The human factor – a prerequisite for a good cross-cultural communication in translation

THE HUMAN FACTOR – A PREREQUISITE FOR A GOOD CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN TRANSLATION

• 05/10/2017

• Rumyana Todorova
• Shumen University, Bulgaria

Inner translation

• When writing a text of some kind one should be careful as to their way of expression in the target language
• Mother tongue interference
• Introducing oneself is a piece of cake though it depends on culture-specific audiences

The translator’s job is a piece of cake ?!?

• The translator’s job is a piece of cake ?!?
• Is knowledge of a language a sufficient prerequisite for a good translation?

Other types of knowledge (extralinguistic)

• Cultural
• Political
• Ethnic
• National
• Social
• Educational

London underground ad

• We gave you golf
• you gave us Bingo.
• We gave you Logie Baird. You gave
• us Eldorado.
• We gave you Whyte & Mackay.
• Please No more favours.

We can’t exist without TRANSLATION

• In 80s Paul Engle summed up the socially
• active & the politically urgent cause of
• translation in contemporary world:
• ‘As this world shrinks together like an aging
• orange and all peoples in all cultures move
• closer together (however reluctantly and
• suspiciously) it may be that the crucial
• sentence for our remaining years on earth
• may be very simply:
• TRANSLATE OR DIE.

• The lives of every creature on the
• earth may one day depend on the
• instant and accurate translation of
• one word.’
• (Engle, P. & H. N. Engle 1985,
• Forward to Writing from the
• World II, Iowa City: International
• Books & Univ. of Iowa Press)

Translation

• is a rewriting of an original text;
• reflects a certain ideology & manipulation;
• helps in the evolution of any society;
• shapes one culture upon another