International Journal of Language & Linguistics

Translation through Cultural Appreciation
Xuexin Liu

Abstract
Recognizing the limitation of the linguistic-orientated approach to translation, this study holds that cultural interpretation is among the dominant variables in translation. The study does not simply relate lexical items and syntactic structures of the source language to the equivalents of the target language but ‘translates’ the meaning as linguistically realized in the source language through cultural appreciation. It presents a model of information processing at two interrelated levels. The conceptual level deals with the semantic-pragmatic feature bundles in the source language for comprehending the intended meaning, which sends the successfully processed information to the functional level. It is the functional level which deals with the lexical and syntactic realization in the target language. This model proposes that source language culture must be the center of information processing at the conceptual level, and any translation product at the functional level must reflect source language culture to the extent possible.

Full Text: PDF