Intercultural exchange, identity and exoticism in Czech and Slovak translations from Arabic

Khalid El Biltagi

The attitudes towards translated Arabic literature are different and connected with problems of intercultural exchange and the public bias that considered Arabic societies as similar and associated it with various stereotypes. We argue in this paper theoretical framework for analysis of intercultural exchange elements in literary texts translated from Arabic to Czech and Slovak language. Some cultural categories with model examples are discussed while examining the selected translations. The approaches that were applied oscillated between veracity and informative function, reproduction and artistic level. Considering the nature of the text and the similarities between the ideal source-text and target-text reader, an important aspect is to determine how much missing background information should be provided by the translator using these methods. Completely or partial transferring the cultural contents to the target text could only do the competent translator according to the knowledge base of the target text reader about the source culture. The translator is responsible for the right interpretation of the source text and its culture elements. He is responsible as well for educating the target text reader to understand the conventions and cultural references of the remote culture. It has been recognized that in order to preserve specific cultural references certain additions need to be brought to the target text. This implies that formal equivalence should not be sought as this is not justified when considering the expectations of the target text reader.