Translation & Cultures

Lecture: 3
Translation: 2
Dr. Dhuha Hassan Bajouda
 ‫السالم عليكم ورحمة هللا وبركاته‬
‫‪Literal Translation:‬‬
‫‪May the peace, blessings, and mercy of God be upon you.‬‬

‫السالم عليكم أو السمعلة وهي تحية اإلسالم ‪ ,‬يستخدمها المسلمون حول العالم ‪ ,‬كما يستخدمها‬
‫متحدثوا العربية من اليهود والمسيحيين‪ ( .‬ويكيبيديا – مصدر غير موثوق غالبا )‪.‬‬

‫قال صلى هللا عليه وسلم‪ :‬اذا سلّم عليكم أهل الكتاب فقولوا وعليكم‪ .‬متفق عليه‪.‬‬
‫( ال نبدأ السالم بهذه الصياغة على غير المسلمين )‬
 ‫‪Shalom‬‬
‫شالوم أليخم‬
‫السالم عليكم‬
‫بالعبرية‬
 CULTURAL REFERENCES

The term “cultural references” is a general expression

that works like an umbrella to cover diverse issues
related to a particular culture.
According to Altahri (2013, p. 78), cultural
references include words, terms, expressions
and concepts that are created for a particular
culture and are only comprehensible to that
culture. This means that people outside of
that culture may understand them but they
cannot experience them in the way that
natives do.
Generally speaking, the conflict
arising from translating cultural
references is triggered either by
their nonexistence in the target text
(TT) culture, or by the different
value of these references between
the two cultures.
Nevertheless, limiting all aspects of a
culture to a comprehensive classification is
impossible because of the diverse cognitive
issues that relate to a culture and the
elements that constitute it. Accordingly,
finding a typology of cultural references that
classifies borders is virtually impossible.
 NEWMARK’S TYPOLOGY (1988)
Newmark (1988, pp. 95-103) offers strategies to translate cultural
references that fall into five categories:
a) Ecology: to cover flora and fauna;
b) Material culture: to cover artefacts concerning housing, food,
communications and clothes;
c) Social culture: to cover work and leisure;
d) Organisations, customs and ideas: to cover all social, religious,
legal, political and artistic aspects;
e) Gestures and habits: to cover how people of different cultures
behave differently in certain situations, such as shaking hands
when greeting each other (Newmark, 1988, p. 102).
 It is worth mentioning that this
method of classification is an
adaptation of Nida’s concept of
translation shifts, which you had
before in Translation 1.
Newmark (1988, p. 103) suggests twelve different procedures that can
be used to translate cultural references:
1) using cultural equivalents;
2) using recognized translations;
3) paraphrasing, gloss, and notes, etc.;
4) using transference;
5) using neutralization (i.e. using functional and descriptive equivalents);
6) using literal translations;
7) labelling;
8) componential analysis:
9) using naturalization;
10) deletion;
11) using couplets;
12) Using classifiers.
a) Transference. The cultural reference here is transferred into the TT
in its original form from the source language, as in the word jihad.
Harvey (2000, p. 5) calls this procedure transcription/transliteration.
b) Naturalisation. There are two steps to this procedure: firstly,
adapting the source language reference to the normal pronunciation
of the target language; secondly, adapting it to its normal morphology,
as in the Arabic word kharij, which can be naturalised into English as
kharijites (dissent).
c) Cultural equivalents. The cultural item is translated using an
equivalent from the target culture that maintains the same
connotations of the source item, as in “heaven” and “hell”. It is
important to note that Newmark criticizes this strategy, stating that it
might not be accurate (Newmark, 1988, p. 83).
d) Functional equivalents. The cultural reference is replaced with a culture-neutral word
(ibid). This procedure might involve a generalisation of the source language word. An example
of this is the Arabic word alhudoud, which literally means “limits” or “boundaries”. However,
Elewa (2014, p. 29) notes the following:
It usually refers to the Islamically-established penalties or punishment for committing
specific crimes or felonies: intoxication, theft, highway robbery, adultery/fornication,
false accusation of adultery/fornication, and apostasy. Punishment for other crimes or
felonies is called ta’zeer. This religious distinction between both terms may be discarded
to give its functional equivalent in English, i.e. ‘penalties’.
e) Descriptive equivalents. This refers to the paraphrasing of the cultural item. For example,
the Arabic (Islamic) word alkhul’ does not have an equivalent in English, and, thus, it needs to
be explained with a phrase. It can be paraphrased in many ways, such as, “divorce initiated by
the wife”, “redemptive divorce”, or “release from payment by the wife”, “abdicative divorce” or
“divorce by redemption” (Elewa, 2014, p. 29).
f) Synonyms. This procedure is used when the term from
the source culture does not have a precise equivalent in the
target language, so a translator uses a close equivalent. For
example,
the Arabic (Islamic) word alwdou’ refers to the, “the
washing of one’s limbs and face with water before prayers.”
The English word “ablution” refers to any type of ritual
washing such as baptism or foot-washing, but in Islam it
refers to a specific type of ritual purification, yet, it is
possible to use the word as a near synonym to give a close
equivalent’ (Elewa, 2014, p. 29).
g) Through-translation. The terms “calque” or “loan-
translation” are other terms used for this procedure. It
refers to the literal translation of a phrase or compound
from another language.
For example, the English word “worldview” is taken from
the German Weltanschauung and“blue-blood’” from the
Spanish sangre azul (Elewa, 2014, p. 29).
h) Modulation. This term is used by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995, p. 36)
to refer to a variation of the message using a change in point-of-view.
This happens when the translator reproduces the message of the
source text in conformity with the current norms of the target
language.

Vinay and Darbelnet describe eleven types of modulation as follows:

abstract for concrete; geographical change; negated contrary; means
for result; cause for effect; and a part for the whole, etc.

The Arabic word kafir means “non-Muslims” and this is an example of

negated contrary. Kafir is translated as “non-Muslim” and is not
translated using synonyms, because lexical synonyms like “unbeliever”
for example, are used with some apprehension by the target audience,
due to possible negative connotations (Elewa, 2014, p.29).
i) Recognised translation. This procedure is “a generally-recognised or officially
sanctioned translation of any important term” (Elewa, 2014, p. 29).
j) Compensation. This procedure is said to be achieved when, “loss of meaning,
sound-effect, metaphor or pragmatic effect in one part of a sentence is
compensated for in another part or in a contiguous sentence” (Newmark 1988, p.
90). It is used to compensate for a loss of meaning in the TT. Translating the Arabic
word hajj as “the pilgrimage to Makkah” is an example, which illustrates such
compensation.
k) Componential analysis. In this procedure, the translator splits up the lexical unit
of the cultural reference into its sense components.
l) Paraphrase. The meaning of a cultural-specific term here is explained in more
detail than with a descriptive equivalent. However, when using this procedure, the
translator is advised to be careful not to, “break one of Paul Grice’s (1975)
conversational maxims, the Maxim of Quantity: Don’t say too much or too little”
(Elewa, 2014, p. 30).
 Notes, additions, and glossaries.

This technique simplifies the understanding of the

text since a translator adds extra information
(especially when there is no equivalent for such
an expression in the target culture).