Proper Nouns in Translation: Should They Be Translated?

Rouhollah Zarei ,Somayeh Norouzi

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.3n.6p.152

Rouhollah Zarei , Somayeh Norouzi

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.3n.6p.152

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Abstract

The translation of proper nouns is not as easy as that of other parts of speech as this is more challenging for certain reasons. The present article presents a descriptive study of proper nouns in translation, scrutinizing the challenges and exploring the solutions. Building on some scholars’ approach and suggestions from other researchers, the article clarifies the nature and problems of proper nouns in translation; it seeks to answer three questions: 1) Should proper nouns be translated? 2) What are the problems on the way of translation of the proper nouns? 3) How can the translator overcome such problems? Moreover, strategies applied by the researchers to make their translation easier are also discussed. It follows that translating proper nouns is not simple and there is little flexibility about translating proper nouns.

Highlights

Translation is a special form of communication, aimed at establishing interpretive resemblance between the source text and the target text, governed by the principle of optimal resemblance
In an investigation done by Hermjakob and others (2008), it is found that machine translation (MT), which is suggested by some researchers to solve the problem of proper nouns translation, is not effective, across languages with different sound systems
Since proper nouns usually have various allusions, their translation is complicated. They hold an exceptional position with regard to the language system. The translation of these nouns is a challenge for translators

Summary

Introduction

Translation is a special form of communication, aimed at establishing interpretive resemblance between the source text and the target text, governed by the principle of optimal resemblance. Proper nouns are part of the linguistic system of the community which may have no meaning in the way that a common name does. There are various points of view, in the sense that some scholars believe proper names carry no meaning, but others say they have meaning like other words. One of the questions which usually addresses the notion of "proper nouns" in any language is whether they should be translated or not. This article addresses the translation of the proper nouns and aims to explore their construct. The questions addressed in this article are as follows: 1) Should proper nouns be translated?. Proper nouns are infrequent words relative to other common words. They usually indicate sex, age, history, specific meaning, cultural connotations, animals, companies, festivals, names of persons and geographical places. In the sense that it may be a common noun in one context but a proper noun in another (Sadeghi Ghadi, 2010)

Proper nouns

The problems on the way of the translation of the proper nouns

Possible solutions for the translation of proper names

Conclusion