Translation in Globalization: Cultural Identity in Urdu-English Literary Translation

Abstract

This study deals with the book “Translation in Globalization: Cultural Identity in Urdu-English Literary Translation” in which Urdu cultural identity is preserved, modified, or weakened when Urdu literary expressions are translated into English. The background of the study is on the rise of English as a global language and the expansion of Urdu literature in English translation. This study aims to examine culturally dependent Urdu expressions and the impact of translating them on their cultural connotations. The theoretical framework is indeed clearly indebted to Lawrence Venuti's theory of domestication and foreignization where the translator is regarded as the one who transforms the source culture into familiar culture for English readers or leaves it as foreign culture. Qualitative textual analysis is used as data analysis technique in this study. The selected literary texts were 3 Urdu and 3 English translated books and data collection involved gathering 30 culturally specific items (10 cultural words, 5 idioms, 5 religious expressions, 5 social identity markers, and 5 symbolic expressions) from each of the Urdu and English books. The sampling approach is purposive sampling that consists of 3 Urdu source texts, 3 English target texts and 30 selected cultural expressions. Results reveal that foreignization with explanation is the most effective teaching method to maintain Urdu cultural identity and the over domestication of culture may lead to the loss of cultural depth.