The Relationship between Culture and Translation

Cultural translatability (people sometimes have the same or similar understanding of certain things, and different nationalities will produce the same or similar language and culture); Semi-translatability of culture (the same or similar language and culture will inevitably have some differences); Cultural untranslatability (great cultural differences will cause great difficulties in translation).

Cultural translatability: Because the human brain not only has the same physiological function, but also has the same thinking ability, the understanding of some things is sometimes the same or similar, and different nationalities will produce the same or similar language and culture. The translatability of this culture just reflects the function of cultural overlap. We can use literal translation or similar methods to express the information of the original text directly with the translation.

Semi-translatability of culture: Although different people sometimes have the same or similar understanding of things, their methods and angles of understanding things will be similar, so there will inevitably be some differences in the same or similar languages and cultures. For the translation of this kind of language, we should adopt the method of combining literal translation with free translation, which not only preserves the content and overall style of the original text, but also adopts appropriate words and language habits in the target language to express the source information in the customary language of the target language, so as to make it easier for the target readers to accept.

Untranslatability of culture: Great cultural differences will cause great difficulties in translation. Many times, due to the lack of cultural factors such as politics, economy, history, customs and values implied in the source language, it is difficult for us to find words equivalent to the source language in the target language.