The Roles of Culture in Translation

Sun+Yan

【Abstract】Cultural idiosyncrasy as one of the barriers to translation makes impossible an ideal translation that preserves the ST culture on the basis of faithfully rendering the original meaning without the foreign flavor. Since in the process of translation， three elements are involved， namely， the objective world， human， and language， the question of whether to transfer the ST culture or not depends on what role does the culture play in the process of translation. In this paper， the roles of culture are distinguished respectively in the three elements of translation in order to overcome the barriers caused by cultural idiosyncrasy.

【Key words】the roles of culture； culture translation； Six Chapters of a Floating Life

1. The Roles of Culture

The difficulties of translation partly stems from cultural idiosyncrasy or the characteristics of one culture that are unique to the corresponding language community and often leads to misunderstanding to people of another language community for the lack of recognizing culture discrepancies. It often takes the linguistic form of culture-specific expressions.

When translating culture-specific expressions， one question must be addressed： which aspect of culture should be omitted and which aspect should be transferred without distorting the intended meaning. Since translation is linked with language， human beings， and the objective world， then naturally all we need when dealing with cultural factors is to see what role does culture play in them.

2. Culture in Language

By culture in language here we mean those cultural factors that embedded in language and have become the origin of the words or expressions， which takes the linguistic form as idioms， set phrases and the like.

The reason for Nidas replacing the image of mushroom by the image of bamboo shoots is according to him that the two are isomorphs that deliver the same information despite great differences in the physical forms of the verbal symbols. It is true that languages are used to describe the real world people living in； though the signifier is varied from one language system to another， the signified are nevertheless universal. No wonder Nida said， “anything that can be said in one language can be said in another， unless the form is an essential element of the message.”（Nida， 2004 ：14 ） So it is reasonable that Lin Yutang translated “衣冠之家”（literally， the family who wear hats） as “a scholars family”， and “骨肉重圓”（bone and flesh was again together） as “the family was reunited”. In the first case， what is lost in the translation is the background culture or the derivation of the term that people in ancient China were classified into four hierarchical Classes： officials， farmers， workers， and merchants of which only officials have the privilege of wearing a hat， and thus becoming a symbolism of high social status. In spite of the fact that the background cultural factor is left out， the intended meaning behind the expression nevertheless remains， for readers attention is on the authors family background rather than etymology of the expression. It is the same with the second case.

3. Culture in the Objective World

With the expectation of complete naturalness of expression and relating the receptor to the modes of behavior relevant within the context of his own culture， Nida agrees with J.B. Philliss rendering in New Testament of “greeting one another with a holy kiss” to “give one another a hearty handshake all around”. （ Nida， 1964 ：134 ）But different from cultural factors in set phrases， the customary method of greeting， “greeting one another with a holy kiss” as cultural factors foreground. The substitution with its counterpart within the target culture only distorts the fact and cultural pattern of the SL culture， the damage of which only aggravates when it is a drama script and intends to be displayed on stage. Furthermore， is it justifiable to translate “拱手道別”（literally， to curtsy with hands together to depart）， a specific Chinese behavior of politeness into “kiss sb. Goodbye”？ Though both of the translation versions can achieve the same function and express the same idea of somebody departing， the connotation or the implication is quite different. “拱手而别” as an old-fashioned Chinese etiquette gives an expression to Chinese etiquette culture and Chinese conservative characteristics that they will not kiss somebody in public. The translated version will only mislead the target reader.

4. Conclusion

Culture plays different roles in language， cognitive context and the objective world， by which we make corresponding translation strategies to deal with barriers caused by cultural idiosyncrasy. In language， culture is the background information， inferior to the intended meaning， which is justifiably to be omitted for the sake of the intended meaning； in the objective world， culture is the flesh of the text， the material and modes of behavior that constitute a language community， so we have a good reason to keep it； in the cognitive context， culture is the indispensable information to increase mutual understanding and secure a successful communication， so translator should provide relevant information to diminish cultural vacuum stemmed from different cognitive contexts.