The Study of Cultural Terms in English-Kurdish Translation of Harari’s Homo Deus

A Brief History of Tomorrow

Abstract

This study investigates the translation of cultural terms in the social philosophical English book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2015) written by Yuval Noah Harari and translated into Kurdish by Ali Nadir. The study specifically aims to identify the patterns of cultural terms found in the book and the patterns of translation procedures implemented in translating such cultural terms. Peter Newmark’s (1988) model of cultural categories has been followed to determine the patterns of cultural terms. Regarding the procedures, translation scholars have proposed different models in order to systematically study the techniques used to overcome cultural complications encountered in the translation process. This study has adopted Sabir Rasul’s (2015) composite model of translation procedures to determine the patterns of translation procedures implemented in rendering the cultural terms found in the book. The results show that the majority of cultural terms are social organization and religious terms while institutional terms (national and international) with gestures and habits are the least frequent categories among cultural terms. The study also reveals that the most recurrent translation procedures practiced by the translator are cultural borrowing, literal translation, calque and cultural explicitation while the least occurred ones are translation label and cultural redomestication. The findings have pedagogical implications for translation students and translators who are interested in and passionate about the cultural aspects of translation.