Istiratijiyyat tarjamat al-‘anasir al-thaqafiyyah min al-lughah al-Malawiyyah ila al-lughah al-‘Arabiyyah: ‘Lat – Tifl al-qaryah’ anmudhajan

[Translation strategies for cultural elements from Malay into Arabic: Lat – Kampung Boy as a case study]

Abstract

Culture and translation are fundamentally intertwined, making cultural awareness an essential component of the translation process. In contemporary translation practice, bilingualism or proficiency in more than one language is no longer sufficient to qualify an individual as a competent translator. Instead, translators are required to possess in-depth knowledge of both source-language and target-language cultures. Nevertheless, even culturally informed translators often encounter considerable challenges when translating culture-specific elements due to the cultural differences inherent between languages. This study seeks to identify and analyse Malay cultural elements in the Arabic translation of the well-known Malay folk narrative Lat – Budak Kampung. It further aims to examine the strategies employed by the translator in rendering these cultural elements into Arabic, particularly those that lack direct or fully equivalent lexical or cultural counterparts in Arab culture. The study adopts a descriptive-analytical methodology and is based on an analytical framework comprising five cultural categories. The findings reveal that the translator primarily relies on semantic and literal translation strategies when dealing with Malay cultural elements. The selection of these strategies appears to be largely influenced by the degree of cultural distance between the Malay and Arabic languages, as well as by the translator’s attempt to balance cultural preservation with target-language readability. This study contributes to translation studies by shedding light on the complexities involved in translating culture-bound elements and by offering insights into practical strategies for mediating cultural differences between linguistically and culturally distant languages.