Introduction to

Translation
Culture and Translation
9 March 2010

Introduction to Translation
Broad definition of culture:

The sum total of all human activity (i.e., culture is
what makes us human)

Mentalist view: shared mental model or map of
the world The model is a system of congruent
and interrelated beliefs, strategies and cognitive
environments which guide the shared basis of
behaviour Katan (1999: 17)

Introduction to Translation
Culture consists of:

physical artefacts (types of food, clothing,
shelter, artistic works, etc)

learned body movements (handshaking,
dance steps, facial expression, etc)

language

cognitive elements and beliefs

Introduction to Translation

Non-verbal features to consider in translation

 Layout
 Symbolic

value of type of illustration

 Social value of images and messages
 Typography
 Dress Code
 Colour
 Visual Code Switching
 Interdependence between image and text
 Religious and legal sanctions

Introduction to Translation
Multiple cultures in all societies which overlap

American vs British culture

 biker

culture, goth culture as two sub-cultures that

they share
 cricket, baseball as ones they do not

BUT
 Americans

share baseball with the Japanese,

 The British share cricket with many ex-colonies

Introduction to Translation
Think about culture as being that which needs to
be translated.

In the example about the US and the UK,
anything that the two cultures share does not
need to be translated, and thus is not a cultural
factor to consider

Anything that they do not share (cricket,
baseball) does need to be translated

Culture as something that is always constructed
(active, not passive role of people)

Introduction to Translation
Factors influencing culture:

Physical environment
 Type of sport played in a culture often associated with
weather:
Political environment
 Germany divided versus Germany after reunification
Space
 shape and maintenance of public versus private space
Built environment
Dress
 formal versus informal, for example
Food, drink, etc.

Introduction to Translation
Problems with culture and translation:

Categorisation

Lexical and conceptual gaps

Cultures tend to construct a sense of
identity of themselves and of others that is
often not based on any day-to-day reality

Culture and advertising

Audi Advert

Audi Advert
Vorsprung durch Technik

"Vorsprung durch Technik" is Audi's tagline in Germany.
Literally translated, it means "advancement through
technology"; however, English cannot fully capture the
meaning of "Vorsprung" which means "to leap ahead."
The slogan describes Audi's ambitions in the
development of new vehicles and technology; the
perpetual challenge is to question existing concepts and
adopt innovative approaches.
(http://www.audiusa.com/audi/us/en2/tools/
glossary)

Introduction to Translation

Translation Strategies
 Globalisation

 Localisation

 Glocalisation

Globalisation

Localisation
Jaegermeister

Official US site

German site

Official UK site

Introduction to Translation
Translators as cultural mediators sometimes need to:

Add information
Guardian translation of Le Monde article (Hatim and Mason 1990: 94)
ST: les deux auteurs directs de lattentatont quitt Auckland lun
pour Nouma, lautre pour Sydney (Australie).
English gloss : The two men who carried out the attack left
Auckland.one for Noumea, the other for Sydney (Australia)
TT: The two men who carried out the attack left Auckland .. one for
Noumea, in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, and the
other for Sydney.

Introduction to Translation
Translators as cultural mediators sometimes need to:

change or delete information


Translation of Italian shoe label:

Compliments! You chosed the Blackwell shoes realized with

materials of high quality. The leather, carefully selected in the
specialized slaughter-houses, after different proceeding of
manufacture, becomes softier and supplier.

More culturally appropriate translation:

Your Blackwell shoes have been carefully made from the finest
quality materials.

Introduction to Translation
Strategies for dealing with cultural factors in
translation

Identify culture-specific items

Evaluate importance of the reference(s) in the
text

Decide on a strategy to adopt
 Omission
 Use

of a more general term

 Borrowing (perhaps with gloss or explanation)
 Cultural translation (substitution of something specific
to the target culture)

Introduction to Translation
Examples

Example from Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged
13 :
 Adrians

friend is called Maxwell House (Katan 1999:

151-152)

Maxwell House = personal name AND brand of

coffee
Maxwell as name: connotation of class
Maxwell House: comic effect AND household
name
Cultural substitution?

Introduction to Translation

Text on life in New York by Tom Wolfe: frequent,

explicit reference to price of items to convey
effort, sacrifice, success, taste etc. of character
 In

another culture, this incessant talk about money

might be perceived as vulgar and materialistic
 You would then have to decide if you wanted to do
something like move to a different register of
language, using words like luxury, designer,
exclusive rather than always discussing the exact
price

Introduction to Translation
Even before the close of February, the Italian
government is already well into its own annus
horribilis (Guardian)

Cultural context of annus horribilis (Queen

Elizabeth, 1992), associations of scandal,
upheaval, turmoil, public criticism, etc [derived
from annus mirabilis]
Intertextuality

Introduction to Translation
Possible tasks

Describe the culture-bound meaning of the

following passage:
 While

some people would not be seen dead in a

shell-suit, some feel equally uncomfortable in
Lagerfield or Armani creations. Yet over recent
decades certain models of leisurewear have become
widely adopted for situations that do not require
business dress. There are still subtle distinctions
(Lacoste, Gap and BHS). (Sunday Times)

Introduction to Translation
Possible tasks

Decide how to handle in translation:

 Exposed

front moves in from the West

A streaker interrupted a television weather forecast
when he boarded the huge floating map used by the
This Morning programme. Mark Roberts was
completely naked as he came into view while Fred
Talbot, the forecaster, was predicting a warm sunny
day.
(Daily Telegraph)