Strategies for translating cultural categories in the novel "My Dear Uncle Napoleon" based on Newmark's model: sociocultural element; work; entertainment and games

Abstract

Translation is the process of conveying meaning from the source text to the target text. It requires a combination of diverse approaches, methods, and cultural concepts. The challenges become more complex when translating literary texts, given their specificity and complexity, requiring the translator to strike a balance between the source and target texts while preserving the original aesthetics. This study aims to analyze the translation of cultural elements in the novel "My Dear Uncle Napoleon" based on Peter Newmark's theory, focusing on the social, professional, and recreational elements. The study adopted a descriptive-analytical approach to examine the challenges facing the translation of these elements into Arabic and evaluate the effectiveness of Newmark's strategies in dealing with them. The research was based on Peter Newmark's theory, which presents two main approaches to translation: semantic and literal, with an emphasis on the importance of conveying cultural meanings. Newmark proposed eighteen strategies to achieve this. The aforementioned novel contains rich cultural elements, and by using Newmark's strategies, the translator was able to overcome the translation challenges and deliver an acceptable text for the reader. The results showed that the translator succeeded in conveying some elements using cultural equivalents (such as converting "dawasaz" to "pharmacist"), while he encountered difficulties with other elements, such as "darshkeh che" and "panbeh doz," where literal or general translations resulted in a loss of cultural specificity. The study also revealed the importance of using explanatory footnotes to convey deeper cultural dimensions. The research concluded that combining Newmark's strategies (particularly cultural equivalents, explanation, and transformation) with attention to cultural context can achieve a balance between translation accuracy and preserving cultural authenticity.