Translation is a complicated process. It causes major and particular difficulties. Translators and interpreters need know some strategies, methods and tactics in order to cope with the task. Some necessary strategies, methods and tactics help translators and interpreters and play significant role in translation process. It goes without saying that a translator’s work is difficult enough and there are no certain prescribing rules for translation. In his/her work a translator faces different problems arising from grammatical, syntactical, and lexical structures.
Language is the reflection of an ethnic group’s culture; it plays a key role in transmitting cultural values through generations and the major tool of communication. In its turn the translation is a means of interlingual communication. The translator makes an exchange of information and ideas possible between the users of different languages. V. Komissarov [2] considers that “translation is a complicated and many-sided kind of human activity. Though usually people speak about translation “from one language on another”, actually, it is not simply a replacement of one language with another. The different cultures, people, ways of thinking, literatures epochs, levels of development, traditions and world vies clash with each other in translation”
Translation is a process of great significance in the modern world and being the basic criteria in communication has become an important issue in language studies. The process of translation includes main aspects such as culture and language. And the role of translator is very important in this process. The translator should be good both at source and target languages. Moreover he should be aware of cultures of different peoples. The knowledge of culture is crucial in this process.
Major difficulties are connected with the entire process of translation and can be divided into several categories such as difficulties caused by differences in languages and differences in culture of different countries, nationalities and societies. Each ethnic group has its own characteristics of geography, history, physical life, spirit, tradition, etc. While translating the words which reflect the culture into another language, translators and interpreters meet a lot of difficulties, sometimes even difficulties are so great due to the lack of corresponding words in the target language.
Thanks to appropriate translation the communication between cultures and peoples are achieved. According to Newmark there is a cultural value in translation. Language is partly the reflection of a culture. Translators like linguists tend to define culture as the sum of people’s customs and ways of thinking [6].
One of the biggest problems the translator comes across with is that in most of cases there is no equivalent in the target language. The words, phrases or sentences are so culture-bound that it is real dilemma to find the equivalent.
It is known that a perfect translation of culturally-bound texts is impossible. But nevertheless the translator should keep the meaning of the message.
There are some cases when the words mean different meanings. For example: in Newcastle the word canny means friendly.
One of the most difficult tasks for an interpreter is to translate objects and concepts of everyday life, culture, historical epoch, and social order, and state structure, specific features of different nations.
The most common methods of translating the specific features are:
- Transcription and transliteration;
Social and political realities are translated both by transcription and transliteration, for example: цар -the tsar, султан- sultan, эмир- emir and etc.
- Calque; the words are borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word translation. for example: торнадо- tornado, киви-kiwi, коала-koala, паприка-paprika etc.
- Translation using a functional analog;
For instance, the Italian word cappuccino is often translated into English as latte, which in Italian means “milk”.
- Descriptive translation;
Ethnographic realities are most often translated using descriptive method of translation. For example: бурка — shaggy coat, шаровары — wide baggy trousers, кафтан — parade suit.
If we talk about idioms, proverb and sayings they make the process of translation difficult as well. Idioms, sayings and proverbs are often used in speech, because they make language more picturesque. They make each language more individual, colorful and rich. Idioms reflect the past history of the nation, its traditions and customs, and its culture. Proverbs as an essential part of national folklore and culture carry a reflection of the life of the nation to which they belong, its thoughts and a character of these people.
The solution of the problem of translation related to idioms, proverbs and sayings is equivalent method of translation. The translator should give appropriate equivalents of proverbs [5] or idioms in translation. A good translator must not only understand the meaning of the translated text, but also possess phraseological richness of the language into which the translation is made. It goes without saying that none of them can be translated word-for-word. For example:
Ни пуха ни пера, how to translate it into English, of course not “neither fur, nor feather”, but “good luck”.
Без труда не вытащишь и рыбку из пруда, not “Without effort, you won’t pull a fish out of a pond”, but “No pain, no gain”
В тихом омуте черти водятся -“Still waters run deep” not in a quiet pond, devils dwell.
“To carry coals to Newcastle” — “Ездить в Тулу со своим самоваром” and etc.
So we can say that proverbs and sayings should be translated according to traditions and mentality of countries and nations.
Culture and translation are tightly connected with each other. The translation without deep cultural context can be dangerous. The same words passed from one culture to another obtain slightly or radically different meanings. The translator is "a mediator between cultures" and plays an essential component of intercultural competence. Translation is a cultural phenomenon and thus everything associated with translation is connected to culture.
The national identity and cultural colour is kept due to skillful translation of a translator. Much depends on the choice of translator, choice of suitable and appropriate words, idioms, proverbs and etc. In the translation process, there is interaction of two linguocultural communities and a certain cultural heritage. From this point of view we can say that a successful translation is carried out when the audience have the opportunity to feel the uniqueness of the two cultures. Knowledge of the peculiarities of different cultures and languages is an important thing as an act of intercultural communication.
Inappropriate translation can cause misunderstanding or even conflict. Therefore the translate should always enlarge his knowledge and be aware of cultural aspects. He should have better understanding of characteristics languages of different cultures.
References:
- Комиссаров В.Н. Теория перевода (лингвистические аспекты). М.: Высшая школа, 1990. — 148—150 с.
- Komissarov V.N. Introducing modern translation studies. — Moscow,2001.P.171
- Латышев Л.К. Технология перевода: уч. пос. по подготовке переводчиков. М.: НВИ-ТЕЗАУРУС, 2000 — 280 с.
- Амосова Н.Н. Основы английской фразеологии. — Л., 1963
- Кузьмин С.С., Шадрин Н.Л. Русско-английский словарь пословиц и поговорок, Москва: Русский язык, 1989.
- Newmark, P. (1991), About translation. Multilingual Matters. UK.
