بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Cultural Utranslatability
A Presentation by :
Safaa Sheikh Hamad
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A- Cultural Untranslatability: An Introduction
Language and culture are interrelated to each other. Language is the main communication tool among cultures. It is a representation and reflexion of the cultural contents and connotations. Culture, also, is the main core of language , in which it is the source of all the changes and developments in the target language. Hence, it is a major source of language.
Language reflects the interests , ideas , customs , and other cultural aspects of a certain community .The vocabulary of a language manifests the culturally important areas, whether they are religious , aesthetic , social or ritual .
Arabic , for instance , has a variety of names for dates , camels , swords , lions . horses , etc. Eskimo distinguish between various types of snow which reflect their environment :( softly falling snow . dry packed snow , wet packed snow , powder snow , drifting snow , etc.). Some dialects of the Highland Quechua Indians whose main diet is based on potatoes , have more than two hundred different words for potatoes . The Waunana of the Chaco of Columbia take the spleen to be the center of emotions . So the English phrase " from all my heart " is to be rendered as " from all my spleen ". The Navahoes have no word for " fisher " or "yoke " , since fishing is taboo for them , and their cattle are raised only for their hide and meat , not for ploughing .Hence they have no experience of fishing or yoked cattle.
In general , items that exist in different cultures may have different functions and meanings as well. Thus, translation between languages that are culturally unrelated , is more difficult than translation between culturally related or similar languages . This also , does not imply that translation between languages that are culturally related or similar is a straight forward process . On the contrary , it may cause serious pitfalls for translators . Examples of this can be taken from rendering the French word "alcool" into English by " alcohol" , which should be renderd as " spirits", simply because French wine does not contain alcohool . Another barrier for translators is the masculinity , femininity and neutrality of objects . The” moon” can be masculine gender in one language and feminine gender in another . The problem arises when the translator assigns some cultural characteristics and connotations in the source language to the target language that has a different gender for that term . The same difference is with representation , and to settle this , let us take another example from the English Arabic translation. The translation of the word "owl" from English into Arabic carries a problematic side .In English , it is a symbol of wisdom and grace , whereas it is , in Arabic , a source of pessimism and bad omens .
In general, cultural untranslatability arises when there is no relevant situational feature in the target language and its culture lack a relevant situational feature for the source language text .
B -Types of cultural untranslatability
1. The historical
The historical culture is that culture that had been settled and formed during the development of society. So, different societies have different developments , and that is why there is a difference in their historical cultures. This type of difference carries with it an impact on the translation between the source language and the target language. For instance , the Arabic word قميص عثمان" Othman`s robe " must be translated directly but with an explanation. There is no cultural background for this term in English There should be , when rendering it into English , a convincing and strong pretext . Othman was the third Moslem caliph who was killed by those who rebelled against him . In an effort to seek her husband’s blood , his wife Naiyla sent that blooded robe of Othman to Muawiya ( a cousin ) in order to take revenge of those who killed Othman. So , now it will appear that that term means a pretext to ask for rights .
Let us take another example from English and try to render it into Arabic : the term " good Friday" does not have a good or happy connotation , as it appears . On the contrary , it refers to that Friday in which Jesus Christ was crucified . It is rendered into Arabic as جمعة الالام "Friday of pains " or الجمعة العظيمة"great Friday" . The same applies to "Achilles’ heel" , which in English , is a fatal weakness in spite of overall strength, actually or potentially leading to downfall. While the Greek mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, metaphorical references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to their downfall are common . This term can be translated in the same literal meaning but with an explanation of it.. Another example of English is “Adam’s apple”. It is rendered as “تفاحة ادم” in Arabic . However, this term is originated from the Bible , when God discovered that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, so he punished Adam by letting the fruit stuck in his throat. Therefore “Adam’s apple” refers to the lump on the front of throat in the western culture. . Giving the literal meaning of these term is not enough in the process of translation.
2.The ecological
The ecological culture is a major barrier in translation. One word might have different meanings because of different ecological environments . In different nations mentalities, the same word will have total different meanings in two different cultures. A missionary who is preaching Christianity for the Eskimo will find a difficulty , or let us say , impossibility when he translates a piece of the bible that has the word “lamb “ , simply because the Eskimo are not acquainted with that word . A translator of English Arabic or Arabic English may face problematic situations in translation due to ecological based idioms and expressions . Some Arabic expressions that are associated with cold , as a climate feature, reflect favorable connotations . For example , the equivalent ecological English expression of the Arabic "قرة العين " ,which means literally the "coolness of the eye " must have something related to warmth when rendering it into English . Another example that shows the cultural difference between languages is the Arabic sentence خبر يثلج الصدور , which means “news that freezes the heart” , meaning good or happy news. The rendering of this sentence into English might be “news that warm the cockles of heart”. If that sentence is translated by an inexperienced translator , it would convey a very bad situation , because freezing the heart in English is very bad .
3.The psychological
People are different in their mentalities . The same word might have different meanings in different cultures. The meanings of some “colors” are different in different languages . In Arabic , “green” means a good thing . The sentence دربك اخضر انشاء الله which means “ May Allah keep your path green ; whereas in English it is connected with “envy” . The color “blue” is connected with favorable things in English ; whereas in Arabic the color “blue “ is connected with sever jealousy among lovers .That is why there are such English expressions like “green with envy” and “in a blue mood”. Yet , they can not be translated into Arabic as such . The color “ white “ in almost all the world is the color of weddings , whereas Hindus wear white clothes at the funerals. Translating the Hindi sentence “ the girl was dressed in white “ into English or Arabic might bring wrong renderings for the translator, if he was not aware of the fact that Hindus wear white in funerals , because they consider it the original color .
4. The material culture
Many words reflecting the material culture in the source language should be paid much attention to when translating them. For example, the word “sindor” is a common word in Hindi, for it is a red spot that Hindu women put on their forehead near the hair , and it is meant to pray to the Hindu gods so that their husband get the protection . The Hindi sentence “It is clear as a sindor on a woman’s forehead ” can not be translated as such . It is necessary to add , when we translate this sentence, some background information for the target language readers, because those who are not Indians might not be acquainted with it .
Another example is the term “fire fighter ”. The Arabic reader will find the rendering weird and funny if it was translated into Arabic as it is . There is a joke states that there was an Iraqi military officer who was sent to study in a German military college .He sent his wife a letter saying “ it is very cold here but you can not imagine how Eva is hot. I find warm shelter in Eva” . He forgot to explain to his wife that Eva is a military truck . So , his wife concluded that he is boasting of having an affair with a German woman . she sent him a letter saying that “ it is winter here also and it is very cold too , though less ,as in Germany, but you don’t have to worry about me because I feel warm in the hands of Samir”. The fact that that wife did not know that Eva in that sense was a truck , not a woman, has led to her having an affair .
5. Customs and traditions
Customs and traditions play a vital role in the daily activities and communication in all the world . The naming system in India is different from that one the Arab world . Hindus have bad name when they are first born , and good names later on . The translation of the Hindi sentence “ what is your good name ?” should not be translated into Arabic as it is . The word “good “ should be deleted , through translating , simply because it means nothing for those who are not Hindu.
Let us take another example about the different expressions in greeting and apologizing. Indians , when they greet ,they put the palms of their hands together in a vertical way in front of the chest , or they touch the feet of old people as a sign of respect and gratitude. When and Indian wants to apologize for stepping on someone’s foot , he touches that man’s leg with his hand and then puts his hand on his head . In other societies , that might appear as humiliating . So the translator should be aware , when translating , of these customs and traditions .
C-Conclusion:
Translation is a an activity that involves at least two languages and two cultural traditions. As this statement implies, the translators are permanently faced with the problem of how to treat the cultural aspects implicit in the source language text and of finding the most appropriate technique of successfully conveying these aspects in the target language . There are many ways that translators deal with untranslatability by employing a number of procedures:
C- 1. Adaptation
Adaptation or free translation, is a procedure whereby the translator replaces a social, or cultural reality in the source language with a corresponding reality in the target language.It is often used in translating poetry, literary works and advertising.
C- 2. Borrowing
It is a translation procedure whereby the translator uses a word or expression from the source language in the target language .Borrowings should be printed in italics .
C-3.Calque
It is a translation procedure whereby the translator translates an expression literally into the target language, as word-for -word.
C-4. Compensation
It is a translation procedure whereby the translator solves the problem of aspects of the source language, that does not have the same form in the target language by replacing these aspects with other elements or forms in the source text.
C- 5. Paraphrase
It is a translation procedure whereby the translator replaces a word in the source
language by a group of words or an expression in the target language that explain a non-existent notion in the target language.
C- 6. The translator's note
It is a note ( a footnote or an endnote) made by the translator to the target language in order give his audience additional information related to the limits of the translation.
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