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Article published In:
Target
Vol. 12:1 (2000) ► pp.83–107

Thwarted Expectations

Investigating Translational Mishaps with Reference to Cultural Disparities

| University of Helsinki

While there are many types of purely linguistic differences between languages which students of translation can be explicitly taught to recognise during their formal training, it is a far bigger task to try to make future translators detect and appropriately cater to relevant cultural differences between a source text and its intended target text. Yet, snags of a cultural character are just as detrimental to translation quality as are linguistic mistakes. The problem with cultural differences between source and target environments in translation is further aggravated by the fact that, in contrast with the finite number of linguistic differences between language systems, the range of variation in differences between cultural environments is virtually infinite.

Article outline
  • 1.Culture, Actions, and Norms
  • 2.Language and Culture
  • 3.Examining the Relationships between Translation and Culture: A Case Study
  • 4.Concluding Remarks
    • 4.1.Why Are Cultural Norms Hard to Learn?
    • 4.2.Why Does Culture Matter to Translation?
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 September 2000
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.12.1.05hie
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