Linguistic and Cultural Issues in Translation - Research Paper Example

Linguistic and cultural issues in translation what is translation? Translation basically involves the interpretation of meaning within a text and communicating that meaning into another language. The initial document being translated is called the source text which is written in the source language whereas the translated document is called the target text written in the target language. This process of translation is centered on meaning. For a target text to be considered a translation of the source text, there has to be a relationship of sort between the two (Benjamins 2008). This being the case there is often misunderstanding with most people thinking that translation is a simple task that involves getting a word in the source language, looking for its equivalent in the target language and writing it as it is, a process popularly known as word-for-word translation. This process fails to take into account differences in grammar between the two languages, the context and conventions. Linguistics on the other hand refers to the study of language. It involves the study of the language’s nature and structure. It encompasses the study of phonetics, phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax and language acquisition within a language. Studying linguistics involves the study of language in general and not the learning different languages. Languages are complex. This means that to study and understand a language is a big task. It is normally made more complex by the fact that any actively used language grows and changes and any ‘passive’ language dies. This is because it is normally hard to separate a language and the people. The culture of the people greatly affects their language. Any growth in people’s culture affects their language. In addition, as different communities interact, some languages tend to merge with the dominating language assimilating the less dominating one. In modern times, this had become wide spread especially with the introduction of globalization where people interact freely. This free interaction has affected people’s culture and eventually their languages. When there is this interaction, people borrow different things and habits from different cultures. These borrowed things and habits need to be given names and this therefore means that new names must be created or borrowed from other languages. This leads to growth in the languages as they increase in words. These are some of the changes that affect translation since a translator must understand and be keen on these changes in order to translate effectively. When tackling the issue of linguistic issues in translation, it is important to consider the various sub-fields of linguistics. Morphology, which is a key sub-field, basically deals with study of word structure within a language. It involves study of patterns of how words are formed within a language and across languages. Then, there is the attempt to formulate some rules that guide the speakers or learners of this particular language when dealing with word formation. In morphology, there are morphemes; which are the smallest linguistic units that have meaning. An example of morphemes include ‘un’-bound morpheme, ‘change’-free morpheme and ‘-ing’- bound morpheme in the word unchanging. Bound morpheme means that the certain morpheme needs another one for it to have meaning while free morpheme is complete, in meaning, on its own. In speech or spoken language, morphemes are composed of phonemes; which are the smallest units of sound that are linguistically distinctive while in written language, morphemes are made up of graphemes; which are the smallest units of any written language. Phonology, which is another subfield of linguistics, on the other hand is of Greek origin. ‘phone’ means voice whereas ‘logos’ means word or speech. This subfield mainly deals with description of the functions of sounds within a language and across languages. It is built on studying sounds that are distinctive units within a language. An example of distinctive sounds is /p/ and /b/. Semantics is also another branch or subfield of linguistics which deals with meaning. It focuses on interpretation of various communication signs used to communicate within different contexts and circumstances. Normally, there are two main divisions in meaning; the denotative and the connotative meaning. The denotative meaning is mainly what could be termed as the ‘original meaning’. This meaning is not dictated or controlled by circumstances thus it does not change with change in circumstance. On the other hand, connotative meaning is determined and affected by the circumstance or context thus it keeps on changing. This study of meaning includes study of words, phrases and sentences together with larger units like texts. It mainly deals with homonymy, synonymy, polysemy among others. This is very important especially in translation, where the center of focus is on the meaning being translated from the source language to the target language. Another important subfield in linguistics is syntax. Syntax mainly deals with the arrangement of words within a sentence. In every language, there are rules which govern the way words should be arranged within a sentence. These words include the subject, the verb, the object; which are the key lexicons within a sentence, and the adjectives and adverbs. Syntax also focuses on clauses; a single word or words in a group which are ordinarily made up of subject and predicate. Pragmatics is basically the ability of native speakers of a language to communicate deeper beyond what is explicitly stated. In this case, communication can be direct or indirect; what needs to be communicated can be said directly or indirectly. Am example is if one wants to ask whether there is some food for lunch. He or she can ask directly, ‘Is there food for lunch?’ or say, ‘Were we fasting today?’ a native speaker of the language will understand the meaning intended directly but foreigner might have a problem understanding. This is due to the context involved. As stated by Benjamins, the possible definitions of pragmatics are many but they all somehow are centered on inclusion of context into the linguistics observation (Benjamins 2008)while considering pragmatics while translating, the translator considers the genre of the source text and if it exists in the target text, the geographic and historic distance, the register; including the terminologies which are unique to that particular register, and the relevance of the source text in the target culture (Benjamins 2008) In all the languages, there is normally a division into spoken and written languages. Normally, written language is more formal compared to spoken though there is always the context which plays a major role in determining how formal or informal the language will be. In addition to spoken and written language, there is normally sign language. This can be the formal established signs used for communication with the deaf whereas it can also be the sign language, mainly bogy language which may communicate more within a context that any words spoken. Sign language is also subject to connotations thus can be interpreted differently. When it comes to linguistic issues in translation, there is normally one aspect known as the grammatical aspect. This aspect is centered on the existence of grammatical categories within a language (Szymczak 2007). These categories represent the existence of a relationship between certain words within a language. Among these categories, there are those which are shared among many languages and there are those which are unique to a particular language. These are only found within a certain language are the ones which present the greatest challenge to the translator. For instance, in the English language, the adjective always comes before the noun within a sentence. This can be clearly seen in the sentence: -A white cup ‘White’ is the adjective; which gives more information about the noun; it is not just a cup, but it is white in color. If this is translated into French, there is going to be a change. This is because French, being the target language has a slight change in how these two words are combined. Normally, the color adjective in French always comes after the noun it is describing. This means that the translation would look like this: -Une tasse blanche In this example, the noun is ‘une tasse’ whereas the adjective is ‘blanche’. It is important to note that, in French, most adjectives precede the noun as it is in English and only a few like the adjectives describing color come after the noun. This means that if a translator does not know this, he or she will end up making many mistakes by assuming that all the adjectives in French are treated the same way; they all precede the noun. In addition, some grammatical categories found within a language may be found to be irrelevant in another language (Szymczak 2007). This means that some words used in one language may not be necessary in another since grammatically, the target language works differently. A good example is the difference between French and English. In French, a noun is fit within either the masculine category or the feminine category. This is normally indicated by the use of the articles; both definite and indefinite. Indefinite articles: ‘une’-feminine ‘Un’-masculine Definite articles: ‘La’-feminine ‘Le’ –masculine In English, definite articles are there but there are not masculine or feminine divisions existing. This means that any translation from English to French takes on the masculine/feminine rule whereas any translation from French to English drops the masculine/feminine rule. Another linguistic challenge to translation is the existence of many meanings. Initially, there is normally the denotative meaning which is the ‘original’ meaning. However, there is also the connotative meaning. This meaning is normally determined by the time/chronology, the areas/geography, the environment and the style. Normally, the connotative meaning of a word may change as time passes meaning that a word could mean one thing today but the meaning changes after forty years due to the new generation. Moreover, one word may be used to refer to different things in different contexts or environments and different areas. In addition, there is the issue of polysemy. All these are found in semantics. The meaning of a word is paramount in translation. As earlier stated, the field of translation is centered on meaning. This does not mean the meaning of just one word since translation is not about looking for the equivalent of the word in the source language in the target language; word for word translation. What is translated is the meaning in the source document into the target document. The issue of polysemy involves one word having more than one meaning. There is also the challenge of having words in source language that do not have their equivalent in the target language. This is mainly found in the denotative meaning whereby a word in the source language may be carrying some meaning; denotative, and then a translator finds that there is no word in the target language that carries the same meaning. The translator, in this case, will be forced to use a word with wider denotation and a narrower content. In language, there is also the existence of proverbs and idioms. These elements are mainly found in literary work within a language. There are some proverbs which use words which are only found in the culture of the particular people. This means that when a translator is translating, he or she might have to paraphrase or explain using words that explain the meaning of the particular proverb, if there is no existing equivalent within the target language. This explaining or looking for an equivalent at times affects the message that is being passed on since the word that is chosen for use in the target language may not mean exactly what the word in the source language meant. This leads to the message either being lost or distorted thus leading to poor translation. There can also be cases where it is hard to find a word in the target language which has similar or close meaning with one in the source language. This will lead to explanation so as to pass the message and this explanation may not be as emphatic as the word used in the source language. In addition, as time passes, people change and so do their culture. This is due to the fact that the particular people interact with different people from whom they learn new things and also pass on some of their practices. The result of this is that the new habits or things brought into the peoples’ culture replace some of their old things or add on to their existing things. This spreads to their language since anything that happens to a people must have some effect on their language. To a translator, this is vital since it affects his or her work. These new changes come with new terminologies which the translator must be aware of. Any culture contains its own systems of sign or languages which are used by the members of the particular culture to communicate. Thus, learning the language(s) of the culture of such people helps one to learn their culture. These languages of the culture however, are bound to change plus they have ambiguous signs. Thus it is important to approach the culture through texts and events which unite different systems of sign yet contain a general meaning which can be described (Torop 2002) When it comes to linguistic and cultural issues in translation, there have been changes in connection with the linguistic translation theory. In 1950’s and 1960’s, the linguists who attempted to create a general translation theory disregarded the pragmatics. Current linguists, not wanting to disregard the work done by the earlier linguists have worked towards incorporating pragmatics into the translation theory. It is vital to note that pragmatic theory will be of greater use to translation than any syntactic, phonetic or semantic theory since these theories are incomplete (Benjamins J. 2008) this is because the context is very important in understanding the meaning within a text and deciding on the best way to convey the message to the target audience. There is also the issue of polysemy. Basically, polysemy is where one word carries many different meaning. For example, the English word ‘grave’ could mean ‘danger’ or ‘burial place’. This being the case, it can have an effect on translation if the word is found in the target language and the translator does not know this. If the translator is only aware of one meaning, and the meaning conveyed in the text is the second one, then he or she will end up passing the wrong meaning and distorting the message since linguistically, the approaches used tries to attain some equivalence between both the original and translated texts. Translation has two processes; which are the comprehension and the expression process. The translator first of all has to comprehend the source text. This way, the meaning within the text or the message to be conveyed becomes clear. From there, the translator has to pass the message across to the target audience through the target text. And miscomprehension of the source text leads to miscommunication of the message meant to the target audience. Another part of literary work which has an effect on translation is imagery. Imagery is closely linked to a people’s culture. Since different people have different culture, some people may repel or assimilate some culture’s images from other people. A translator has to consider the particular imagery and its effect on the target readers which might either compel them to repel or assimilate the particular target text and the culture within. For instance, a dog is edible to the Chinese. This therefore means that any text which talks about a dog in a negative way may be rejected and thus affecting the translation work. Another example is a translation text that deals with a cow. For the hindus, a cow is perceived as holy and therefore, any text that talks negatively about a cow will not be accepted by the hindus on the basis of their belief. This therefore, forces the translator to look for another word to use in the target text instead of either a dog in the former case or a cow in the latter case. The use of a different word may affect the meaning making it a little emphatic or totally distorted all together. Much of what has been written about translation tends to assume that there exists clear-cut division between the two main sub-fields in translation namely the linguistic and cultural sub-field. A translator is normally faced by a major problem of faithfulness. He or she is normally torn in between the intention of the writer and the expectation of the reader (Nae N. 2003). When focusing on being faithful to the target audience, the translator must identify the particular text relevant to the specific readers. For instance, the phrase ‘it is raining cats and dogs’ could be used in a source text whose target audience is French. If the translation is done word for word, then the meaning will be lost since the word for word translation which is: ‘il pleut des chats et chiens’, will be of no use. The most appropriate translation to use therefore, considering the audience is ‘il pleut a verse’. Though it is not an exact match of the phrase in the source text, but considering the audience, it conveys the message more effectively. On order for a translator to achieve the goal of proper translation, the first thing to do is to understand the text, the author, the targeted readership, and finally the standard or kind of discourse. If the readership is of young children, then the target text has to be simple in order for them to understand and enjoy. This however, does not mean that the meaning can be overlooked. CULTURE: When it comes to translating any work, is hard to hard to separate language and culture since they are closely intertwined. In addition, any writer when writing makes a number of assumptions which the translator needs to know like the assumption that the reader knows the historic events and share in acceptance of some certain norms. Basically, translation does not involve conversion of words. For high excellence in translation, one has to understand different culture of different communities. This will assist the translator to pass information in simpler way and a format that can be recognized by the people the translator id addressing. If the translator gets to comprehend the culture of the culture of the two different language speaking groups, he will save time while translating and pass information to the audience with minimal or no alterations. Proper translation will help the translator to incur minimum cost. Some of the translators carry out language conversion to earn their income. If they take time to study the distinct cultures for the original and the recipient group of people, and produce accurate work, they will not face the problem of rejection of maybe the books they have rewritten or else the work they have done. A translator can interpret languages may be in seminars, conferences, institutes, and in tourism industries. An excellent interpreter will attract a large number of audience hence market himself and earn a lot of money. This because the translator will not substitute a word with another, but he will ensure that sense is built in, then the sense is captured and articulated. This enables the addressees to get clear meaning of the message being passed from another language to their own. A translator needs to reflect on different fundamentals before converting one language to the other. To start with, a translator should consider the way of life and beliefs. Different communities have distinct way of living which dictate the language they normally speak on daily basis. It is upon the translator to know why, when, how a community practices some of the values. A good example can be pointed up in the case of salutations. Some groups allow the older people to greet the young ones whereas in other communities, it is vice-versa. Others some other groups may permit any person to salute the other. This may be done depending on the time of the day. A translator who is not fully conversant with the traditions of the community that uses different salutations may salute audience inappropriately. In commercial affairs, a translator ought to know various names given to various goods. Words can have various meaning. To sell out a product you may use a certain word which has more that one meaning hence hider the sell of the product. Humor is made to break boredom. The addressor should know the appropriate use of comics which are recognized by different addressees. Comical expressions are viewed differently depending on the culture of the people. Most of them derive meaning from the cultural surrounding. In addition, there is a need for the translator to know the kind of the addressees to deal with. They might be adults or youths and in some other cases children. The grammar must be right. Words need to be well punctuated. The vocabulary used should be correct in order to deliver information in the right way devoid of any alterations. When this is done, it would be easy for the people to comprehend the information being delivered in a faster way. People from different states have various favorites. They may prefer a certain kind of food to another. It would be of great importance for a translator to put into consideration their preferences. In some countries, they use drawings or signs to communicate. Colors in addition are also used to pass information from one individual to the other. Black color denotes the color of people in most African countries. A good translator should know all these in order to deliver the right information to the audience. Read More