Treating cultural references in translation: The Wedding of Zein as an example

Abstract

Several shifts related to cultural references take place during the translation process. The ‎current article deals with the attempts the translator Denys Johnson-Davies takes in ‎order to address the rich cultural references in The Wedding of Zein by the Sudanese ‎writer Tayeb Salih. These attempts are the target of the current study. This paper focuses ‎on how theories of translation attempt to explain the rationale behind the translator’s ‎decisions and actions, specifically when dealing with culture-specific references. This ‎article demonstrates that the target reader (TR) is the centre of Johnson-Davies’ ‎translation of the source text (ST). The paper shows that translators do not follow one ‎single approach when rendering a text but rather a plethora of techniques to help the ‎reader digest the literature in their hands. ‎

Keywords

• Denys Johnson-Davies
• Tayeb Salih
• culture
• Skopos

References

1. Abbas, A. (1974). Notes on Tayeb Salih: Season of migration to the north and the wedding of ‎Zein. Sudan Notes and Records, 55. Khartoum: Khartoum University Press.‎
2. Al-Haggagi. A. (1983). The myth maker: Al-Tayyeb Salih's The Wedding of Zein. Alif: Journal ‎of Comparative Poetics, (3). Cairo: AUC Press. ‎
3. Allen, R. (1997). Translation translated: RašīdabūǦadrah's "Ma'rakat al-Zuqāq". Oriente ‎Moderno, 16 (77) (2/3), 165-176. Pendle, K. (2001). Women & music a history. ‎Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ‎
4. Antoine, B. (2000). Translation and the trials of the foreign. The Translation Studies Reader. ‎Venuti, L. (Ed.). London: Routledge.‎
5. Baker, M. (2009). Encyclopaedia of translation studies. New York & London: Routledge.‎
6. Baker, M. (2006). Translation and conflict: A narrative account. London: Routledge.‎
7. Bassnett, S. (2002). Translation studies. London: Routledge.‎
8. Benjamin, W. (2000). The task of the translator: An introduction to the translation of ‎Baudelaire’s “Tableaux Parisiens”. The translation Studies Reader. Venuti, L. (Ed.). ‎London: Routledge.‎

9. Buden, B., Nowotny S., Simon, S., Bery, A, Cronin, M. (2009) Cultural translation: An ‎introduction to the problem, and Responses, Translation Studies, 2:2, 196-219, DOI: ‎‎10.1080/14781700902937730‎
10. Casiday, A. (2012). The Orthodox Christian world. New York: Routledge.‎
11. Constance, B. (1981). The contours of Sudanese literature. Africa Today, (2). Indiana: Indiana ‎University Press D. Peña, Elizabeth. (2007). Lost in translation: Methodological considerations in cross-cultural ‎research. Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Society for Research in Child ‎Development.‎
12. Davies, j. D. (2006). Memories in translation: A life between the lines of Arabic literature. ‎Cairo: AUC Press.‎
13. Dixon, J. (1993). Translation studies: The integration of Uncertainty. Translation and ‎Literature, (2).‎
14. Firat, A. (2014). Sufism in the contemporary Arabic Novel. Middle Eastern Literatures, 17(2). ‎Amesterdam: Brill.‎
15. Fisher, W. (1987). Human communication as narration: Toward a philosophy of reason, value, ‎and action. Columbia, S.C.: South Carolina University Press.‎
16. Guessabi, F. (2013). The cultural problems in translating a novel from Arabic to English ‎language: The Algerian novel. Arab World English Journal, (2).Bechar University: ‎Algeria.‎
17. Habib, R. (2005). A history of literary criticism: From Plato to the present. Malden, Mass.: ‎Blackwell.‎
18. Hassan, W. (2003). Tayeb Salih: Ideology and the craft of fiction. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse ‎University Press.‎
19. Hornby, A.S. (2015). Oxford advanced learner's dictionary (8th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University ‎Press.‎
20. Jabir, J. (2006). Skopos theory: Basic principles. Basra: University of Basra.‎
21. Karoubi, B. (2015). A critical account of the evolution of translation theories in the West ‎between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Translation Review, 91(1).‎
22. Knysh, A. D. (2010). Islamic mysticism: A short history. Leiden: Brill.‎
23. Kolchevska, N. (1983). Toward a "Hybrid" Literature: Theory and Praxis of the Faktoviki. The ‎Slavic and East European Journal. California: American Association of Teachers of ‎Slavic and East European Languages.‎
24. Mouakket, A. (1988). Linguistics and translation. Damascus: Tlass.‎
25. Munday, J. (2001). Introduction to translation studies: Theories and applications. London: ‎Routledge. ‎
26. Najjar, M. (1984). Translation as a correlative of meaning: Cultural and linguistic transfer ‎between Arabic and English. Indiana University, Bloomington.‎
27. Nida, E. (2001). Principles of correspondence. The Translation Studies Reader. Venuti, L. (Ed.). ‎London & New York: Routledge.‎
28. Pickthall, M. W., &Eliasii, M. A. (1996). The Holy Qur-'aan: transliteration in Roman script, ‎with original Arabic text. New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan.‎
29. Puri, S. (1995). The Cambridge dictionary. Delhi: Sahni Publications.‎
30. Pym, A. (2004). The moving text: Localization, translation, and distribution. Amsterdam: ‎Benjamins Publishing.‎
31. Pym, A. (2008). On Toury’s laws of how translators translate. Beyond descriptive translation ‎studies investigations in homage to Gideon Toury. Pym, A., Shlesinger, M., & Simeoni, ‎D. (Eds.). Amsterdam: Benjamins Publishing.‎
32. Quine, W. V.O. (2000). Meaning and translation. The Translation Studies Reader. Venuti, L. ‎‎(Ed.). London: Routledge.‎
33. Reiss, K. (2000). Towards a general theory of translational action: Skopos theory explained. ‎New York: Routledge.‎
34. Roger Allen. (2010). The happy traitor: Tales of translation. Comparative Literature ‎Studies, 47(4). Pennsylvania: Penn State University Press.‎
35. Salih, T. (1988). Season of migration to the north (D. Johnson-Davies, Trans.). New York: ‎Review Books.‎
36. Salih, T. (2009). The wedding of Zein and other stories. Davies, j. D. (Trans.). New York: New ‎York Review.‎
37. Snell-Hornby, M. (2006). The turns of translation studies: New paradigms or shifting ‎viewpoints? Amsterdam: Benjamins Publishing.‎
38. Venuti, L. (Ed.). The translation studies reader. London & New York: Routledge, 2004.‎
39. Vermeer, H. (1989). Skopos and commission in translational action. The Translation Studies ‎Reader. Venuti, L. (Ed.). London: Routledge, 2004.‎
40. Vinay, J. & Darbelnet, J. (2000). A methodology for translation. The Translation Studies ‎Reader. Venuti, L. (Ed.). London: Routledge, 2004.‎
41. Zaydan, J., Selim, S., & Allen, R. (2012). Tree of Pearls, Queen of Egypt. Syracuse University ‎Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1j1w0s9‎
42. صالح، ط. (1997). دومة ود حامد: سبع قصص. بيروت: دار العودة. ‏
43. صالح، ط. (1997). عرس الزين. بيروت: دار الجيل. ‏
44. صالح، ط. (1997). موسم الهجرة الى الشمال. بيروت: دار العودة.‏
45. المنفلوطي، م. (1984). النظرات والعبرات. بيروت: دار الجيل.‏