Thai Cultural Transfer in Literary Translation: A Case Study of the French Translation of Le Bonheur de Kati

Abstract

This study examines the translation strategies used to render Thai cultural contexts in the French version of Le Bonheur de Kati, using the English relay translation as an additional reference point to trace cultural shifts in the French text. The findings show that the French translator employed eight of Mona Baker’s strategies for culture-specific items, supplemented by four hybrid variants. Footnotes feature prominently throughout — an approach that, while atypical in literary translation due to its disruption of narrative flow, is deemed appropriate for a young readership unfamiliar with Thai culture, allowing cultural context to be conveyed with greater clarity. This reflects the inherently bicultural nature of translation as described by Fortunato Israël, and underscores cultural distance as a key factor shaping the translator’s choices, always with the target readers’ linguistic and cultural frame of reference in mind.