Techniques of Cultural Translation: An Analysis of Mountain Painted with Turmeric

Abstract

This article analyzes the techniques employed in translating culturally specific terms from the Nepali novel Basain into its English translation, Mountain Painted with Turmeric. The research identifies the strategies adopted by the translator to mediate between source text and target text focusing on the translation of culture specific words. Through textual analysis of ecological, material, social, organizational, and gestural terms, the article examines the application of various translation procedures including transference, neutralization, functional equivalence, adaptation, and deletion. It has analyzed the terms with proposive sampling in data collection and has thematic anlysis. The findings reveal that the employed techniques occasionally distort the original meaning in the translated text. Moreover, the study emphasizes the inherent challenges in cultural translation and emphasizes the necessity for nuanced, context-sensitive approaches to preserve the integrity of sociocultural meaning in translation.