Junior Research Symposia

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Effectiveness of the Use of Dialects in Literary Translation (With Special Reference to the Sinhalese Translation of Earnest Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea")
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Shavoni, D.P.N.; de Alwis, K.K.L.
Dialects play an indispensable role in an effective translation. A dialect is a form of a language unique to a particular region or a social group. These social dialects spawn according to the social boundaries like profession ethnicity, race, religion or even gender and age, whereas regional dialects occur in relation to the physical barriers like geographical boundaries. In Sri Lanka several regional and social dialects are found to be in existence. Being an island, Sri Lankan coastal communities withhold a unique form of fishermen dialect based upon their lifestyle in the coastal areas. To present a successful literary translation to the readership it is a necessary skill for any translator to have knowledge of the cultural background of both SL and TL. The purpose of this study is to identify the effectiveness of using such knowledge of fishermen dialect in Sri Lanka with reference to the Sinhalese translation of Ernest Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea". The terms related to the fishery industry were selected and analysed by comparing them to the terms in the original text. It was found that the use of fishermen dialect has contributed towards giving an authentic reading to the target readership. Further, this translation proved to be rather a remake of the original text than a word to word translation. Therefore, translators need an indepth knowledge of the cultural elements in both SL and TL. An understanding about dialects and their effective use will therefore be of utmost importance to the success of a literary translation.
A Comparative Study on the Novel "Giraya" by Punyakante Wijenaike and its Sinhalese Translation by Ceryl C. Perera
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Dissanayake, R.; Gunasinghe, M.P.D.
Translation is the process of reproducing the source text in another language. Translations can be mainly categorised as technical and non-technical translations. The Translation of literary texts which belong to the category of non-technical translations, are basically identified as a challenging task mainly because of the difficulties in handling the language. Mostly, these issues arise when translating a text which belongs to a different cultural context. Translating the cultural terms is indeed a challenging task. Nonetheless, if the translation is done in the very same context of the source text, the task of the translator becomes much easier. The aim of the study is to analyse the way that language has been used in the two texts Giraya by Punyakanthe wijenaike and its translation by Cyril C. Perera. Data were collected from the two books Giraya and its translation. Here, the author of the source text has used the original cultural terms which appear in Sinhalese, without translating them into English. Thus, translating the particular source text is easier as the cultural background, cultural terms and the characters belong to the same local context of the target language. Though the translators encounter several complications due to both language and cultural barriers, translations within the same cultural context are less intricate than translations within two different backgrounds.
Cultural Issues Regarding the Translation of Dramatic Texts
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Bandara, W.A.A.I.; Ranasinghe, J.K.D.P.; de Silva, T.P.M.
A drama is a composition in verse or phrase intended to portray life or character or to tell a story usually involving conflicts and emotions through actions and dialogues. A drama is typically designed for theoretical performances. The written version of a drama is known as the script or the dramatic text and converting this text into a different language is known as the translation of dramatic texts. The objective of this research is to find out the manner that culture influences the translation of dramatic texts and the strategies that can be used to overcome the challenges that rise during the process. "The Caucassian Chalk Circle" by Bertolt Bretcht and its Sinhalese translation "Hunu Vataye kathawa" by Henry Jayasena are used as primary sources and data were collected by comparing the two texts. The cultural data of the source text and its translation were categorised according to several topics namely religious terms, political views, class distinction, food and beverages, life style, parlance, and clothing items. Accordingly, it was discovered that cultural words appearing in the source text can be entirely different from those of the target culture. Therefore, having sufficient knowledge regarding both cultural backgrounds are vital in order to overcome the problems encountered in translating. Further, it was identified that methods such as borrowing, use of cultural equivalents creation, reconstruction are among the methods used by dramatic text translators in addition to direct translation method. Thus, for a successful dramatic text translation in which the target readers are allowed to ascertain an unknown culture effectively, having adequate knowledge in both source language and target language along with their respective cultures is important for a translator. Both primary and secondary data were collected by referring to subject related books and Google websites.

Junior Research Symposia

Browse

Filters

Settings

Sort By

Results per page

Search Results