CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEMS IN HUMOROUS LITERATURE: TRANSLATION STRATEGIES AND CHALLENGES
Affiliation
Teacher Alfraganus University
Abstract
Humorous literature presents one of the greatest challenges in literary translation due to the close relationship between humor and culture. Culture-Specific Items (CSIs), including idioms, proper names, historical references, dialects, customs, and wordplay, often carry meanings deeply embedded in the source culture, making them difficult to reproduce in the target language. This article examines the translation of culture-specific items in humorous literature and the challenges they create for translators. It focuses on cultural references, idioms, food, customs, social practices, and culturally marked expressions that carry both humorous and cultural meanings. The study analyzes major translation strategies, including preservation, substitution, adaptation, explicitation, and omission. The findings show that effective translation requires a balance between cultural accuracy and humorous effect. The study concludes that context-sensitive and pragmatic strategies are essential for preserving both the cultural identity and comic function of the source text.Keywords
humorous literature, culture-specific items, literary translation, humor translation, translation strategies, domestication, foreignization, cultural adaptation
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