Original Text Research Articles

A Study on the Strategies for Translating Four-Character Idioms into English from Cross-Cultural Perspective

As one of the important representatives of Chinese culture, Chinese literary works are rich in four-character idioms with far-reaching meanings, which should be paid full attention to in the process of translation. Cross-cultural theory is a comparative analysis of attribution and difference of cultural phenomena, aiming at the understanding of cultural differences. Based on a cross-cultural perspective, this paper analyzes the four-character idioms in Qian Zhongshu's work, Besieged City, which translated by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K.Mao from three aspects: thinking pattens, communication audience and purpose, and translation aesthetics. The conclusion shows that to a certain extent, the translator's selection of specific translation strategies can effectively convey the meaning of Chinese four-character idioms, make the target language fit with the cultural context of the original text, and achieve the purpose of cross-cultural communication.

Good English boys. Constructing the gender and the national in British ghost stories

The article describes how gender and national aspects are constructed in late 19th–early 20th century British ghost stories. Both categories are seen within the context of the fearful Other so characteristic of the genre: deviations from the ideal of healthy British masculinity are perceived as potentially dangerous. It can be expressed as appearance of feminine or juvenile features gravitating towards heathen cults, and here gender is combined with the national: often a portion of non-British blood (e.g. Jewish or Italian) influences the choice of the particular cult and the way the protagonist’s appearance and manners change in the course of the narrative. All these phenomena are often complemented with the presence of animalistic features in the character, even if only metaphorically: any decline from masculinity and Christianity is perceived as a partial loss of humanity. Here, the influence of theories by Ch. Lombroso, M. Nordau, J. Fraser etc. is evident. But the authors of high quality stories (J. Buchan, A, Conan Doyle, E. F. Benson) do not preach these ideas straightforwarldly, they create original texts with quite ambivalent treatment of the topics discussed.

Egyptian Foreign Policy and the Nile River: A Historical Analysis

Egypt has been one of the most significant countries in the Nile Basin in terms of the hydropolitics of the Nile River. Since Egypt is downstream and Ethiopia is an upstream country having main sources of the Nile waters in the basin, Egyptian water utilization has been highly dependent on the water resources that come from the Ethiopian highlands. Since Ethiopia lacked the financial and economic capacity to effectively utilize the Nile River, Egypt has been the leading exploiting country of the Nile waters. However, the Ethiopians’ infrastructural projects, such as the construction of hydroelectric dams, have been considered a national security threat by the Egyptian foreign policy decision-makers. Therefore, the developments in the Nile River and Egyptian water security have been chief foreign policy concerns for Egypt. In this context, this study mainly addresses the role of the Nile River in Egyptian foreign policy based on international, regional, and domestic factors. Deploying the descriptive qualitative method, it analyses how the dam constructions and developments regarding water sharing and distribution in the Nile Basin have shaped Egypt’s foreign policy throughout the historical process. It utilizes primary and secondary resources such as the original texts of the historical agreements, official statements, memoirs, and related books and articles in the literature.

Occupational risk prevention in the European Union construction sector: 30 Years since the publication of the Directive

The construction sector is a key industry in the economy of the European Union (EU), with a significant impact on the Gross Domestic Product and employs approximately 30 % of the industrial workforce. Despite this positive economic impact, the construction sector suffers from high accident rates which result in significant economic costs. In 1992, the EU introduced the Directive 92/57/EEC, which aimed to establish minimum Safety and Health (S&H) requirements for construction sites. The Directive lists a number of premises that justify the need to incorporate risk prevention from the design stage of a project and to strengthen coordination throughout the project’s life. For these reasons, the Directive created the role of the Coordinators for S&H matters during the project preparation stage and execution stage, as well as the definition of a S&H Plan. The current paper analyses the state of the accident rate in the construction sector 30 years after publication of the Directive, the changes that have been made to the original text, as well as the identification of the difficulties that have been detected, both in terms of lack of definition and problems in implementation. It is possible to conclude that the management of prevention in the early stages of a project remains a persistent challenge for the industry. Additionally, it is essential to address the sector's adaptation to the new working methods required for its transition to Construction 4.0. This discussion can serve as a valuable tool for future decision-making aimed at improving the regulatory framework.

Translating the Representation of Malabo in the United States and Spain

In this paper we analyze how Malabo and Africa appear represented in the novel The Lower River, by American author Paul Theroux, and how his cultural and linguistic vision of- the city and the continent reach Spain through the translated version. In order to do so, a description of the publishing market is provided to understand its importance both for the original text and for the translation in Spain. Through a textual analysis of both texts using the software Wordsmith Tools (Scott 2004), including word-frequency and concordance searches, we will explore if there is a positive or negative portrayal of Malabo. Finally, through a linguistic comparative analysis of the original and the translation, we will determine to what extent the reader in Spain can draw the same inferences as the English reader of the original.

TikTok and Islamic State of Iraq and Syiria (ISIS) Propaganda

ISIS emphasizes the importance of winning the hearts and minds of individuals in their operational strategy. Their objective is to draw sympathizers, propagate their objectives and ideology, and allocate substantial resources. They have utilized TikTok as a platform to garner attention and disseminate propaganda, with the aim of promoting their organization and recruiting new terrorists.This study employed qualitative research methods, with data gathered through interviews and documentation. The findings indicate that ISIS’s propaganda on TikTok poses a significant threat to Indonesia’s national security. It has the potential to sway the younger generation towards supporting extremist and terrorist ideologies. ISIS employs a variety of techniques to propagate their message. These include the use of the keyword “dawlah”, displaying the ISIS flag with stickers, using nasheed or song lyrics, creating sarcastic memes, and advocating for jihad, death, and suicide. They also leverage TikTok’s features, such as filters and hearts, to promote their organization. ISIS produces video content that glorifies its militants, accompanied by ISIS songs that are rhythmic, lyrical, and delivered in a catchy manner. They also display videos showing corpses being paraded on the streets, ISIS militants armed with weapons, and videos themed “Jihad Lover” targeting young women. The aim of these contents is to incite hatred, division, and social mistrust towards the state, government, and legitimate leaders. This is an academic English paraphrase of the original text.

ON THE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF CONSTITUENT ACTS AND MEMBERSHIP IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES

Based on an analysis of legal norms and the original texts of the constituent documents, the publication argues that the constituent acts of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, i. e. the Agreement on the creation of the CIS of December 8, 1991 and the Protocol to it of December 21, 1991) came into full force on December 21, 1991. Thus, the Commonwealth as an interstate association was formed precisely on this date, December 21, 1991, and not December 8, 1991, as is widespread in domestic legal science. At the same time, based on an analysis of o cial information from the CIS Executive Committee, a reasoned answer is given to a question that has not previously been covered in legal science (Russian, and especially foreign) - on what date did the constituent acts of the Commonwealth fully come into force for each CIS member state? In addition, the publication assesses the legal status in the Commonwealth of Azerbaijan, Georgia (before its withdrawal from the CIS in 2009), Moldova and Ukraine.

Специфика редакторской подготовки дайджеста для публикации в социальных сетях

Modern people want to keep the track of as many events as possible while saving as much time as possible and reducing the level of redundant information. Internet digests provide an opportunity to systematize online publications and structure relevant information while focusing on the main facts and ideas. The paper describes the algorithm, editing, and design of Internet digests in social media. The authors analyzed digest entries in the Russian VKontakte social network to identify the methods of collecting, processing, and structuring information at different stages of editing. The standard folding method proved to be especially efficient, considering the stylistic diversity of the source materials compiled. As a result, the editor has to standardize the style without violating the integrity of the original text, eliminating information noise, applying the principles of information literacy and multidimensionality, etc. These aspects determine the structure of the VKontate digest as title – lead – text – call to action – graphic elements. The authors developed procedures for digest editorial as a sequence of actions that provides a high-quality media product with a high coefficient of information efficiency. Editing improves the quality of the material while ensuring its relevance, reliability, and clarity, thus facilitating the reading comprehension.

Translating Cultures Unveiling the Art of Uzbek Literary Transformations

This study conducts a linguocultural analysis of 20th-century Uzbek literary translations, illuminating the complex interaction between language and culture, particularly in the nuanced translation of stories like "Shum bola" into "A Naughty Boy." Existing research often overlooks the depth of cultural understanding required for effective literary translation, a gap this study addresses by highlighting the challenges and strategies in preserving the original texts' emotional and cultural essence. Employing an integrated approach of linguistic, cultural, and sociological methods, the research examines several translations to demonstrate how cultural context significantly impacts the translation process. Results underscore the necessity for translators to have a profound comprehension of both source and target cultures to ensure meaningful translations. The findings advocate for enhanced translator training in cultural competencies, contributing to the fields of translation studies and intercultural communication. Highlights: Intricate Relationship: Emphasizes the complex interplay between language and culture in translation. Cultural Knowledge: Highlights the essential role of deep cultural understanding for effective translation. Methodological Approach: Utilizes an integrated linguistic, cultural, and sociological framework to explore translation challenges. Keywords: Linguocultural Analysis, Translation Studies, Cultural Context, Literary Translation

Design of English Lexical Analysis System for Machine Translation Based on Multimodal Neural Network

Information resources have become a very important source of wealth, and due to differences in language and writing, technological information exchange between countries has become difficult. In this article, we propose a data augmentation method based on statistical models. A framework for a multimodal output model is proposed, taking into account the semantic relevance and importance between different languages. This framework is based on text sequence to sequence framework, decoupled, and a network architecture based on dual stream attention mechanism is designed. A multimodal interactive neural network layer was added between the encoder and decoder, achieving the fusion of multilingual domain information. It compensates for the influence of text on traditional translation generation systems in the process of English Chinese translation, and solves the problems of inaccurate translation results and low similarity with the original text in English Chinese machine translation. The system proposed in this article mainly consists of preprocessing module, lexical analysis and segmentation module, part of speech tagging and phrase analysis module, translation rule construction module, decoding module, translation generation module, etc. The experimental results show that using an improved generation system, compared with traditional generation systems, improves the accuracy of translation generation, has certain advantages, and is more practical.

Exploring Cultural Adaptation and Symbolism in English Versions of “The Peony Pavilion”

Background: "The Peony Pavilion" by Tang Xianzu is a classical Chinese play renowned for its profound cultural and literary significance. Over the centuries, it has been translated into English numerous times, each rendition reflecting the translator's interpretation and cultural context. Materials and Methods: This reflective study examines a selection of English translations of "The Peony Pavilion" spanning different time periods and translators. Utilizing textual analysis and comparative study, we assess linguistic fidelity, cultural nuances, and the translators' approaches to bridging the gap between the source and target languages. Results: Our analysis reveals varying degrees of linguistic and cultural fidelity across translations. Quantitative metrics indicate a spectrum of fidelity, with scores ranging from 1 to 10, reflecting the extent to which translations capture the essence of the original text. Cultural nuances are often lost or altered, reflecting the influence of the translator's cultural background and the target audience's expectations. Conclusion: English translations of "The Peony Pavilion" present a dynamic interplay between linguistic accuracy and cultural interpretation. While some translations excel in preserving the original text's nuances, others diverge significantly, reflecting the translator's creative license and cultural context. This study underscores the importance of considering both linguistic and cultural fidelity in translating classical works, enriching cross-cultural understanding and appreciation.

Rasamritam: A Comprehensive Study on Rasausadhies and Their Therapeutic Guidelines

Ras Shastra emerged in the Ayurveda medicinal tradition in addition to the use of minerals and metals. Numerous faiths, groups, and customs have influenced the evolution of Ras Shastra. As a result of this contribution, many books related to Rasa Shastra came into circulation. This tradition started from the medieval period and has persisted to the present time. Through Rasamritm, Acharya has actually presented the essence of the subject of Ras Shastra in this book in such a way that this book has actually become the nectar for the subject. This book contains the effective practical portion of the entire subject. It consist nine chapters and nine appendices in total. The text contains of both the theoretical and practical aspects. Rasa yoga are mentioned at the end of every chapter. Particularly, the ninth chapter only consist of Rasa yoga. Some of those are the new formulations, and some have been altered from the original text in some way. Few of the Unani formulations are also includes. The author also discusses possible chemical reactions and alterations while making Rasaushadhies. This article has been reviewed in order to gather all of the Ras-yogas mentioned in this text at one place. From this review, one can easily find the formulation with all the necessary information.

The social neuroscience of persuasion approach to the religious intercultural communication: A conceptual evidence from Sidhwa’s novel ‘An American Brat’

The study aims to understand the influence of religio-cultural right-wing persuasion in intercultural communication, as exhibited in a novel representing Pakistani national culture and Parsee minority culture. The methodology involves directed qualitative content analysis of Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel “An American Brat,” using a conceptual model/framework adapting/extracting coding protocol from Morin and Renvoisé’s model to analyze communication within a social neuroscience context. The research delves into the curated message of cultural diversity. Furthermore, it explains the insight of the situation into cultural and religio-cultural persuasion by the writer, which she represented in the context of three cultures, American, Pakistani, and Parsee. The characters’ communication seemed dominant, reflecting the communication regarding Pakistani Islamic cultural values due to its impact and dominance, specifically on personal and contrastive stimuli of the characters’ intuitive knowledge. Likewise, the other persuasive elements from the conceptual model/framework of Morin and Renvoisé are also reflected in the characters’ communication, which interprets any communication in a social neuroscience context. The innovative understudy of intercultural communication shows how social neuro-persuasion succeeds in reconnecting characters to their subconscious fundamental brain-rooted cognitive, cultural, and social identity. Hence, cognitive changes in stimuli often would not change or get easily influenced at teenage on conceptual, theoretical, or biological levels. According to the researchers’ conceptual arguments, future studies may utilize the present model within the textual quotations from the novel’s original text, as the present research was only delimited to qualitative content analysis. However, the theoretical/conceptual framework of the neuroscience of persuasion needs to be verified.

WSU’s Palmer C. Holt Poe Source Collection: Findings and Research Potential

Abstract This article was first delivered as a paper at the PSA’s Fifth International Edgar Allan Poe Conference in April 2022 in Boston. It recognizes the work of Palmer C. Holt, a little-known independent scholar who devoted over forty years to studying Poe’s career-long displays of erudition and learning. Holt’s research papers and the core of his collection of Poe sources, an archive preserved at Washington State University, constitute a largely untapped resource for tracing Poe’s practice of lifting content from secondary sources as if he were quoting original texts. As have later scholars, Holt argued that Poe was seeking to create the persona of a deeply learned, classically educated gentleman. The article concludes with Holt’s views on whether the author’s borrowing practices constitute plagiarism; on how the always-impoverished Poe managed access to the literary works, ancient to contemporary in multiple languages, woven into his writing; and on why he pretended to possess a deep knowledge of Greek and Roman literature.

Song and poetic text Bella ciao in a mosaic of languages, cultures and arts

The development of textology and intertextuality opens up new perspectives in the interpretation of famous texts, including the song of the Italian Resistance participants Bella ciao . Its numerous polymodal representations in different languages and arts account for the need to systematize them on uniform methodological grounds. The material of the article is the song and poetic text in Italian dialects and in the common Italian neo-standard, its translations into Romance languages, interpretations in Russian, Caucasian and other languages, as well as multimedia and polychannel versions. The goal of the article is to discuss intertextual, semantic and semiotic parameters of the text; to establish the parameters of internal and external intertextuality of the versions of the original text; and to characterize the precedent phenomena serving as the basis for the development and transformation of their aesthetics. The study aims to build and interpret the precedent links and associations of the song Bella ciao in its intertextual transformations; to determine its specificity in the semiocultural conditions of reading and interpretation and at the same time to evaluate its place in the context of Italian and world culture. The methodology is based on a set of methods at the intersection of linguosemiotic, functional and semantic approaches focusing on such parameters of the text as precedence, variation, correlation of linguistic and non-linguistic codes, comparison of the original and translations, polycode, polymodal and translation transformations. The study has established that, as a result of numerous intertextual transformations, the original text expressing unique Italian cultural meanings acquires new interpretations acting as a starting point or the development of both precedent and new plots. It is used as a polycoded intersemiotic model for the creation of new interpretations and, in the long term, becomes a tool for the preservation and reproduction of cultural memory.

Cultural Communication and Cross-Cultural Communication in Script Translation

As a kind of cross-cultural communication, translation is the information exchange between two different cultures. In cross-cultural translation, the translator should try to match the translated language and the translated language culture. The translator should not only pay attention to the meaning of the original text, but also pay attention to the cultural connotation of the target language, and achieve the organic combination of the two. To achieve this purpose, translators must take the source language as the starting point, and comprehensively restore the vocabulary, the sentence pattern, the structure, the emotion, and the way of thinking of the source language. When translating the original text, the cultural information contained in the source language should be integrated with the translation according to the characteristics of the translated language environment and the audience. From the perspective of the translation of the drama script, this paper discusses cultural exchange and cross-cultural exchange, hoping to be helpful to the peers.

The Rhetorical Uneasiness: A Study of Rebecca Whittington’s Translation of Jibanananda Das’s Malloban

This paper aims to explore the translation of socio-cultural and rhetorical nuances of language between Bangla and English with a case of the translation of Jibanananda Das’s 1973 novel Malloban by Rebecca Whittington in 2022. The act of translating such a rich and culturally nuanced text poses substantial challenges, as it involves the delicate balance of preserving the essence of the source text while making it accessible to a new linguistic and cultural context. In the process, the translator, whose native language is American English, is led to straddle domestication and exoticism, thus creating linguistic, semiotic, and syntactic variations in her rendition of the source language text. This paper attempts to assess the fidelity of the translation to the original work while scrutinizing the translator’s choices in capturing the intricate wordplay, colloquial expressions, metaphors, and narrative subtleties that are hallmarks of Jibanananda Das’s writing. This paper also examines the instances where the translation may inadvertently alter or dilute the original text’s impact and the implications of such alterations for readers of the translated work. Furthermore, this study delves into the emotional and cognitive dimensions of bilingual reading.

The myth of Gorgo/Medusa in ancient written sources

The present article reports all ancient writers and poets who dealt with the Gorgoneian head and the Gorgon-Medusa related myth presented in a chronological order basically during the 1st millennium B.C. from Homeric epics to late antiquity of Fabius Planciades Fulgentius and Ioannis Malalas in the 5th and 6th c. A.D. Essentially it is a discussion on the ancient written sources, based on the original texts. Especially for the most ancient sources - such as Homer, Hesiod, Cyclic epics – and references were made to known scholars in the field of philology. Particularly critical discussion and comments are made, along with the investigation of the primary ancient writing sources, as well as the related iconography. The final conclusions show the degree of influence of ancient written sources on art, but also vice versa, that is, how much art influenced ancient texts.

Negative Analytic of the Persian Translation of Atwood’s The Blind Assassin Using Berman’s Model of Trancism

The present study aimed to objectively evaluate the Persian translation of Atwood's (2000) novel, The Blind Assassin, based on Berman's (2000) concept of deforming tendencies/forces. Additionally, the study aimed to identify the translation tendencies employed by Asayesh (2003) and determine whether she produced a source-oriented or target-oriented translation. This analysis involved a careful examination of both the original text and the translation. The results of the analysis revealed that Asayesh incorporated all of Berman's tendencies in her translation, resulting in a work that was structured according to the target text. This indicates her commitment to the target text and her intention to produce a translation that aligns with it, rather than the source text. In conclusion, Asayesh's translation deviated from Berman's suggestions, as he prioritizes loyalty to the original text over the accurate conveyance of meaning. Undertaking this study holds considerable value, as it has the potential to yield valuable insights for individuals tasked with enhancing translation studies, particularly within the realm of trancism. Additionally, the findings of this study can serve as a valuable resource for course designers and curriculum developers.

METHODOLOGY OF COGNITIVE-DISCURSIVE MODELLING OF LITERARY TRANSLATION (case study of Ukrainian retranslations of W. Shakespeare’s tragedies of the 19th–21st centuries)

The article provides theoretical and methodological substantiation for the step-by-step construction of a cognitive-discursive model of the diachronic plurality in translation of a time-remote original work, which appears as a tool for revealing the internal mechanisms of translating a literary work and determining the criteria for the adequacy of the original and translation. This is a case study of W. Shakespeare’s tragedies as time-remote original works of England of the late 16th – early 17th centuries and their Ukrainian retranslations of the 19th–21st centuries. The algorithm of the complex methodology of cognitive-discursive modelling of literary translation, which incorporates the methods of discourse analysis and cognitive translation studies, involves five stages of construction of three modules: discursive, cognitive, and retranslation. The construction of a discursive module, the aim of which is to reveal the objective and subjective factors that influence the process and result of the translator’s interpretation of a time-remote original work, involves the construction of three components – extralingual, lingual, and interpretation, which takes place in the first three stages. The fourth stage is the building of a cognitive module, which reveals the internal mechanisms of the translation process caused by cognitive consonance (harmonious identity of the mental processes of the author and the translator) or cognitive dissonance (epistemological, ideological, and cultural-aesthetic). Cognitive consonance and cognitive dissonance result from the similarities and differences in the contexts of original creation and retranslations, which are previously defined in the discursive module. The translator’s decision to choose one or another translation strategy and local tactic in conditions of cognitive consonance or cognitive dissonance determines different degrees of cognitive proximity of the original and the translation: cognitive equivalence, cognitive analogy, and cognitive variance. The fifth stage is the construction of a retranslation module, which affirms that the translator’s choice of strategy (modernization or archaization, domestication or foreignization) and tactic (reproductive or adaptive) of transformational translation is conditioned by cognitive consonance or dissonance. The relevance of the research is determined by its appeal to the leading cognitive-discursive paradigm of modern translation studies and by the tendency of cognitive translation studies for the translation process modelling, according to which not only the translation result is the subject of study, but also the prerequisites that determine the translator’s approach to the reproduction of the original text in one way or another. Analysis and comparison of retranslations of a time-remote original text in the course of modelling the process of literary translation allows following the influence of discursive and cognitive factors on the process and result of translation. The creation of the cognitive-discursive model of the diachronic plurality in translation of the time-remote original text explains the translation decisions regarding the choice of the general strategy and local tactic of retranslations and, respectively, the diachronic plurality in translations of a time-remote original text.