CULTURE SPECIFIC ITEMS AND RELATED TRANSLATION

STRATEGIES
The structural view of language as consisting of elements that could be defined both
syntagmatically (showing affinities) and paradigmatically (showing substitutability within the
system) has affected agreement on the unit of translation. Admittedly, scholars speak of sentence
and sentence lower-level components (phrases, words) as the unit of translation when
applying translation procedures and of whole texts pertaining to translation methods.
The most influential study seems to be Vinay and Dalbernet (1958) to which several
authors make constant reference (Newmark, 1988). For our current purpose, only a checklist of
translation procedures is useful:
1.
literal translation, further subdivided into word-for-word and one-to-one
translation the primary meaning of the word gains overall importance alongside with the
norms of the SL grammar. Therefore, the procedure is useful as a draft translation since
there is no 1:1 lexical or grammatical correspondence between the two languages.
Literal translation is further subdivided into word for word translation and one to one
translation. Word for word translation can be accounted for when dealing with simple
sentences.
Ro.
El merge la birou in fiecare diminea.
Engl.
He goes to his office every morning.
The procedure seems to be more productive when two languages belonging to the same
family are involved. Formally, English makes a distinction between the simple and the
continuous aspect (with progressive value); hence there is no exact correspondence between the
following sentences:
Ro.
El merge la birou acum.
Engl.
He is going to his office now.
This is not a singular occurrence; some other example concerns the use of phrasal verbs
in English, which have no direct grammatical counterpart in Romanian and in French. One to
one translation does not consider words in isolation, dealing with collocation and derived
meanings.
Engl.
make a decision
Ro.
a lua o decizie
2.
transference / emprunt / loan word / transcription / adoption / transfer
posits the problem of necessary and fancy borrowings from the SL into the TL; as suggested
by the name, the procedure implies the direct transfer of a word from the source language into
the target one.
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Loan words are motivated in the case of lexical and cultural gaps. For example, there is
no word for snow in tropical Africa and no word for heat in the polar region due to their weather
conditions. When the translator resorts to transfer, s/he can complement it by another procedure,
namely the cultural, functional or descriptive equivalent, giving rise to a doublet as far as
kulturems (culture-specific items) are concerned. For example, feedback is transferred in
Romanian and French being doubled sometimes by retroaciune and rtroaction, respectively.
The following categories are often transferred in translation:
anthroponyms except the names of historical figures and of classical authors
which are anglicised:
Engl.
Pope John Paul II; Michael the Brave;
Ro.
Papa Ioan Paul al II-lea, Richard-Inim- de Leu
brand names: McIntosh, Compaq (nevertheless, the names of products are translated:
computer calculator in Romanian). A special mention concerns the names of parity
products, with different brand names in different countries, which are transferred.

toponyms (apart from those which are already translated and enjoy wide circulation:
Bucureti Bucharest (Engl.), Romnia Romania (Engl.));
names of periodicals: Adevrul, The Times;

titles of books and films which have not been translated and acknowledged as such:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bront, Ion by Liviu Rebreanu;

addresses: 13 A.I. Cuza Street, Craiova, Dolj, Romania

kulturems: cowboy, kilt, whisky, hor, uic etc.

3.

naturalisation is concerned with the compliance with the target

language
phonological, morphological, and stylistic specifications. Ro. meci, fotbalist
At the morphological level, the terms can be determined by the definite article ul; There
is also an almost complete adaptation to the phonological specifications in Romanian.
4.

cultural equivalent the recognition of similar cultural values within the two cultural
frameworks, a kind of universal currency to which different labels are attached; it is defined
as a rough approximation of a culture-specific item or kulturem in the source language,
whenever there is a high degree of cultural correspondence:
Engl.
high school, A level or graduation exam, Law School;
Ro.
liceu, bacalaureat, Facultatea de Drept
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5.

6.

functional equivalent the focus is finding culture-free items; implies the

neutralisation of kulturems, which are provided indirect equivalents via the change of the
referent. For instance, cricket and Encyclopaedia Britannica mean for the British what
cyclisme and Larousse mean for the French.
descriptive equivalent provides an explanation for the term belonging to the source
language. Morpho-syntactically, this definition resembles the ones encountered in
explanatory dictionaries (a noun phrase). For example, nursery rhymes / silly rhymes /
mother goose rhymes is equated to poezioare or cntecele pentru copii de vrst precolar
in Romanian.
bilingual / lexical synonymy intended to capture specialization of meaning;

7.
Engl.

kind/nice person,
puny effort;

Ro.

persoan amabil;
efort mic

8. through translation / calque / loan word mostly concerned with the translation of the
names of international organizations:
Engl. European Commission; NATO
(The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation)
9.

Ro. Comisia European; NATO

shift / transposition the procedure comes into play at the morpho-syntactic level.
One possible generalization concerns the position of adjectives (in English the adjective is
generally preposed, in Romanian the adjective is preposed only in emphatic structures). Yet,
the number of morphosyntactic changes in translation is hard to define.
We shall focus on the following examples:

Engl.
Ro.

No smoking; Wet paint; Slippery when wet

Fumatul interzis; Proaspt vopsit; Carosabil umed

Engl.
Ro.

Working with you is a pleasure.

mi face plcere s lucrez cu tine.

Engl.
matter is that
Ro.

What is interesting is that / The interesting thing is that / The interest of the
Ceea ce este interesant este faptul c / Interesant este c

10. modulation implying a change of perspective (the two languages seem to partition
reality from a different point of view):

11.

abstract concrete:
Engl.
to sleep in the open;
Ro.
a dormi sub cerul liber;
effect cause:
Engl.
You are quite a stranger.
Ro.
Nu te-am mai vzut de mult.
pars pro toto:
Engl.
He shut the door in my face.
Ro.
Mi-a trntit ua n nas.
pars pro pars:
Engl.
from cover to cover;
Ro.
din scoar n scoar
reversed perspective:
Engl.
Yield right of way
Ro.
Prioritate de dreapta

compensation omission of some irrelevant or inappropriate information at the

moment of decision may be supplied later in the translation and vice versa;

12. componential analysis (CA) the search for semantic primes or primitives (semes) in the
attempt to find the proper equivalent; For example, the lexeme girl:
- is described as: [+person], [+female], [adult];
- is defined as 1. a female child, from birth to full growth.
2. a young, immature woman, esp., formerly, an unmarried one.
3. a daughter: My wife and I have two girls.
4. sometimes Offensive. a grown woman
5. girlfriend; sweetheart.
(The New International Websters Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language, 1996)
reduction and expansion the former if the information seems redundant or recurrent,
the latter if there is further need for clarification; they imply a quantitative difference in
translation:
Engl.
birth-control pills; occupational therapy
Ro.
anticoncepionale; kinetoterapie
13.

14.

paraphrase the practice is encouraged only if the translator finds it impossible to cater
a single equivalent word / phrase; may be defined as explanation or restatement; literature
recommends that paraphrase should be the translators last resort. Nevertheless, there are
cases when no optimal equivalent is found as for example: a go-slow (En.) - grev n care
se ncetinete ritmul muncii (Ro.).

15.

equivalence the term is restricted to the idiomatic use of language; in a narrow sense,
applies to idioms, proverbs, or, to use an umbrella term, to standardised language in order
to be functionally adequate.

Engl.
Ro.
16.

Open to the public;

Intrarea liber

adaptation presumably, the most difficult problem for the translator to solve as there is
no correspondence of situation in the two languages (the referential base is not secured).
Roughly speaking, the following elements are adapted in translation:

- units of measure:
Engl.
mile;
Ro.
kilometru, leghe;
Engl.

1.7 fl.oz.

Ro.50 ml;
Engl. four oclock in the afternoon;
Ro.patru dup amiaza;

- meals: In UK and in Romania, soup is served for lunch, but there are different
recipes;
- names of institutions that cannot be equated directly:
Ro.
Facultatea de Litere ;
Engl.
The Faculty of Letters;
- social life:
Engl.
residential areas ;
Ro.
cartiere rezideniale