Culture-specific words in translation of the Words of Wisdom by Abai

Abstract

Cultural contemplations can impact many parts of the translation decision-making process. When translating work of fiction such as poems, the translator often is faced with culture-specific words (CSW) such as environmental objects, customs, and expressions that must somehow be conducted to the target audience in their own language. What approaches do translators use in dealing with CSW, and how prosperous are these approaches in developing and fostering cross-cultural understanding? This paper investigates these questions with concern to English and Russian translation of Kazakh literature, by conducting the comparative analysis of CSW of translations of Abai Kunanbayev’s poem Words of Wisdom as a case study. The following research is focused on the accuracy, adaptation and adequate translation of transferring CSW in the translation from Russian into English, in some cases from Kazakh into Russian. In the first part of the paper, the authors gives a literature review related to procedures which were already done in this case, also gives a definition of CSW or realia. In the second part of the paper, the researchers provides data analysis of the often used translation techniques used in translating the different cultures and its CSW. On the last part research results will be presented. The results of the analysis revealed that omission, addition, transliteration and replacement are the most often used techniques in translating CSW.