Tackling cultural communication in translation

• Autores: Cay Dollerup
• Localización: Interculturalidad y traducción = Interculturality and translation: Revista internacional = international review, ISSN 1699-3187, Nº. 1, 2005, págs. 11-30
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article argues that although "the cultural turn" is a recent buzzword in Translation Studies circles, there has always been cultural communication in translation. This is illustrated by simple sentences that, in translation, are either interpreted differently or clearly convey information about their foreing provenance. Additional light is shed on the complex interplay by a discussion of the "literal" vs. free dichotomy and of the relationship between translators and the texts they translate. These are found to be suffused with culture, and this leads to a brief discussion of "literal" translation and domains where it is appropriate. On the other had, cultural texts tend to be translated "freely". It is suggested that linguistic and contrastive studies of cultural translation are narrowly tied to the texts they study and therefore fail to come up with results that are generallly applicable.The aricle therfore proceeds to describe a model which appears to be more suitable for discussing the realtionship beween source and target texts. The model operates with four linguistic layers (a structural, a linguistic, a content, and an intentional one) in addition to a paratextual layer and chronological axis. It is posited that such a model may yield fruitful results. The model is used for describing the translation of a toursit brochure (German-English), a philosophical text (English-Chinese), as well as modern literary translations beween Danish and other languages. Is is concluded that the model can be used for discussing many features in cultural translation as well as translation work at different levels in source and in target texts. It is posited that free translation, including translators' elision of "culturally incompatible features", is the best option for literary texts, but that even fluent translations will eventually, e.g. as the outcome of langue chage, be challenged by re-transmitions.