The possibility of a cultural transfer : Strategies for translating proper names and metaphors in a socio-political text

The aim of this study is to analyse the translation strategies used in order to translate a socio-political text from French to Swedish with focus on proper names and metaphors. Proper names and metaphors are deeply culture rooted and containers of specific elements familiar only to an initiated audience. The main purpose is to investigate the possibility of transferring these underlying elements from one culture to another, keeping in mind the genre, the aim (or skopos), the Interpretive Theory of Translation and the pragmatic aspect. Vinay and Darbelnet and Rune Ingo offered the methods for the translation of proper names. The most common strategy used was transfer or literal translation, in certain cases followed by a complementary information, and equivalence. The conceptual theory worked as a starting point for the classification of metaphors and the strategies proposed by Peter Newmark structured the translation. With the concepts of war and family the pragmatic aspect needed to be considered more frequently than with the concept of game and the procedures of conversion of metaphor to sense and translation of metaphor by simile were used to a lager extent than that of reproducing the same image. Analysing each case one by one and applying the most suitable strategy according to context and circumstances, with respect to culture differences and sense, helped us to form a coherent unity providing a suitable ground for a cultural transfer to grow, or at least to show