Culture I: culturally based presuppositions in translation

Transcription

1 Culture I: culturally based presuppositions in translation 1. Introduction Differences in culture pose several challenges to the translator. The most obvious problem is probably what is sometimes called cultural words which are words or phrases that are difficult, and often impossible, to translate. They are difficult to translate because they are deeply rooted in the culture and values associated with the source language but are not part of the cultural context of the target language. Often, the translator will have to paraphrase them, come up with an inaccurate 'equivalent' or even coin a whole new word in the target language. One example of such a word is 'hygge' which we Danes proudly claim is impossible to translate into any other language. But cultural differences are not only relevant to cultural words; many source texts spoken or written take for granted access to the cultural background knowledge associated with the source language, but, quite often, speakers of the target language do not have access to this knowledge, and therefore, they would not fully understand a totally literal translation. Thus, many source texts contain elements which are based on presuppositions that take for granted access to certain cultural models. Today, we are going to have a look at presuppositions, cultural models, and cultural differences in translation. 2. What is culture? This is a question that is very difficult to answer, but the lay definition is typically that culture is what sets a group of people, or a community, apart from another group of people (or from the rest of the world). This certainly seems to apply to things like cultural words in translation, but this definition is also a rather simplistic one that leaves out a lot of details since there are many aspects to culture and numerous theories and scientific definitions of culture, some of which are listed here (read the Duranti chapter for more): culture is distinct from nature: culture is transmitted, or passed on, from one generation to the next through socialization, not through genes. culture is knowledge: if culture is something passed on through socialization, then it is something that is learned, and, if it is something learned, then it must be a type of knowledge and not just facts but also shared recurring patterns of thought and ways of understanding the world culture is communication: culture is a system of signs that make up the code, or language, of a community, and thus also its myths, (folk) theories, descriptions etc. culture is a system of mediation: culture is what organizes the tools that humans use in interaction with the surrounding world this includes language, since language may be viewed as a tool of communication. culture is a system of practices: culture encompasses typical patterns of behavior and habits and recurring ways in which a group of people interact with the world around them culture is a system of participation: culture is the specific way in which members of a community participate in that community Regardless of which definition we buy, or if we buy all of them, we will end up with the notion of common ground, which is that repository of knowledge and patterns of thought and behavior that are shared by a group of people, and which non-members of this group do not necessarily have access to. Since common ground is shared knowledge, members of a culture tend to assume that other members of the same culture share the common ground.

2 3. Cultural models What does cultural knowledge consist of? Basically, it consists what cognitive scientists call cognitive models, and the theory is that all knowledge and all human thought activity involve different kinds of cognitive models. 3.1 Cognitive models Cognitive models are basically schematic mental representations of recurring experiences or relations, and cognitive scientists argue that our very knowledge of the world and patterns of thought and behavior are based on these. Language is too, as language is believed to be directly linked to human cognition, and therefore words, phrases, grammar etc. are quite dependent on cognitive models. Here is an example: (1) Uncle Bob bought a new car This sentence involves several cognitive models, but we will just have a look at two of them. The word 'uncle' evokes a cognitive model of the FAMILY, because to understand the concept of UNCLE, one must have access to knowledge of the structure of families and how family members relate to each other. The word 'bought' evokes a cognitive model that is sometimes called the COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION frame (frame is the term used for cognitive models when they serve as essential background knowledge of linguistic forms), which forms the basis of our way of understanding actions like BUYING, SELLING etc. and concepts like MONEY, VALUE etc. Note that cognitive models are idealized (which is why they are also called idealized cognitive models), because they are generalizations and they do not necessarily fit the real world around us very well in fact many of them do not. Certain cognitive models are very complex, as they encompass several actions, relations and roles, which often follow specific chronological structures, often of a ritualistic nature, but not necessarily. These types of models are called scripts, some examples being the GOING TO A RESTAURANT and FLYING ON AN AEROPLANE scripts. The following are examples of texts that take for granted access to cognitive models in the sense that there is a lot of implicit information that the speaker/writer assumes the hearer/reader already knows about: (2) When Uncle Bob bought a new car yesterday, he refused to give the seller the money. (3) She caught a plane from London to Madrid. After she had found her seat she checked whether the life vest was beneath it, but she could not find it. So she asked the flight attendant to find one for her. (4) John went to a restaurant. He asked the waitress for coq au vin. He paid the bill and left Cultural models A cultural model is basically a cognitive model which is restricted to, or associated with, or dependent on, the common ground of a specific culture. And we can assume that most cognitive models are, in one way or another, culture-specific. Translators often run into problems when translating terms and expressions that are anchored in a cultural model of the source language, which does not exist in the target language, or which is perhaps quite different in the target language. One example of a cultural script that serves as a Danish cultural model, could be the Danish JULEFROKOST, which includes special patterns of behavior and a special order of ingestion of dishes, and a special menu as well. We can assume that most Danes are aware of this model, and, therefore, everybody knows what you mean when you are talking about 'silden', 'ostebordet' and

3 'alle talerne' even though it is the first time you mention them. Likewise CRICKET and what goes on during a cricket game (and the terminology of cricket) are probably well known to Brits and members of many former colonies, but most foreigners probably do not share this cultural model. The terminology of cricket probably contains a lot of terms which are types of cultural words which cannot be translated into Danish, for example. 3.3 Cultural knowledge Since translation is essentially type of intercultural communication, cultural knowledge is quite important to the translator. Basically, what the translator does is to take an object rooted in one culture (i.e. the source text) and transfer it into a product of the code of another culture. Thus, part of the cultural knowledge the translator must deal with is knowledge of cultural models, but the translator must also know about the cultural values associated with language itself, such as which words and expressions are offensive or (in)appropriate in the target language and in which contexts, or whether they have certain context-specific connotations or not. 4. Presupposition Presupposition is basically a piece of information or an inference that an utterance takes for granted. That is, the speaker/writer takes for granted that the listener/reader has access to this information without it being actually having been introduced in the discourse Presupposition triggers Presuppositions are engendered by linguistic expressions which are called presupposition triggers. There are many forms and expressions which may trigger presupposition, but here are some of the most commonly recognized ones: definite descriptions 'Yo, pick up the phone!' >> There is a phone 'De åbnede en dør og listede ind på værelset' >> There is a room factive predicates epistemic/cognitive factives 'I didn't know you did it' >> You did it 'Jeg havde ingen anelse om, at du kunne finde på sådan noget' >> You were able to do it. emotive factives 'I regret firing you' >> I fired you 'Vi beklager, at dette måtte finde sted' >> It happened change of state factives 'She started crying' >> She was not crying 'Hold så op med at brokke dig!' >> You were complaining iteratives iterative verbs 'They returned to Rome' >> They were in Rome before iterative adverbs 'De tog til Rom igen' >> They were in Rome before implicative predicates 'They managed to kill the alien invaders' >> They tried to kill the alien invaders 'De forsøgte at komme ind' >> They were outside and had no 'normal' access temporal clauses

4 'She told him to hit the road after he'd cheated on her' >> He had cheated on her 'Kannibalerne kogte ham før de spiste ham' >> They ate him cleft sentences cleft 'It was Darth Vader who killed the Emperor' >> Someone killed the Emperor 'Det var Frank, der blev bustet' >> Someone got busted pseudo-cleft 'What I did was to paint the house' >> I did something 'Det, de gjorde var, at de spiste rå fisk >> They did something counterfactual conditionals 'If I were Superman, you'd be Lois Lane' >> I am not Superman 'Hvis bare du lyttede til mig' >> You did not listen to me A lot of these, potentially all of them, may trigger presuppositions that are based on information associated with specific cognitive and cultural models. 4.2 Presupposition and cultural models Here is an example of a text that contains presupposition triggers which are anchored in a Danish cultural model namely, the Danish way of celebrating Midsummer: (5) Når årets længste dag oprinder, så samles vi om aftenen omkring bålene, hygger os og fejrer Sankt Hans - Johannes Døberens fødselsdag - for Sankt Hans er det danske navn for Johannes Døberen. Midsommerfesten er som Julen, årets anden store højtid, iklædt en Kristen tradition - Sank Hans' fødselsdag havde Kirken regnet sig frem til ved at trække nøjagtig et halv år fra Jesus' - det står nemlig skrevet i Biblen, at Johannes' mor var gravid i sjette måned, da englen bebudede Marias undfangelse. Ligesom Julen er blevet en hyggelig famile-fest og tradition med sang, nisser, lidt overtro og lidt Kristne aner med Juleevangeliet, så er midsommerfesten blevet det samme - midsommervisen, hygge omkring bålene, hvor heksen sendes afsted til Bloksbjerg, og lidt Kristent islæt med Sankt Hans' fødselsdag og skikken med at skille sig af med de ugudelige hekse. We'll return to this in a moment. 5. Culturally based presuppositions in translation Imagine if you made a literal translation of the text in (5) aimed at readers who do not know how Midsummer is celebrated in Danish culture. They would probably get the idea of the text, but would miss out on a lot of things, because the above text does presuppose a couple of things that we take for granted about Danish Midsummer celebrations, but which non-danes might not know about. If the translated text is aimed at such an audience, free translation is probably the way to go, so you can perhaps eliminate the presupposition triggers and insert some more elaborate descriptions. 6. Dealing with cultural knowledge You should avoid making abductive guesses about the culture of the reader target group. Rather, you should make some research into both the target culture and the source culture. See if they have corresponding cultural models that you can draw upon or if they do not. Maybe you can find some cultural equivalents, or maybe you will have to expand, modulate, or paraphrase or use some descriptive equivalents. If you know their culture then it is much easier for you to get the idea of the original source text across, because then you can use their cultural values and practices as part of

5 the communication process. 7. Exercise Read text (5), and then: Set up the cultural model or script of Skt. Hans Identify presupposition triggers relating to this model Make a free translation aimed at readers who might not know the Skt. Hans cultural model