LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:12 December 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Loss of Cultural Element in Translation -
A Comparative Study of Premchand’s Original Story Kafan and Its Translations

Zeinab Aslam, M.A. (English), B.Ed.

Abstract

We come across different literary works and their translation every day. Translation acts as a bridge to access the hidden treasure of knowledge of the source language. Cultural elements of the source language like idioms, proverbs, etc., are identifying features which help the readers to imagine and understand the historical cultural setting of the literary text.

Translation of a literary work is considered successful if the cultural elements which are intrinsic part of the source language are translated to the target language to recreate the same aura for the readers of the translated text, as thought by the author of the original text. In case translation of these cultural elements is overlooked by the translator, then its reader are devoid of the pleasure seeing the picture in its original hues and shades.

This paper is an attempt to identify if these cultural elements found their due place in the two translations of Premchand’s short story Kafan, which is the focus of the present study. The paper also tries to find if the readers of two different translations for the same literary text will be able to perceive the image created by the author of the original text.

Key words: translation, cultural elements, identifying features, idioms, proverbs

What is Translation?

The word translation for a lay man means words that have been changed from one language into another language to convey the same meaning as implied in the source language. But the process of translation is not as easy as it may be understood by common person, especially when one is dealing with literary translations. It is a complex process which does not only involve translating ideas of the author from the source language to the target language. At the same time translation also involves “translating cultural elements such as proverbs, idioms, metaphors, collocations, swear words into proper equivalents from the source language to the target language”. (Jabak and Idlib, Why is translation into the mother tongue more successful than into a second language?, translationdirectory.com) These cultural bound aspects are so closely woven in the original text that sometimes it is very difficult to find and equivalent in the target language because these terms are language specific and sometimes country specific too .The motive behind the study is to investigate how the two English translations are different from each other in terms of translation of cultural elements of the story .The other important aim is to look closely to find out if there will be some kind of change in the readers perspective towards the original text depending on the translation they have access to.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Zeinab Aslam, M.A. (English), B.Ed.
Lecturer at Deanship of Preparatory Year and Supportive Studies
University of Dammam
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

zeinab.aslam@gmail.com
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