Translating Culturally Marked Words from Serbian into Western World Languages
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Translating Culturally Marked Words from Serbian into Western World Languages
- 1. Translating Culturally Marked Words from Serbian into Western World Languages (e.g. English or German) Jelena Kostić-Tomović University of Belgrade – Faculty of Philology German Department jkostictomovic@fil.bg.ac.rs
- 2. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 2 The core points of the presentation 1. Culturally marked words make up a substantial part of the lexicon. 2. It is harder to find adequate equivalents of culturally marked words when the SL is a minor language and the TL a world language. 3. Overview of the different categories of culturally marked words in Serbian 4. Overview of the translation techniques for culturally marked words 5. Implications for translator training etc.
- 3. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 3 What are culturally marked words? Culturally marked words are lexical units which have a cultural referent. A cultural referent is an object or a phenomenon which is specific to a certain culture - and to the corresponding speech community. The meaning of culturally marked words is impossible to understand without a certain amount of cultural knowledge.
- 4. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 4 Examples USA, UK: homecoming, homecoming queen, Ivy League, college, lord, porridge… Germany, Austria: Abitur / Matura, Gymnasium, Volksschule, Gugelhupf, Bratwurst, Oktoberfest… Spain: la corrida, tapas, chinchon… Greece: ouzo, syrtaki, tzatziki…
- 5. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 5 Prototypical Categories of CMW: National cuisine Gibanica Sarma Pljeskavica Prebranac Ajvar Kajmak
- 6. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 6 Prototypical Categories of CMW: National costume Jelek Opanci Šajkača Libade
- 7. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 7 Prototypical Categories of CMW: Folk tradition (music, dances etc.) Kolo Trubači Frulaš Guslar Gusle
- 8. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 8 Categories of Culturally Marked Words Culturally marked words belong to many different categories, such as: Arts and culture, pop culture Ways of life, objects of everyday life History Politics, ideology, religion Institutions Geography Economy Famous and important personalities etc.
- 9. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 9 Translating Culturally Marked Words Translating culturally marked words is never easy… …particularly when the gap between the cultures and the corresponding languages is huge… …or when the target culture has a much greater influence on the source culture then vice versa.
- 10. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 10 Symmetrical vs. asymmetrical relationship The relationship between countries / cultures / languages can be: symmetrical (meaning that they affect each other more or less equally) or asymmetrical (meaning that one of them has a much greater impact on the other than vice versa).
- 11. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 11 Differences in Influence between Countries / Cultures / Languages Capitol Hill – The United States Congress The Bundestag (Reichstagsgebäude) Skupshtina – The Serbian Parliament
- 12. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 12 Differences in Influence between Countries / Cultures / Languages Barack Obama Angela Merkel Boris Tadić
- 13. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 13 Differences in Influence between Countries / Cultures / Languages Yellowstone National Park Neuschwanstein Castle The Đerdap gorge / Iron Gate
- 14. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 14 Differences in Influence between Countries / Cultures / Languages Lord Byron John Keats J. W. Goethe F. Schiller Ivo Andrić Meša Selimović
- 15. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 15 Differences in Influence between Countries / Cultures / Languages The Rolling Stones The Ramones The Scorpions Rammstein Partibrejkers Ekaterina velika
- 16. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 16 Differences in Influence between Countries / Cultures / Languages Madonna Nena Slađana Milošević
- 17. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 17 Serbian (SL) → a (Western) World Language (TL) Segments of culturally marked vocabulary especially prone to difficulties: Names of institutions and organizations of all types: government agencies, healthcare institutions, cultural institutions, education etc. Names of important and/or famous personalities: politicians, artists, scientists, entertainers etc. National history: events, wars, battles, crucial moments, personalities, objects, monuments etc. Religion: churches, ecclesiastical hierarchy, cult objects, dogmas, beliefs etc. Politics: political parties, political structures, bodies, events, important topics etc. Ideology Law Geography: rivers, mountains, towns, neighbourhoods, parks, streets, various sights etc. Economy: important companies, well-known products, products of special symbolical significance etc. Arts and culture, including both cultural history and pop culture: famous books, poems, songs, films, buildings, clubs, concerts, bands, quotations etc. Ways of life Objects of everyday life, past and present etc.
- 18. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 18 Some examples Religion: sabornost, svetosavlje, vladika etc. Subcultural phenomena: narodnjak, turbo-folk, zabavnjak etc. Slang and colloquial words referring on phenomena of everyday life: sponzoruša, pevaljka, paradajz-turista, dizelaš Important and/or famous personalities: Hajduk Veljko, Čučuk Stana, Milan Mladenović, Marko Čelebonović Geography: Tašmajdan, Karaburma, Kalemegdan, Ub, Zlatibor
- 19. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 19 Translation techniques (Negro Alousque 2009)
- 20. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 20 Translation techniques (Duff, Bratanić) 1. The original form of the word is retained, no explanations. 2. The original form of the word is retained, but is followed by: a literal translation, an official translation or a note. 3. The original form is not used at all. 4. The original form is not used at all, but explanations of associated meanings are added. 5. The word is translated by using several equivalents in the TL. 6. The word of the SL is partly translated, as in formulaic speech. 7. The word of the TL is in no direct relation to the word of the SL.
- 21. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 21 How do we decide which translation strategy to use? The choice of the best translation strategy depends on: the text type (e.g. subtitles, scientific article, novel, newspaper article) as well as on the potential audience (e.g. experts, well-educated readers, average readers, children).
- 22. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 22 An Example Serbian (original): Otvarali su se novi restorani, kafanske bašte, starije mehane su modernizovane i postajale moderni hoteli u kojima su gosti rado sedeli. German (translation): Es wurden neue Restaurants, Straßen- und Gartencafés [1] eröffnet, alte Mehanen wurden teils modernisiert teils zu modernen Hotels umgebaut, in welchen die Gäste mit Vergnügen absteigen konnten. [1] Klimatisch bedingt ist es in Serbien im Frühling, Sommer und Herbst ziemlich angenehm, draußen zu sitzen. Deswegen ist es für Restaurants, Cafés und für alle anderen Gastronomieunternehmen ein Muß, auch Tische draußen vor dem Lokal zu haben. Dieser Teil des Lokals wird unabhängig von seiner Beschaffenheit immer als bašta (dt. Garten) bezeichnet. (A. d. Ü.)
- 23. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 23 How to train translation students to make the right decisions? Translator competence: 1. Communicative and textual competence 2. Subject area competence 3. Professional and instrumental competence 4. Psycho-physiological or attitudinal competence 5. Interpersonal competence 6. Strategic competence 7. Cultural and intercultural competence (Kelly 2005, 2009)
- 24. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 24 What is cultural competence? Culture encompasses not only “encyclopedic knowledge of history, geography, institutions and so on of the cultures involved … but also and more particularly, values, myths, perceptions, beliefs, behaviours and textual representations of these.” (Kelly 2005, 2008)
- 25. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 25 Conclusion In order to find adequate equivalents of culturally marked words translators and interpreters (and translation students) need to obtain cultural and intercultural competence in all the cultures involved, including the translator’s or student’s own culture.
- 26. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 26 References Bratanić, M. (1991). Rječnik i kultura. Zagreb: SOL. Duff, A. (1981). The Third Language: Reccurent Problems of Translation into English. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Kears, J. (Ed.) (2008). Translator and Interpreter Training: Issues, Methods and Debates. New York: Continuum. Kelly, D. (2005). A Handbook for Translator Trainers: A Guide to Reflective Practice. Manchester: St Jerome. Negro Alosque, I. (2009). Cultural Domains: Translation Problems. Revista de Linguistica y Lenguas Aplicadas 4 Trompenaars, F., & Hampden-Turner, C. (1997). Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business. London> Nicholas Brealey.
- 27. Jelena Kostić-Tomović 27 Thank you for your attention! Contact information: Jelena Kostić-Tomović University of Belgrade – Faculty of Philology German Department E-mail: jkostictomovic@fil.bg.ac.rs
Editor's Notes
- My topic for today is “Translating Culturally Marked Words from Serbian into Western World Languages such as English or German”. In other words I want to talk to you about translating culturally marked lexical units from languages of lesser diffusion into widely spoken languages.
- Here are the core points of my presentation: First I want to emphasize… Than I want to draw your attention to the fact that it is harder to find an adequate equivalent of a culturally marked word when the SL is a language of lesser diffusion (such as Serbian) and the TL a widely spoken language (such as English, German, French or Russian). Why is that so? Because members of dominant cultures simply can not learn everything there is to know about every less influential culture in the world, whereas members of less influential cultures usually do try their best in order to learn as much as possible about the dominant cultures. & 4. J want to give an overview of … as well as of… 5. And last but not least I want to say something about the implications of all these facts for translator training etc.
- What is a cultural referent? Why is that a problem?
- So which are the prototypical categories of culturally marked words in Serbia, that is in the Serbian language? If we should ask an average person, or even an average philologist or translator/interpreter, they would most certainly name some of the following categories:
- But sadly, there are actually many other categories of culturally marked words, and most of them are far more important than those mentioned earlier.
- Why is that important? Why is that a problem? Well, because translating culturally marked words is never easy, especially when the target culture has a much greater influence on the source culture then vice versa. And that is always the case when the SL is a language of lesser diffusion and the TL a widely spoken language.
- And this is always the case when the source culture is a less influential one and the target culture a dominant one. And as J have already mentioned at he very beginning of my presentation, members of a dominant culture can not afford to learn everything about every less influential culture in the world, whereas members of less influential cultures try to learn as much as possible about the dominant cultures.
- The building in which the parliament holds its sessions
- Politicians
- Natural beauties and tourist sights
- Poets, writers, artists in general
- Rock bands
- Pop singers
- Which segments of the Serbian vocabulary are most likely to cause problems for translators trying to find adequate equivalents of Serbian culturally marked words in a western world language such as English, German, French or Spanish?
- Let me discuss one of these examples.
- What translation methods can be applied in order to find the best possible equivalent of a culturally marked word?
- Here is another model. Basically it is similar, but a little bit more elaborate.
- Translating culturally marked words is a particularly complex problem when: they are strongly present in the given text and/or they contribute substantially to the meaning of a text as a whole.
- This example was taken from a scientific article with an extreme amount of culturally marked words, which are also of crucial importance for the topic discussed by the author. Mehane – die Mehanen Kafanske baste – Strassen- und Gartencafes + footnote
- Translation students should acquire all the components (subcompetences) of the translator competence. Translator competence is the macrocompetence which constitutes the set of subcompetences (skills, knowledge and attitudes) which professional translators use in their daily translation tasks. And one of those subcompetences is the cultural competence.