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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.
In today’s globalized world, the transliteration of Chinese culturally loaded terms (CCLTs) into English through Romanization has emerged as a significant area of study. This paper delves into the evolving dynamics of language representation, cultural exchange, and cross-cultural communication within the context of China’s expanding cultural and economic influence. It explores the reception, perception, and acceptance of Romanized CCLT in English-speaking societies and examines how these terms reshape communication. The study addresses a notable gap in understanding the implications of Romanization on cultural identity and language representation. By focusing on specific instances like “bu zheteng” and “jiaozi,” this research provides valuable insights into their reception and impact in English-speaking contexts. The theoretical implications of Romanization highlight the adaptability of languages and their capacity to evolve through cultural exchanges. It underscores the dynamic nature of language and the importance of sound and structure in conveying meaning. From a managerial perspective, businesses and organizations engaging with Chinese markets can leverage Romanization for brand recognition and clarity in communication. This research contributes to the evolving discourse on language dynamics, cross-cultural communication, and cultural identity, offering valuable insights into the field of linguistics and cultural studies. As Romanization continues to play a pivotal role in representing CCLT in the contemporary world, its study becomes increasingly relevant in our interconnected society.
Oaths are mostly a culture-embedded linguistic component and this to such an extent that their translation to other languages may be questionable. This study investigates the translation potential or translatability of (Yemeni) Arabic oath expressions into English. It tries to answer whether (Yemeni) Arabic oath expressions (un)translatable into English by examining the syntactic formula of oaths from linguistic and cultural angles in relation to (Yemeni) Arabic and their (closely translated) English oath expressions. A corpus of 1169 oath expressions was created through an online questionnaire. Findings showed that linguistically, there is a very close equivalence between English and Arabic, with respect to oath-making, in both particles and expressions. At the cultural level, there is also some equivalence, which is evident in the original effect that (Yemeni) Arabic oaths retain in their English translation.
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 .
In this paper, I investigate vocative expressions in Ibbi Arabic, a dialect of Yemeni Arabic, and a very under-investigated language variety. I examine this phenomenon in terms of functions, types and approach. The study shows that vocatives in Yemeni Arabic have several and various social/pragmatic functions, and that any constituent and any syntactic category including nouns, adjectives, deverbals, finite and nonfinite clauses, pronouns, etc. can be vocativized. The paper argues and provides empirical syntactic evidence for syntax as the most adequate approach to analysing vocatives in Yemeni Arabic, thus, supporting current mainstream thought in this regard. © The author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the University of Manchester. All rights reserved.
This article deals with the problem of translating the untranslatable in the language pair of Arabic and English. The opening sections consider the problem and its main features. Further sections analyze the role of religion and culture in untranslatability; lexical units, representing different aspects of culture, the ways and problems of their conveyance from Arabic into English. The ways and problems of rendering the meaning of Islam-specific terms have multiple examples. The final section summarizes the key trends, problems, and controversies analyzed in the article. The article reflects the opinions and vision of prominent linguists and journalists. Due to the inborn language differences, linguistic pluralism, which is the recognition and support of multiple languages within one society, keeps people from establishing free and unrestrained communication between each other. It is not what causes differences is what stirs interest, but how these can be overcome. This is where interpreters and translators facilitate communication between people by rendering the main ideas communicated in the source language, that is to say, deciphering the linguistically codified messages to make them understandable by the target language speakers. To this end, they need to neutralize the vagueness of linguistic units representing slang, idioms, and neologisms, to name a few, that constitute different cultural layers of the source language. The lack of equivalents in the target language necessitates the use of tools like descriptive translation, compensation, transcription, and calque. It is inevitable that translators have to lose the textually and culturally relevant features of the term and use compensatory translation methods that allow conveying the main semantic value of the expression in different words. The process of rendering such units grows particularly difficult in pairs, representing languages that stem from different language families. More than that, different lifestyles, religions, and cultural traditions have contributed to the problems translators have in interpreting culture-specific terms. Both Arabic and English are in marked contrast to each other, which finds its reflection in linguistic units that make the problem of translating the untranslatable. Doctor Ahmad Nakhallah (n.d.) noted that translation served the purpose of the means of bilingual cross-cultural communication among people. Technology, media expansion, globalizations, booming international trade, and linguistic minorities' recognition have all contributed to the development of translation. However, in order to connect different cultures and their representatives, translators have to overcome a set of difficulties, of which such culture-related issue as untranslatability is one of the most difficult. Kashgary (2011) stated that untranslatability might emerge at the word level owing to the lack of equivalence between the source and target languages at this particular level. In order for translators to bypass such untranslatability, they need to depart from equivalence at the word level and replace words that are impossible to translate via traditional means with nonequivalent units, which allow accomplishing the acceptable measure of equivalence at the text level. There are nonequivalent problems in Arabic and English that become noticeable by translation since both languages are the products of different cultures (Kashgary, 2011). Guessabi (2013) asserted that culture and language have a complex homologous relationship. The connection between culture and language is so intricate since they have developed together and influenced each other. Philosophy Doctor Adel Bahameed (2014) noted that both languages pertained to different language families and settings. English is a member of the Indo-European family of languages while Arabic is a part of the Semitic family. Both languages demonstrate different word orders, with Arabic being a synthetic and English analytical language, which makes no use of inflectional morphemes to express the relationship between words. Apart from differences in versification and phonology, both English and Arabic are separated by a large geographical distance, which eventually led to cultural distinctions.
ABSTRACT
The aim of the present study was to explore cultural untranslatability in the Story of “Rustam and Sohrab” in
Firdowsi’s Shahnameh and its equivalent translation by Helen Zimmern. To this end, the cases containing the
untranslatable cultural elements or elements culturally difficult to translate were identified by comparing the
Story of “Rustam and Sohrab” with its English translation by Zimmern. Besides, strategies used to render
cultural and linguistic elements problematic in translation were identified through using categories proposed by
Vinay and Darbelent (2000) and Newmark (1988). The results showed nouns including common nouns, name of
places, and name of persons accounted for 89.8% of the cultural untranslatable elements while adjectives
included only 10.3% of the cultural untranslatable elements. Personal proper names were the most frequent
category of cultural untranslatable elements followed by common nouns and names of places. The most
common strategies used to render cultural elements were transference and retention through translation and the
second most frequently used strategy was replacement. Other strategies being used less frequently were
naturalization, synonymy, and literal translation.
Keywords: Cultural translatability and untranslatability; Shahnameh; story of Rustam and Sohrab; translation
strategies.
Economics like other sciences is quickly developing due to the age of globalization and information exchange, and as a result, the need for coining new technical terms is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore nowadays. As such, providing suitable target language (TL) equivalences for English economic terms has turned into one of the key factors in the history of translation studies. Accordingly, based on a model of translation strategies by Vinay and Darblenet (1995), the present study sought to explore the strategies underlying the appropriate translation of economic terms from English into Persian. For this purpose, a corpus of 299 English economic terms was randomly extracted from Macmillan Dictionary of Modern Economics and was compared with their Persian equivalences suggested by three Iranian translators and used in three English to Persian dictionaries, all focusing on specialized vocabulary items pertinent to the field of economics. By comparing and contrasting the frequencies of the strategies used by the targeted translators, it was found out that these translators had the same preferences in choosing the strategies required for the rendition of the terms in the selected corpus from the source language (SL) into the TL. The results of the study also revealed that the most frequently used translation strategy is Literal translation. Notably, by providing insightful guidelines to professional translators, Iranian translation students, and lexicographers, the findings may have significant implications for highlighting the problems dominating the translation of economic terms from English into Persian.
Micro level refers to those translation techniques which are applied for short textual segments and are usually of a prescriptive nature. In the other hand, the macro level refers to translation strategies as well as external factors that influence the decisions made by a translator and are of a descriptive nature. The current paper is aimed at examining the components of translation competence and the ways to develop it in the translation courses. On this basis, the concept of translation competence and its components have been analyzed and various classifications made by translation scholars of translation errors and problems and conceptual tools to describe and teach them have been presented. Then, the external factors influencing translations and their manifestation in translation theories including Scopus theory by Vermeer, Holz-Mantari’s translatorial action, Appiah’s thick translation and in general, the poststructuralist and functionalist approaches to translation and the ways to teach them as well as the reasons for the shift of theories from source- orientation to target orientation and its pedagogical implications for translation courses have been investigated.
This article provides a general overview of untranslatability as a key concept in the realm of translation studies and addresses, in elaborate detail, the question of the Qur'ān's untranslatability. It falls into three parts. The first part investigates the notion of untranslatability as dealt with by linguists and translation theorists; the second part surveys the different views proposed by Muslim intellectuals with regard to the question of the Qur'ān's untranslatability; and the third part scrutinises the views, in relation to that question, expressed by a number of leading translators of the Qur'ān into English. The main aim here is to advance our understanding of the notion of untranslatability in general and the untranslatability of the Qur'ān in particular. Another aim is to examine aspects of the untranslatability of the Qur'ān and the possible reasons for these aspects as expressed by both Muslim intellectuals and Qur'ān translators. The article demonstrates that for both Muslim intellectuals and Qur'ān translators there exist three types of untranslatability when it comes to translating the Qur'an. These are linguistic, cultural and theological untranslatability. It also demonstrates that while both the Muslim intellectuals and translators of the Qur'ān agree upon the fact that the Qur'ān-specific linguistic and cultural aspects are untranslatable, they vary in the ways they prioritise them, and, on the part of the translators, the ways in which they deal with them. However, both groups confirm the possibility of rendering the meanings of the Qur'ān into other languages and affirm the inevitability of this process. Moreover, the article argues that the notion of Qur'ān's translatability—rather than untranslatability—needs to be the main concern of stakeholders.
Undoubtedly passing the world of translation opens new windows toward getting familiar with literature, language and culture of those who think, behave and look at the world in a similar and/or different manners. Although going through many linguistic features seems much less problematic, catching what is going to be transferred through non-linguistic ones is the most problematic to deal with. Among those non- linguistic features, including figurative devices, proverbs are going to be examined in this paper. First some definitions are represented, then proverbs' characteristics and classifications are given and at the end we examine strategies suggested for translation of proverbs by different theorists. Examples of English and Persian proverbs are presented and compared in order to clarify language differences and/or similarities and translating strategies.
Taking a pragmatist approach to methods and methodology that fosters meaningful, impactful, and ethical research, this book rises to the challenge of today's data revolution. It shows how pragmatism can turn challenges, such as the abundance and accumulation of big qualitative data, into opportunities. The authors summarize the pragmatist approach to different aspects of research, from epistemology, theory, and questions to ethics, as well as data collection and analysis. The chapters outline and document a new type of mixed methods design called 'multi-resolution research,” which serves to overcome old divides between quantitative and qualitative methods. It is the ideal resource for students and researchers within the social and behavioural sciences seeking new ways to analyze large sets of qualitative data. This book is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
One of the requirements in order to produce equivalent translation is that the translation must sound natural for target language (TL) readers both lexically and grammatically. This naturalness can be obtained through the use of both lexical items and grammar familiar to the TL readers. However, naturalness in translation is not always easy to achieve. One of the causes is the difference in the way the source language (SL) and TL readers express a certain message in their languages. According to Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) this difference can be overcome by applying a translation method called modulation. Modulation is a method in which translators try to maintain naturalness by using various form the message done by changing the point of view. This procedure is usually chosen when translators find that literal translation would result in awkward or unnatural translation.Keywords: modulation, naturalness, equivalence
Offering a uniquely broad-based overview of the role of language choice in the construction of national, ethnic and religious identity, this textbook examines a wide range of specific cases from various parts of the world in order to arrive at some general principles concerning the links between language and identity. It will benefit students and researchers in a wide range of fields where identity is an important issue and who currently lack a single source to turn to for an overview of sociolinguistics.
Designed for courses on literary translation, Translating Literature discusses the process and the product of literary translation, incorporating both practical advice for translators and theoretical discussion on the role translations play in the evolution and interpretation of literatures. Exercises and examples highlight problems in translation.
As translator of the recent memoir 'Windows' by French psychoanalyst J.B. Pontalis, the author draws on her experience of translating a psychoanalyst to explore the links between two practices, psychoanalysis and translation. The article discusses the ways in which both processes engage the powerful instruments of transference, counter-transference, resistance and revelation in order to achieve their respective goals. It argues that translation, more than being simply a metaphor for the psychoanalytic experience, shares with it many of the same stakes, problems and solutions to those problems and suggests a hermeneutics of translation based on a new respect for the role the unconscious plays in the process. This article also engages recent research in translation studies that has sought to address the role that cognitive and affective factors play in the process of translation in order to situate the psychoanalytic approach within a framework of current theories and methodologies. © St Jerome Publishing, Manchester
This paper critically surveys the different approaches to the (un)translatability of texts, giving special attention to the theories generated in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It analyses the views of scholars who adopted a monadist stance (such as Edward Sapir) and those who chose a universalist interpretation (Eugene A. Nida, for instance). It is argued that the shift of attention away from the concept of untranslatability, which has characterised recent theories is only superficial and that it has resulted, on the one hand, from the expansion of the concept of translation itself and, on the other, from a wish to leave behind traditional, ideologically motivated arguments which could be perceived as problematic.
The problem of translatability or untranslatability is closely related to man's understanding of the nature of language, meaning and translation. From the sociosemiotic point of view, "untranslatables" are fundamentally cases of language use wherein the three categories of sociosemiotic meaning carried by a source expression do not coincide with those of a comparable expression in the target language.
Three types of untranslatability, referential, pragmatic, and intralingual may be distinguished. On the understanding that the object of translation is the message instead of the carrier of the message, language-specific norms considered untranslatable by some linguists should be excluded from the realm of untranslatables. And since translation is a communicative event involving the use of verbal signs, the chance of untranslatability in practical translating tasks may be minimized if the communicative situation is taken into account.
In a larger sense, the problem of translatabiliiy is one of degrees: the higher the linguistic levels the source language signs carry meaning(s) at, the higher the degree of translatability these signs may display; the lower the levels they carry meaning(s) at, the lower the degree of translatability they may register.
Résumé
Le problème de la traduisibilité ou de la non-traduisibilité est étroitement lié à la compréhension par l'homme de la nature de la langue, de la signification et de la traduction. Du point de vue socio-sémiotique, les "non-traduisibles" sont fondamentalement des cas d'usage de la langue dans lesquels trois catégories de signification socio-sémiotique transmis par une expression source ne coïncident pas avec ceux d'une expression comparable dans la langue cible.
On distingue trois types de "non-traduisibles": référentiels, pragmatiques ou interlangues. Etant entendu que l'objet de la traduction est le message et non le vecteur de ce dernier, des normes spécifiques à la langue, considérées "intraduisibles" par certains linguistes, devraient être exclues du domaine des "intraduisibles". Et comme la traduction est un acte de communication impliquant l'usage de signes verbaux, l'éventualité d' "intraduisibles" lors des tâches de traduction pratique peut être réduite lorsque la situation communicative est prise en considération.
Dans un sens plus étendu, le problème de "traduisibilité" est une question de niveaux: plus les signes de la langue source transmettent de significations aux niveaux linguistiques les plus élevés, plus ces signes peuvent mettre en évidence le niveau de traduisibilité; au contraire, plus les niveaux qu'ils transmettent sont inférieurs, plus bas est le niveau de traduisibilité qu'ils enregistrent.
This article is an empirical study of the translatability of Polish jokes into English. The sample analysed consists of nine jokes, each of which belongs to one of the categories set up by Zabalbeascoa (1996: 235–257). The translatability of the jokes is discussed according to three approaches to translatability: Catford's division between linguistic and cultural untranslatability, Ke's sociosemiotic view, and Toury's target‐oriented approach. The conclusion is that each approach has shortcomings, notably so when applied in isolation. It is also concluded that much theoretical thinking on (un)translatability and, possibly, other features in Translation Studies are based on translation problems between language pairs that are known to the theorists.
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