subject: Culture and Translation [print this page] Culture and Translation Culture and Translation
Since language is a key to understanding how a group sees the world, the role it plays in the definition of a cultural background, detail, is quite evident.
The culture is often defined as all what a person does, because he or she is part of a group, and then act accordingly. As the British anthropologist, Edward B Taylor explains, "Culture is a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as member of society. "
To put it all in short, a culture is how people think, act and express themselves. That's because when it comes to working on a translation from, for instance, English to French translation, one must have good knowledge of both cultures, to be able to perform these tasks. This is one of the basic requirements that a good Italian translator must have.
Of course the challenge is to absorb the culture of the source document, and the target language. To achieve this, as well as studying in depth the grammar, the translator must pay particular attention to the history, traditions, popular culture, religion, sports, news, entertainment and any other information that will help clarify the concept of why a sentence is written in a given text, which is the purpose of a text and how readers relate to it.
The process is sometimes referred to as a de-coding, coding and encoding culture, but regardless of this key element, it must be remembered that a translation can not only be regarded only as a dynamic, in which language is transferred. More importantly, we are dealing with a cultural transposition, which requires more skills today, compared to the past, thanks to globalization.
