When translating, cultural adaptation is one of the key things to bear in mind. The material should either remain unchanged from the original text or be changed to better suit the target audience’s culture, depending on the translation’s goals.

What is Translation?

The act of transmitting written language from one language (the source language) to another language is known as translation (the target). Despite the fact that translation and interpretation are sometimes used synonymously, by definition translation pertains to the written language while interpretation refers to the spoken language.

What is Cultural Adaptation?

The process of adapting any kind of content to the culture of the target language is known as linguistic-cultural adaptation. During the translation process, there are a number of adjustments required for cultural adaptation. It makes the content acceptable, familiar, and relevant for the readers in addition to making it linguistically correct.

When a specific feature of the source text doesn’t exist, cannot be translated, or will have a different impact on the culture of the target language, there will inevitably be a change in the cultural context of your resources.

At this stage of a translation approach, cultural sensitivity is a major consideration. It’s important to offer an exact translation, but in some circumstances, it could be necessary to adopt a more liberal translation to preserve context and intention. Finding the proper balance between accuracy and respect is crucial. Delivering a message while respecting cultural variations is another difficulty. Its volatility can be seen in the fact that it has the potential to go spectacularly wrong as well as be tremendously successful. Translation services often also need to pay close attention to stereotyping, slang and idioms, graphics, branding, and packaging at this point.

What Undergoes Cultural Adaptation?

• Idioms or literary devices that are not always understood.
• Slang, jargon, and idioms.
• Humor.
• Taboo and sensitive social issues (e.g. politics, sexuality, religion and sacred objects).
• References to ideas and facts that only native speakers of the originating language would understand.
• Content that the target culture may deem objectionable.
• Text Layout

The Importance

Culture is a key component that significantly influences the challenge of translating something equivalently. Given that language is one of the culture’s transmitters, it and culture are closely intertwined. It has always played a significant role in both their theoretical talks as well as the actual translation operations.

The fact that cultural regions and linguistic regions don’t always match up further complicates the matter. As a result, it is important to consider cultural distinctions not only when there are many countries with distinct languages, but also when a single language is used in multiple nations or in different regions of a single nation. The safest choice for transmitting a clear message from the source language to the targeted language is getting help from professional translation services in Portland, Denver, New York, or wherever you are located. Therefore, it is clear that when creating different language translations, the cultural aspect must also be taken into consideration.

Each of these criteria is met by culturally appropriate content:

• The intended message is conveyed.
• It is in keeping with the author’s voice and the source text’s original style.
• It is not a literal translation, but rather a new text that is based on the original.
• It affects the intended audience emotionally in a similar way to the original material.
• In terms of the regional sociocultural background, it is appropriate.
• It is consistent with the target audience’s worldviews and communication standards.

Conclusion

Both linguistics and sociocultural play a role in the process of translation. The writing must reflect the historical, social, and cultural realities of the readers in order to have the desired impact on them. What sets apart a high-quality translation is its capacity to communicate beyond words and speak to the specific ethnic features of the target audience. It’s imperative to realize how cultural insensitivity and disregard for seemingly insignificant nuances can negatively affect your multilingual communication effort. The reader will get disinterested and misunderstood if improper terminology, phrases, or awkward and unnatural wording is used. Always keep in mind while creating a multilingual campaign that miscommunication and meaning distortion might result in much higher costs for the company than the expenditure.