Multiculturalism, which is a present-day phenomenon, plays a role here, because it has had an impact on almost all peoples worldwide as well as on the international relations emerging from the current new world order. Moreover, as technology develops and grows at a hectic pace, nations and their cultures have, as a result, started a merging process whose end(-point?) is difficult to predict. We are at the threshold of a new international paradigm. Boundaries are disappearing and distinctions are being lost. The sharp outlines that were once distinctive now fade and become blurred.
As translators we are faced with an alien culture that requires that its message be conveyed in anything but an alien way. That culture expresses its idiosyncrasies in a way that is 'culture-bound': cultural words, proverbs and of course idiomatic expressions, whose origin and use are intrinsically and uniquely bound to the culture concerned. So we are called upon to do a cross-cultural translation whose success will depend on our understanding of the culture we are working with.
Is it our task to focus primarily on the source culture or the target culture? The answer is not clear-cut. Nevertheless, the dominant criterion is the communicative function of the target text.
Let us take business correspondence as an example: here we follow the commercial correspondence protocol commonly observed in the target language. So "Estimado" will become "Dear" in English and "Monsieur" in French, and a "saludo a Ud. atentamente" will become "Sincerely yours" in English and "Veuillez agreer Monsieur, mes sentiments les plus distingues" in French.
Finally, attention is drawn to the fact that among the variety of translation approaches, the 'Integrated Approach' seems to be the most appropriate. This approach follows the global paradigm in which having a global vision of the text at hand has a primary importance. Such an approach focuses from the macro to the micro level in accordance with the Gestalt-principle, which states that an analysis of parts cannot provide an understanding of the whole; thus translation studies are essentially concerned with a web of relationships, the importance of individual items being decided by their relevance within the larger context: text, situation and culture.
In conclusion, it can be pointed out that the transcoding (de-coding, re-coding and en-coding?-the term 'transcoding' appears here for the first time) process should be focused not merely on language transfer but also-and most importantly-on cultural transposition. As an inevitable consequence (corollary?) of the previous statement, translators must be both bilingual and bicultural, if not indeed multicultural.
Is it our task to focus primarily on the source culture or the target culture? The answer is not clear-cut. Nevertheless, the dominant criterion is the communicative function of the target text.
Let us take business correspondence as an example: here what we do is to follow the language commercial correspondence protocol commonly observed in the target language. So "Estimado" will become "Dear" in English and "Monsieur" in French, and a "saludo a Ud. atentamente" will become "Sincerely yours" in English and "Veuillez agreer Monsieur, mes sentiments les plus distingues" in French.
Finally, attention is drawn to the fact that among the variety of translation approaches, the? Integrated Approach? Seems to be the most appropriate. This approach follows the global paradigm in which having a global vision of the text at hand has a primary importance. Such an approach focuses from the macro to the micro level in accordance with the Gestalt-principle which lays down that an analysis of parts cannot provide an understanding of the whole and thus translation studies are essentially concerned with a web of relationships, the importance of individual items, being decided by their relevance in the larger context: text, situation and culture.
In conclusion, it can be pointed out that the transcoding process should be focused not merely on language transfer but also-and most importantly-on cultural transposition. As an inevitable consequence of the previous statement, translators must be both bilingual and bicultural if not multicultural.
This article was originally published at Translation Journal (http://accurapid.com/journal).
By Alejandra Patricia Karamanian -
a Certified Sworn English/Spanish/English Translator specialized in legal, business and international matters
and a French/Spanish Translator. alejandra@baspeech.com.ar
