Lost In Translation

Abstract Languages are cultural epiphenomena: they, and their varieties, emerge at stages of development in the life of a culture. In some important respects they are peculiar to their culture, and the meanings of certain terms used in the language of their culture are not therefore readily transferable to the languages of other cultures. There are culturally-laden terms that do not have semantic equivalents in the languages of other cultures. Generally speaking, translations can more easily reproduce semantic equivalents that are culturally neutral. So, the term ‘dog’ is able to be translated in most other languages, since whatever term is used has the same recognised referent. The efficacy of translation generally depends upon the nature and number of semantic equivalents that are culturally neutral. The trouble is that there is a large number of terms that are not semantically equivalent because they are not culturally neutral; the greater the number, the less the efficacy of translation. It would seem, therefore, that translation cannot in many instances convey what is distinctive of the culture of the original language.