Theoretical Part “Translating means comparing cultures” (Nord, 2001: 34). Culture involves almost everything in the world, whether material or spiritual. “Everything we observe as being different from our own culture is, for us, specific to the other culture” (ibid). Every action takes place in the context of a specific culture. Since everybody lives in a society, culture is succinctly defined as “the totality of beliefs and practices of a society” (Nida, 2001: 78). Translation is not done in vacuum but also conducted under cultural contexts.
In Skopos Theory, cultural considerations are highly valued and attached great importance to. Every target text must be meaningful and acceptable to target readers living in the target culture. Since
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Domestication is the type of translation which involves minimizing the source-text foreign elements to the target-language cultural values (Munday 2001). Foreignization, on the other extreme, involves retaining the foreigness of the original-language text (Shuttleworth & Cowie, 1997). In Venuti‟s perspective, the foreign elements should be highlighted by the translator to register the linguistic and cultural difference of the foreign text (Venuti 1995). Whereas Nida, who is regarded as the representative of those who favor domestication, sees domestication as the strategy that seeks to achieve complete naturalness of the expression by means of „dynamic equivalence‟. Therefore, “the message has to be tailored to the receptor‟s linguistic needs and cultural expectations” (Munday 2001, p. …show more content…
If domestication is overused, the linguistic and cultural uniqueness of the source text is inevitably lost and cultural exchange is negatively affected. If foreignization is being put too much emphasis on, the target audience might find it hard to understand the translated version and therefore the box office is “frustrated”. The primary purpose of introducing a foreign movie is to attract audiences and a successful translation should perfectly fulfill this purpose. However, the translation activity is greatly restricted by one of the guiding principles in Skopos Theory, the Loyalty Principle, which demands that the translated version should not deviate too much from the source text, that is, the translated title should be closely related to the story or the theme in the
Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life” is a short science fiction story that explores the principals of linguistic relativity through in interesting relationship between aliens and humans that develops when aliens, known as Heptapods, appear on Earth. In the story Dr. Louise Banks, a linguist hired by the government to learn the Heptapods language, tells her unborn daughter what she has learned from the Heptapods as a result of learning their language. M. NourbeSe Philip’s poem “Discourse on the Logic of Language” also explores the topic of language and translations, as she refers to different languages as her “mother tongue” or “father tongue.” Although these two pieces of literature may not seem to have much in common both explore the topics of language and translation and connect those ideas to power and control.
Communication is the heart and soul of our society. We communicate in everything we do from buying a cup of coffee to presenting a project at work or school. Since we express ourselves everyday having one primary language that is used in that particular region is very helpful by reducing and preventing language barriers to an extent. As we express ourselves daily we often use metaphors to explain ourselves. For those of us who are bilingual or trilingual some of these expressions are not correctly translated or they just simply cannot be translated. In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club there is not only a language barrier but also cultural barrier between the mothers and daughters and the meaning of “Joy Luck”. I believe that although it might be hard, anything can be translated if not by words, but through actions and character.
This book serves to teach readers about the varieties of cultures, social
“Culture is often described as the combination of a body of knowledge, a body of belief and a body of behavior. It involves a number of elements, including personal identification, language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions that are often specific to ethnic, racial, religious, geographic, or social groups”.
As the author M. F. Moonzajer says, “My culture is my identity and personality. It gives me spiritual, intellectual, and emotional distinction from others and I am proud of it”. One’s culture is what separates them from everyone else, but also can bring people together. Culture plays a significant role in the person we become, how we view the world and what we believe in. Every culture varies in a multitude of ways, and these differences affect the perspectives and opinions that an individual possesses. By being a part of certain groups of people and different ethnic groups, we are influenced in a way in which we are taught what is acceptable in a certain culture. Certain behaviors and social interactions are what influence us to view the world
In conclusion we can agree that the use of both foreignization and domestication should be used when translating a text and/or movie. We can see that the successful use of mashing both techniques can lead to an accurate translation.
The author’s diction heightens the confusion and difficulties the English language evokes, as her simple method of communication progressively becomes more complicated. Words are “sifting” around solely as “vocabulary words” it becomes difficult for her to connect and understand this “closed” language. The author learned Spanish during her childhood through past memories and experiences which helped her form a closer knit bond to the language as a whole; however, English does not root any deep connections for her causing her to doubt the importance of words. The negative connotation when she refers to vocabulary words and closed is due to the fact that she is frustrated with her inability to communicate exactly what she perceives as they are not connected to experiences. Similarly, the language seems “frail” and essentially “bottled up” as she is unable to express her thoughts in a manner other than exclusive “translations”. Unlike Spanish, English seems to have a complicated and confusing aspect tied to it where the author is feels trapped because she cannot convey her emotions or relate to it culturally. The repetitions of these words that have a negative connotation draw out the significance behind communication and the true value of connecting to a culture. Overall, the dictio...
As anthropologists seek to understand the culture that they are studying they must overcome the language barrier. Similar to the concept of culture, “people use language to encode their experiences, to structure their understanding of the world and themselves, and engage with on...
In a textbook of translation, Peter Newmark (1988) has discussed more than twenty translation procedures. They were literal translation, naturalization, free translation, etc. On the other hand, Catford (1965, p. 21) asserted that to get the equivalent of the target language, translation divided based on extensive, level, and ranks. Extent divided into full and partial translation, level are total and restricted translation, whereas ranks are rank bound, word for word, and literal translation. Catford argued that literal translation begins with translating word by word, but the translator can change it to make the word or sentences appropriate to the target language. However, Larson (1984, p. 15) stated that the literal translation as linear translation whereby it is useful to learn the source language, but it does not help the receiver...
In the 1960s and 1970s, based on the concept of equivalence, many scholars have developed various views and approaches, which has improved and further developed the translation theory. Nida (as cited in Venuti, 2000), one of the most influential linguists in the translation field, defines two different types of equivalence, which are formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. Formal equivalence focuses on the form and content of the source text. Dynamic equivalence emphasizes that the translation need to use an unmarked expression, but to provide the same function in the target text. The target text 1 shown in table 1 is an example of using formal equivalence. The Chinese sign ‘注意安全’ has been translated as ‘Attention Safety’. However, due to the differences of the terms between Chinese and English, this target text could be difficult to understand by the target audience. Hence, as Nida (as cited in Venuti, 2000) states by using formal equivalence, it is necessary to use footnotes to help target audience understand these idiomatic terms in the source language. The target text two: ‘Caution!’ is an example of using dynamic equivalence. This translation only translated the first two Chinese characters. The language use of this translation has been made some adjustment to match the context of the target language. However, this translation could provide the same function in the target culture as the function of the source text in the source culture. Thus, Nida’s (as cited in Venuti, 2000) two types of equivalence approach provide some effective methods of translation. After using footnotes or some essential adjustment, the source test could be generally considered as
What is a word? How the translator deals with this gap? What influences his choices? These are few of the question we will try to explain in this paper. We will pay a particular attention to the cultural differences and the translational gaps raised from it. In my opinion the non-equivalence in translation is due above all by the cultural barriers that influence our lifes.
In a perfect world, all people speak to each other freely with no language barrier. However, that perfect world does not exist. Fortunately, thousands of individuals are trained to become capable of bridging the language barrier. These people, known as translators and interpreters, spend decades mastering languages and transcribing in between their first and second languages. While interpreters speak their chosen languages, translators writes and records. Translating “books, papers, reports, [and] recordings…” is a translator’s main purpose is to translate written and recorded materials (ACT, 2013, para. 1).
Domestication is the process of adapting wild plants and animals for human use. By domesticating animals people no longer had to hunt and going days without seeing any animals to hunt.
There has been a heated discussion in the field of Translation Studies with respect to where the emphasis should be put. Should it be on the source text and the sender, on the target text and the receiver or the process itself? This boils down to how one defines translation. This essay offers a critical view on the Skopos theory, which focuses on the translation process. A discussion is included to illustrate the importance of translation brief in both pedagogical and professional settings. Other related theories are presented as well. Finally, the essay concludes with a few remarks and suggestions.
According to David M. Newman, “a hypothesis is a researchable prediction that specifies the relationship between two or more variables. A variable is any characteristic, attitude, behavior, or event that can take on two or more values or attributes” (38). When building a hypothesis, there is an independent variable that causes a change or changes to a dependent variable (Newman 38). An example of building a hypothesis would be fist to pick an independent variable. An independent variable I would pick would be higher education. For the dependent variable I would pick careers. So, people who receive higher education increase their chances at gaining a better career.