Le transfert culturel dans la traduction du langage du pouvoir
Cultural Transfer in the Translation of the Language of Power
“To translate” does not mean changing the language of the discourse anymore, it is not simply just the result of a translation action, as it used to be defined in dictionaries. Translation is a phenomenon that is alive, functional, organic, a “soft power” which is useful and useful to the cultural politics of a certain state, of international relations, of globalization. Translators are now the ones who “watch”, they became “professional forecasters” who build „cultural myths”. A certain amount of power has been insinuated in translation for a long time now. Is the translation of a discourse of power after all defined as the translation of a specialized language which implies its own level of technicality and difficulty? Which are the challenges imposed to the translator during his traductologic process within the domain of the power discourse? Is it possible that the power discourse might be just a political discourse? Does cultural transfer have a spot in the translation of a power discourse? Is the translator a professional forecaster? These are the questions that will be answered in this particular article.
After the publishing of Patrick Charaudeau’s book “Le discours politique. Les masques du pouvoir”, the political discourse as a power discourse is re-placed under the “domination” of the language and is redefined as an entity which is situated in permanent connection with the public opinion, the media and the political actors. Of course, it obeys certain rules and obligations related to language norms, individual options, persuasion rules, the balance between locutors and enunciators (which leads to a construction that is different when it comes to self-image), cultural values of a certain era, communication situation, orality, style.
Nowadays, the political discourse is more than that, it became flexible and can be defined based on interfaces, borrowings, exchanges, it becomes cultural or even pluri cultural. Here is why during its translation we are witnessing a cultural transfer. The definition of the cultural transfer is not precise and was released to the public by Michele Espagne. Which is the exact definition of the cultural? The education of spirit or civilization? The formation of intelligence? A precise definition is still missing. “Culture” underlines and makes us understand everything that is related to mediation between humans, research of literature, history, art, philosophy and other things and matters which are related to culture as an education of the spirit. But is the term “cultural transfer” within translation related to these concepts or not? The response to these questions is to be found in the following article.
Keywords: cultural transfer, power discourse, translation/translator, political discourse.
