Strategies, Errors, and Challenges in Translating Culture-Specific Items in Chinese-English Literary Works : A Systematic Review
Main Article Content
Keywords
Culture-specific items, translation strategies, translation errors, cultural context, literary translation
Abstract
In this paper, the Chinese to English literary translation of Culture-Specific Items (CSIs) published between 2019 and 2024 is analyzed. Different types of CSIs, such as idioms, historical references, proverbs, and culturally specific phrases, are among the most difficult items to translate because of their deep cultural meaning and the challenge in finding appropriate English equivalents. Although exploration of cultural factors and their translations has become increasingly popular, particularly in Translation Studies, systematic reviews of CSIs especially in Chinese to English literary contexts are limited. We employed a qualitative content analysis to synthesize the findings of 25 selected and refined articles. Among them, 18 were empirical articles, while seven were reviews, mainly focusing on the theoretical and conceptual features of CSIs, collected from Google Scholar, JSTOR, and PubMed databases. Three major themes were identified: (1) definitions and typologies of CSIs, (2) translation strategies, and (3) translation errors. We found that among the various strategies and procedures involved in translating CSIs, domestication, foreignization, annotation, adaptation, and literal translation were the most popular, each acknowledging their context-specific efficiencies and limitations. Furthermore, the identified translation errors included cultural misinterpretation, loss of style, omission, and loss of functionality. These errors could often hinder reader comprehension and negatively influence the narrative. Based on the findings, we recommend maintaining a balance between linguistic and cultural faithfulness, emphasizing genre sensitivity, recognizing the significance of translator visibility, and in-depth exploration of the context, and functional equivalence. Conducting empirical reception studies, in addition to further examination of genre representation, integration of human evaluation, and exploring the potential role of translation technology in translating cultural items could offer theoretical and practical guidance to literary translators dealing with cultural items.
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References
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Antonie, I.-C. (2022). Translatability of idioms – Getting the best of both texts. Professional Communication and Translation Studies, 15, 87–97. https://doi.org/10.59168/SSYD7239
Baker, M. (1992). In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203327579
Bayraktar, S. (2022). A comparative analysis of the reflections of cultural elements in social life in the novel Madonna with a Fur Coat in both the source text and the target text. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, 28, 647-658. https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.1132605
Bihych, O. B., & Strilets, V. V. (2020). Potential for the use of ICT in teaching scientific and technical translation. Information Technologies and Learning Tools, 76(2), 86–95. https://doi.org/10.33407/itlt.v76i2.2812
Calvert, I. (2022). Recent scholarship on classical literature and the eighteenth century. Literature Compass, 19(10), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/lic3.12682
Chai, W., Ong, H. Y., Amini, M., & Ravindran L. (2022). The art of paper cutting: Strategies and challenges in Chinese to English subtitle translation of cultural items. Journal of Modern Languages, 32 (1), 84-103. https://doi.org/10.22452/jml.vol32no1.584
Davies, E. E. (2003). A Goblin or a Dirty Nose? The Treatment of Culture-Specific References in Translations of the Harry Potter Books. The Translator, 9(1), 65–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2003.10799146
Dildabekova, A. K., Amalbekova, M. B., & Turginbayeva, L. V. (2021). Types of translation errors in a literary text translation (based on A. Nurpeisov’s trilogy “Blood and Sweat”). Analele Universităţii din Craiova, Seria Ştiinţe Filologice, Lingvistică, 43(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.52846/aucssflingv.v43i1.7
Effendi, O. D., Ravindran, L., Amini, M., & Alipour, M. (2024). Exploring strategies and perceptions of quality in English to Indonesian translation of idioms in the short story “Dear Life.” International Journal of Language Education and Applied Linguistics, 14(2), 7–19.
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Espindola, E., & Vasconcellos, M. L. (2006). Two facets in foreignisation and/or domestication procedures in unequal cultural encounters. Fragmentos: Revista de Língua e Literatura Estrangeiras, 30, 43-66.
Florin, S. (1993). Realia in translation. International Journal of Translation, 1(2), 122–128.
Guluzada, N. (2023). Main challenges faced by translators while dubbing and subtitling English films into Azerbaijani (Unpublished master’s thesis). [Master’s thesis, DSpace at Khazar University], ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
Guo, S. (2022). Analysis of translation strategies of culture compensation in the English version of the Analects of Confucius by Ku Hungming. BCP Social Sciences & Humanities, 19, 346-351. https://doi.org/10.54691/bcpssh.v19i.1629
Hamamoto, H. (2023). How to obtain translation equivalence of culturally specific concepts in a target language. Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts, 9(1), 8-21. https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.00099.ham
Harmon, L. (2022). Error in literary translation: F. S. Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” in three Polish renditions. Lublin Studies in Modern Languages and Literature, 46(2), 31-43. https://doi.org/10.17951/lsmll.2022.46.2.31-43
He, H., Amini, M., Ganapathy, M., & Lah, S. C. (2024). The application of Juliane House’s translation quality assessment model in the English translation of Yu Hua’s ‘Yanre de xiatian’. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1). 2386781 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2386781
Hee, M. Y., Wong, X. Y., Yuan, J., & Amini, M. (2022). Footnotes, artistic conception, and strategies in translation of ancient Chinese poetry into English. AJELP: Asian Journal of English Language and Pedagogy, 10(1), 94-113.
Ikawati, L. (2022). Translating culture specific items: A study of translation strategies in a guidebook. Foreign Language Instruction Probe, 1(2), 87-100. https://doi.org/10.54213/flip.v1i2.168
James, O.E., Tan, J. Y. S., & Amini, M. (2018). Translation strategies in the Chinese and Indonesian translations of English Christmas carols. The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Special Issue 6, 1097-1104.
Jing, N.X., & Amini, M. (2019). Problems and solutions in English-Chinese Translation of Song Lyrics in Mulan. Journal of Advanced Research in Dynamic and Control Systems. 11, 05-Special Issue, 1202-1206, 2019.
Leonavičienė, A. & Inokaitytė, G. (2023). Use of Culture-Specific Items and their Translation from Lithuanian into English and French in Ričardas Gavelis’s Vilnius P.oker. Sustainable Multilingualism, 22(1) 212-257. https://doi.org/10.2478/sm-2023-0009
Li, M. (2023). A study of the translation of chapter headings in the Russian translation of Dream of the Red Chamber. Modern Linguistics, 11(12), 6048-6051. https://doi.org/10.12677/ML.2023.1112811
Li, Y. (2023). An analysis of pragmatic failures in Chinese-English translation based on multiple factors. Lecture Notes on Language and Literature, 6(13), 137–142. https://doi.org/10.23977/langl.2023.061320
Li, Z. (2023). Annotation strategies in the English translation of contemporary Chinese literary works: A case study of Red Sorghum. Arts Studies and Criticism, 3(6),362-364. https://doi.org/10.32629/asc.v3i6.1145
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Nedergaard-Larsen, B. (1993). Culture-bound problems in subtitling. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 1(2), 207–241. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.1993.9961226
Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. Prentice-Hall International.
Obeidat, A. M., Ayyad, G. R., & Mahadi, T. S. T. (2020). The tension between naturalness and accuracy in translating lexical collocations in literary text. e-Bangi: Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 17(8), 123-134.
Pavlović, N. & Poslek, D. (1998). British and Croatian culture-specific concepts in translation. In J. Ciglar-Zanic (Ed.), British cultural studies: Cross-cultural challenges (pp.157-168). Zagreb: The British Council Croatia.
Petronienė, S., Murauskaitė, J., & Horbačauskienė, J. (2019). Translation of culture-specific items in menus. In A. Olteanu, A. Stables, & D. Borţun (Eds.), Meanings & Co. Numanities - Arts and Humanities in Progress (pp. 181-192). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91986-7_11
Purwaningsih, D. R., Yulianita, N. G., & Prasetyoningsih, T. W. S. (2023). The translation of culture-specific concepts in descriptive text of Museum Wayang dan Artefak Purbalingga. Language Literacy: Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Language Teaching, 7(1), 94-104. https://doi.org/10.30743/ll.v7i1.6247
Qian, M., & Wu, H. (2023). Translators as information seekers: Strategies and novel techniques. In H. Degen & S. Ntoa (Eds.), Artificial intelligence in HCI. Lecture notes in computer science (pp. 150-166). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35894-4_11
Rohmawati, I. A., Junining, E., & Suwarso, P. N. (2022). The idioms and culture-specific items translation strategy for a classic novel. Journey: Journal of English Language and Pedagogy, 5(2), 169-181. https://doi.org/10.33503/journey.v5i2.1939
Setiawan, K. A. (2022). The use of translation techniques by Donna Widjajanto in translating CSI’s in Dterlizzi’s The Field Guide. JISIP: Jurnal Ilmu Sosial dan Pendidikan, 5(4), 1217-1223. https://doi.org/10.58258/jisip.v5i4.2532
Sibuea, T. F. B., Budi, W., & Jonathan, K. (2023). The equivalence problems produced by machine translation on a literary text: A study on the Indonesian translation of Harry Potter: The Order of Phoenix. Journal of Cultural, Literary, and Linguistic Studies, 7(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.14710/ca.v7i1.17417
Smith, M. R., Adams, N., & Munnik, E. (2022). The development of the Quality of Translation and Linguistic Equivalence Checklist. African Journal of Psychological Assessment, 4 (108), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.4102/ajopa.v4i0.108
Snyder, H. (2019). Literature reviews as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104, 333–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.039
Sun, Y. (2022). Literary translation and communication. Frontiers in Communication, 7, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2022.1073773
Tang, Y. (2022). Translation strategies of culture-specific items and cultural identity: A case study on William A. Lyell’s translation of “Diary of a Madman”. International Journal of Education and Humanities, 3(2), 42-44. https://doi.org/10.54097/ijeh.v3i2.635
Tee, Y. H., Amini, M., Siau, C. S., & Amirdabbaghian, A. (2022). English to Chinese fansub translation of humour in The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel. Texto Livre: Linguagem e Tecnologia, 25, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.35699/1983-3652.2022.37677
Tsoi, L. Y. (2022). Translation of Hollywood film titles: Implications of culture-specific items in Greater China. TranscUlturAl, 14(1), 70-96. https://doi.org/10.21992/tc29563
Tukhtarova, A., Issakova, S., Toxanbayeva, T., Aitbayeva, N., & Albekova, A. (2021). Linguocultural deviations in Russian translation of the novel “Twilight” by S. Meyer. International Journal of Society, Culture & Language, 9(2), 189-202.
Wan, S.Y.C., Abu Bakar, A., Amini, M., & Rafik-Galea, S. (2018). Problems and solutions in English translations of Malay short stories. The Journal of Social Sciences Research. Special Issue 6, 1158-1166.
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Published
Jun 23, 2025
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How to Cite
Qiufen, W., Amini, M., & Tan, D. A. L. (2025). Strategies, Errors, and Challenges in Translating Culture-Specific Items in Chinese-English Literary Works : A Systematic Review. Jurnal Arbitrer, 12(2), 259–273. https://doi.org/10.25077/ar.12.2.259-273.2025
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Author Biographies
Wang Qiufen, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Phd candidate in Translation
Mansour Amini, Universiti Sains Malaysia
PHD IN TRANSLATION
SENIOR LECTURER AT
School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang 11800, Malaysia
Debbita Ai Lin Tan, Universiti Sains Malaysia
SENIOR LECTURER
School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang 11800, Malaysia