Cultural Aspect in Language Translation in the Post-Colonial Era

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Cultural Aspect in Language Translation in the Post-Colonial Era
The use and the interpretation of literary text across different cultures has often been an issue of interest among different scholars. Most Western scholars and Russian scholars have emphasized the importance of viewing language from the perspective of Pre-Translation Text Analysis (PTA) that consists of various factors for people to have a clear understanding of language (Bassnett 301). Most of these authors suggest that it is important to carry out a consideration of the external factors surrounding the translation of a literary text, get to know the genre and style of the text and designating the type of information that has been presented in any literary text. One thing that perhaps stands out from the views of these authors is that culture often influences the way a language is read and interpreted. In a post-colonial era, most of the societies across the world use language as a tool of communication. Most of the literary texts used in most of these societies have been translated from one language to another. Most of the societies particularly in Africa, the Middle East, and some Indian sub-continents are struggling with their identity due to colonization. Some African authors such as Ngugi wa Thiongo do argue that language is indeed an expression of culture and it is not good for African communities to abandon their languages and embrace the language of the Western countries. As Ngugi puts it, it is a 'new form of colonization'. Perhaps as a response to Ngugi's suggestions, several Western literary texts have been translated into the African languages. However, these texts often fail to be popular among the people since they do not take into consideration the external factors surrounding the community that will use the translation. In his 1921 essay The Task of the Translator, Walter Benjamin argues that translation should be viewed from the perspective of an art rather than a secondary derivative of any literary text (Benjamin 258). Translating Western literary text with Benjamin's arguments in mind can play a great role in understanding among local communities. This paper utilizes the post-colonialism theory of literature by relying on Ngugi wa Thiongo’s Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature.
One of the popular approaches put forward by theorists in the translation of language is the functional approach. The approach emphasizes that for a literary text to be well translated, it must take into account the established parts related to the communication aspects of the target culture or group (Ayupova 215). As a translator of the language, there is no need for you to strain yourself with an understanding of the original meaning of the text. Instead, you should try to carry out a thorough analysis of the intended receivers of the message by looking at several factors such as culture. In line with this, Walter Benjamin argues that the task of the translator should be "to serve the purpose of expressing the innermost relationship of languages to one another” (Benjamin p. 255). He further discusses that the relationship that exists between two different languages can be referred to as "supra historical relationship" (Benjamin p. 257). This relationship means that in each of the different languages, the same thing is usually meant. The translator has to find an appropriate meaning of the text concerning the intended culture. There are numerous challenges are affecting the colonized nations due to the failure of the language translators to reflect part of the African culture in the translation of the literary texts. Ngugi wa Thiong’o in chapter 1 of the book, Decolonizing the Mind, argues that imperialism is a common issue among most of the African countries. He notes that the language of the Europeans was meant to make the African abandon their culture for that of the Europeans (Wa Thiong'o p. 15). He also notes that indeed language is a culture of a community meaning that if a community abandons their language, it is more or the same as abandoning their culture. Learning in your native language plays an important role in understanding what you are learning instead of learning in a foreign language that you cannot understand. The main explanation behind this is that we as human beings we have the ability of relating with language. We can understand any form of
In relation to the influence of foreign languages on learning experiences of Africans, Ngugi says, “The language of my education was no longer the language of my culture” (Ngugi, p. 11) He notes that in the early years of his learning experience, he studied in missionary schools where he used to carry out writing and other related learning activities in his mother tongue Gikuyu. During these years, there was a harmony between his learning experience and his culture. However after the declaration of the state of emergency in Kenya in 1952, English became the dominant language to be used by everyone. In defining a language, he defines it as “both as a means of communication and also a carrier of culture”.
The above argument appears to be somehow in conflict with the argument of other scholars who insist that translators need to have an understanding of the culture of the original community to make an accurate translation. However, we see that this is not important to some scholars. The translator should instead try to create a natural blend between the two languages. This often involves balancing the different aspects of a language. Walter Benjamin argues that language is not just a mere means of transmitting a message. Language is instead what he calls a "mode" that has the potential of achieving what he calls a "pure language". This is a form of language that is released naturally during the translation process in the form of literalisms achieved through 'syntax'. About this, we can, therefore, note that despite two languages being different, they have some type of historical bond by the virtue that they are regarded as languages. Languages are not strange to each other. Walter Benjamin argues that since languages share a certain form of “kinship” meaning that during the translation process, the form and the meaning should be as accurate as possible. The fact that a language translated has to be accurate as possible does not mean that the translator should strive to achieve perfection during the translation process. He says, "A real translation...