Cultural Untranslatability Research Articles

Cultural and Lexical Challenges: Analyzing Untranslatability in The French Subtitles of 'The Big 4' Film

The present study aims to analyze the untranslatability occurred in the subtitle of The Big 4 (2022) movie from Indonesian as the source language (SL) to French as the target language (TL). The words or phrases in the subtitles taken from a movie streaming platform, Netflix, were analyzed using a qualitative method to analyze the type of untranslatability; whether it is a lexical or cultural untranslatability, factors that influence, and the techniques used by the translator to overcome the issues. The findings showed the existence of untranslatability in 107 instances, 24 of which were at the lexical level and 83 in cultural aspects. The translator utilized nine different translation techniques to address the untranslatability, including borrowing, naturalization, adaptation, particularisation, modulation, generalization, calque, established equivalence, and transposition. However, regardless of the phenomenon of untranslatability, the act of translation must continue. It is the duty of translators to be skillful in finding the equivalent expressions in the TL.

Lost in Untranslatability: Ishvara, Allah and Interfaith Dialogue

While translation plays a vital role in bridging intercultural gaps, it struggles to convey the exact meaning of certain ideas due to the unique characteristics and structures inherent in each language and the underlying social context. This difficulty is pronounced when translating between the language pair Hindi and Urdu, which, despite both originating from Khari Boli, have diverged significantly under the influences of Hinduism and Islam. In an Indian social context, the Arabic-origin Urdu word Allah is often equated with the Sanskrit-origin Hindi word Ishvara. However, this translation is problematic and can cause confusion because the Hindu idea of the divine, Ishvara, is fundamentally different from the Islamic concept of Allah. Building upon the theory of Sanskrit non-translatability proposed by Malhotra and Babaji, this paper argues for the existence of cultural untranslatability in the domain of Urdu-Sanskrit translation. Using a case study approach for the terms Ishvara and Allah, the paper concludes that specific religious terms should not be translated and makes the case that preserving precise linguistic categories is essential for meaningful inter-faith engagement.

Lost in Untranslatability: Ishvara, Allah and Interfaith Dialogue

While translation plays a vital role in bridging intercultural gaps, it struggles to convey the exact meaning of certain ideas due to the unique characteristics and structures inherent in each language and the underlying social context. This difficulty is pronounced when translating between the language pair Hindi and Urdu, which, despite both originating from Khari Boli, have diverged significantly under the influences of Hinduism and Islam. In an Indian social context, the Arabic-origin Urdu word Allah is often equated with the Sanskrit-origin Hindi word Ishvara. However, this translation is problematic and can cause confusion because the Hindu idea of the divine, Ishvara, is fundamentally different from the Islamic concept of Allah. Building upon the theory of Sanskrit non-translatability proposed by Malhotra and Babaji, this paper argues for the existence of cultural untranslatability in the domain of Urdu-Sanskrit translation. Using a case study approach for the terms Ishvara and Allah, the paper concludes that specific religious terms should not be translated and makes the case that preserving precise linguistic categories is essential for meaningful inter-faith engagement.

Derrida and Translation in China

Derrida has provided food for thought for translation scholars to further explore some of the fundamental questions about translation. He emphasizes the crucial role of context and the movement of recontextualization in relation to translation. Multiple contexts are involved in translation, resulting in multiple recontextualizations. In this process, the connections between signifiers and signifieds are constantly re-established. As contexts change, meaning becomes more fluid and the possibilities offered by meaning, in general, are expanded as new contexts are created through the act of translation. Deconstructing conceptualizations of multiple contexts with particular reference to issues of textual interpretation prompts further investigation of the underlying contradictions and paradoxes in theorizing translation. One of the most common outcomes of translation is a tendency toward explicitness. The fundamental and inescapable dilemma between necessity and impossibility in which translation finds itself points to its thankless and frustrating nature. Translation requires at least a temporary separation of signifier and signified. If the former is replaced in the target text, the question inevitably arises as to how the latter can remain largely unchanged, as is the case in the traditional view of translation. Deconstruction in relation to translation is still contentious in China. Its usefulness is less questionable and less often dismissed as bunkum, and its obscurity still troubles translation scholars. However, deconstruction will once again be relevant to Translation Studies thanks to the renewed interest in world literature in China, which foregrounds aesthetic and cultural untranslatability. Many of Derrida’s insights will continue to shed light on the complexity of understanding translation and its central role in promoting intercultural dialogue.

Translating the Untranslatable: On the Transfer Processes into French of Romanian Culturally-Bound Words

The article represents an analysis of the difficulties and procedures of translating Romanian words with cultural connotations into French. At the heart of this problem is the concept of "untranslatability", where certain words cannot be directly translated because they carry meanings specific to a culture. The difficulties in translating these words are determined by both linguistic untranslatability (differences between the source language and the target language) and cultural untranslatability (differences between the source culture and the target culture). Examples of linguistic untranslatability would be the cultural terms that denote Moldovan holidays and customs. The corpus under inquiry consists of culturemes extracted from articles available on tourist websites: "virtualtur.md", "moldovenii.md", "moldavie.fr". The study examines different transfer processes used in translating these words, highlighting how translators face challenges related to cultural sensitivities. They resort to various procedures such as transliteration, borrowing, calque, contextual explanation or the use of a cultural equivalent in the target language to reproduce the original connotations as faithfully as possible. The research also looks at how these transfer processes can affect the quality and authenticity of the translation, highlighting the difficulties encountered in finding a balance between semantic fidelity and adaptation to the cultural context of the target language. Words with cultural connotations can be conveyed through a process of creative adaptation rather than a literal translation.

Linda Lê in Translation: Foreignization and Domestication in the English and Vietnamese Translations of Calomnies

Abstract: This article examines the English and Vietnamese translations of Calomnies and their attempts to make Linda Lê legible through paratextual elements and different translation approaches. Bearing in mind Lê's consistent refusal of identification according to her birth country or language choice, we use Lawrence Venuti's theories of foreignization and domestication to consider how the two translations, the media and publishing industries market Lê for cultural consumption – either as a foreign author or as a familiar figure. Attending to the different strategies of translating the term métèque , we reveal translation's underlying cultural untranslatability and textual resistance.

Re-conceptualizing cultural dissemination in the lens of translational spaces: a case of the English dubbed Journey to the West

ABSTRACT The Chinese classic TV series Journey to the West was dubbed into English by China Central Television in 2020. While it enjoys some popularity in the English-speaking world, many Chinese viewers learn English from this dubbed drama, aided by timely danmu dictionaries and back translations. This article delves into the directions of this dubbing’s dissemination by utilizing translational spaces, a conceptual tool substantiated by incorporating the concept of diaspora. It contends that the dubbing possesses a diasporic nature and is somewhat situated in the ‘third space’ through intercultural adjustments. There is no contradiction between the ‘outgoing’ of Chinese culture and the ‘inward’ flow for Chinese viewers learning English or seeking entertainment. The dichotomous ‘in-and-out’ mindset might be discarded, given the reality of multi-/non-/anti-directional dissemination. The perspective of translational spaces allows us to witness a collective online carnival sparked by cultural untranslatability, where multiple purposes and pursuits are celebrated. This challenges the notion of translation as a straightforward, single-directed practice and illuminates the mechanism of cross-cultural exchange through audiovisual translation in the current digital age.

The Strategies for Overcoming Cultural Untranslatability: The Case of Rabindranath Tagore’s Gora

The aim of this study is to show the cultural untranslatability of Rabindranath Tagore’s Gora (1910) by analyzing the translation of the novel by W.W Pearson. Both the source and translated texts are studied using the content analysis method keeping the central motif in mind. The present research paper finds that Gora is so deeply rooted in Bengali cultural issues, that the translator has faced immense difficulties in making those cultural substances familiar to the target audience. The translator has used some strategies for overcoming cultural untranslatability such as borrowing and naturalization, definition, addition, substitution, transliteration, cultural equivalence, omission, etc. but in spite of the use of these strategies, the translation remains at a distance from the source text. However, the translator has mostly employed one approach, but on rare occasions he has utilized more than one, for example, transliteration with addition or definition, to give the intended audience a clear understanding of what is being said.
 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (Hum.), Vol. 68(1), 2023, pp. 57-68

A Reinterpretation of Kumarajiva’s Translation Thought and Its Enlightenment to the “Going Out” of Chinese Culture

The translation of Buddhist sutras has played a vital role in the spread of Buddhism in China, of which Kumarajiva has made a great contribution. With his unique translation ideas and translation practices, he made it easier for the Buddhist scriptures to be accepted by the public, thus promoting the spread of Buddhism and the exchange and integration of ancient Indian civilization and Chinese culture. Now, our country is also actively advocating the strategy of “culture going out”. To promote China’s culture to go abroad, to spread Chinese cultural symbols and values to the world?we will enhance China’s international discourse power and the international influence of Chinese culture, thus further enhancing China’s cultural soft power. In this context, more and more Sinology classics go to the world through translation, among which the translation of Sinology classics in English is undoubtedly the mainstream. Based on this, Kumarajiva’s translation thoughts can be used for reference to the translation process of “Chinese culture going out”, for instance, how to deal with cultural untranslatability and translate some words with cultural characteristics, which can better promote the spread of Chinese culture and enhance China’s international influence.

Overcoming the problem of cultural untranslatability in Burnett’s the secret garden from English into Indonesian

This study aimed at investigating the untranslatable cultural terms found in the novel from English into Indonesian since not all cultural terms in Source Text can be fully transferred into Target Text as well as the translator’s decision to overcome the problem of untranslatability since English and Indonesian have very different cultural concepts. This study was a data-driven study by using The Secret Garden’s novel written by Burnett (1911/2019) as the Source Text (ST) and its Indonesian translation by Kusumawardani (2020) (under the same title) as the Target Text (TT). The data were analyzed by using descriptive-mix-comparative methods that combined the theory of Newmark’s (1988) cultural terms categorization and Newmark’s (1988) translation procedures. As a result, to overcome the problem of cultural untranslatability, the translator frequently employs transference, naturalization, and notes procedures. From in-depth analysis, transference by retaining the SL’s cultures in the TL is used to avoid mistranslation because the lacks a formally corresponding feature. Naturalization is used by adapting the SL cultural-specific words to the TL's normal pronunciation and morphology because there are designation similarities in both the SL and the TL. Meanwhile, notes in the form of in-text annotations and footnotes were used to strengthen the translator's role by highlighting her in the translation results. Nevertheless, notes are commonly used in conjunction with naturalization to reduce strangeness, as leaving too many untranslatable cultural references weakens the translation result.

Cultural Differences in Translation

Abstract:Translation is to use another kind of language (target language) to express the accurate and complete content which has already been expressed by one kind of language (source language). It is to use the closest natural equivalents to express the information of the source language again from the aspects of meaning and style.
 Although there are many common and similar aspects existing in human beings, people living in different countries and districts have a good command of their own cultures which is totally different from others due to the influence of the histories, religions, politics and customs in their own regions. This makes translation difficult to deal with. The paper will focus on the differences of daily lives, sense of value, geographical environments, historical backgrounds and cultural untranslatability which influence translation, and the corresponding ways and skills to deal with cultural differences in translation.

DA TELENOVELA À REALIDADE: VIOLÊNCIA CONTRA MULHER LATINA EM “WOMAN HOLLERING CREEK” DE SANDRA CISNEROS

Este artigo utiliza experiências penosas da protagonista de “Woman Hollering Creek” (uma mulher latina sem acesso à língua inglesa, vítima de violência doméstica em uma comunidade chicana no Texas, literariamente comparada à mítica figura de A Chorona) como ilustração para uma reflexão sobre feminicídio na América Latina, mais especificamente no México e no Brasil. Assim sendo, a leitura ressalta o papel da telenovela como elemento midiático propulsor para a idealização do amor e o sonho de prosperidade nos EUA (American Dream); valores estes que, em nome do amor e da família heteronormativa, relegam a mulher à domesticidade, afastando-a de práticas intelectuais e do mercado de trabalho. Intensificando o olhar feminista sobre as peculiaridades da mulher latina, o texto se volta para tópicos pertinentes à Teoria Pós-colonial, e até mesmo o Feminismo Pós-colonial, com destaque para a identidade marginalizada e em trânsito, resistência cultural e interculturalidade, a intraduzibilidade linguístico-cultural bem como a prática diaspórica com vistas para melhor qualidade de vida. Considerando que a representação do inverossímil também se encontra no limiar do anglicismo e da hispanidade, o texto mostrará como leituras sobre o Fantástico, o Realismo Mágico e o Gótico Pós-colonial reforçam a adoção da figura folclórica da chorona no México como ícone de resistência, subserviência e sofrimento relegados ao corpo feminino graças às estruturas de sociedades patriarcais na América Latina.

A Cultural Approach to Translating the Forgotten Legacy of the Egyptian Folk, A Case study of Mawwal Badriya

For language is a cultural construct, certain cultural untranslatability is implied in any process of translation. Cultural problems may occur mainly in the translation of socio – cultural topics, especially in case of sophisticated literatures like, proverbs, folk, myths, satire, humour, etc and especially in relation to idioms, images similes and metaphors. One of the areas full of figures is the public Egyptian folk Mawwal in which there is one unique life of Egyptian society. This type of literary work is chosen due to its great role in formulating the Egyptian identity in the 60s and 70s. The present paper attempts to examine some strategies in non-equivalence translation, and finds out cultural problems. The data is collected from the recorded song entitled Badreya, transcribed into Arabic then translated into English. Translation strategies for dealing with non-equivalence proposed by Baker (1992) are applied as a theoretical framework for the research. Results show some cultural problems and some strategies of translation are focused on this study.

Untranslatability Found in J.K. Rowling’s English Novel Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone and Its Indonesian Version

This research is about the problem of untranslatability in the translation of novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. The intention is what are the types of untranslatability, the causes and how the translator solves the problem of untranslatability that happen in this novel. From 27 data, the researcher finds two types of untranslatability in the novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling: linguistic untranslatability and cultural untranslatability. Then there are nine causes of untranslatability found in the novel. The cause is dominated by the culture-specific words or phrases which are semantically complex. From the analysis, it is found that the translator tend to use the loan word or loan word plus explanation strategy to solve the problem of untranslatability in this novel.

On the Analysis of Untranslatability of Culture

Translation is not merely a cross-language communication, but more of a cross-cultural communication. When translation confront with both language and cultural barriers, linguistic untranslatability and cultural untranslatability appear. This paper elaborates the relationship between language, culture and translation, and explores the causes of cultural untranslatability and its classification, thus provides some constructive advice to transform untranslatability to translatability.

Problemi prijevoda pripovijesti "Đavao" Marine Cvetajeve

U radu se pokušalo skrenuti pažnju na nekoliko problema, odnosno problemskih kategorija koje se pojavljuju pri prijevodu s ruskog jezika na hrvatski na primjeru autobiografskog teksta Marine Cvetajeve. Rad ne nastoji biti dijelom određenog teoretskog okvira ili donijeti neke smjernice na ovom polju nego prikazati prijevod kao proces s etapama – od detektiranja problema, preko domišljanja mogućnosti adekvatnog prijevoda do izbora optimalnog među njima. Problemi vezani uz taj tekst su podijeljeni u pet proizvoljnih problemskih kategorija. Prva od njih bavi se autoričinim neologizmima i mogućnostima prevoditeljskih iznalaženja. Druga ima za cilj ukazati na različite varijante prijevoda jedne riječi koja nema jednak gramatički rod u dvama jezicima, ovisno o njenoj funkciji. Treća dodaje nekoliko primjera vezanih uz uvijek aktualnu temu nemogućnosti kulturne prevodivosti te pokazuje put dokompromisnih rješenja. Dvije konačne se bave rimom u prozi i ortografskim problemima.

Tłumacz rusza w drogę – o nieprzetłumaczalności kultury

The purpose of the present article is to direct attention to a rather infrequent perspective on translating culturally-embedded concepts. It constitutes an attempt to grade the instances of cultural untranslatability in a source text from translator’s perspective by employing as examples a few culturally humorous utterances from the American TV series The Big Bang Theory . In the initial part of the substantial theoretical section the article launches into the discussion over the position of culture in translation theory, recalling the “cultural turn” of the 1980s and touching upon the relationship between language and culture, while also enumerating the prevalent techniques for translating culture-bound concepts. Since culture can often be reflected in humour, the ensuing part investigates its varieties and approaches to humour in translation. The third part of the section is a discussion over the concept of untranslatability. It ponders upon the dichotomy into linguistic and cultural untranslatability and its purposefulness in the light of the language-kulture debate in linguistic studies. It also offers an insight into approaches to untranslatability, leading to the discussion over its absoluteness and/or gradability. Based on the foregoing, the latter section offers an attempt at grading the instances of untranslatability on the basis of culture-bound humour from The Big Bang Theory TV series. By presenting three examples from the series, the chapter introduces three categories of (un)translatable utterances: culture bumps, complex linguistic hurdles and culture clashes.

Tłumacz rusza w drogę – o nieprzetłumaczalności kultury

The purpose of the present article is to direct attention to a rather infrequent perspective on translating culturally-embedded concepts. It constitutes an attempt to grade the instances of cultural untranslatability in a source text from translator’s perspective by employing as examples a few culturally humorous utterances from the American TV series The Big Bang Theory . In the initial part of the substantial theoretical section the article launches into the discussion over the position of culture in translation theory, recalling the “cultural turn” of the 1980s and touching upon the relationship between language and culture, while also enumerating the prevalent techniques for translating culture-bound concepts. Since culture can often be reflected in humour, the ensuing part investigates its varieties and approaches to humour in translation. The third part of the section is a discussion over the concept of untranslatability. It ponders upon the dichotomy into linguistic and cultural untranslatability and its purposefulness in the light of the language-kulture debate in linguistic studies. It also offers an insight into approaches to untranslatability, leading to the discussion over its absoluteness and/or gradability. Based on the foregoing, the latter section offers an attempt at grading the instances of untranslatability on the basis of culture-bound humour from The Big Bang Theory TV series. By presenting three examples from the series, the chapter introduces three categories of (un)translatable utterances: culture bumps, complex linguistic hurdles and culture clashes.

El Poesia Romantico: The Challeges of Translating John Keats to Chabacano

The paper seeks to identify challenges which arise before, during, and after the translation process undergone by the researcher herself in translating five poems by English poet John Keats into Chabacano, a creole widely spoken in the Zamboanga Peninsula in the Philippines. This paper categorizes challenges that arise as constraints on: (a) Language, (b) Form, and (c) Context. It seeks to explain the choices made by the translator and in the process, foreground the problems that arose in the translation process. In discussing problems such as constraints on voice, meter, or the transfer of experience, the paper appeals to Jakobson’s concepts of linguistic and cultural untranslatability and Nida’s translation theory on equivalence. The paper aims to provide a basis for further studies of the same nature and to propose a case for distortion of language via translation to serve purposes of its revitalization.

Introduction: The Gender and Queer Politics of Translation: New Approaches

Introduction: The Gender and Queer Politics of Translation: New Approaches