In:Aproximación a la traducción de referentes culturales en el ámbito audiovisual y literario / Approach to the translation of cultural references in the audiovisual and literary fields
Editado por Pedro Mogorrón Huerta, Lucía Navarro-Brotons y Iván Martínez-Blasco
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 45] 2025
► pp. 90–108
Transposition of a distorted universe
Cultural elements in The night is short, walk on girl by Morimi Tomihiko and its English translation
Published online: 13 May 2025
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.45.06ino
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.45.06ino
Abstract
This paper identifies various types of cultural elements present in the novel The Night is Short,
Walk on Girl by Morimi Tomihiko, and investigates how they have been dealt with in the English translation. The
novel relies heavily on connotative elements in the Japanese language (gokan) which evoke culturally based
associations in the minds of readers. While the translation accurately transmits the main meaning of the terms, many of the
connotations have been lost, and, as a result, the translated text conveys much less information than the source text. The
paper recommends that the translation of connotative cultural elements, which has been insufficiently studied, be the subject
of more in-depth research.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction: Reading experience as an encounter with a distinct universe
- 2.Morimi Tomihiko and Yoru wa mijikashi arukeyo otome
- 3.Culture and the problem of translation — relevant concepts
- 4.Methodology
- 4.1Material
- 4.2Methodology
- 5.Results and analysis
- 5.1Results
- 5.2Analysis
- 5.2.1Type 1: Cultural references based on Newmark (1988)
- 5.2.2Type 2: Intertextuality and its parodies
- 5.2.3Type 3: Betrayal of expected gokan connotations
- 5.2.4Type 4a: Pseudo-classical gokan connotation: Archaic vocabulary
- 5.2.5Type 4b: Pseudo-classical gokan connotation: Archaic verb
and adjective conjugations - 5.2.6Type 4c: Pseudo-classical connotation or “gokan”: Idioms written
in Chinese ideograms - 5.2.7Type 5: Exaggeration
- 6.Considerations and conclusions
Notes References
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Electric versión: [URL]