Wang Qiufen / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
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| Review Strategies.
Errors, and Challenges in Translating CultureSpecific Items in Chinese-English Literary Works: A Systematic Review Wang Qiufen1.
Mansour Amini2*.
Debbita Tan Ai Lin3 School of Languages.
Literacies and Translation.
Universiti Sains Malaysia
1,2,3
Submission Track
A B S T R A C T
Received: February 11, 2025 Final Revision: April 19, 2025 Accepted: April 24, 2025 Available Online: June 25, 2025 In this paper, the Chinese to English literary translation of Culture-Specific Items (CSI.
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Different types of CSIs, such as idioms, historical references, proverbs, and culturally specific phrases, are among the most difficult items to translate because of their deep cultural meaning and the challenge in finding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 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: .
definitions and typologies of CSIs, .
translation strategies, and .
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 contextspecific 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 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.
Keywords Culture-specific items, translation strategies, translation errors, cultural context, literary translation Correspondence *E-mail: mansour@usm.
INTRODUCTION
CSIs are culturally bound linguistic items with no equivalent direct meaning in another They consist of idioms, proverbs, historical references, social customs, and cultural symbols bearing meaning but also containing a communityAos unique worldview and patterns of communication (Purwaningsih et al.
, 2023.
Rohmawati et al.
Wan & Amini, 2.
In literary translation.
DOI: https://doi.
org/10.
25077/ar.
particularly between culturally and linguistically distant languages such as Chinese and English, meaningful and intuitive translation of these items is a fundamental concern (Amini et al.
, 2024.
Wang et al.
, 2.
CSIs are challenging because they have a dual natureAialthough they possess literal meanings, they are also culturally embedded and can be lost if translated insensitively.
Literature, especially fiction such as novels.
Under License of Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.
0 International.
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short stories, and culturally rooted poetry or drama, is rich in CSIs.
Such writings are not just pieces of art but reflections of their respective cultural Hence, the translation of CSIs is beyond linguistic competence.
it requires translators to navigate the two languagesAo cultures (Amenador & Wang, 2022.
He et al.
, 2024.
James et al.
, 2018.
Sun et al.
, 2.
Neglecting these aspects of culture may result in the loss of meaning, beauty, or even lead to misinterpretation by the target audience (Ikawati, 2022.
Antonie, 2022.
Wan et , 2.
For instance, idiomatic expressions, embedded symbolism, and socio-historical allusions are particularly vulnerable to distortion, which can lead to communicative breakdowns unless properly controlled (Abdelaal & Alazzawie.
Effendi et al.
, 2024.
Tukhtarova et al.
, 2.
and may lead to communicative breakdowns if not handled with care.
Due to such challenges, scholars have proposed various strategies for regulating CSIs in translation.
There are some in favor of domestication, i.
, translation to fit the culture of the target audience, and there are others in favor of foreignization, i.
, maintaining the distinct features of the source culture.
Strategies, such as annotation, adaptation, and literal translation accompanied by contextual changes, are also deemed efficient (Guluzada, 2023.
Tsoi, 2022.
Chai et al.
, 2022.
Tee et al.
, 2.
The choice of translation strategy tends to rely on such factors as the goals of the translator, the nature of the source text, and reader expectations in the target market (Jing & Amini, 2.
Such strategic decisions are essential as improper handling of CSIs not only affects comprehension but also tends to lead to cultural dissonance in the translated product.
concerning CSIs in terms of their causes and By reviewing the current body of literature, this review seeks to enhance understanding of how CSIs function in literary translation, determine methodological trends, and contribute to areas worthy of future research.
Through this process, the paper seeks to enable better translation practice and promote a more culturally sensitive approach to the translation of literary texts.
II.
METHODS
This review considers Chinese-English literary production CSIsAo translations.
A systematic search was conducted using three major scientific academic databases, namely Google Scholar.
JSTOR, and PubMed, by using pairs of keywords, such as Auculture-specific itemsAy together with Autranslation strategiesAy as well as AuChinese-English translation,Ay Auliterary translationAy .
ombinations include.
using AND and OR boolean operators in expanding the scope for searches.
For instance, the search phrase Auculture-specific items AND ChineseEnglish translationAy produced 18 articles, but more general terms such as Autranslation strategies OR culture-specific itemsAy generated over 30 hits.
After eliminating duplicates and irrelevant studies, 42 unique records were found.
Screening was carried out in three stages: the removal of duplicates, title and abstract screening, and full-text screening.
The inclusion criteria were:
peer-reviewed journal articles.
English .
published between 2019 and 2024.
concerning CSIs in Chinese-English literary and .
including empirical data or theoretical discussion of translation strategies or translation errors.
Exclusion criteria were book reviews, editorials, review papers, or investigations involving other language pairs or non-literary Eighteen empirical articles met all the requirements and were thus included.
This review aims to integrate and critically evaluate recent scholarly literature on the translation of CSIs within the framework of ChineseEnglish literary fiction.
Through the integration of knowledge in existing studies, the review aims to evaluate prevailing practices, identify frequent Also, seven seminal theory publications translation errors, and explore the conceptual 1988 and 2006 were selected to build the models that inform CSI translation.
Specifically, conceptual framework for this study.
These are the the review will explore three objectives:
original publications of theorists such as Newmark To explore how CSIs are identified and .
Aixela .
, and Florin .
, whose typologized in literary fiction.
typologies and definitions are still extremely To discuss the major translation strategies cited and pedagogically very influential.
The final used in translating CSIs into English.
corpus of this review thus comprises 25 sources: 7 To describe common translation errors theoretical and 18 empirical.
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Fig.
Thematic categorization of the 25 selected articles in this review, based on their contribution to CSI definition/ classification, translation strategies, and translation errors in literary works.
Fig.
PRISMA-style flowchart outlining the article selection process, including empirical screening .
= .
and addition of conceptual literature .
= .
, resulting in 25 final studies.
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To describe the thematic split.
Figure 1 illustrates the split of the literature selected into three categories: .
definitions and classifications of CSI .
= .
, .
translation strategies .
= .
, and .
translation errors .
= .
A flowchart of the article selection in PRISMA style is presented in Figure 2.
model includes: .
, flora, fauna, geographical feature.
, .
material culture .
food, clothing, tool.
, .
social culture .
sports, leisure activitie.
, .
organizations, customs, activities, procedures, and concepts .
, educational, legal, or political system.
, and .
gestures and habits.
NewmarkAos classification All the chosen works were examined using provides practical guidelines for recognizing and qualitative content analysis to establish important translating CSIs in literary and non-literary texts.
themes, persistent concerns, and emphasize PavloviN and Poslek .
, in their comparison translation strategies.
The examination enables of British and Croatian culture-specific concepts critical understanding of available CSI translation across cultures, expand the classification of CSIs practice and finds areas that are still underdeveloped by proposing thirteen types.
They include ecology, for further study.
everyday life, material culture, history, religion, economy, political and administrative tasks, armed i.
RESULTS
forces, education, forms of address, gestures and Definitions and Classifications of Culture- habits, work, and leisure or entertainment.
Their classification is constructed from literary and nonSpecific Items In order to establish a coherent analytical literary examples, with the focus on transmission framework for evaluating the translation of CSIs, of subcultural values and reference to institutions it is necessary to first define what constitutes a through specific lexical options.
They also mention CSI and then to compare the most influential that seemingly synonymous words in other cultures classification systems in translation studies.
may go in different directions due to differing Different terminologies and conceptualizations cultural assumptions and that it is the translatorsAo have emerged across scholarly traditions, each task to identify not only overt but also covert cultural reflecting distinct perspectives on the cultural, features.
Their work is most useful in delineating linguistic, and semiotic complexity of such items.
the embeddedness of CSIs in linguistic and extralinguistic structures like branded goods.
TV The term Auculture-specific itemAy was culture, and public rites.
This kind of understanding popularized by Aixela .
, who uses it as adds depth to CSI study by reminding students and a general label for all textual elements that are professionals that translational decisions are not anchored in a given culture and which thus pose just linguistic but ideologically situated too.
interpretive and translational challenges when Jurgita Mikutyt .
offers one definition transferred into another linguistic and cultural Aixela argues that CSIs are not confined to that negotiates between cultural specificity and fixed categories but rather emerge contextually in conceptual non-equivalence.
She defines CSIs discourse, depending on how the source text evokes as Audistinct items or experiences, material and its own cultural environment.
From a functionalist spiritual components of a culture, intrinsic to a perspective.
Aixela suggests that the translator particular ethnic group, a nation or a region, which either preserves the foreignness of these items or generally have no equivalents in other cultures or adapts them in a way that renders them accessible languages.
Ay Her typology distinguishes between to the target audience.
This approach emphasizes geographic realia, ethnographic realia, social the translatorAos role as a cultural mediator who and political realia, and situational realia.
This must make choices about visibility, equivalence, difference emphasizes that CSIs are special as opposed to general non-equivalent terms because and cultural accommodation.
they are inextricably embedded within specific In contrast.
Newmark .
proposes a symbolic and historical contexts.
more structured and widely adopted taxonomy.
Espindola and Vasconcellos .
further He defines CSIs as elements tied to the social and organizational culture of the source language, enrich the field by proposing a twelve-category which often include institutional names, social approach that incorporates linguistic and extracustoms, or material objects.
His five-category linguistic characteristics.
These are: .
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anthroponyms, .
entertainments, .
transports, .
fictional characters, .
legal systems, .
local organizations, .
measures, .
victuals and beverages, .
scholastic terms, .
religious festivals, and .
This typology, initiated amid unequal cultural contacts, is particularly relevant in postcolonial and multilingual translation It points to how translation may reproduce or resist dominant cultural narratives by managing certain items.
In an independent effort to characterize the dimensions of culture-specific phenomena.
PavloviN and Poslek .
offer a typology from their comparative examination of British and Croatian conceptions of culture, emphasizing both linguistic and extralinguistic aspects.
Their system includes thirteen distinct categories: ecology, everyday life, material culture, history, religion, economy, political and administrative institutions, military, education, titles of address and terms of reference, gestures and posture, occupations, and leisure activities/entertainment.
They also use the terms subcategories such as mass media references .
TV show.
, branded products, and consumer Their typology is particularly attuned to cultural structures reflecting not only national identity but also subcultural and generational They argue that successful translation of CSIs depends on the capacity to sense these multiple levels of meaning and how they operate across both the source and target cultural systems.
This method is especially useful for literary translation because it emphasizes the importance of untangling both overt and covert cultural signals in narrative discourse.
Apart from the above models, there have been other researchers, e.
Florin .
and Nedergaard-Larsen .
, who have offered other models, with a focus on audiovisual translation and realia, respectively.
Nedergaard-LarsenAos model, for example, has classes like geographical references, cultural references .
veryday culture, institutions, histor.
, and linguistic references.
Florin, by contrast, introduced the notion of AurealiaAy as words and expressions referring directly to objects, phenomena, and concepts that are culture-specific, proposing a typology founded on pragmatic and semantic features.
to be noted.
Further, the scope and depth of typologies converge in the significance of ecology, material culture, social institutions, and expressive practices as fundamental domains of CSI occurrence.
However, the scope and depth of categories vary, as some authors emphasize institutional and ideological dimensions, while others address ordinary life and linguistic Curiously, earlier typologies are more likely to favor the precision of categorization and practical recommendations for translators, whereas more recent systems emphasize socio-political importance and cultural relations of power, in line with post-structuralist and critical translation Critical comparison of these systems identifies their respective merits and demerits.
NewmarkAos model is useful in its simplicity and applicability across types of texts, but may be overly simplistic to accommodate dynamic manifestations of PavloviN and PoslekAos .
and Espindola and VasconcellosAo .
models have greater descriptive detail, but risk becoming burdensome to implement in practice in translation AixelaAos approach, though theoretically versatile, is less useful in the supply of empirical classification information.
Nedergaard-Larsen and Florin complement by integrating pragmatic concerns and foregrounding challenges typical of media and realia translation, though their models require contextual adaptation upon utilization in the case of literary works.
For literary translation, where stylistic subtlety and cultural sophistication are most relevant, the collective use of these typologies is most useful.
Combining categorically defined types with contextual sense enables more fine-grained identification and interpretation of CSIs.
Such a hybrid model not only benefits textual analysis but also allows for more rigorous evaluation of translation strategies, making it especially useful for comparative analysis of translated texts.
Thematic Analysis of Challenges and Strategies in Translating CSIs In translating CSIs from Chinese to English, more than one layer of complexity is faced by the These complexities are not merely linguistic but also cultural, contextual, and even In spite of the divergent orientations of these ideological in nature.
From the reviewed literature, frameworks, there are a number of convergences an array of recurring themes concerning both the Wang Qiufen / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
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challenges of CSI translation and the strategic options embraced in response is found.
Instead of presenting each of these studies individually, these findings are synthesized into thematic clusters underpinned by recent empirical evidence.
One of the fundamental challenges invariably encountered is the linguistic ambiguity and semantic density in most CSIs.
There are certain words or onomatopoeias that carry meaning beyond their literal interpretation.
Wang .
, for instance, examines how Chinese stand-up comedy ambiguity creates challenges to effective cultural transference.
His study illustrates how subtlety of humor, especially punchlines based on cultural expectations, makes direct translation Similarly.
Xu and Chen .
evoke the issue of onomatopoeia in literature, arguing that literal translation fails to provide representation of sound symbolism or emotional tone.
Such authors demonstrate that onomatopoeic terms evoke auditory and emotional connotation that is highly culture-bound.
In light of this, strategies such as italicized transliteration or literal translation with explanatory footnotes have been utilized.
Whereas these preserve shape and some amount of semantic coherency, they can undermine smoothness or interrupt accessibility to regular readers.
Thus, such strategies are best usually effective where cultural fidelity predominates over smoothness of the narrative.
Yet they might be inappropriate to apply to readers of low tolerance of linguistic foreignness or in need of entertainment more than ethnographic understanding.
believes the translator can guarantee textual authenticity so that overseas readers can experience cultural dissonance firsthand.
Li.
, in a discussion of Red Sorghum, argues that some forms of annotation, such as interlined notes and footnotes, are a good compromise between access and depth.
Concurrently.
Li.
discusses title translation in chapter headings of Dream of the Red ChamberAos Russian translation, revealing the application of literal and free translation strategies.
These findings confirm that title translation has a lot to do with dealing with symbolic resonance and cultural references embedded in framing narratives.
Such additions or modifications, though enriching comprehension, may detract from narrative development and ruin aesthetic experience.
Thus, the performance of each strategy relies on the cultural information density, the source text genre, and the readerAos predicted familiarity.
Cognitive overload may result from over-annotation, while oversimplification can deprive the original of its cultural meaning.
The genre of the literary text also determines the choice of strategy.
Poetic or symbolic works are often in need of solutions other than those for straightforward prose narratives.
Zuo et al.
address this in their analysis of Big Breasts and Wide Hips, where they propose contextdependent solutions such as literal translation with amplification or free translation with substitution.
These approaches preserve the aesthetic effect of metaphorical passages.
For example, metaphors referring to traditional beliefs about femininity, fertility, and motherhood require culturally adaptive strategies to maintain their evocative power.
Similarly.
Xing .
, examining Li BaiAos Silent Night Thoughts, emphasizes that poetic images require strategic creativity, combining cultural knowledge with reader-oriented decisions.
Free translation in such cases is not merely deviation but an act of literary recreation.
But such creative interventions must be used judiciously to avoid tone or meaning distortion.
Misused or overused, they can result in reinterpretations that favor targetlanguage aesthetics over original authorial intent.
This challenge emphasizes the necessity of genresensitive approaches that balance artistic form, thematic content, and cultural fidelity.
Yet another important theme is the translation of allusions and historical mentions buried in Examples include idiomatic phrases grounded in Confucian philosophy, words symbolically laden and linked with cultural rituals, or the religious lexicon absent in any Western language.
Guo .
argues, drawing an example from Ku HungmingAos translation of the Analects, that defaulting strategies borrowed from culture and generalization enable historical and conceptual lacunas to be overcome between cultures for European readers.
Such strategies, in her observation, while simplifying the foreigndense, at times obscure subtleties of ideology embedded in the original.
Tang .
Of equal concern is the effect of the translatorAos arguing that cultural identity is best maintained by conservation rather than replacement in Diary visibility and reader expectation.
Some translators of a Madman.
By avoiding simplification.
Tang have an overt presence in the text on purpose by Wang Qiufen / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
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giving interlinear glosses or in-text commentary.
Li.
is a good illustration of how cultural information, if added quietly, can contribute to understanding without interfering with flow.
Leonaviciene and Inokaityte .
confirm that such practices are successful in intercultural contexts when foreignization is pedagogically appropriate.
Their findings suggest reader engagement increases if translators take up the role of cultural mediators rather than neutral transmitters.
In contrast, in fiction set for mass audiences, invisibility on the translatorAos part could be a desideratum.
Strategies such as domesticationAiincluding where CSIs are translated as culturally familiar formsAiare frequent attempts to mitigate disruption.
This, however, is a danger factor for erosion of cultural If the translator over-domesticates, the end product may be culturally homogeneous and stripped of the richness of the original.
A final thematic aspect in CSI translation involves the function of CSIs elements within the source text.
Scholars like Zuo et al.
and Tang .
argue that policy on translation cannot be dictated by linguistic form but should respond to the functional function of CSIs in context.
For example, some CSIs can be metaphorical or symbolic and can aid character development, thematic unity, or social commentary.
In these cases, the original wording should remain even if it is at the expense of reader comprehension.
Where CSIs add background information to the environment that does not further the narrative, more liberal strategies such as omission or adaptation may be viable.
This functionalist strategy promotes decision-making on the basis of rhetorical effect, rather than formal equivalence.
goes against the idea of cultural retention always being the best choice and rather promotes strategic maneuverability guided by textual function and communicative intent.
These thematic findings are combined graphically in Table 1, which encapsulates the main CSI-related challenges and plots them against corresponding approaches.
The diagram is also an analytical tool to depict how translator choice is influenced by text type, culture, and communicative It also reveals the multi-dimensional nature of CSI translation and the interplay of fidelity, fluency, and functionality.
Categorization of Translation Errors in CSIs Translation errors in CSIs remain a chronic issue with Chinese-English literary translation.
an extended integration of more recent research, five prevalent types of translation errors emerge, each a variant of misrepresentation, misinterpretation, or strategic shortcoming.
They include pragmatic errors, cultural misinterpretation, over-literal translation, stylistic and aesthetic loss, and machine translation limitations.
All these categories are not only technical flaws but more general conceptual tensions among fidelity, accessibility, and communicative purpose.
Rather than analyzing these errors through isolated examples, this section synthesizes findings thematically from multiple studies on how errors in translation occur, why they are important, and how they can be avoided.
One of the most common types of translation error is pragmatic errors, where the translatable message in translation fails to align with the intended communicative function of the target Li .
finds most common errors to be pragmatic errors in CSI translation, especially with culturally specific speech acts, addresses, and implied meaning.
LiAos analysis emphasizes that such errors frequently stem from the translatorAos target-language pragmatics, or from their unfamiliarity with how politeness, hierarchy, or indirectness are expressed across cultures.
The consequence is often an output that, while grammatically correct, appears Table 1.
Thematic Model of Challenges and Strategies in Translating CSIs.
Challenge Preferred Strategy Supporting Studies Linguistic Ambiguity Transliteration.
Footnotes Wang .
Xu & Chen .
Cultural Allusions Annotation.
Generalization Guo .
Tang .
Li.
Li.
Genre Constraints Amplification.
Free Translation Zuo et al.
Xing .
Translator Visibility Interlinear Gloss.
Domestication Li.
Leonaviciene & Inokaityte .
Functional Role Conservation.
Omission Zuo et al.
Tang .
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inappropriate, offensive, or overly literal in context.
Such an error impacts not only interpersonal tone but also the credibility of the story, particularly in character speech and culturally rich interactions.
The cultivation of pragmatic competence and crosscultural sensitivity must therefore be regarded as part and parcel of training literary translators rendering CSIs.
Cultural misinterpretation is another red thread in CSI translation error.
Zhang .
and Zagood .
offer compelling evidence that errors of this sort are most likely to result when the translator does not adequately appreciate the cultural significance of a term or conception.
For example.
Zhang .
describes how misunderstandings of key values and ideologies such as filial piety, collectivism, or ritual result in oversimplifications that minimize Chinese cultural representation.
Similarly.
ZagoodAos examination of an Arabic-English translation elucidates how literal renderings of cultural idioms failed to reach local habits, and resulted in skewed What these investigations point out is that surface equivalence can be misleading when deeper contextual knowledge is lacking.
Not being able to observe the symbolic or ideological functions fulfilled by CSIs generates substitutions that are either tone-deaf or semantically inadequate.
Overliteral translation also appears as a severe category of error when formal equivalence is the priority of translators over communicative accuracy.
Harmon .
and Obeidat et al.
analyze how hyper-literal translations could lead to translations that are syntactically precise but semantically awkward.
HarmonAos contrastive analysis of three Polish translations of The Great Gatsby reveals how rigid adherence to surface form immures subtextual sense and emotional Similarly.
Obeidat et al.
illustrate how translations attempting to be natural in terms of grammar but lacking in accuracyAior vice versaAi result in unnatural or misleading expressions.
Their discovery of three subtypesAinatural but inaccurate, unnatural but accurate, and unnatural and inaccurateAioffers a diagnostic model for determining CSI-related errors.
Collectively, these studies argue that good CSI translation involves a dynamic balance between fidelity and Translators must make interpretive decisions that are in the service of the tone, rhythm, and communicative purpose of the narrative, and not constrained by fixed lexical substitution.
Loss of stylistic and aesthetic features is another major area of concern.
Literary translation as a principle is about recreating content, but also form, tone, and texture.
Dildabekova et al.
show how weakening of metaphor, rhythm, or imagery in style diminishes the literary effect of the translation.
In their contrastive analysis of English translations of Kazakh prose, they found that many errors involved in metaphorical flattening, tonal incongruity, and cohesion error were due to a lack of adequate concern for the poetic organization of the original.
In literary prose.
CSIs typically carry multi-faceted meanings and stylistic connotations that cannot be translated by literal equivalence.
Their replacement or omission, unless conceived with strategic intent, destroys the global narrative effect.
Therefore, translation strategies must be focused on stylistic preservation, such as compensatory methods or rhetorical re-creation, while translating CSIs with figurative or symbolic language.
The fifth theme involves machine translation and automation Because CSIs are highly dependent upon cultural expectations, socio-pragmatic sensitivity, or world knowledge, algorithms lack such sensitivities and therefore produce incoherent or culturally inappropriate translations.
Sibuea et al.
address this issue by looking at the Google Translate translation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
They discover repeated inability to cope with culturally unique words, idioms, and expressions.
From their findings, while the software is very proficient in syntactic form, it has an extremely difficult time with metaphors embedded in culture, intertextual references, and implied meaning.
These are the signs that human intervention is needed, particularly post-editing.
They also pose general questions regarding the constraints of the state-of-the-art neural machine translation (NMT) models on literary styles, where narrative flow, subtlety, and context are top The five categories mentioned are united in the fact that they are evidencing systemic and not accidental errors.
Each category of error points to a particular kind of knowledge or judgment required by translators in order to perform effectively with CSIs.
The implications are both applied and theoretical.
From a training perspective, it goes without Wang Qiufen / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
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Table 2.
Categorization of Translation Errors in Chinese-English CSI Translation Error Type Pragmatic Errors Cultural Misinterpretation Typical Characteristics Example Studies Misaligned speech acts.
inappropriate Y.
Li .
Symbolic/ideological misreading Zhang .
Zagood .
Over-literal Translation Syntactic fidelity over clarity Harmon .
Obeidat et al.
Stylistic Loss Tone, metaphor, rhythm ignored Dildabekova et al.
Machine Translation Gaps Lack of cultural sensitivity Sibuea et al.
saying that translators require interdisciplinary competenceAinot only in language and literature but also in sociolinguistics, cultural studies, and communication theory.
Procedurally, classification of translation errors contributes to building stronger evaluation models and criteria.
Instead of basing judgments of CSI translations on faithfulness, the judges must also consider cultural adequacy, narratological coherence, and stylistic closeness.
These categories of CSI-related translation errors are schematically represented in Table 2.
This can assist in recognizing translation errors and finding translation solutions for them.
On the broader literary translation level as well, it also reiterates the need for integrative methodology that combines linguistic skill with cultural competence and narrative sensitivity.
IV.
DISCUSSION
The translation of CSIs in literary works is challenging, as noted by several studies, particularly about the translations of contemporary Chinese While most studies focus on classical literature or canonical fiction, the contemporary literary works often contain some novel cultural elements and new social values which differ from those of older texts.
Translation of such texts need more attention considering the evolving cultural practices and uses of language that can complicate the common practices and approaches in translation, often leading to only partial or outdated theoretical specificity in contextual examination of the cultural elements together with the application of appropriate translation strategies can assist in preserving the cultural essence of the original texts (Hamamoto, 2.
Some studies .
Amenador and WangAos .
have examined how modern cultural elements are passed across languages, or how refinement of the existing methodologies have assisted in achieving cultural fidelity (Hamamoto.
Another gap is the .
generalization of cultural phenomena beyond their communicate purpose and setting.
For example, in some cases, culture-specific items and idiomatic expressions, and phrases are discussed without complete acknowledgement, or analysis of the particular social and communicative setting, such as time and place, in which these items are being described.
Therefore, an effective CSI translation depends not only on the identification of cultural elements .
Bayraktar, 2022.
Hee et al.
, 2022.
Hamamoto, 2.
, but also on a thorough understanding the functional operations of the items within the cultural, ideological, and communicative For genres like poetry, science fiction, and modern drama, where symbolic meaning and cultural subtlety are significant, a detailed textual analysis becomes indispensable.
As stated by Liu .
in examination of CSIs in Ming and Qing novels.
Dream of the Red Chamber, exploring the translation of CSIs is not only investigating how decision-making works in terms of lexicogrammatical choices and their denotative meanings, but is also about the symbolic, ideological and even in-depth analysis of the emotional connotations of the items as CSIs are central to a narrativeAos social and aesthetic values.
Furthermore, various cultural subtleties embedded in historical contexts of literary texts require translatorsAo deep understanding of the unique features to be received in the target language and One common gap in the existing literature is integrative examination of the source and target Furthermore, narrative prose prevails languagesAo specific cultural contexts rather than compared to other genres such as satire, fantasy, generalizing the cultural elements independently and illustrated fiction, while the influence of of the context (Bayraktar, 2.
In other words, literary genres also needs further exploration.
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particularly in Chinese-English translations.
These genres are more likely to include hybridized or invented cultural elements that resist traditional As Calvert .
suggests, a wider variety of genres would allow for a more subtle understanding of the manner in which culture dictates literary expression.
These less typical genres may also demand more flexible and imaginative translation strategies.
The translatorAos personal and professional background is another factor worth greater Amenador and Wang .
and Mallah .
argue that the cultural sensitivity and linguistic ability of a translator strongly influence the way CSIs are translated.
The ability to interpret and reproduce cultural meaning is likely to be guided by the translatorAos academic training, life experience, and familiarity with the target audience.
These can affect strategic decision-making at all levels of the translation process.
El Mallah .
, for instance, demonstrates that even religious texts such as the Quran may be ideologically screened, depending on the translatorAos beliefs or affiliation.
This emphasizes the translatorAos role not just as a linguistic intermediary but also as an active cultural At the same time, the lack of practical instruments and translation support still frustrates efficient handling of CSIs.
Translators would benefit from greater resources, including glossaries, strategy recommendations, and computer-based support tools.
As implied by Setiawan .
Qian and Wu .
Bihych and Strilets .
, and Petronien et al.
, systematic aids can help translators to identify CSIs, choose relevant strategies, and justify their choices in professional Smith.
Adams, and Munnik .
also note that standard checklists and quality assessment tools can similarly enhance training outcomes by introducing greater coherence into translation These tools are particularly important as global translation demands continue to rise.
Translation technology has also been a central part of this debate.
Google Translate and other such tools often fail when working with culture-specific material, especially idiomatic language, figurative language, or culturally loaded concepts.
Alonso and Vieira .
observe that the development of automated translation processes has transformed the role of the translator.
Human translators are now assuming a critical role of editing and polishing machine outputs.
Xu and Shin .
note that collaborative workflows, blending automated processing and specialist editing, offer one feasible way ahead.
These approaches may maximize efficiency without compromising cultural sensitivity and interpretive depth.
In the future, more research should be carried out on how technological systems can be developed to better process CSI translation.
This includes teaching artificial intelligence on datasets with annotated cultural elements, and calibrating algorithms to consider contextual and pragmatic Furthermore, the reception of translated CSIs by readers is worth investigating more deeply.
How readers respond or interpret various approaches will tell researchers whether an approach enhances accessibility or leads to cultural distortion.
Comparative testing and user-based feedback would be informative.
Cumulatively, these observations suggest that CSI translation is not an activity where one size fits all.
Instead, it is a highly adaptive and contextcontingent practice.
It involves multiple levels of decision-making and necessitates attention to language, genre, cultural appropriacy, and reader expectation.
To be useful, future research must reflect this complexity and offer solutions that are not just conceptually rigorous but also pragmatically feasible.
CONCLUSION
Translating CSIs between English and Chinese particularly in literary contexts is often challenging mainly because of the entanglement of these items within their source cultures and the uncertainty in the acceptable level of adaptation to the target culture.
A main challenge is identifying direct equivalent values in the target culture because translating CSIs entails analyzing various factors, such as forms of social norms, idiomatic expressions, and historical references.
A solution to this translation problem could be incorporating a substantial understanding of both source and target cultures in addition to the linguistic expertise to ensure that translations are adequate and fluent.
Language and culture continue to evolve and upgrading translatorsAo cultural knowledge of the source and target norms and values plays a key role in this respect.
Previous studies have emphasized the intricate balance needed between remaining Wang Qiufen / Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol.
12 No.
faithful to the source text and ensuring that the translated text is well adjusted and adapted to the target audienceAos expectations.
Various translation strategies such as domestication or foreignization are employed based on the context and function of the CSIs, with foreignization being favored when the cultural reference is central to the textAos meaning, while domestication or adaptation is preferred when the reference is less familiar to the Future research can investigate comparative effectiveness of translation strategies across different genres and contexts, exploration of translation methods that prioritize representation of cultural richness in translation.
ETHICS STATEMENT
The authors hereby declare that they have read and followed the ethical requirements for publication in JURNALARBITRER and confirm that the current work does not involve human subjects, animal Moreover, translation style may vary experiments, or any data collected from social significantly across literary genres.
for example, media platforms.
it is evident that poetry, or any form of creative literary writing, typically requires more creative CREDIT AUTHOR STATEMENT adaptation to preserve aesthetic features, while Wang Qiufen was responsible for writing the for example informative prose can often utilize manuscript and other related tasks.
Mansour Amini more direct translation strategies and procedures.
and Debbita Tan Ai Lin provided suggestions and Some of the common pitfalls in translating cultural guidance for the paper.
items include loss of contextual nuances, cultural ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS misunderstandings, misrepresentation, and overreliance on word-for-word translations that can In writing this article.
AI tools (Gimini and deliver the denotative meaning, but fail to convey Grammarl.
were used to for language editing the complete original intent, connotative meaning and grammar checking of the final version of or sense.
Likewise, idiomatic expressions and the manuscript.
The content, including the ideas, cultural allusions frequently suffer when translated results and conclusions are the exclusive work of word-for-word, leading to a dilution of meaning the authors.
that is critical to the CSIs.
Finally, as machine DECLARATION OF COMPETING translation software struggle to accurately convey INTERESTS cultural nuances and contextual intricacies, the The authors declare that they have no known role of human translators and their awareness of competing financial interests or personal cultural sensitivity remains undeniable where a relationships that could have appeared to influence collaborative approach could enhance both the the work reported in this paper.
accuracy and cultural relevance of translations.
REFERENCES