LOST IN TRANSLATION: CAN CULTURAL UNTRANSLATABILITY EVER BE OVERCOME?
Keywords:
Cultural untranslatability, translation strategies, foreignization, domestication, equivalence, adaptation, cultural mediation, linguistic barriers.Abstract
Translation does not just involve the cross-language converting of words but also the negotiation of the cultural context. The problem of cultural untranslatability—where specific linguistic uses or cultural ideas prove resistant to successful translation between languages—poses daunting challenges for translators. The current study examines how far untranslatability can be overcome rather than just endured. Through the use of tools like Nida’s dynamic equivalence, Venuti’s foreignizing and domesticating strategies, and polysystem theory, the inquiry examines certain case studies from literary, religious, and audiovisual translation environments.sions, increased intercultural sensitivity, and reevaluations of fidelity.
References
1. Bassnett, S. (2002). Translation Studies (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. 192 p.
2. Venuti, L. (1995). The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London: Routledge. 324 p.
3. Nida, E. A. (1964). Toward a Science of Translating. Leiden: Brill. 341 p.
4. Catford, J.C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 103 p.
5. Eco, U. (2003). Mouse or Rat? Translation as Negotiation. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 208p.
6. Derrida, J. (1985). Des Tours de Babel, in Difference in Translation, ed. Joseph Graham. Cornell University Press. 10-16 p.
