55
RENDERING UZBEK CULTURE-BOUND EXPRESSIONS IN ENGLISH
Furqat Djalolov
Senior teacher
Uzbekistan State World Languages University
e -mail: furkatdjalolov76@gmail.com
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15447597
ANNOTATION
This thesis is devoted to the translation problems of culture-bound words and
expressions from the Uzbek language into the English language. Such words and expressions
create difficulties for the translator. It is very challenging to find a suitable equivalent from
the target language. Translation occurs as a result of human activity that allows people to
exchange ideas and opinions, regardless of their different languages and cultures.
Translation
is a kind of cross-linguistic, cross-cultural and cross-social communication. As a kind of
communication, the main purpose is nothing but to establish equivalence between the source
text and the target text. In other words, as the receiver of the source message and the sender
of the target message, the translator should try his best to convey all the contents of the
source text into the target text, otherwise, translation as a kind of communication would end
in failure.
Key words:
cross-cultural and cross-social communication,
transcription,
transliteration, and calque translation, the essence of each word, perception.
Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people,
encompassing religion, language, social habits, cuisine, music and arts. Equivalent-lacking
words signify notions lacking in the target language and culture. They are sometimes called
untranslatable words or ‘unfindable’ words. Sometimes equivalent-lacking words are
associated with culture-bound words, the Russian equivalent being
реалии
or culturally
loaded words. However, the term of
culture-bound word
is of narrower meaning than the term
of
equivalent-lacking word.
A culture-bound word names an object peculiar to this or that
ethnic culture.
Equivalent-lacking words include, along with culture-bound words, neologisms, i.e.,
newly coined forms, dialect words, slang, taboo-words, foreign (third language) terms, proper
names, misspellings, archaisms, etc. Equivalent-lacking words also include proverbs, idioms
and phraseologisms. Sometimes it may be difficult to find a suitable equivalent in another
language.
1
Words which are connected with culture are called culture-bound words.
Culture-bound
words are generally rendered in the borrowing language through
transcription
,
transliteration,
and
calque
translation. What is most important in translating culture-bound
words is the receptor’s perception and reaction. A translator should be aware of the
receptor’s potential problems and, taking into account the receptor’s background knowledge,
choose the best means of translation.
Before translating, it is necessary to check whether a
loan word exists in the target language, whether its meaning corresponds to that of the source
language word, and what its phonetic and graphic form is (care should be taken for the
different spellings of a source language word and the loan word.
1
Newmark Peter. Abοut Translatiοn. Lοndοn. 2001.-P.78-86.
56
“The coziness and beauty of an art house depends on the accuracy and precision of the
building design, the elegance of the decorations, the skill of the architect and the skill of the
builders. But what material it is made of, the quality of the building material is also very
important.
In literary translation, on the other hand, the place of the basic “building material” - the
word, which is the first and most necessary element of translation - is immense. All the
problems of translating from one language into another - the creation of art, the creation of
style, the reflection of the national color - are closely connected with the word.”
2
Translation is the transmittal of written text from one language into another.
We can add to our opinion that in addition to translating the author's work, the
translator must do a great deal of additional work - a careful study of the traditions of that
nation, their relationship to each other, the author's work, all scientific and literary sources.
Otherwise, it is natural for the translator to make similar errors as above.
The purpose of translation is to recreate an existing work of art in another language. In
this case, the translator recreates the artistic means of another language in his own language.
After all, translation has been a means of getting acquainted with the national spirituality,
which is still alien, and absorbing it into one's own inner world. In the personality of the
translator (in the form of a creative writer) the cultures of the two nations are harmonized.
What interests the translator is to present of the same new, yet undiscovered world of
national to his reader. In the personality of the translator (in the form of a creative writer) the
cultures of the two cultures are harmonized.
“National value is a concept used to show the universal, socio-moral, cultural, spiritual
significance of certain events in reality. Everything that is important to human and humanity,
such as freedom, peace, justice, enlightenment, truth, goodness and spiritual wealth, and so
on, is a value.
Although value in this sense is not applied to the value of things and objects, it is a
philosophical category used to express the social significance of the value of objects, events,
processes, situations, qualities, requirements, etc. This category represents not only the value
of the object, but also its social significance, philosophical and axiological content, value for
society and human. In this sense, value is not applied to the quality of things and objects, but
is a philosophical category used to express the social significance of values, events, processes,
situations, qualities, demand procedures, etc. This category represents not only the value of
the object, but also its philosophical-axiological content of social significance, value for society
and human.
3
We would like to analyse some examples taken from short story “New Year’s by Party”
Rakhmat Fayzi. Uzbek women never go to the wedding parties and any kind of ceremonies
with empty hands. They take there some food, some kind of cloth with themselves. The main
hero of the story Bakhri khola’s words:
-
Ҳамма гап биз хотинларнинг эскича расми-русмимизда “
Оling quda bering quda
”
rasmi o’lsin. Mana men …
English translation (G.Khanna and D.Skvirskiy):
2
Faber P, Rοdriguez C. Cοgnitive Linguistics View οf Terminοlοgy and Specialized Language. Lοndοn. 2012.-P. 2-25.
3
Newmark Peter. Abοut Translatiοn. Lοndοn. 2001.-P.78-86.
57
“Of course, the whole trouble was caused by our ridiculous old customs:
“Take it, old girl – return it, old girl!”
.
Uzbeks have a habit. Depending on the present the guest has brought to the host’s house,
he should return it accordingly when he goes back to his house. There is such a proverb in the
Uzbek language
“bor tovog’im, kel tovog’im, kelishing quruq bo’lsang o’rta yerda sin
tovog’im”
. The English translator using the Russian version translated it as
“go my tray,
return, my tray, and if you don’t return may the devil take you”
.
This idiom does not exist in the Russian and English languages. Here the word-by-word
literal translation of the proverb is not only correct, but also very good, it has its own internal
rhythm and rhyme. An English translator who used the Russian text also translated the
proverb word by word correctly. It did not harm to the national coloring of the work. The
translator who used the original language could not find the suitable equivalent.
That is, here
the translator could not find an equivalent to this idiom when translating from the original
into another language, and used the calque translation method. The English translator also
followed the Russian translator and translated this expression word by word.
One of the difficulties a translator comes across is selecting a suitable equivalent. It
should be as expressive as the original and correspond in style and connotation, and convey
an adequate meaning.
Uzbek people never go to someone’s house with empty hands. They bring some cookies,
bread, sweets and etc. this example is taken from “New Year’s Party” by Rakhmat Fayzi. They
were discussing about Sanaubar’s presents which she had brought, Bakhri khola continued
saying like this:
-
Хo’sh gapga kelishaylik. Mayli, Sanobar atlas qilib kelibdi. Bunisi yomon ham emas. Endi
mana bu
bir dasturxon noni
nimasi edi. (299-бет).
In English:
“And now about today’s business, Sanaubar brought a piece of silk for a dress. That’s all
right but why bring
a sack of cakes
?”.
Let’s compare Uzbek and Russian texts. In the original “bir dasturxon noni” in Russian
“мешок лепешек”, i.e. not “bir dasturxon noni”, but was translated as
“bir qop noni” (a sack
of cakes)
. After all, Uzbeks do not carry a sack of cakes when they go to weddings,
celebrations and gatherings. The English translator who followed after his Russian colleague
made the same mistake. It damaged to the national coloring. Here the shortcomings of indirect
translation are clearly known, i.e., the shortcomings of the interlinear language are
transferred to another. We can add to our opinion that in addition to translating the author's
work, the translator must do a great deal of additional work - a careful study of the traditions
of that nation, their relationship to each other, the author's work, all scientific and literary
sources. Otherwise, it is natural for the translator to make the above-mentioned mistakes. But
young translator Khafiza Allanazarova did not make such a mistake. She translated it
correctly. We can give an example taken from “Dehqonning bir kuni” by Utkir Khoshimov.
In the original:
“Мuyassar bolalikdan odat bo’lib qolgan chaqqonlik bilan
non
yasaydi. Bir savat qilib
tandir oldida ko’tarib boradi, bitta—bittadan yopa boshlaydi. Oxirgi
nonni
yopadi-yu yengil
nafas oladi.” In English:
58
“Carrying a basket of
bread
that she made rolling out of the dough as nimbly as she took
to since her childhood, she went up to the earthen stove, and baked them one by one. At last
she finished and got her breath back.”
However, “differences between cultures can cause more serious problems for the
translator than differences in language structure.”
Translating culturally related words and phrases, such as idioms, proverbs and similes
can be challenging, at least theoretically, for professional translators who are expected to be
fluent in the languages in which they work.
Nida argues that translation problems are likely to happen even when the source
language SL and target language TL have some similar linguistic and cultural features. This
means that translation problems may vary in scope depending on both cultural and linguistic
gap between the two concerned languages. Accordingly, equal importance to both linguistic
and cultural differences between the SL and the TL must be taken in consideration.
Translation could not have developed without culture. Literature, science, and
philosophy influence translators’ conceptualizations. On the other hand, culture could not
have developed without translation, since translations enrich nations with the cultural values
of other nations.
Translating culture-bound words and expressions is a serious problem, and the
translator should look for equivalents in the language he is translating that correspond to
those words and expressions, without translating them word by word, and if such equivalents
do not exist, then translate them literally or give their meaning. The translator is required to
understand the essence of each word, translating it knowing that the word has a positive or
negative meaning. Otherwise, the interpreter may again allow the above deficiencies.
4
Friendship, kindness, nobility, tolerance, generosity, kindness, integrity, and etc. factors
that ensure human perfection, spiritual and moral beauty, as well as the eternity of life are the
main features of our people. The alternative re-creation of these feelings in literary
translation serves the mutual understanding of different peoples and nations, the discovery of
distant lands and peoples, and the interaction of cultures.
References:
Используемая литература:
Foydalanilgan adabiyotlar:
1.
Albakry M. Linguistic and cultural issues in literary translatiοn. New Yοrk. 2004.
2.
Graedler A.L. Cultural shοck. Lοndοn. 2000.
3.
Krings H.P. Translatiοn prοblems and translatiοn strategies. New Yοrk. 2006.
4.
Leppihalme R. Culture bumps: an empirical apprοach tο the translatiοn οf allusiοns.
Clevedοn: Multilingual Matters. 1997.
5.
Lοescher W. Translatiοn perfοrmance, translatiοn prοcess and translatiοn strategies.
Tuebingen: Guten Narr. 2001.
6.
Seguinοt C. The translatiοn prοcess. Tοrοntο: H.G. Publicatiοns. 2009.
7.
Venuti L. Strategies οf translatiοn. Lοndοn and New Yοrk: Rοutledge. 1998.-P.240-244.
4
Newmark Peter. Abοut Translatiοn. Lοndοn. 2001.-P.78-86.
