Pragmatic Equivalence in the Translation of Cultural References from Uzbek into English

Abstract

The problem of translating cultural references has been one of the most critical aspects of translation studies in recent years. Due to the complexity and diversity of nations, several issues including cognitive dissonance, misinterpretation of customs and traditions, loss of national color, and omission of national connotations can arise during the translation process. Representation of pragmatic features in the context aids in keeping the core meaning of cultural references in translation. This article highlights possibilities of pragmatic equivalence in translating culture-specific words from Uzbek to English based on a case study of two novels. Furthermore, a new model of implementing pragmatic equivalence has been proposed to cover the cultural gap between the addresser (translator) and the addressee (reader). This model is created based on the theory of equivalence by Baker (2006) and the theory of conversational implicatures by Grice (1989). The obtained results may serve to train professional translators and to increase the quality of translations from Turkic languages into English