TRANSLATION AND CULTURAL REALITIES: HOW TO AVOID LOSS OF MEANING

Аннотация

The article explores the theoretical foundations of translation, the challenges of translating cultural realities and the strategies to minimize meaning loss in the process. Cultural- specific terms, traditions, and concepts often lack direct equivalents in the target language, leading to semantic gaps or misinterpretations. By analyzing different translation theories and real-world case studies, this paper aims to provide insights into how translators can effectively bridge cultural gaps while maintaining the integrity of the original message. Different translation approaches, including transliteration, descriptive translation, cultural adaptation, and the use of footnotes, to ensure accuracy and preserve cultural identity are revealed in the article. Special attention is given to the impact of globalization on translation practices and the necessity of balancing fidelity to the source text with audience comprehension. The findings highlight the importance of cultural sensitivity and translator competence in maintaining the authenticity of meaning. Key words:cultural adaptation, cultural sensitivity, cultural realities, globalization, meaning loss, interlingual communication, mediator of cultures, realiae, semantic gaps, translation, translator competence, transliteration. Translation plays a crucial role in intercultural communication, serving as a bridge between languages and cultures. However, translation is not just about converting words from one language to another - it involves conveying meaning, intent, and cultural nuances. One of the biggest challenges in translation is dealing with cultural realities - words, expressions, customs, andtraditions thatare deeply rooted inone culture butmay nothave direct equivalents in another. The importance of translation in culture is multifold. The task of translators is to tailor the source language text for the target culture by complying with the norms of the target language. Our description makes it clear that any translation however simple requires two languages and two cultures, traditions i.e. two sets of norms to function. [6, p. 27] Also, Structuralists stress the construction of reality as an effect of the translator’s ideology and value system of the dominatingculture. Cultural differences appreciated in languages may stem from differences in period, religion, morals, and so forth. A specific world problem is given in to and received from different cultures so that the translator can ensure that the two worlds can understand each other. Within an inter-, or multicultural context, the challenge enhances. Snell-Hornby called the translator an intercultural expert ormediator ofcultures intheglobalized world. In the modern world, translation can be carried out not only within a single semiotic paradigm, but also as a process of shifting between semiotic paradigms. During translation, significant changes in the original text may occur, as the process of translation always exists withinthearchetypal dichotomy of "one’s own–theforeign." [5,p.64] page992 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ISSN:2692-5206,ImpactFactor:12,23 AmericanAcademicpublishers,volume05,issue03,2025 Journal: https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai There is an entire layer of texts that vividly reflect a nation's worldview and spirit. For example, fairy tales undoubtedly belong to this category, as they, more than any other texts, are shaped by the cultural specificity of an ethnic group. Fairy tales from different cultures allow us to glimpse another ethnicity’s perception of the world, which is why their translation requires special caution. The author of the article emphasizes that translating folk tales presents a particular challenge dueto theirsignificant lacunarity. Translation scholars distinguish between two types of linguistic mediation: proper translation and linguistictransposition.In translation, scholars proceed from the assumption of communicative equivalence between the original text and the translated text. A modern perspective on the issue of translation adds to these two types a third concept-transposition, which is the process and result of transforming a verbal text into a text represented by other signs, such as iconic, audiovisual, and others. E. Nida emphasizes that "the pragmatics of achieving specific communicative goals in translation requires the use of adaptive transcoding, in which information is not only transferred from one language to another but also simultaneously transformed (adapted) due to the necessity of presenting it in a different form, determined by the specific task of interlingual communication". [4, p.32] It should be noted that these tasks are generally related to targeting a specific recipient group and achieving thepurpose ofsuch adaptation. Within adaptive linguistic transcoding, two types are distinguished: properly adapted translation and condensed translation. A combination of both types is also possible