Palpasa Café: An Introduction 

Narayan Wagle is a wll-known journalist and editors of Nepal. Working as journalist for two decades, he has travelled many regions on reporting assignments. He has observed the dramatic political transformation of the country as it turned from a monarchy to a republic, and went from war to peace. His first novel, Palpasa Café, originally published in Nepali in 2005, won that years the most prestigious literary award, Madan Puraskar and went to become a bestseller with more than 50,000 copies sold. English edition of the novel was first published in Nepal in 2008 and later by Random house India. It has also been published in Korean and French languages. 

This novel is about political transformation of the country as it is turned from a monarchy to a republic, and turned from war to peace. The writer tries to reveal the true story of his friend Drishya who was kidnapped and lost. He tries to draw the condition of Nepal during 2005 to 2015. Every house and schools were blasted by bomb and barud. People lost their relatives and nearest and dearest ones. Most of the youths were injured during the war; neither political leader nor the government paid a compensation for them. Women became widow and children turned into orphan and beloved were being apart. In the name of revolution and democracy Royal family had been murdered, brothers and sisters were being killed.    

A child's aim is to be an engineer but couldn't go to school because of explosion. He dares to draw the condition of parents who were waiting for their sons and became helpless and hopeless. Due to the ‘Maoist Gurrillas' many tourists were in trapped, they were killed by Ambus and Bombs. The government job holders like teachers, CDO etc. were being killed and injured by kidnapping. 'Mitba', Mitiniama' and 'bahini' are just representative characters in this novel. 

The writer also attempts to show the importance of painting and drawing. The main character of this novel is a painter. He attempt to paint the current condition of Nepal (like:Bomb explosion, Ambush etc.). Finally, the book ‘Palpasa Café' is published in the name of Drishya beloved who was killed in Ambush. 

Translation

Translation is the process of transforming message from one language to another, or from source language (SL) to target language (TL). It is also a bilingual activity where a translator translates any texts in a written form. Translation is a cultural activity too where the cultural phenomenon is largely associated with translating one text into another. 

Translation is the act of translating the ideas and thoughts from source language into target language in appropriate level of equivalence. Translation process is a challenging job for the translators to maintain the equivalence between SL and TL while translating the text. The translator's job is to provide the justice to the both texts. Translation involves both language and culture.

There are thousands of languages around the world and all languages are unique in their nature. These languages have their own grammar, structures, vocabulary, style and features. They are different from one and another in terms of their language patterns. So, translation is an important tool and medium to exchange the messages and ideas among those languages. It becomes essential for all linguistic groups; as it helps to share the information in the fields of: education, trade, economy, politics, commerce, law, sports, communication and international relationship as well. 

Regarding translation theory, Newmark [1] says, “Translation is a replacement of messages inherent in one language into another language. So, it is not a new think to the translator but just a replacement of messages. Catford [2] says, “Translation as the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL). Newmark [1]  defines  translation as  a  'craft consisting  in  the attempt  to  replace awritten message and or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language'. 

From the definitions, it is synthesized that language is determined by the culture in which it is spoken. Culture shapes language and language shapes reality. Translation is more often dominated by the culture than the language. Being culture an inherent part of the language, it is often questioned, can culture be translated? We can say that culture cannot be translated but translation can be at least a means to bridge the gap between the cultures.

The quality of translation depends upon the linguistic and cultural knowledge of both the SL and TL text that a translator possesses. Translation is concerned with the language and culture of source and target text. Translation is not only the process of transformation of information from source text to target text but also transferring the culture along with the language. 

Translation is both linguistic and cultural activity. A good translator must be both bilingual and bicultural.   In this process, at least two languages are involved although intra-lingual or inter-lingual translation to replace the messages or ideas conveyed by the author. Translation is always oriented to the degree of equivalent between SL and TL text. Similarly, translation is concerned with the nature of text, theories, philosophy, purpose and the target readership. It means translation is transfer of one culture to another. It is as the replacement material of SL to TL and is the process of transforming culture from one language to another. 

Cultural Terms   

The terms which are related to a particular period, class, community or populations are called cultural terms, which are also context-bound. Newmark [1] has made five-fold classification of foreign cultural words which are as follows: 

Ecology   

Ecology refers to physical environment or geographical features, e.g. vegetation, flora and fauna, topographical features rivers, lakes, and sea. The features present in one region may be absent in another. This absence and presence of ecological elements causes difference in lexical elements as well as their concept. Normally geographical terms are distinguished from other cultural terms. 

Material Cultural Terms 

It is man-made culture which is related to objects used in a particular culture. The terms are related to food, clothes, house, town, transport etc.

Social Cultural Terms   

The terms related with social culture carry both denotative and connotative meanings. The terms of having connotative meaning, they cause translation problems. Social culture includes social customs, concepts, and political, administrative and historical terms. 

Religious Cultural Terms   

Religious culture refers to the religious faith, beliefs, traditions, customs, myths, name of gods, temple, religious activities and concepts of a language that are used in a specific context. 

Gaps in Translation 

Gaps are natural, universal phenomenon that appears in the absence of exact equivalence between SL items. Gaps occur, if cultural concept available in one language is not available in another language. Gaps may be in source language text or target language texts. Gaps are also called lacunes, blank, space, slippages, absence and voids. It is challenging and difficult for translator to maintain such gaps in translation to render the message from one to another. So, it creates the problem and risk for translating SL to TL appropriately. 

Cultural Gaps in Translation 

Culture refers to the entire way of people in a society. It includes not only materials things but also non-material things. Language is influence and shaped by culture. When a term in one language does not have a counterpart in another language cultural gaps occur. Cultural gaps make translation sometimes impossible as well, so they need further explanation to make meaning understandable for the readers of second language. Cultural knowledge is very important while translating any text. In other words, cultural knowledge, including knowledge of various sub-cultures, has long been recognized as indispensable for translation, as it is knowledge of the application that linguistic units have in particular situation and socio-cultural contexts which makes translation possible in the first place. 

Translation Techniques of Cultural Words 

Translating text is challenging task where translators get many unexpected problems while translating SL into TL. Language and culture are interrelated and varied from culture to culture, group to group and language to language.  Translators must apply appropriate techniques and strategies to bridge cultural gaps between SL and TL. Ivir [3] presents the techniques\procedures. Some of the most used translation techniques in translation process are as follows: 

• Literal translation 

• Transference/ Borrowing 

• Substitution     

• Definition/ Paraphrasing 

• Addition 

• Deletion 

Statement of the Problem 

Translation is the activity which inevitably involves at least two languages and two cultural traditions. Language and culture are closely related and both aspects must be considered for translation. Translation is not merely the production of an equivalent to another text, but it is a complex process of rewriting the original. So in this process, the translator needs not only to translate language but culture as well. The most and common problem in the translation process is cultural equivalence when the target language lacks a certain word or concept which does not exist or viewed differently in other cultures.

Objectives of the Study 

The objectives of this research study were as follows: 

• To identify the techniques of translation in translating cultural words of Palpasa Café 

• To find out the gaps of translation

Research Questions 

• How does the translator translate cultural words from SL to TL

• What techniques and procedures are used for bridging cultural gaps

Delimitation of the Study 

The study was limited on the cultural aspect of the novel ‘Palpasa Café' and only50 cultural terms of the novel.  It was limited to study of techniques and gaps found in the translation of cultural terms of the novel and the secondary sources of data are used in it.                                                           

Review of Related Literature 

There are many research studies have been done in this field. Many scholars and researchers have conducted research in different time in differently. Some of the related works are reviewed for this study. 

Bhattarai [4] in his Ph.D. thesis entitled "In Other Words: Sense Versus Word as Unit of Literary Translation (With reference to Nepali-English Poetic Texts)" has made an attempt to define translation process and product of translation traffic between Nepali- English language pair in particular. He has found the horizontal translation. He also remarks that interest in and awareness towards literary translation is growing. 

Singh carried out a research on "Techniques and Gaps in the Translation of Cultural Terms." He collected lexical terms from Nepali and English version of our social studies for grade eight. He found that the highest amount of borrowing takes place in the translation of the cultural texts especially related. 

Adhikari [5] carried out a study on ‘The Translation of Technical Terms: A Case of Textbook for Science’.  He collected 200 English scientific terms, 50 terms each from physics, chemistry, biology, and geology and astronomy and their Nepali translation. He found six types of techniques for translation of scientific terms.  He concluded the problem lies in translation when a target language text lacks an equivalent term that is present in the source language texts. 

Wagle [6]  carried  out a  research  on  ‘Multiple  Translation  of Muna  Madan  from Cultural   Perspective’.   He  evaluated   the   four  translated   versions   of  Muna   Madan comparing with each other and with Nepali source text.  He employed 18 techniques employed in translating cultural words. He also examined the relation between different techniques. He  concluded  the most  widely  used techniques  are  literal translation  and couplet triplet, quadruplet techniques for translating religious and social cultural terms 

All the above researches have been carried out on translation of different literary texts and textbooks. There is no any research work which has been carried out to find out the techniques used in the translation of cultural terms of the novel Palpasa Cafe. The present research work will find out the techniques used in the English translation of Palpasa Café and suggest some implications for the book writers, curriculum designers, teachers and students of translation, professional translators, and policy makers to make them aware of the cultural gaps existed between SL terms and TL terms.

The following methodology has been used in the research:

Sources of Data 

The researcher was used secondary sources in the form of books, articles, reports with information relevant to the topic of this research. The researcher was visited T.U library and previous conducted thesis. 

Sampling Procedure 

Fifty cultural terms were selected from Nepali novel Palpasa Café and their equivalent terms from English translation of it by using random judgmental sampling procedure. 

Tools for Data Collection 

For this study observation and note taking was the tool for data collection. After reading and re- reading Nepali and English translation of the novel Palpasa Cafe, the data were collected.

Process of Data Collection   

The researcher collected Nepali and English translation of the novel Palpasa Cafe, written and translated by Narayan Wagle. After reading and re-reading of Nepali novel and underlined the cultural terms, the researcher has studies English translation of the novel to search equivalent words. The researcher selected 50 cultural terms with their translated forms and analyzed them to find the cultural gaps in translation.

Analysis and Interpretation 

Classification of the Cultural Terms: As per the objective of my research, cultural terms are selected from the novel Palpasa Café and classified on the basis of the following cultural terms: a) ecology b) material culture c) social culture and religious culture. 

Ecology 

It includes geographical features such as flora and fauna, winds, plains, hills and climate etc. On the basis 50 cultural terms ecological terms can be listed in the Table below.

Table 1: Ecology

The above Table shows the cultural terms which are identified under ecological culture.  Out of 50 cultural terms, 15 cultural terms are related to ecology. 

Material Culture 

It includes the man made things which are used in a particular culture foods, clothes, houses and towns, transport, ornaments and utensils are included and terms are presented  in the Table 2.

Table 2: Material Culture

Social Culture 

This cultural category includes the words which are concerned with  the social organization and relations between people and particular community. Social traditions, social norms, values historical facts are included in this category.

Table 3: Social Culture

The above Table shows the cultural terms which are identified under social culture. Out of 50 cultural terms, 10 cultural terms are related to social culture.

Techniques Used in Translation of Cultural Terms 

• Literal Translation 

• Trasference/Borrowing 

• Substitution 

• Definition/paraphrasing 

• Addition 

• Deletion 

Literal Translation 

Crystal says “in literal translation, the linguistic structure of the source text is followed, but is normalized according to the rules of the target language”.  Literal translation is SL as well as form-oriented translation that make no sense in most of the cases specifically in translating idiomatic expressions. This type of translation preserves linguistic meaning of source language text. It focuses on semantic content of SL but neglects pragmatic meaning. In literal translation, the translator neither omits a word nor adds to them. It is close and faithful translation. Following cultural terms have been translated using this technique.

Table 4: Religious Culture

Table 5: Literal Translations

Transference 

This technique refers to the transference or borrowing in which original words, though they are not from the TL, are transferred into the translated text wholly or partly. The cultural terms which are translated using this technique are as follows.

Table 6: Transference

Substitution 

It is a technique that is available to a translator in which two cultures display a partial overlap rather than a clear cut presence vs. absence of a particular element of a culture.  SL items are substituted by TL equivalent to overcome the translation gap. Following cultural terms have been translated using this technique.

Table 7: Substitutions

Definition/Paraphrasing 

This technique of translation transmits cultural message very efficiently and is faithful and comprehensible. In this technique source language words are replaced by definition or description. The main cons of definitions are that it is difficult to control the shape and size the definition. Following cultural terms have been translated using this technique.

Table 8: Definition/Paraphrasing

Addition 

In this technique some word or meanings are added in the TL text or SL expressions are structurally expanded: The following cultural terms have been translated using this technique.

These  two  terms are  related  to religious  culture  and other  cultural  terms i.e.  material culture  , social  culture  and ecological  cultural  terms has  not  been translated  using  this technique.

Table 9: Additions

Deletion 

This   technique  is   less   faithful  and   often   reduces  cultural   message;   though  it   is comprehensible to the readers. In this technique of translation, SL word or expression is omitted in the text.  The following cultural terms have been translated using this technique.

When there is no correspondence between SL and TL items, gaps occur in translation. Gaps take place when the concept available in SL is not found in TL of vice versa. One of the fundamental reasons for creating gaps in translation is culture which includes not only material things such as cities, organizations and schools but also nonmaterial things such as ideas, customs, family pattern and conventional beliefs.  Crystal states  that "exact  equivalence  is of  course  impossible: no  translator  could  provide a translation that was a  perfect parallel to the source text… there is always some loss of information". Thus gaps are challenges for a translator and create difficulty to maintain translation equivalence.

Table 10: Deletion

Gaps in Translated Cultural Terms in the Novel

The gaps found in the translated version of the novel Palpasa Café are as follows: 

• SL: Khana 

• TL: Dinner 

Here, the term 'khana' in SL term refers to the food of morning and evening but in English context morning food refers to breakfast, afternoon food refers lunch and evening food refers to dinner. Thus khana is not exact equivalence term of dinner. 

• SL: Sunakhari Sungava 

• TL: Wild orchids 

In this case, the SL term ‘Sunakhari Sungava' means a specific kind of flower found in Nepal. But the target term wild orchids may refer many kinds of flowers but not specific one (i.e. Sunakhari Sungava). So, it has created gaps in translation. 

• SL: Cheers 

• TL: …………. 

The  SL  term cheers  refers  to a  chant  made in  support  of a  team  at an  event  of one’s attitude or mood. But the deletion of the word in TL term creates a wide gap. 

• SL: Yuvati                                     

• TL: Woman                               

Here, Yuvati is a SL term. The translator has not provided exact equivalence term in TL. In SL  term  the meaning  of  Yuvati is  young  lady or  girl  but not  a  woman which  has created gap between SL and TL.

On the basis of the afro-mentioned analysis and interpretation of the data, the researcher came to the conclusion that various cultural terms are identified in the novel Palpasa Café and categorized  them as terms related to ecology, material culture  social culture and religious culture. Literal translation, borrowing, paraphrasing, substitution, deletion and addition techniques were used by the translator to bridge the gaps between SL and TL term. Linguistic and cultural gaps have been found and have lost originality while translating SL   text to TL text. Paraphrasing and addition techniques while translating SL culture to TL culture obviously helps to keep originality and spread Nepalese culture among other countries. Literal translation technique is frequently used technique. There is total deletion of some SL term which has created gap and distorted meanings. Some of the lexical items have not been translated due to cultural gaps. The translator has translated transport, buildings, country and person name by using borrowing technique.

1. Newmark, P. Approach to Translation. Oxford University Press, 1981.

2. Catford, J.C. A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Essay in Applied Linguistics. Oxford University Press, 1965.

3. Adhikari, B.R. Technical and Cultural Translation. Kchitiz Prakashan, 2004.

4. Bhattarai, G.R. In Other Word: Sense versus Words as a Unit of Literary Translation with Special Reference to Nepali-English Poetic Text. PhD thesis, University of Hyderabad, 1997.

5. Adhikari, B. The Translation of Technical Terms: A Case of Textbook for Science. M.Ed. thesis, Tribhuvan University, 2003.

6. Wagle, N.P. A Study on Multiple Translation of Muna-Madan from Cultural Perspective. M.Ed. thesis, Tribhuvan University, 2004.

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