Cultural Specific Words (CWSs) in Media: Translation Procedures for a Glossary of Words from BBC News

Authors

  • Solafa Tareq Abdullah

    College of Media, Al-Iraqia University, Haifa 7266 , Baghdad, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i5.9196
Received: 22 March 2025 | Revised: 25 April 2025 | Accepted: 27 April 2025 | Published Online: 10 May 2025

Abstract

Cultural Words in English do not always perform the same function in Arabic because of the cultural differences between the two languages. Each language has its own culture, which causes cultural differences in meaning while translating words and texts. Cultural words, if not translated in an appropriate way in both the source language and target language (SL and TL), will cause misunderstanding between the two languages (literal translation). There is no full linguistic equivalent meaning in translating from SL into TL because of the cultural differences between the two languages. The translator who translates cultural words should be aware of the grammar and meaning and culture of the (SL and TL) to achieve a successful translation, and he should be aware of the techniques of equivalence and non-equivalence that have been used by scholars in the translation field. The research looks at the difficulties that translators go into when trying to translate terms in a descriptive-comparative analysis of these terms in source text (STs) and in target texts (TTs) in Media from English into Arabic. The research studies the useful translation strategies used in the translation of cultural (terms, concepts, idioms, and words) from English to Arabic for a glossary of words from BBC News and found out the quality of translation (accuracy, acceptability) for Arabic culture.

 

Keywords:

Culture; Culture-Specific Terms; Equivalent; Accurate; Acceptable

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How to Cite

Tareq Abdullah , S. (2025). Cultural Specific Words (CWSs) in Media: Translation Procedures for a Glossary of Words from BBC News. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(5), 811–824. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i5.9196

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