IS THERE ANYTHING LIKE A UNIVERSAL TYPOLOGY OF TRANSLATION SOLUTIONS FOR CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEMS?
IS THERE ANYTHING LIKE A UNIVERSAL TYPOLOGY OF TRANSLATION SOLUTIONS FOR CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEMS?

Summary/Abstract: Rendering culture-specific items (CSI) into another language has always been a challenge for translators for obvious reasons: CSIs are context-dependent text elements carrying a connotative meaning in the source culture. For the same reason, several typologies are available, like Newmark’s (1988), Tomaszkiewicz´s (1993), Valdeon´s (2008), or Pedersen´s (2011). Newmark’s typology has been generally accepted by experts in translation studies and translation pedagogy. Tomaszkiewicz´s (1993) eight strategies are based on exploring subtitling in films; Valdeon´s taxonomy (2008) based on audiovisual mode comprises strategies resulting from preservation and from substitution. Pedersen´s taxonomy (2011) involves source-language-oriented and target-language-oriented ones. These can be juxtaposed with Pym’s (2016) taxonomy, which he calls a typology of translation solutions for many languages. He (ibid) assumes them to be behavioral, problem-based, potentially conscious, intersubjective and starting from the most general and basic translation solution: to change something. With the arrival of something new, a couple of questions may arise: Why do we need still another classification? How is this approach different? Our basic premise is that Pym’s typology is more user-friendly (i.e. translator-friendly). The present paper aims to compare and contrast the existing typologies and in doing so streamline the current trend in the translation theory.

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