Translating Guizhou Batik Terminology for Cross-Cultural Communication: A Communicative and Contextual Approach

JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Translation styles in selected eThekwini municipal by-laws : a case study of English and isiZulu language combination

Recent research in translation studies has emphasised the function of the text as the focus of translation analysis. The implication of this for legal translation is that the expected effects of the target text determine the strategies adopted in the translation process. Given that legal terminology presents various levels of challenges to translators, it would be advantageous for legal translation analysis to adopt a more specific approach, and for translator training to incorporate more specialised knowledge. It is within this context that this study sought to investigate the terminological challenges of legal translation and provide a platform to further investigate the implications for legal translation and social justice in general, particularly in a country such as South Africa where the field of legal translation is ‘under-researched’ and ‘has received little, if any, attention in translation theory and at tertiary institutions’ (Cornelius 2011: 123). The study draws from the Descriptive Translation Studies’ (DTS) sub-branches, namely, the process-oriented approach, product-oriented approach and function-oriented approach. This is because of the relations that exist between these approaches in translation. In this regard, Toury (1995) argues that there is no point in conducting a product-oriented study if questions relating to the determining force of its intended function, and to the choices made by the translator governed by the norms of establishing a product, are not considered. In advancing his argument, Toury contends that it is the function of the translation through its linguistic make-up and/or relationships that connect it to the original, which yield and govern the strategies which are adopted during the production of the translation that would result in a translation process as a whole. The study adopted a qualitative case study design approach to gain a deeper understanding of the translation decisions made by translators within a particular context, in light of the translation challenges that they encounter when translating legal texts. The study used a thematic analysis method to analyse translation styles employed by translators in the translation of eThekwini Municipality By-Laws. The translation styles were identified and exemplified in the framework of three broad categories: legal terms - technical terms, polysemous words and word strings/legal synonyms; linguistic terms - modal verbs, archaic adverbs, collocations, ambiguous/vague words, long sentences and passive voice, and culture-specific terms/expressions. Norms were also identified that are at play during the translation act. Data was accessed from the eThekwini Municipality website. It consisted of eight pieces of legislation in English and their translations. The findings of the study reveal that the main challenges encountered by the translators of the selected legal texts were both linguistic and socio-cultural in nature. As a result, the translators adopt various translation styles such as borrowing, adaptation, naturalisation, paraphrasing, and functional equivalents to render the source texts in the target language. These styles produced translations are generally acceptable in the isiZulu language and culture, even though a few of the translations led to meaning shifts in the target language. The norms that were operational during the translation process shaped translators’ decision-making with respect to the translation styles they adopted in the translation. This is consistent with Toury’s (1995) assertion that norms determine the translation strategies that a translator adopts. In other words, they serve as a guide in the translation process regarding strategies used.

CULTURAL NON-EQUIVALENCE IN TRANSLATING HAMKA’S DI BAWAH LINDUNGAN KAʿBAH: AN ANALYSIS OF MEANING AND CROSS-CULTURAL CONTEXTS

This study demonstrates that the primary challenge in translating Indonesian literary works into Arabic lies in the cultural elements embedded in metaphors, proverbs, and local expressions. Employing a qualitative textual analysis of Hamka’s Di Bawah Lindungan Kaʿbah, the research reveals that differences in worldview between Indonesian and Arab societies influence lexical choices and stylistic expressions, making literal translation insufficient. The findings highlight the necessity for translators to grasp the cultural context of the source text to ensure comprehensive meaning transfer. The study contributes to translation studies by formulating strategies that integrate semantic and stylistic approaches, including transliteration with explanatory notes, functional equivalence in the target culture, and the preservation of social metaphors. These strategies prove effective in maintaining cultural authenticity while ensuring readability for Arabic audiences. Overall, the research reinforces the view that literary translation is an act of intercultural mediation, synthesizing linguistic, semantic, and cultural dimensions to preserve meaning, aesthetic nuance, and cultural resonance in the target language.

A Study on English Translation Strategies for Guangdong’s Agricultural Products From the Perspective of Communicative Translation Theory

In the context of the deepening of cross-cultural communication, the quality of English translations of Guangdong’s agricultural products directly shapes their international communication influence and market competitiveness. Guided by Communicative Translation Theory, this paper targets prominent flaws prevailing in current English translations of agricultural products, namely semantic deviation, non-standard terminology and writing formats, insufficient cultural adaptation, and the absence of category identifiers. It puts forward optimized translation strategies including explicit rendering of generic terms, optimized free translation, cultural connotation compensation, and standardized transliteration. This study seeks the accurate delivery of product information and conformity to the cognitive conventions of target‑language audiences, thereby achieving effective cross‑cultural communication. It is expected to provide practical references for the international promotion of Guangdong’s distinctive agricultural products and enrich empirical studies on the English translation of agricultural products.

ENGLISH-LANGUAGE PSYCHOLOGICAL DISCOURSE: A TRANSLATION STUDIES PERSPECTIVE

The article examines the peculiarities of translating English psychological terminology into Ukrainian and identifies the most effective translation methods used to ensure semantic accuracy and communicative adequacy. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing popularity of psychological literature and the need for a consistent rendering of specialized terminology in Ukrainian. The research aims to analyze the main translation techniques applied to English psychological terms and to determine their frequency and effectiveness. The corpus of the study comprised 128 terms selected from English-language professional psychology texts and their Ukrainian translations. The findings indicate that the most frequently employed techniques are variant equivalent selection (33%), calque translation (25%), and dictionary equivalents (21%). Less common methods include concretization, generalization, contextual substitution, semantic development, descriptive translation, part-of-speech substitution, and transcoding. The study demonstrates that the choice of translation method depends on a term's semantic characteristics, its degree of standardization in the target language, and its use context.

Translating Arabic Culture-Bound Terms (CBTs) into English: A Pilot Study of Translation Students’ Challenges and Strategies

In the current research, the focus is placed on exploring some of the most common translation problems encountered by undergraduate translation students dealing with translating Arabic culture-bound terms (henceforth referred to as CBTs) into English. The mentioned terms represent serious obstacles for translating processes, as they imply rather complicated cultural connotations and cannot be regarded as equivalents in other languages. Based on existing translation theories by such scholars as Peter Newmark and Mona Baker, this study aims at defining the nature of the mentioned problems and ways they can be solved by undergraduates. This study is exploratory in nature and it serves as a pilot for a larger-scale investigation. Thus, the chosen methodology was with the same nature, and it included a sample of 30 undergraduate translation students who had to translate 10 Arabic statements containing culture-bound terms into English. The data collected from the students were analyzed with the help of the thematic analysis framework suggested by Newmark (1988). In particular, he proposed to define categories that include various cultural objects in accordance with the classification of Peter Newmark. Then the chosen expressions were assigned to appropriate categories, while their translation difficulties were identified with respect to the mentioned three aspects: semantic accuracy, syntax appropriateness, and cultural adequacy. According to the findings in this sample, there is a great challenge faced by students to retain the cultural meaning in the translation of culture-bound expression. They translate them using literal translation or partial equivalence, thus losing meaning and cultural essence. Moreover, the findings show that the students prefer foreignization to domestication by 67% versus 33%. This is mainly because of their lack of understanding of the target culture.