Cultural Context Translation: A Case Study of the Translation of Marc Lambron’s Théorie du Chiffon (Page 7-98)

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyse the cultural context translation using the translation of Marc Lambron’s Théorie du chiffon (Page 7-98) from French into Thai as a case study. This novel is a sarcasm on fashion. The story is narrated in the form of an interview between Jean-Louis Beaujour, 70, a world-famous French designer and Hélène Dumas, a writer. Jean-Louis Beaujour talks about life experiences and about various issues of the fashion industry; and criticizes harshly. He presents his analysis with a particular perspective to which people may find offensive. To translate this novel to be equal to the original novel in terms of content, style, and emotional impact on the reader, one of the problems is the cultural context. Novels often contain lifestyle, custom, tradition, belief, values, etc., that are unique to a particular nation, and that foreigners of different languages may not know. It is the duty of the translators to consider appropriate approaches to give access to cultural contexts to which they are unfamiliar and make the readers understand what the author truly wants to communicate. This article compiles some examples from the original text and the translated one having some difficulties in conveying meaning to Thai readers. In each example, the problem found is analyzed and the solution used as a guideline is proposed.