation ◽  
Translation Analysis ◽  
Text Context ◽  
Language Text

Translation is the process of transferring source language text messages into the target language. The practical objective of the message transfer process is to assist the reader of the target language text in understanding the message intended by the original author of the source language text. There are many types of translations available, but semantic translation is considered the type of translation that is the most accurate in conveying meaning. Semantic translation tries to divert as closely as possible the semantic and syntactic structures of the target language with the exact same contextual meaning in the source language text, as well as word meanings and sentence meanings from the perspective of the source text context. Semantic translation is found to be the most flexible and flexible translation.

scholarly journals Translating Folklore: the Myth of Baba Jaga in Afanasev’s Fairy Tales

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-30
Author(s):  
Caterina Neri
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Oral Culture ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Language And Culture

The main aim of this article is to provide a thorough insight about the difficulties encountered when translating fairy tales from Slavic folklore, in a sense that not only it implies the shift from anoral version to a written one, but also it has to face all the challenges of children’s literature. In order to do this, we have analyzed one of the hundreds of fairy tales present in the work of the Russian writer and linguist Aleksandr Nikolaevič Afanas’ev, Narodnye russkie skazki, an extraordinary collection and classification of a large amount of fairy tales of the Slavic oral culture. Our analysis focuses on the well-known character Baba Jaga, the ‘wooden leg’ witch, who lives in an izbaand rests on hen’s legs in an enchanted wood. In particular, an attempt is made to conduct a translatological analysis of Afanas’ev’s text, within the framework of textual typology considering the translation macro-strategy, the most significant linguistic factors, as well assome potential translation strategies which help the story to fit in the target language and culture in the best possible way.

scholarly journals Is translating poems for children a child’s play? A linguistic analysis of the English translations of “Lokomotywa” by Julian Tuwim

2021 ◽  
pp. 67-85
Author(s):  
Laura Saks ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Child's Play ◽  
Translation Analysis ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Children’S Expectations ◽  
The Impact

The aim of the present article is to demonstrate the challenges connected with the translation of children’s poetry, and to offer a qualitative analysis of different translation strategies employed in two English translations of the Polish poem for children “Lokomotywa” by Julian Tuwim. The translation analysis is based on the translation strategies proposed by Lawrence Venuti and Peter Newmark. It focuses on the linguistic and cultural differences between Polish and English, and examines the choices of the translation strategies made by the translators, and the impact they may have had on the reception of the poem in the target language. The comparison shows that although there may be some limitations in terms of the target language and culture, the translators are able to find suitable and effective solutions and simultaneously convey the source text’s form and content. The conclusions placed at the end of the paper summarise the features of both translations and emphasise those strategies employed by the translators which are effective and thanks to which the translations are likely to live up to children’s expectations.

Minority voices in literary fiction: a case study of translating multilingual practices

Multilingua ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arja Nurmi
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Ethnic Identities ◽  
Literary Fiction ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Field Of Inquiry

AbstractTranslating multilingual texts is still a new field of inquiry. Transplanting a text where the function of embraced multilingual practices is strongly related to local ethnic identities can provide challenges for translators and readers alike. This study discusses the translation strategies adopted by second-year translation students on an assignment to translate part of Patricia Grace’s short story “The Dream” into Finnish. The strategies for dealing with the Maori passages in the story varied, both in terms of how many of the Maori passages were preserved and how much intratextual translation was included in the text. The strategies were investigated both in the translations themselves and in the accompanying translation comments the students produced. The degree to which the translators showed an in-depth understanding of the nuances relevant to the representation of an ethnic minority of another culture varied. There was more sensitivity to a Finnish reader’s insufficient familiarity with the Maori language and culture than to the meaning of the representations of Maori language and culture in the original text.

scholarly journals Translation Strategies of Figurative Language in the Novel The Fault in Our Stars

K ta Kita ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-115
Author(s):  
Deby Angelia
Keyword(s):  
Figurative Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Original Text ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Translation Strategy

This research wanted to help the reader to understand about the classification of translation strategies in the novel The Fault in Our Stars. The writer used Larson’s (1998), proposes three strategies to translate figurative language. The writer was interested in analyzing the figurative language because there are many kinds of implicit meaning in figurative language; she felt that it was interesting to be analyzed. Besides, the writer chose a novel because it explains the story more detail than others such as movie. She chose The Fault in Our Stars novel because the story is quite touched and there are a lot of figurative languages on its novel. The writer hope that the translated meaning of figurative language can be the same as the original text.  Keywords: Translation, Translation Strategy, Figurative Language, Source Language, Target Language.

scholarly journals Cultural Perspective in The Translation of Slang Expressions in Subtitle Die Hard 3

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahmawati Sukmaningrum ◽  
Ajeng Setyorini
Keyword(s):  
Target Language ◽  
Common Word ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Cultural Transfer ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Expressive Meaning ◽  
And Function

The paper focuses upon the problem of trans-cultural transfer in subtitling of Die Hard 3 movie dialogues. Language and culture may thus be seen as being closely related and both aspects must be considered for translation. The methodology of the research involves analysis of the type and function of slang expressions and their translating strategies viewed from cultural perspective. The data reveal that in translation process the translator used the effect of softening. The consideration of the target reader is taken account in choosing the translation strategies. As the result, the authors found 7 specific slang expressions that were translated using loan translation. Meanwhile, the total number of general slang expressions from the mivie was 90. There are six strategies applied by the translator to translate the slang expressions that belong to general slang type. They are; (1) Translating General Slang using common word or phrase of similar expressive meaning, (2) Translating General Slang using Shift or Translating General Slang using Transposition, (3) Translating General Slang using Ommision, (4) Translating General Slang using Cultural Equivalent, (5) Translating General Slang using Swearing Words in Target Language, and (6) Translating General Slang using Synonymy.

scholarly journals On Translating Postcolonial African Writing: French Translation of Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Sylvia Ijeoma Madueke
Keyword(s):  
Target Language ◽  
Original Text ◽  
French Translation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Vernacular Language ◽  
Significant Effort

Like many postcolonial African novels written in English, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) written by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie presents many instances of literary hybridity. This paper focuses on these occurrences of hybridity and examines their translation from English into French. The paper considers various manifestations of hybridity in the novel and compares them with the novel’s French translation to illuminate translation strategies while analyzing the implications of key translation choices. This paper emphasizes that the translator made a significant effort to employ ethnocentric strategies to preserve the resonances of the author’s culture, especially instances of vernacular language inherent in the original text. The paper also notes seemingly arbitrary choices that exoticize and homogenize the translated text. Despite these instances, this paper concludes that the translation managed to maintain a balance between the source text and the target language.    

scholarly journals Swearword Translation in Steve Jobs: A Communicative/Semantic Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Licheng Lu ◽  
Aifen Li
Keyword(s):  
Target Language ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Semantic Translation ◽  
Equivalent Effect ◽  
Steve Jobs

Swearwords are commonly used in daily communications, but how to translate swearwords appropriately has received relatively little attention. This research explores swearword translation from English into Chinese based on Peter Newmark’s theory of communicative and semantic translation through a case study of the book Steve Jobs. Through detailed analyses, it is proved that translating swearwords should be reader-oriented so that the translations can produce an equivalent effect on the target readers. It is also found that many elements should be considered in swearword translation, such as character of swearer, context, source language and culture as well as target language and culture.

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