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Some Thoughts on the Influence of Culture on Translation in Literary Translation

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... In addition, we investigated the reasons behind the disparities found, and suggested possible renditions for inadequate entries. For data analysis, we utilized the functional assessment model by Zhang (2018). The analytical framework is provided in the later part of this paper. ...
... Aside from the breadth of the corpus, depth is also accounted for with the application of the fourcategory analytical model by Zhang (2018), which covers both cultural linguistic and extralinguistic dimensions. This study is qualitative-descriptive, and purposive sampling was employed in corpus selection. ...
... For the analysis, we employed the functional assessment model by Zhang (2018), which covers four key categories: religion, background, linguistic and personal. Zhang explained that any translated work must be assessed by comparing the source text (ST) and the target text (TT, that is the translation), and cautioned that the purpose of comparison must be done for an objective evaluation. ...
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Translation is a cultural communicative process, a cultural exchange between two different languages. In such a text conversion, the translator is the heart of the process since, as the moderator of two languages, the choices s/he makes are often (un)consciously influenced by various variables, such as his/her cultural identity or the state of his/her national identity. This paper contributes to the current body of knowledge in this area, focusing on Qur’anic collocations and approaching the collocational phenomenon in Qur’anic rhetoric from linguistic and cultural perspectives. Specifically, this study examined multiple translated versions of the collocations embedded within Surah Al-Fatiha. To operate the analysis, we employed the functional model of assessment (Zhang, 2018) in which four categories of cultural factors are presented: religion, customs, regions, and background. Broadly, the study concludes that: 1) the translators more often than not faced complications with respect to lexicality, and 2) the translators should have been significantly more cognizant of the nature of cultural and pragmatic collocations and appreciate better the gaps that exist between Arabic and English cultural concepts and beliefs.
... This means that in the process of translation activity there are many unpredictable situations that affect the space-time continuum, thus forming a unique "pattern" of heterogeneous meanings, which self-development leads to the generation of a unique text of translation. Each harmonious translation is unique, as unique is the linguistic personality and linguistic consciousness of a translator who is an active subject of communication (Zhang, 2018). ...
... The main idea of our concept is that the text of the translation should naturally be integrated into the target culture, which is confirmed in the works of foreign researchers (Chahrour, 2018;Delisle, 2014;Ladmiral, 2015;Sipayung, Setia, & Silalahi, 2018;Zhang, 2018). As the contemporary Canadian scientist Delisle writes "La traduction n'est pas seulement ce qui permet le dialogue entre les cultures: elle est ce qui, bien souvent, les façonne" (Delisle, 2014, p. 46) ("Translation not only provides a dialog of cultures, but it very often forms cultures itself") (authors' translation). ...
... Differences in aspects like lifestyle, religion, history, values, and thinking modes further guided approaches and results taken (Fan, 2015). Additional influence emerged from translators' dual cultural identities and literary status hierarchies (Zhang, 2018). ...
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This paper analyzes Mary Snell-Hornby's seminal theoretical framework for understanding translation as an inherently cultural process. Snell-Hornby was pioneering in establishing that translation requires navigating differences in worldviews and cultural competence. Key concepts explored are culture-bound language elements, the role of expertise, and translation studies' interdisciplinarity. Practical linguistic and textual challenges posed by cultural variation are examined, along with proposed strategies for references and idioms. Case studies reveal cultural influences on translation processes and outcomes. A critical evaluation identifies strengths like emphasizing culture's centrality, and limitations addressed in later frameworks. Potential areas for further research building on Snell-Hornby's foundations are identifying, such as localized case studies, evolving digital implications, and refinement of guidance. Overall, Snell-Hornby established culture as integral to conceptualizing translation's complexities, with implications for both theory development and stewardship of cross-cultural exchange.
... A translator who really understands both languages (SL and TL) and their cultures will convey the message well from SL to TL, so readers comprehend the implicit meaning of the translation product (Almadhoun, 2020). Another related statement from another expert, "the influence of culture on translation activities is mainly reflected in two aspects: the scope and mode of national culture determining the translation activities, and the influence of culture on the process of translation" (Zhang, 2018). Mcdowell (2020) states that language and culture are interconnected because culture shows identity and social norms. ...
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This paper investigates the implementation of cultural interference from Indonesian-to English translation to students of sixth semester in English Department of a university in Surabaya. Study Case was employed by cultural context which was rendered from Indonesian as source language to English as the target language. There were most significant things how the university students as participants produced translation products. They were ideology of translation, translation methods, and techniques of translation. The ideology of translation, the translation methods, and the techniques of translation which were chosen by the participants influenced readers’ readability and acceptability. The findings indicate that (1) each participants implemented different ideology of translation, translation methods, and translation techniques; (2) translation products were influenced by participants’ knowledge; (3) most participants kept the original words of SL and 1 participant translated the original one; (4) most participants compared their translation to their colleges then chose the best one and the other kept to translate based on their own interpretation without involving their colleagues; (5) most participants determined the purpose of translation and target reader but only 1 participant did not; (6) any participants answered irrelevant, most did not have much knowledge about Western culture whose English as a mother tongue, and the other only had general knowledge about it; (7) to make target readers understand most participants made the simple translation by keeping the meaning as natural as possible, some of them adopted the target culture, and the rest ones gave irrelevant questions; (8) most participants kept the original words of SL and the others translated them to TL; (9) The difficulties were found in rendering cultural aspect from Indonesian-English were most participants could not find relevant words in TL and the rest were grammar and idiom; (10) when translating cultural context but the participants did not understand well the culture of TL, most participant would browse and asking people who know well about it and the rest kept the cultural word then gave explanation.
... Newmark [6] stated that it (translation) conveys the meaning of a text in another language following the author's intended; this occurs frequently, but not always. Translation is the cultural interchange of languages as well as the conveyance of information [7]. Translation cannot be done haphazardly, some various methods and procedures can be applied in translating something so that the intent and purpose of the original text can be conveyed even through different languages. ...
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The present paper aims to evidence the literary translation as a cultural bridge between the two countries, Albania and Spain. It is a topic which has interests in terms of literary translation because the literary translation Albanian-Spanish and vice versa is a non-treated topic in our country. Literature is a bridge between the two countries and language possesses all the characteristics of culture, because when it is translated it is produced an exchange of linguistic systems. In this paper, we will present chronological data on the number of literary translations in both countries, respectively in Albania and Spain, and we will explain the importance of literary translation as a process that connects cultures, inasmuch as the literary translation aims to transfer literary or artistic experiences of a culture to another culture. Moreover, this paper will provide an overview of the impact of literary translation in both cultures, Albanian and Spanish.
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The volume examines the interrelation between literary texts, their successive retranslations and the corresponding historical, social and cultural backgrounds that inform these versions. In the case of each text, the authors analyse both the external factors (sociohistorical circumstances, publishing context, authors, translators, etc.) and the internal ones (text analysis, translation procedures or strategies) that influence this interrelation. The book also considers how the decision to retranslate a literary work may be due not only to commercial criteria established by publishers. External developments in the historical, cultural or social environment of the target culture, or the evolution in the poetic and aesthetic considerations of the translations themselves can have influence the decision to retranslate a work, since translational activities and approaches change and evolve over time. Consequently, the procedures inherent in translation may influence the reception and perception of the original test in the target culture. Finally, the book explores how the retranslations of a literary work may even change the image of an author and the perception of his or her work that has been established by previous translations.
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The aim of this paper is to compare two English language film adaptations (by Steven Soderbergh and Ari Folman) with each other and with the books they are based on. Stanisław Lem’s novels - The Futurological Congress and Solaris - were translated into English and the directors of the films mentioned above were able to work with them. However, while one translation was appreciated by many, including the author of the original, the other one did not get much credit and features many inaccuracies, which will be presented below. The question of how much the quality of translation influences the intersemiotic translation, which adaptation is believed to be, will be examined in the paper. As, according to translation scholars, preliminary interpretation is vital for any translations, it seems justified to state that without being able to refer to the author’s original thoughts the film-makers cannot produce a good adaptation. This will be revised on the basis of comparing examples from the books and films. The analysis will be drawn on an account of translation and film adaptation theories together with the outlining of cultural background for each work.
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In the article devoted to the creative activity of the prominent Russian translator Dmitry Egorovich Min (1818 – 1883), his contribution to the history of Russian poetic translation, development of theoretical representations in the field of the Russian translated fiction is for the first time completely comprehended. Without being engaged in the original literary creativity, D.E. Min saw the main objective in the complete and exact reflection of specifics of foreign works in Russian. Such approach which didn’t correspond to characteristic tendency of the translation development in the 1850 – 1880s as a free interpretation, limited possibilities of Russian translation as the phenomena of native literature, but thus allocated it with the essential philological importance, fundamental validity that, finally, allowed Min to occupy a unique position in Russian literature and culture of the time. The choice of works for the translation was inevitably caused by ideological positions of D.E. Min which were rather inconsistent and didn’t allow him to be considered a translator of "pure art" as well as a number of their opponents from democratic literary circles. D.E. Min for many years holding high positions in Moscow University and having the solid social status, generally cooperated with the extremely right in ideology “Russkiy Vestnik” (“ Russian Messenger”) of M. N. Katkov, but thus quite often interpretated the works proclaiming ideas of social justice, need of education of common people at large etc. In this regard the choice of Min of J. Krabb's works is interesting representing the god-loving and law-abiding priest who was capable to describe truthfully in the poems cruelty of the world, burden of country work, disgrace and injustice of the strong, their indifference to sufferings of people; also the personality of R.-U. Buchanan translated by D.E. Min is so inconsistent combining loyalty of the power and internal rejection of public processes. D.E. Min for the first time in Russia addressed to creative works of the English social democrat U. Morris but chose for the translation the most neutral, the work deprived of revolutionary pathos – the poem “Earthly paradise”, literary stylization created under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti and representing reality in an allegorical form. Noting discrepancy of ideological searches of D. E. Min, the authors of the article bring to thought of illegality of the characteristic of the 1860s – the 1870s only as the fight stage between noble and liberal and revolutionary-democratic directions in the Russian literary translation, note existence of such figures in literary process of that time which managed to avoid direct participation in the called polemic on positions of one of the parties. Avoiding distortions towards literalism and a liberty, seeking for the most exact preservation and reconstruction of realities of other cultures, the nonprofessional translator, the scientist-physician D. E. Min made the significant contribution to professionalizing of translation matter in Russia. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n3s3p383
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This study aims to examine particular locations where cultural translation takes place in the process of translating Korean literature into English, and analyze the hegemonic conflict points between the established status of Korean literature in Korea and the emerging status of its English translation abroad. Over the course of time the Korean literature has established its own hegemonic tradition which carries the representative cultural identity of Koreans. However, recently these vested rights of Korean literature in Korea have been challenged by the successful reception of the English translations of Korean literature which seems to have established its own cannonical hegemony in English-speaking countries with a different group of Korean writers including Shin Kyung-sook and Han Kang. The particular locations where two different cultural hegemonies conflict each other include school textbook, anthology, literary award, and bestseller. The success of the English translation of Korean literature seems to present a different kind of hierarchy of the tradition of Korean literature, based on the different kind of preference by publishers and readers in English-speaking countries. Eventually, the higher status of cultural hegemony of the English translations of Korean literature in English-speaking countries seems to influence, interfere and eventually subvert the existing hegemonic hierarchy of Korean literature in Korea. The questions of ‘who does own Korean literature?’, ’who does have more authority about Korean literature’ and ‘who does know Korean literature more?’ have become a critical point of cultural translation in the process and reception of the English translation of Korean literature these days.
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Through looking into the themes and sources of translated fictions in China in the earlier (1910–1931) and later (1979–1999) parts of the twentieth century, published in Fiction Monthly and Translations, respectively, and comparing the translating strategies adopted by three translators, again in different periods, in their Chinese translating of the ideological contents in David Copperfield, this paper makes a descriptive and more comprehensive study of ideological impacts on translated literature from both the macro- and the micro-points of view. It concludes that both the themes and the sources of translated literature in a certain period are influenced to some degree by the ideologies of the time; and that ideologies also exert influence on the cultural orientations in the translators’ choice of translating strategies. The “rewriting” strategies adopted are inversely related to the correspondence of ideological paradigms between S-text and T-text: the less is the correspondence, the more drastic is the “rewriting”.
Cultural imbalance and literary translation
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