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"Untranslatability"
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“Grabbism” and Untranslatability: Reinterpreting Lu Xun's Position as a Translator
Lu Xun's translation discourse and his concept of “grabbism” (拿来主义 nalai zhuyi) are mutually constructed in a historical and evolutionary process. This article investigates how two different notions of “untranslatability” embedded in the discourse of Lu Xun's translation interact with his constantly rectified idea of “grabbism.” Lu Xun's translation process is replete with tensions and contradictions resonating with his simultaneous aspiration to and resistance against Western modernity. These tensions and contradictions are reflections of his self-contradiction between the collective responsibility of saving the nation by embracing Western modernity and a kind of unconscious reclamation of himself as a man of letters whose roots in Chinese tradition were less pronounced. Lu Xun's translation practice along with his “grabbism” provides us an alternative perspective to understand the politics of translation beyond English contexts and sheds light on our reconceptualizing the nature of translation.
Journal Article
La Divine comédie en tierce rime de Kolja Mićević (1996-2017) et Danièle Robert (2016-2021) : une rupture épistémologique opérée par la créativité traductive
This study investigates whether the poetic structure of terza rima, often considered a Dantesque invention, has been preserved in French translations of the Divine Comedy from the fifteenth century to the present. The analysis begins with the characteristics of terza rima in Dante's work and examines its varied historical reception, particularly the debates in the late twentieth century regarding translations into free verse and unrhymed verse. Versification prompts questions about the poetic function of the message and necessitates reflection on paronomasia and rhythm in translation. The study reviews the perspectives of Roman Jakobson, Henri Meschonnic, André Pézard, Jacqueline Risset, and Umberto Eco, among others. It then analyzes the translations by Kolja Mićević (1996-2017) and Danièle Robert (2016-2021), who have favored terza rima versification despite prevailing trends. The feasibility of translation is shown to depend on the dominant poetic conception within specific cultural contexts, and the translation process is closely linked to the translator's creativity. Recreating the original or a similar textual function in the target language is a complex and challenging endeavor; creative transpositions result from imaginative translations that challenge the notion of poetic untranslatability.
Journal Article
Travel (of) Literature and the Question of Hospitality: Spectrum of World Literature
Travel literature and travel of literature both resonate with the movements of literatures in different literary spaces, traditions, and geographies, through which works of literature gain and lose in a process of thrivingness and flourishment. Central to these tectonic movements raises the question of hospitality of literatures in new literary spaces and homes by ways of translation, mistranslation, adaptation, acculturation, and finally localization. The debates taking place in the discipline of comparative and world literature over the newly emerged concept “Untranslatability” as a driving force in projecting an alternative “world literature” coincide consistently with the debate of hospitality in languages and literatures. The question of translation comes to fore since “world literature” was viewed as “literature in translation,” which invokes the possibilities and limitations of translating literature into different literary and aesthetic spaces. As such, this research investigates the way literatures move and circulate through different transnational channels, with the Mediterranean space as its focal point, by extending the postulates of world literature through a close reading of Della Descrizione dell’Africa and Leon L’Africain as two samples of Mediterranean literatures that project new spectrums of theorizing world literature.
Journal Article
Insights into the Quran’s untranslatability: problems of communication and solutions
This paper discusses issues involved in the translation of the Quran, highlighting that its sanctity lies in the original Arabic rendition. The language of the Quran is not Modern Standard Arabic; therefore, it makes the translation more difficult. Translation does not recreate the Quran but aims at conveying its meaning; much subtlety, however, is sacrificed to literal methods. The present study through descriptive analysis of some translations will highlight the linguistic, cultural, and theological problems that beset the hands of translators. It discusses vital concerns and offers recommendations to improve accuracy in translations from the UK and USA. It suggests that translators should not adhere to strict standard translations but should use alternative methods to retain the essence of the Quran.
Journal Article
Representing interlingual meaning in lexical databases
In today’s multilingual lexical databases, the majority of the world’s languages are under-represented. Beyond a mere issue of resource incompleteness, we show that existing lexical databases have structural limitations that result in a reduced expressivity on culturally-specific words and in mapping them across languages. In particular, the lexical meaning space of dominant languages, such as English, is represented more accurately while linguistically or culturally diverse languages are mapped in an approximate manner. Our paper assesses state-of-the-art multilingual lexical databases and evaluates their strengths and limitations with respect to their expressivity on lexical phenomena of linguistic diversity.
Journal Article
Semantic untranslatability in Quranic discourse: challenges and contextual remedies in English translation
Translating the Quran remains one of the most intellectually demanding and theologically sensitive undertakings in the field of translation studies. Rooted in the belief that the Quran is the literal word of God revealed in Arabic, the text poses exceptional semantic challenges that transcend ordinary linguistic barriers. This study examines the fundamental semantic challenges that impede the translatability of the Quran, including semantic polysemy, semantic ambiguity, homonymy, metaphorical language, syntactic ellipsis, deixis, intertextuality, and culturally bound legal and ritual terminology. Drawing on examples from major English translations and classical exegetical sources, the study highlights how these features contribute to the Quran’s semantic density and interpretive depth. Employing both qualitative textual analysis and comparative translation review, this study identifies specific challenges and proposes practical, context-sensitive remedies. These include the preservation of rhetorical structures, strategic use of annotation, controlled transliteration, and translator reflexivity. The study concludes that while the Quran may resist full equivalence, informed and ethically responsible translation practices can serve as a bridge between the sacred original and diverse global audiences. The findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on sacred text translation and provide pedagogical insights for training translators in handling semantically dense and theologically layered texts. Finally, this study advances Qur’anic translation research by introducing suggested SRMM—a model that balances flexibility with clear principles to address the semantic and theological complexities inherent in sacred texts.
Journal Article
Quran Translation: A Historical-Theological Exploration
The traditional prohibition on translating the Quran into other languages is considered to be one of the discussable issues within Islamic theology and jurisprudence. From the eleventh century, when the Islamic state extended politically and geographically, a need arose to understand the Quran, which isthe essence of the Islamic religion. Most non-Arab converts were unable to understand the original Quran text. As a result, they could not understand the true message of their new faith and perform the prescribed worship and practices. This article deals with the topic translating the Quran from a historical and theological point of view. Firstly, some historical factors that lead to the realization of the Quran translation are examined, including the need to understand the Quran both by the new Muslim generations and the People of the Book to defend their own faith against the Islam. Secondly, attention is paid to the theological consensus on prohibiting translation of the Quran into other languages because of its inimitable nature and style. Finally, the problem of the Quran translation is discussed with a focus on the current need for understanding the universal message of the Quran that can only be achieved through translation.
Journal Article
Bridging Cultural Boundaries: Translating Untranslatable Vocabulary in Kazakh-English Literary Texts
Untranslatable vocabulary is a repository rich in the national-cultural semantics of a language, capturing specific information about the historical development, traditions, and life of a given linguistic cultural space. Translating the untranslatable vocabulary from one language into another has always posed significant challenges for translators. These difficulties are compounded when the language in question belongs to different linguistic groups and reflects distinct cultural backgrounds. The article discussed the ways of translating non-equivalent lexical units in translated literary texts from Kazakh into English on the materials of I. Yesenberlin's trilogy \"The Nomads\". The discussion was based on the classification of the translation methods of the non-equivalent vocabulary in recent years: transliteration, transcription, calque (loan translation), descriptive translation, and adaptation. An analysis of these methods showed that translators, in the vast majority of cases, use adaptation and transliteration. The research employed various methods, including description, comparison, contrast, empirical, ethnolinguistic, and conceptual approaches.
Journal Article
Nieprzekładalność jako mit: krytyczna rewizja pojęcia saudade
This article aims to discuss untranslatability as a myth, using the Portuguese concept of saudade as an example. The first part is dedicated to reconstructing the most significant moments in the development of the concept, with particular emphasis on reflections regarding its translatability into other languages. The second part proposes employing Barthes’ concept of myth in the reflection on untranslatability, which will be briefly illustrated with a contemporary example: the lyrics of the song representing Portugal at the 66th Eurovision Song Contest in Turin in 2022. The third part presents concluding remarks that also serve as a basis for further considerations on the issue of untranslatability, including its role in reinforcing unequal power relations between languages.
Journal Article