The Influence of Kurdish Culture on English-Kurdish Written Translation
Shango Mohammed Hoshman Mohammed Tofiq
Department of English Language, College of Education and Language, Charmo University, Chamchamal, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Email: [email protected]
Published: February 22, 2023
Abstract
Translation plays a vital role in crossing different cultures and communications. It is one of the essential, fundamental, and appropriate ways in transmitting culture, yet it has some limitations such as censorship and indeed culture itself. It is an interdisciplinary practice with texts of different types and properties. Due to its ideological and conceptual significance, it is important for translators to be familiar with pertinent knowledge about culture and how it is displayed in translation. One of the most important approaches to translation is the socio-semiotic or cultural approach. In other words, translation is not limited to the meaning of sounds, words, grammar or rhetoric but it goes beyond mere correspondences to cultural assumptions and value systems that generate different worldviews, which is specific to each culture. The purpose of this paper is to highlight various problematic areas in translation which arise from cultural differences that are part of the two languages. Specifically cultural difficulties in translating written texts from English into Kurdish. It also attempts to approach some of the cultural aspects in written translation through discussing different examples related to the components of culture. The researcher wishes to make readers obtain a better understanding of culture and its significance when translating written texts. Therefore, cultural approach alongside with other approaches will be taken into consideration in the process of translation. The researcher, hence, tries to answer the questions of how gender and identity impact translation in relation to culture, most particularly, in the case of translating written texts from English into Kurdish. With an awareness of tradition, one must consciously consider the chronology, explicit meaning, developments in related fields, historical and religious context of the source text. Finally, it is important to call up the same reaction that the source text is intended to evoke and not introduce new words that are irrelevant to the language people use.
KEYWORDS: Culture, Cultural Approach, Cultural Issues, Censorship, Kurdish Culture, Translation Approaches, Written Translation.
DOI: 10.23918/vesal2023v37