Gaps Found and Techniques Used in Translation of Cultural Terms: A Case of Novel Lolita

Abstract

The research work entitled Gaps Found and Techniques Used in Translation of Cultural Terms: A Case of Novel Lolita is an attempt to identify the English cultural terms in novel Lolita and their equivalents in Nepali translation and to find out the cultural gaps and techniques in translation of novel Lolita. The study followed survey research design. The data were collected from the secondary sources. Hundred cultural terms were selected from the novel by adopting purposive non-random sampling procedure. The tool for data collection was observation. In the process o translation, linguistic and cultural gaps are found. The major finding of the study was that seven different techniques: literal translation (44%), borrowing (32%), substitution (12%), definition (5%), claque (3%), deletion (3%) and addition (1%) were found in use while translating the cultural terms. Out of them, literal translation was the mostly used technique and addition was the least used technique while translating the cultural terms from SL to TL. Deletion technique was not good in translation and it should be minimized as far as possible because it creates gaps in translation. This study consists of five chapters. The first chapter deals with general background, statements of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, delimitations of the study and operational definitions of the key terms. The second chapter deals with the review of theoretical and empirical literature and conceptual framework of the study. Likewise, the third chapter deals with the methodology adopted for the study, design of the study, population, sample and sampling strategy of the study, research tools sources of data, data collection procedure and data analysis and interpretation procedure of the study. The fourth chapter deals with the analysis and interpretation of the collected data descriptively and using simple statistical tool i.e. percentage. Similarly, the fifth chapter deals with the findings based on the analysis and interpretation of the data, conclusion derived from the findings and recommendations. This chapter is followed by references and appendices.