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Does culture translate?: Evidence from translating proverbs
Abstract
This study strives to answer one major question: Does culture translate?, employing the translation of English proverbs into Arabic by senior students majoring in English. The study involves 30 English proverbs collected from different sources, based on three criteria, namely complete Arabic equivalence, partial Arabic equivalence and zero Arabic equivalence. These 30 proverbs were distributed to 20 randomly selected senior students as participants. The participants translated the 30 proverbs in the form of a translation test in two phases. The results of the study show that teaching the cultural aspects of the proverbs has developed and improved the participants’ translations considerably, thus providing empirical evidence that culture translates .
... This phenomenon has aroused due perhaps to the difficulty of translating texts embedded within culture such as poetry, proverbs, among others (see e.g. Dabaghi et al., 2010;Qarabesh et al., 2023;Shormani, 2020). Yemen is known as the cradle of civilization, and Yemeni folk and colloquial literature are full of several genres and forms (see also Caton, 1990). ...
... Due to being embedded within culture, these types of texts are deemed difficult to translate; they involve cultural aspects more than simply wording like proverbs and idioms, for example (cf. Shormani, 2020). However, there are several translation strategies that have been employed in successfully translating these types of texts such as romanization, free, literary translations, among others. ...
... In addition, our philosophy of (un)translatability is that every text is translatable into another language (contra to Jacobson, 1959), but there is no 100% correct translation and no 0% translation. Translation varies depending on the nature of the text, the translator, the strategy used, etc. (see Shormani, 2020). ...
... We collected 10 proverbs, namely those in category 1 from Flavell and Flavell's (1993) (henceforth, F&F). The ten proverbs in category 2 were adopted from Shormani (2020). The proverbs in CAE were meant to examine the participants' awareness of culture through proverbs in both languages. ...
... Thus, it should be noted that the present study is different from Shormani's (2020) in several aspects including: i) time, while Shormani's (2020) study was conducted in 2017, the present study was conducted in 2023, ii) place, while Shormani's (2020) study was conducted at Ibb University, a public institution, this study is conducted at AlQalam University, a private institution, iii) participants are different in both studies in several ways including age and gender, courses studied, iv) scope, Shormani (2020) employed proverbs to examine whether culture can translate, but we use translation to examine whether English culture can be taught in L2 English classroom vis-à-vis English language, and to what extent it affects students' proficiency in L2, v) instrument, Shormani's (2020) used hard-copy sheets to administer the test, while this study uses Google.Sheets, vi) ready translations, Shormani (2020) asked students to provide translations, while we give them ready translations (3, translations, 1 correct and 2 incorrect, see Appendices C & D) the participants have to choose the correct one, vii) focus, Shormani's (2020) focus was on translation, hence there was no need for a follow-up questionnaire, but our study requires this follow-up questionnaire to assess the participants' satisfaction and attitudes towards teaching cultural aspects and to what extent they find it useful for their learning of English language, and viii) criteria of equivalence, Shormani's (2020) criteria are based on three categories of equivalence while ours are based on two categories of equivalence. ...
... Thus, it should be noted that the present study is different from Shormani's (2020) in several aspects including: i) time, while Shormani's (2020) study was conducted in 2017, the present study was conducted in 2023, ii) place, while Shormani's (2020) study was conducted at Ibb University, a public institution, this study is conducted at AlQalam University, a private institution, iii) participants are different in both studies in several ways including age and gender, courses studied, iv) scope, Shormani (2020) employed proverbs to examine whether culture can translate, but we use translation to examine whether English culture can be taught in L2 English classroom vis-à-vis English language, and to what extent it affects students' proficiency in L2, v) instrument, Shormani's (2020) used hard-copy sheets to administer the test, while this study uses Google.Sheets, vi) ready translations, Shormani (2020) asked students to provide translations, while we give them ready translations (3, translations, 1 correct and 2 incorrect, see Appendices C & D) the participants have to choose the correct one, vii) focus, Shormani's (2020) focus was on translation, hence there was no need for a follow-up questionnaire, but our study requires this follow-up questionnaire to assess the participants' satisfaction and attitudes towards teaching cultural aspects and to what extent they find it useful for their learning of English language, and viii) criteria of equivalence, Shormani's (2020) criteria are based on three categories of equivalence while ours are based on two categories of equivalence. ...
This article provides an empirical study on rethinking teaching culture and its impact on learning language in second language (L2) teaching classroom. The study sample consists of twenty students majoring in English as participants, from third-and fourth-year students, Department of English and Translation, AlQalam University, Yemen. The participants' task was to choose the best translation for twenty English proverbs each. The translation test was constructed on Google. Sheets. The findings indicate that students' performance has developed considerably through teaching them the culture of the proverbs involved. This was supported by a follow-up survey questionnaire, whose results consolidated the study findings that culture should be taught vis-à-vis language in L2 classroom.
... This phenomenon has arisen due perhaps to the difficulty of translating texts embedded within the culture such as poetry, and proverbs, among others (see e.g. Dabaghi et al., 2010;Qarabesh et al., 2023;Shormani, 2020). Yemen is known as the cradle of civilization, and Yemeni folk and colloquial literature are full of several genres and forms (see also Caton, 1990). ...
... Due to being embedded within culture, these types of texts are deemed difficult to translate; they involve cultural aspects more than simply wording like proverbs and idioms, for example (cf. Shormani, 2020). However, there are several translation strategies that have been employed in successfully translating these types of texts such as romanization, free, literary translations, among others. ...
This paper aims to study (un)translatability in the Yemeni (Ibbi) context, utilizing culture-based texts, specifically zawaamil and ballads, and examining whether they can be translated into English. The study involves 19 Ibb University MA English students. It aims at investigating the extent to which the discourse of these texts is translatable into English. The study thus identifies the difficulties encountered by these students while translating such texts, and hence, suggesting possible strategies and solutions to overcome such difficulties. It employs a mixed-method approach utilizing descriptive and empirical methods, using the questionnaire as an instrument. The findings indicate that linguistic and conceptual difficulties are highly encountered in translating zawaamil and ballads followed by cultural and discourse difficulties and the lowest difficulties are those related to psychological problems. The study concludes that while translatability exists, untranslatability does not, and that this study contributes to the ongoing trend in this regard.
... Translation is viewed as a human activity; it is also a process in which our knowledge, experiences, and ideologies are transmitted from generation to another (James, 2002;Shormani, 2020Shormani, , 2024b. Translation is not limited to just transferring the meaning of a text wording, but it involves creativity and innovation (Dugonik et al., 2019). ...
... As for culture, ChatGPT, though the most powerful AI model, cannot translate an English proverb like The devil is beating his grandma (a proverb said when rain falls and sun shines) into Arabic, as proverbs involve arbitrariness and idiosyncrasies, and are embedded within culture (cf. Shormani, 2020). As for religious texts, ChatGPT, for instance, cannot translate such an Arabic religious text as هللا !بحجر 'bi-ħajr ʔallah!' (=For the sake of God). ...
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of artificial intelligence (AI) contribution to translation industry (ACTI) research, synthesizing it over forty-one years from 1980-2024. 13220 articles were retrieved from three sources, namely WoS, Scopus, and Lens. We provided two types of analysis, viz., scientometric and thematic, focusing on cluster, subject categories, keywords, burstness, centrality and research centers as for the former. For the latter, we thematically review 18 articles, selected purposefully from the articles involved, centering on purpose, approach, findings, and contribution to ACTI future directions. The findings reveal that in the past AI contribution to translation industry was not rigorous, resulting in rule-based machine translation and statistical machine translation whose output was not satisfactory. However, the more AI develops, the more machine translation develops, incorporating Neural Networking Algorithms and (Deep) Language Learning Models like ChatGPT whose translation output has developed considerably. However, much rigorous research is still needed to overcome several problems encountering translation industry, specifically concerning low-source languages, multi-dialectical and free word order languages, and cultural and religious registers.
... Translation is seen as a human activity through which human knowledge, experience, sciences, culture, ideologies, values, concepts are transmitted from generation to another (Shormani 2020). Defining translation spans more than two centuries now. ...
... Defining translation spans more than two centuries now. A number of translation theorists and scientists defined translation from several perspectives including linguistics (Catford 1965), culture (Newmark, 1981(Newmark, , 1988Nida, 1964;Shormani 2020), equivalence (Nida 1964), among other definitions and scholars. About a century ago, Jakobson (1959: 233) defines translation as "an interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other language." ...
This study sets out to answer one major question: Can ChatGPT capture swearing nuances? It presents an empirical study on the ability of ChatGPT to translate Arabic oath expressions into English. 30 Arabic oath expressions were collected from the literature. These 30 oaths were first translated via ChatGPT and then analyzed and compared to the human translation in terms of types of gaps left unfulfilled by ChatGPT. Specifically, the gaps involved are: religious gap, cultural gap, both religious and cultural gaps, no gap, using non-oath particles, redundancy and noncapturing of Arabic script diacritics. It concludes that ChatGPT translation of oaths is still much unsatisfactory, unveiling the need of further developments of ChatGPT, and the inclusion of Arabic data on which ChatGPT should be trained including oath expressions, oath nuances, rituals, and practices.
... Gibbs and Beitel (1995) stated that people generally conceptualize their lives in figurative, mainly metaphorical connections reflected from their life situations, rendering similar meanings in different languages. To translate proverbs, students should know the culture of those proverbs and this knowledge was found to be useful (Shormani, 2020). For example, according to Batitskaya et al. (2019), regarding cultural attitudes, in English, gold can refer to power, a cult, a spiritual value, or a remedy. ...
... grammar and vocabulary) but also knowledge of proverbs of both the source and the target language. This idea has been previously mentioned by Shormani (2020) ...
EFL teachers’ and 60 students’ perceptions of the knowledge needed to translate English proverbs into Vietnamese. The study used an online survey to collect the two groups’ responses. The survey used a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 for strongly disagree to 5 for strongly agree. The results showed that most teachers were aware of teaching their students the necessary knowledge to help them translate English proverbs into Vietnamese. Similarly, most students were mindful of the knowledge required for translating English proverbs into Vietnamese, and they perceived that translating English proverbs was a demanding task. For an open-ended question, many valuable ideas regarding translating English proverbs to Vietnamese were collected and used as references for future proverbial translation teaching and learning. Suggestions and limitations of the study were also included.
... Translation is viewed as a human activity; it is also a process in which our knowledge, experiences, and ideologies are transmitted from generation to another (James, 2002;Shormani, 2020Shormani, , 2024b. Translation is not limited to just transferring the meaning of a text wording, but it involves creativity and innovation (Dugonik et al., 2019). ...
... As for culture, ChatGPT, though the most powerful AI model, cannot translate an English proverb like The devil is beating his grandma (a proverb said when rain falls and sun shines) into Arabic, as proverbs involve arbitrariness and idiosyncrasies, and are embedded within culture (cf. Shormani, 2020). As for religious texts, ChatGPT, for instance, cannot translate such an Arabic religious text as هللا !بحجر 'bi-ħajr ʔallah!' (=For the sake of God). ...
This article deals with AI and translation industry ............
... Translation is a process of transferring information, experience and knowledge from generation to another (Newmark, 1988). It has several theories including linguistic theory (Catford, 1965), cultural theory (Geertz, 1973;Conway, 2012;Shormani, 2020), Skopos theory (Flynn, 2004), among others. All these theories help in shaping translation as both product and process. ...
The purpose of this study is to examine the success and failure of ChatGPT in translating some Arabic free poetry texts selected from Wahib's 'Hulm 'ala Nasiat Aljabin 'A Dream on the Corners of Nostalgia'. In this study, we examined ChatGPT's ability in translation field. In particular, the focus is on translation in Arabic context. The free poetry texts were first translated by the authors, then by ChatGPT. Both translations were then analyzed and compared to find out to what extent ChatGPT translation deviates from human translation. Qualitative approach is adopted, with the help of comparative and analytical methods. The results show that ChatGPT is to some extent successful in producing a natural English translation of the Arabic poems in this study. While human adopts translation strategies like paraphrasing, adapting, recreating, transliteration. ChatGPT adopts translation strategies like paraphrasing addition, word-for-word, literal translation. But there is no care for the aesthetic values in ChatGPT's translation, and many types of translation errors result from applying these strategies.
La mediación intercultural es un elemento esencial en la adquisición de la lengua extranjera. No obstante, esta se ha investigado, sobre todo, desde el punto de vista de la lengua estándar y en menor medida, desde los lenguajes de especialidad. En este artículo presentamos un proyecto enmarcado dentro del lenguaje turístico con estudiantes polacos de Filología hispánica con el fin de introducir la mediación intercultural siguiendo las recomendaciones establecidas en el Volumen Complementario (2020) del Marco Común Europeo de Referencias para las lenguas (MCER VC). Por ello, los estudiantes realizaron un proyecto de promoción turística de sus ciudades polacas de proveniencia para darlas a conocer a los hispanohablantes. Para llevar a cabo la actividad, que realizaron en grupos, tuvieron que organizarse para conseguir el material gráfico, seleccionar los elementos de los que querían hablar, redactar el texto en polaco para locutarlo y realizar la traducción de este texto en español para realizar los subtítulos de su vídeo. Con esta actividad, pretendíamos que los estudiantes mediasen en textos, en conceptos y en comunicación. Para poder valorar todos estos aspectos, junto al vídeo, los grupos debían entregar un informe indicando los problemas de traducción que habían detectado, las posibles soluciones e indicar la opción que habían elegido y justificarla. Los resultados fueron favorables. A través de los vídeos y los informes, se comprobó que los estudiantes analizaron detalladamente los problemas de traducción que encontraron y se documentaron para poder encontrar una solución entre todos que hiciese comprensible el concepto que necesitaban trasladar al español. Asimismo, al tener que adaptar el texto a un formato como el subtitulado, se vieron obligados a que sus decisiones tuviesen que ser más precisas para encajarlas en las convenciones establecidas. Por consiguiente, con este proyecto verificamos que se adquiere la mediación intercultural descrita en el MCER VC.
This study sets out to answer one major question: Can ChatGPT capture swearing nuances? It presents an empirical study on the ability of ChatGPT to translate Arabic oath expressions into English. 30 Arabic oath expressions were collected from the literature. These 30 oaths were first translated via ChatGPT and then analyzed and compared to the human translation in terms of types of gaps left unfulfilled by ChatGPT. Specifically, the gaps involved are: religious gap, cultural gap, both religious and cultural gaps, no gap, using non-oath particles, redundancy and noncapturing of Arabic script diacritics. It concludes that ChatGPT translation of oaths is still much unsatisfactory, unveiling the need of further developments of ChatGPT, and the inclusion of Arabic data on which ChatGPT should be trained including oath expressions, oath nuances, rituals, and practices.
This study endeavors to explore the problems that Translation trainees’ mother culture poses when translating culture-specific idioms. The study used a translation task that comprises 20 culture-specific English idioms which incorporate lexical entities that can have negative connotations in the Arabic culture. The task was distributed to 40 randomly selected translation trainees, senior undergraduate translation students at the Department of Arabic and Translation, College of Languages, Sana’a University. Findings of the study show that the trainees’ mother culture had a considerable impact on the translation process. This impact exhibited itself in many forms, the most prominent of which is the tendency to offer a culturally-driven judgment of the content of the idiom instead of translating the idiom itself. The paper delineates the various forms of cultural interference as seen in the trainees’ renditions of the idioms in the study.
This paper surveys the research methods and approaches used in the multidisciplinary field of applied language studies or language education over the last fourty years. Drawing on insights gained in psycho- and sociolinguistics, educational linguistics and linguistic anthropology with regard to language and culture, it is organized around five major questions that concern language educators. The first is: How is cultural meaning encoded in the linguistic sign? It discusses how the use of a symbolic system affects thought, how speakers of different languages think differently when speaking, and how speakers of different discourses (across language or in the same language) have different cultural worldviews. The second question is: How is cultural meaning expressed pragmatically through verbal action? It discusses the realization of speech acts across cultures, culturally-inflected conversation analysis, and the use of cultural frames. The third question is: How is culture co-constructed by participants in interaction? It discusses how applied linguistics has moved from a structuralist to a constructivist view of language and culture, from performance to performativity, and from a focus on culture to a focus on historicity and subjectivity. The fourth question is: How is research on language and culture affected by language technologies? The print culture of the book, the virtual culture of the Internet, the online culture of electronic exchanges all have their own ways of redrawing the boundaries of what may be said, written and done within a given discourse community. They are inextricably linked to issues of power and control. The last section explores the current methodological trends in the study of language and culture: the increased questioning and politicization of cultural reality, the increased interdisciplinary nature of research, the growing importance of reflexivity, and the noticeable convergence of intercultural communication studies and applied language studies in the study of language and culture.
The article reviews Digital Language Learning (DLL) research that has used principles and concepts of Sociocultural Theory (SCT) to support the research. We explain several key principles of the theory and shows how they have been misused or used in a superficial way in the DLL research. These include the assumption that SCT is a social rather than a psychological theory as well as misinterpretation of the central concepts of imitation and the Zone of Proximal Development. The article argues that the assumption that Virtual Reality pedagogy—which claims it is a means to avoid a parasitic relationship between L1 and L2—is problematic and not supported by an SCT perspective because the theory assigns a central role to L1 in all aspects of psychological development. It also argues that DLL pedagogy that seeks to avoid explicit instruction in favor of implicit learning through comprehensible input may well hinder full development of a new language. Finally, the article suggests ways in which DLL and SCT‐based language pedagogy can be integrated into a coherent instructional program.
Grounded primarily in the ethnography of communication and aligned with the multidisciplinarity of discourse analysis, the book examines the use of proverbs in the daily life of a social network of Mexican-origin transnational families in Chicago and Michoacán, Mexico. Various and detailed analyses of actual proverb use reveal that proverbs in this particular population function as a highly contextualized communicative strategy that serves four discrete social functions: to argue, to advise, to establish rapport, and to entertain. Proposing that the social and cognitive aspects of language use must be combined for a complete understanding of how such genres of language are actually used by regular people in daily life, the author shows how ordinary people use sophisticated cognitive processes to interpret the socially-relevant meanings of proverbs in everyday conversation. The book provides an unusual mix of contextualized discourse analysis that is ethnographic, linguistic, and cognitive, yielding much needed insight into a segment of the Mexican-origin population of the Midwestern U.S., a population whose increasing importance and size is often mentioned, but about which precious few linguistic studies have been conducted. The volume not only helps to fill this void but it is also one of the few studies that focuses on the impact of transnationalism on linguistic practices, regardless of cultural group. Departing from the conventional approach of ignoring the role of everyday-language use in order to focus exclusively on culture, economics, or migrant patterns, the book makes linguistic practice the central issue, and thus affirms that it is language that weaves together the two distant sites of transnational communities, providing a fertile area for understanding the perspectives of the transmigrants themselves. © 2010 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/New York. All rights reserved.
Rhetoric consists of the selection and arrangement of the phonological, lexicals, and syntactic elements in verbal communication and may be regarded as that level of structure which combines in unlimited ways both form and content. This article explains the basic processes and principles of selection and arrangement, and rhetorical techniques.
Written by a linguist and anthropologist with 40 years' experience in the field of language and religion, this work describes the major components of translating, setting the translating into the context of historical changes in principles and procedures over the last two centuries. With an emphasis on texts being understood within their cultural contexts, one of the reasons for continuing relevance of this book is the broad number of illustrative examples taken from field experience of translators in America, Africa, Europe and Asia.