Ethnocentric and Eurocentric Translations Research Paper

Ethnocentric and Eurocentric Translations - Research Paper Example The cultural identities have the tendency to strongly influence the behaviors, acts, and attitudes of the people in each and every facet of their lives. The cultural competencies take the shape of very complex phenomenon when a translator came across this issue. The translator can best perform its responsibilities when he is well aware of the complexities that exist between different cultures and he knows how to justifiably deal with the cultural issues while translating the material from one language to another. (Lefevere and Andrà ©, 1992) A good translator is supposed to be well aware of the importance and role of the differences between different cultures (Brislin and Richard, 1976). However, there is also a possibility that the translator acts as an ambassador of a particular culture and neglects the depth of the other cultural contribution by translating it into less effective words, phrases or language. Earlier the translator was not exposed to the concept of cultural differences and he was not supposed to follow the importance of cultural differences while doing the translations. The early definitions of translation also focus upon replacing a word with equivalent text regardless of its cultural expression (Catford, 1965). However, gradually there was awareness about the importance of keeping in view the cultural difference while translating material from one language to other. (Hatim et al, 2006) The awareness about studying the cultural differences during the translations was felt during the time of ancient Rome.