Culture and Translation

Translation is not simply a matter of seeking other words with similar meaning but of finding appropriate ways of saying things in another language. Different languages, then, may use different linguistic forms. Translation is also the social and psychological activities. One should be familiar with one's own culture and be aware of the source-language culture before attempting to build any bridge between them. 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.

Though the activity of translation includes a series of language conversion, it is also the social and psychological activities in essence. The reason for translation to become the necessary activity of a society is that it has many practical functions. The functions of it under different culture background or different era are not always the same. As a translator, he or she should be able to answer such questions: "What to translate? When to translate, how to translate and for whom?" In order to answer these questions, translators must understand the function of translation and the social background they are related to. Translation is a decision-making process in a certain social culture frame. The translator's decision not merely depends on the language he/she learns, but also on the cultural environment of a specific era to a great extent. As what Bassinet and Lefevere have said, "Translation reflects a certain ideology and poetics and as such manipulates literature to function in a given society in a given way"(Bassinet&Lefevere: "Translation/History/Culture").