Orges SELMANI

OVERCOMING CULTURAL BARRIERS - THE MISSING LINK

BETWEEN TRANSLATION AND INTERCULTURAL

COMMUNICATION

An inter-linguistic analysis of a scene from Scent of a Woman

Introduction

One of the most challenging tasks for all translators is how to render culture-

bound elements in subtitles into a foreign language. Indeed, not much attention

has been paid to this problem by translation theories. According to Newmark:

“translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message

and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in

another language” (Newmark 1981:7). However, with culturally-bound words

this is often impossible. Indeed, the meaning which lies behind this kind of

expressions is always strongly linked to the specific cultural context where the

text originates or with the cultural context it aims to re-create.

Sometimes this kind of term can be easily rendered into the target language

(TL) as in the case of topographical expressions (“the River Thames” cannot but

be translated into Albanian as “Lumi Tamiz”; “the Atlantic Ocean” cannot but

become “Oqeani Atlantik”, unless for some reasons one thinks it is absolutely

necessary to change the source text). However, more often than not, the

translator has to cope with true dilemmas. The word in the source text (ST) may

be strongly rooted in the source culture (SC) and, yet, it may be too difficult to

understand for the audience the translated movie is addressed to. In addition,

translators may have to deal not only with lexical expressions, but also with

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problems of register, syntactic order, non-standard English, regional varieties

(dialects), etc. Though these elements are not always defined as culture-specific,

I believe they are, since , as Goodenough argues:

“As I see it, a society’s culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or

believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and do so in

any role that they accept for any of themselves … By definition, we should note

that culture is not a material phenomenon; it does not consist of things, people,

behavior, or emotions. It is rather an organization of these things. It is the form

of things that people have in mind, their model of perceiving and dealing with

their circumstances” (Goodenough, 1964:36)

The way people speak, construct their sentences, choose their vocabulary

(according to the formal/informal situation they are in, to their geographical

origin and so on) reveals much about their culture.

The aim of this article is to define some of the main categories of culture-bound

elements in subtitling by providing some significant examples taken from a

popular film made in the USA in the 1990s, Scent of a Woman (director Martin

Brest). Subsequently, I will make an inter-linguistic analysis of both the ST and

the TT in English and Albanian to show what techniques have been adopted by

translators to cope with the main cultural differences highlighted by the

translation process.

The translation of movies is a rather complicated issue in the Albanian context

demanding full consideration in maybe another time. Due to the transitory stage

of the copyright law, the foreign movies entering Albania with full rights know

different versions from the same movie shownn on the small screen or rented in

the video-shops. The situation of translating movies is rather chaotic, with

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several media presenting different versions of the same movie and different

translators cutting and editing along the way playing the role of the Translation

God, if there is one. (Pardon my blasphemy!).

The movie “Scent of a Woman” was first broadcasted in the Italian version with

Albanian subtitles by the Albanian Television (TVSH) in the late 1990s. Italians

have dubbed the movie sometimes transferring the meaning and sometimes

altering it. The same thing was reflected in the Albanian version that took for

original (by mistake) the Italian version. The translation was re-edited some

times ago but still maintained the same mistakes, something that altered the

meaning I knew of editing.

The other version I will analyze is the one of an Albanian digital platform. This

time the movie was in the original.

The scene under scrutiny is the one in which the two main characters, Charles

Simms (the student) and Frank Slate (the colonel) are introduced to each other

in the most awkward way possible. Because he is blind, the Colonel is looking

for an attendant, while Charles – who can afford his studies only thanks to the

scholarship – is looking for a job so he can go back to his family in Oregon

during the Christmas holidays. Their first meeting is in fact Simms’s job

interview with Mr. Slade whose manners are rude and aggressive.

Linguistic and Stylistic Features

The linguistic and stylistic features play an important role in the translation

analysis. The language used in the dialog between Charles and Frank clearly

displays the former uneasiness and hesitation and the latter superiority. Frank

almost always resorts to the imperative mood: Get in here. Don’t call me …

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Come closer… Get outta here… Go on…), Charlie uses the indicative (in the

present tense) most of the time (I’m sorry… My stepfather and my mum run a

convenience store… I attend Baird). The syntax of Mr. Slade’s sentences is also

less regular than Simms’s. Sometimes, the Colonel omits the subject, as in

(Can’t believe they are my blood… Attend Baird… Threw me in G-2). In

contrast, Charlie uses regular S-V-O structures : “I attend Baird”; “I won a

Young American Merit Scholarship”; “I want a job”.

Furthermore, Colonel makes use of many Americanisms and colloquialisms

(“We’ve gotta moron here”; “You patronizing me, pee-wee?” “Whadda you

want here?”) together with puns (G-2? Intelligence, of which you have none”;

Charlie: “My stepfather and mum run a convenience store. Frank: “Oh, how

convenient?” ), metaphorical and idiomatic expressions (“you got me all misty-

eyed”; “appleseeds”- for people from the countryside). In addition Mr. Slade

frequently makes use of the military jargon while addressing Charlie.

All these differences result from the different communicative goals the two

interlocutors want to achieve. The Colonel does not need to make a good

impression. He feels comfortable and seems to enjoy the sense of anxiety and

humiliation that is felt through the stammering and hesitation in the student’s

words.

The actual cultural barriers in terms of Cultural-Bound Elements

Respecting all the above-mentioned characteristics is only half of the challenge

the translator has to face. The translator’s task is made even more difficult by

the presence of many culturally-oriented elements.

The first aspect, as mentioned above, is the use of Americanisms. The spelling

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of many words uttered by Colonel Slade suggests a colloquial tone – this is the

case of the verbs “gonna” and ‘wanna”, the gerunds “shootin” and “doin”.

Though it is almost impossible to render these peculiarities of American English

in Albanian, it is undeniable the fact that they are very important elements in SL

where they suggest the culture the speaker belongs to. In both versions these

elements were not rendered in the Albanian language. These non-standard

forms of language have not been preserved and no inventive solution has been

offered.

SL Frank: Get in here ya idiot. Come a little closer. I wanna get a better look at

ya.

TL-1 Eja brenda, idiot! Afrohu. Dua të të shoh më mirë.

TL-2 Hyr brenda, idiot! Afrohu, dua të të shoh më mirë.

I have made use of different labels for the two Albanian versions, that in this

case are not to be considered so, as except for the punctuation marks are

“spitting” images of each other. Strange enough when considering that one is

translated from English and the other one from Italian. One solution in

rendering the tone in this case is in finding a non-standard language (i.e a

regional variety) in the TL. This strategy is not always advisable as Mr. Slade

would be struggling with Albanian dialects and therefore would not fit the

American background and foreground.

The second point worth considering is how to deal with the word “sir” so

strongly related to attitudes and social behaviors. In English, the forms of “sir”

and “mister” have a clear cut division. In Albanian, the equivalent for “sir”

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depends on the superior we are talking to. In the scene there is a complete loss

of understanding as both forms of addressing (each bearing a different

connotation) are translated the same.

Charlie: Sir ?

TL-1 Zotëri?

TL-2 Zot ëri!

Frank: Don't call me sir !

TL-1 Mos më thuaj zotëri!

TL-2 Mos më thërrit zotëri!

Charlie: I-I'm sorry. I mean mister, sir.

TL-1 Më falni. Desha të them zoti, zotëri.

TL-2 Më falni, por e thashë për respekt, zotëri.

Frank: Uh-oh, we got a moron here,is that it ?

TL-1 Na paska ardhur një hajvan, apo jo?

TL-2 Mirë, paskemi rekrutuar budallain e fshatit.

Charlie: No, mister -- Uh, that is -- Uh, Lieutenant. Yes, sir, Lieu--

Lieutenant Colonel.

TL-1 Jo, zotëri…Jeni…Toger…Po zotëri, toge… Nënkolonel.

Tl-2 Unë zotëri…Toger.

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Frank: Liutenant Colonel. 26 years on the line, nobody ever busted me

four grades before.

TL-1 Nënkolonel. 26 vjet në ushtri, s’m’i ka hequr njëri katër grada më

parë.

TL-2 Nënkolonel, 26 vjet shërbimi, askush s’ka guxuar të më heqë 4 grada.

As it is seen from the example above, the TL-2 version is more accurate in

terms overcoming the cultural barrier and as those who know Italian might see,

the translator helped themselves with the Italian version. The term “sir” in

English is more respectful than “mister”, which is formal if followed by a

person’s surname (Mr. Slade) but is less formal when found in isolation. …….

The other different categories to be found in the SL include:

- History (myths, traditions)

- Society : a. customs and usages

b. institutions and social structure

c. lifestyle and habits

d. beliefs and morality

The first example from the ST is under the History category:

Frank: […] Too much football without a helmet? Ha. Lyndon’s line on

Gerry Ford, deputy debreifer, Paris, peacetalks, ’68, snagged a silver

star and a silver bar. Threw me in G-2.

The Colonel mentions two former American Presidents in this passage : Lyndon

B. Johnson and Gerald Ford. The first one is recognized by the American

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audience simply by his name. It is not the same with Albanians, who are

generally more familiar with his surname, “Johnson”:

TL-1 Frenk: Ke luajtur shumë futboll pa kaskë? Fronti i Lindonit

mbi Gerald Fordin. Atashe ushtarak në bisedimet për paqe në Paris,

në 1968-n. U nderova me Yll të Artë dhe gajtan argjendi. Më futën në

G-2.

TL-2 Frenk: Ke luajtur futboll pa kaskë? E thoshte Xh.For, ekspert

ushtarak, Paris, konferenca e paqes ’68, medalje e trimërisë, gradim në

fushën e betejës, i transferuar në G-2.

Basically, both versions have meaning-related problems that will be revealed

later on. At TL-1 both American Presidents come in the form familiar to an

American-only audience. At TL-2 one of them (Lyndon) disappears with no

reason at all, while the other is transformed from President into an unknown

person (Gerry Ford to Xh.For).

A culture-bound element which belongs to the category of “Society” is the

expression “convenience store”, used by Simms to explain what his parents do.

As he says:

“My stepfather and mum run a convenience store”

TL-1 Njerku dhe nëna ime kanë një dyqan ushqimesh.

TL-2 Njerku dhe nëna ime kanë një supermarket.

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This term can be included in subsystem “b” – life-style and habits, since it is

linked with people’s daily lives, with the way they shop and work, and even

with the opening and closing hours of the shops (and, consequently with their

way of life in general). Convenience stores are very popular in the USA, where

many of them stay open 24 hours a day. They can be found alongside roads and

gas stations and sometimes even at railway stations. Yet the terms “dyqan

ushqimesh” and “supermaket” are the ones chosen by the Albanian translators.

“Dyqan ushqimesh” is a typical Albanian shop, rather an extinct species

nowadays, selling only a limited range of items (mainly flour, sugar, oil). It is

rather out-dated to consider it a cultural equivalent of “convenience store”.

Whereas “supermarket”, which is the equivalent of “supermarket” in English, is

totally different from a convenience store, which could have been translated

more correctly as “minimarket” (this term being used in Albanian as well).

Therefore the culture-bound element in the ST has been ignored and even the

underlying meaning of the passage altered. When the Colonel asks Charles

whether the “convenient store” is “convenient”, he is not just making a pun by

exploiting the linguistic similarities between the words. He is also implying that

they are poor people or that they at least pretend to be so (Charles will then be

addressed as a “crook” for holding a scholarship, and at the end of the scene, as

a “poormouth”). In fact, in Albanian people’s minds to run a “supermarket” or

even “dyqan ushqimesh” does not imply to suffer from a lack of money, it is

though as a rather profitable business.

Another problem is raised with the translation of “Too much football without a

helmet?”. In English this question is rather easy to understand as it is an

undisputable issue the fact that football refers to the American football where

players are required to wear a helmet (quite military) in fact even though they

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are, in fact, playing. The Albanian word “futboll” refers to the English word

“soccer”, that follows different rules from the American football. As for the

helmet part, despite the fact that European soccer players are dying in the soccer

fields due to heart failures while ours are frequently attacked in the fields by

their own fans, they do not wear the same uniforms, thus they don’t know the

use of a helmet as they do not play under bombing, in a construction site or

mine.

I would include in group “c” (life-style and habits) the expressions “Clinique”

and “Chestnut Hill”, which are linked to the high standard of living of the

American élite. After being asked about “how is [his] skin” by the Colonel,

who wants his “attendants to be presentable”, Charles explains:

“Ah, well, I have a few zits, ah, but my roommate, he lent me his Clinique

because, well he’s from Chestnut Hill…

TL-1 “Kam pasur disa akne. Por një shoku im i dhomës më dha një locion

pasi është…

TL-2 Kam pasur disa puçrra. Por një miku im më dha një locion, sepse është

nga një familje e pasur. Këto gjër…

The term “Clinique” has been rendered with the more general one “locion”,

which beside not giving the brand name in the ST, does not communicate that

Charles has been lent a good quality product. Chestnut Hill is an elegant

suburban village in Massachusetts (Boston) where many people from the higher

ranks of society live. Since this is not known to the majority in Albania, the

Albanian subtitles in the TL-1 do not even give a hint of this fact, while those in

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TL-2 again reflect the Italian version of the original (“Lui é di una famiglia per

bene”).

Some of the more remarkable differences between the culture-bound elements

in the ST and their translation are linked to wider and more general assumptions

about social roles and social perceptions of other.

Frank: Can’t believe they are my blood. IQ of sloths and the manners of

banshees. He’s a mechanic, she’s a homemaker. He knows as much about cars

as a beauty queen and she bakes cookies that taste like wing-nuts…

Frenk: S’më besohet që janë gjaku im. Koefiçienti i inteligjencës së

majmunëve të Bengalit, dhe sjellja e orëve të liga. Ai është mekanik, ajo

shtëpiake. Ai merr vesh nga makinat aq sa një mbretëreshë bukurie,

ndërsa ajo gatuan biskota me shije bulonash flutur.

Frenk: Është e pabesueshme! Gjaku im! Kanë tru sa një mishkonjë dhe sjellje

prej njeriu të pagdhendur. Ai është mekanik, kurse ajo shtëpiake. Ai merr vesh

nga makinat aq sa një femër që bën striptiz. Ajo bën biskota që kanë shijen e

naftalinës.

Here Slade is describing his next-of-kin. He uses the expression “beauty queen”

in a kind of paradoxical simile to imply that her husband is an awfully bad

mechanic. A beauty queen is, of course, the winner of a beauty contest and she

is chosen (at least, this is the supposed criterion) both for her physical

appearance and for her talents (that is, for what she can do on stage and for the

way she answers questions). Apparently, there is no reason why the translators

could not write “një Mis”, since this is normally how women taking part in a

beauty contest are referred to in Albania. The part “sa një femër që bën striptiz”

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is pejorative and completely out of place.

Another element, which belongs to North American society (and more

specifically, to the educational field), is the “Young American Merit

scholarship” Charles won. The Albanian subtitles in both versions give quite a

faithful translation :

TL-1 Kam fituar një burse studimi si nxënës i mirë.

TL-2 Kam fituar edhe një burse studimi për të rinjtë që premtojnë.

However, the adjective “American” has not been translated at all, though the

award mentioned is supposedly specifically for students from America.

The most surprising change from ST to TT has been to translate “wood-chips”

in Frank’s question:

“What does your daddy do in Gresham, Oregon, count wood-chips?”

Here, again, the Colonel is trying to humiliate Charles. “Wood-chips” are things

of no importance, residues of wood of little use. But when watching the film,

the Albanian audience learns that the character’s stepfather is searching for

mushrooms in TL-2 and in TL-1 the culture-bound element is faithfully

translated as “ashkla druri”. In both cases the solution is not the right one as

the mushroom collection is not a pointless occupation and looks more Italian

than English or Albanian, whereas “ashklat e drurit” do not render the

meaning of futility.

TL-1 “Ç’bën yt atë në Gresham të Oregonit? Numëron ashklat e drurit?”

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TL-2 “Ç’bën yt atë? Në pyjet e Origonës? Mbledh kërpudha?”

Another problem is the one related to the measuring of time. Different cultures

measure time in different ways. Our equivalent for “1 A.M” should be “1 e

natës”. Such a thing was not taken into consideration by the translators as the

two versions of :

Charles: “1 A.M”

TL-1 “Në 1:00 të mëngjesit.”

TL-2 “Në mesnatë “

Translation Techniques

At this point, an analysis of the main translation techniques used for the

Albanian subtitles can be made. They can be catalogued according to some of

the most frequently adopted procedures:

1. I’m sorry, I mean mister, “sir”/ Më falni. Desha të them zoti, zotëri./

Më falni, por e thashë për respekt, zotëri. = Faithful translation/ deletion

and paraphrase

2. Car telephones / telefona makine / telefona celular ë = word-for-word

translation / substitution

3. Senior / maturant / viti i tretë = faithful translation / paraphrase

4. Convenience store / dyqan ushqimesh / supermarket = adaptation /

substitution

5. Chestnut Hill / / nga një familje e pasur = /

paraphrase

6. Wood-chips / ashkla druri / kërpudha = word-for-word translation /

substitution

7. Appleseeds / fara mollësh / indianëve = word-for-word translation /

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faithful translation

As it is clearly displayed by the examples, the tendency to make the “foreign”

become “familiar” has completely blurred the translation as an act of

communication between cultures. The terms, which were not understood by the

translator, were transformed into something else that still left the target audience

puzzled and bewildered as changes led to a new and different meaning, which

was not in the original.

Conclusions

I was very judgmental throughout this analysis as the translation of

movies is only a minute part of a larger and worse picture, if I am not mixing

metaphors here. Movies are the most popular form of entertaining nowadays

where people, while being not aware of them, acquire most foreign culture-

based elements. Audiences should not struggle to decipher the meaning behind

the subtitles as they get more difficult due to unknown phenomena. Here in fact,

I did not refer to the poor translation in general because that is a big problem to

tackle in a 10-page paper.

In the Albanian context, I see the cultural elements as the unspoken

language of movies. They get lost in translation as they do not speak to us,

audiences. And if they do not speak, they do not communicate the message they

intend to. Observing cultures and getting to know them is only half of the job

for the translators. As culture is reflected in language, language is used in

communication, and communication is the concept both disciplines share, there

are certain procedures and strategies that might come in handy if one wants to

make a sense whatsoever of the material in the Target Language. As we (as

translators) ponder in the limbo between the source and the target text, the target

readership has the right to be exposed to cultural diversity, something that

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translation should seek to render.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Audiovisual Material:

Scent of a Woman – Aromë Gruaje, Martin Brest, Universal Pictures, version i

Televizionit Publik Shqiptar

Scent of a Woman – Aromë Gruaje, Martin Brest, Universal Pictures, version i

një platforme dixhitale shqiptare

Dictionaries:

The American Heritage Dictionary. Houghton & Mifflin

Arpino, Giovanni. Il buio e il miele. Baldini e Castoldi; Milano.1993.

Goodenough, Ward H. “Cultural Anthropology in Linguistics” in D. Hymes ed.

Language in Culture and Society. A Reader in Linguistics and Anthropology,

Harper & Row: New York, 1964.

Newmark, Peter. About Translation. Multilingual Matters: Clevedon, 1991.

Approaches to Translation. Pergamon Press; Oxford, 1988.

A Textbook of Translation, Pergamon Press: Oxford, 1981.

Paragraph on Translation, Multilingual Matters; Clevedon, 1993.

Nida, Eugene, and Taber, Charles. The Theory and Practice of Translation. E.J.

Brill: Leiden, 1982.

Web resources:

On-line Dictionary of English, http://www.dictionary.reference.com

http://www.wikipedia.com

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