CHAPTER - I

INTRODUCTION
This is the study on ‘Techniques Used in Translation and Cultural Gaps Found in Meaning
: A Case of novel ‘Muglan’. This section consists of background of the study, statement of
the problem, objectives of this study, research questions, significance of the study,
delimitations of the study, operational definition of the key terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

The term of language is specific to the human species and is characterized by unique features.
It is the most highly developed and most frequently used means of communication, as it
involves transmission of information from a sender to a receiver. In the process of
communication one perceives the clear picture of the whole world through the language. It is
a means, which helps us to think, interpret, perceive and express about the real world. Most
of the activities of the world are carried out through language. Human language is manifested
through speech or writing. Sometimes there arises a hot discussion regarding whether speech
or writing is language. Speech is language, writing is only a means where we use symbols
and communicate. Language has two functions or purposes: specific and general. Language
as a specific purpose is the functional orientation to world language. It is a purposeful
programme designed according to the needs of the users on the basis of speech community.
Functional language functions to meet the needs of almost all academic, technical, non-
technical and official domains of a linguistic community. Technical terms are specialized
lexical items or registers, which are differentiated from the common day to day use of
language by both semantic and grammatical criteria and taken as semantic universal and
having less ambiguity.

Language as general purpose is a programme, which aims to attain general language

proficiency. Every field of knowledge has its own specialized and institutionalized terms. In
other words, a set of specialized users who share the speech community belong to cultural
terms fall in this category. They refer to the terms used in day to day life, in varied culture
and speech communities.

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To presume to define language adequately would be folly. Linguists have been trying for
centuries to define the term. A definition is really a condensed version of a theory, and a
theory is simply or not so simply an extended definition. Yet second language teachers
clearly need to know generally what sort of entity they are dealing with and how the
particular language they are teaching fits into that entity. According to Sapir (1921, p.8)
language is a purely human and instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and
desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols". According to Brown (1994,
p.4)"language is a system of arbitrary, vocal symbols which permit all people in a given
culture to communicate or to interact." According to Wardhaugh (1972) "language is a
system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication" (as cited in Brown, 1994,
p.4). In Chomsky (1957, p.13) "the distinctive quality of human mind that is so far as we
know unique to man.” It is a set of sentences each finite in length constructed out of a finite
set of elements. Though language, people are able to share their feelings, sorrows and
communicate message. There are different languages spoken all over the world, among them
English is most widely used language. English is the lingua franca. It is a medium of
communication. Its users are increasing rapidly day by day. English now become a global
language because of power who speaks it.

Although, thousands of languages are spoken in this world, each language has its own
domination on its certain regions. English is such a language which has dominated almost
every parts of the world. It is used in every field such as education, trade and commerce, law,
mass communication, sports, international affairs etc. Each field needed the translation to
transform the message from one language to another.

(Kumar, 1996) “translation can be defined as the rendering of a text from one language to
another language. It is considered as a bilingual activity in which, the meaning of a piece of
language is translated into another language. Translation is one of the best means of
communication as it is the rendering of message”. In other words, it is the process of
changing speech or writing from one language to another language. Translation is the
replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of an equivalent
text in a second language ( Bell,1991,p.6). In this regard, translation refers to transferring
message from one language to another language. Different terminological variation such as
substitution, paraphrasing, replacement, interpretation, transfer, rendering etc. are also used to

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define translation. It is an effort to express opinions, thoughts and feelings of one language by
possible natural equivalents in to another language. Riccardi (2002,p.5) analyses translation
studies from the viewpoint of interpretation studies and examines the way in which
translation studies scholars have deal with the issue of inter-linguist interpretation.
Traditional and contemporary theories and studies have barely considered interpreting as
well. The main aim of translation is to express opinions, thoughts and feeling expressed in
source language without losing its originality in target language.

Riccardi (2002, p.1) argues that translation was the rhetorical and creative task in ancient
Rome and Greek text. In middle age translation was much more developed. It was not
bounded around Greek and Latin language, other vernacular languages were also translated.
Translation in middle age was religious. By the 1990, translation studies had established itself
as a general discipline by means of which the broad and multi- faceted range of translation
phenomena is investigated (Riccardi 2002,p.2). now, it has its own theories and has
established as a separate subject in academic field.

Translation is the transformation of a text originally in one language into an equivalent text in
different language. Sometimes it is rendering of the information of one language to other
dialect of the same languages. It is a multidimensional activity. Various scholars define
translation differently. Some of them are as follows:

“Translation is the replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent materials in

to another language” ( Catford,1965,p.7). this definition talks about the textual equivalence.
The basic concept and structure should be equivalent in both languages.

Similarly, Newmark ( 1981, p.6) defines translation as a craft consisting in the attempt to
replace a written message and/ or in to another language. Moreover, he considers translation
as ‘craft’ which suggests that a translator require skills to carry over various aspects of one
text into another in different languages. According to Brislin ( 1976), ‘Translation is a general
term referring to transfer of thought and ideas from one language (source) to another (target),
whether the languages have established orthography or don’t have such standardization, or
whether on or both language is based on as with sign language of the deaf (as cited in
Bhattarai,2000,p.2). He focused on three assumptions about translation. He has referred

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translation as oral or written from, standardized or nonstandard from of language and thirdly,
the sign language of the both languages.

However, translation is not strictly limited to language. Communicative and cultural aspects
of the particular language also play key role in this process. Translation involving the
transposition of thoughts expressed in one language by one social group into the appropriate
expression of another group entails a process of cultural decoding, re-coding and encoding.
As cultures are increasingly brought into greater contact with one another, multi-cultural
conditions are brought to bear an ever increasing degree.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Translation is process of rendering the meaning of source text into target text. While
translating the source text in to target text there are gaps between the two languages.

Gaps in translation refer to the absence of any concept available in any sources, i.e. gap
occurs when an item available in one language gets absent in another. It can be both on SL
(Source Language) and TL ( Target Language). Gap in translation is common and natural as
no two languages and the cultures are the same. Gaps occur if concept available in one
language is absent in another. Text is composed up of a language and culture within certain
context.

It means a text is the combination of language, culture and the context. Gaps and the context
in which the text is composed of Gaps are the serious threats in translation as they lead to the
untraslatability or may mislead the meaning. Catford (1965, pp27-28) defines translation as
the replacement of textual material is one language, (source language ) by equivalent textual
material in another language (target language). Through the process of translation, the
product of translation should reflect the original flavour of the source text.

Translation is an activity of enormous importance in the modern world and is a subject of

interest not only to linguistic, professional, amateur translator and language teacher but also
to electronic engineer and methodic. Translation has great importance without it; great works
of great writers cannot survive. For that reason, translation of literary text is necessary in
present day world. While translating a text, the translator has to find out maximum equivalent
terms of SL. Generally, those equivalent terms are translated into sentence and word level.
Most of the translation work can be found translated into word level equivalent terms in the
translated version of novel ‘Muglan’. A translator has to find maximum equivalence cultural

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terms of the ST which is not possible in all the time and situation, so it creats a gap in
translation.

The reason behind selecting the topic “Study on Techniques Used in Translation and Cultural
Gaps Found in Meaning: A Case of ‘Muglan’ is to find out how the techniques adopted in
translation of the cultural terms and observe the gaps in the process of translation. The main
purpose of this study is to find out the techniques used in translation and cultural gaps found
in meaning of the Nepali cultural terms into TL. Due to the social and cultural difference it is
very difficult to find out the similar terminology in translation. Similarly, to find out types of
strategies the translator can use while translating, find out how it can be useful for
pedagogical purpose.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the present study were as follows:

1. To find out the techniques used in translation and cultural gaps found in meaning in
the novel 'Muglan,'

2. To find out the frequency of the different techniques of translation of cultural terms,

3. To find out the gaps in translation of those terms in the novel Muglan, and

4. To suggest some pedagogical implications.

1.4 Research Questions

This research work was carried with an attempt to analyze SL how words are translated TL in
the case of novel Muglan and what techniques were used by the translator to find out the
meaning in target language cultural situation, some were as follows;

(i) What are the techniques used in translation?

(ii) What are the most frequent technique and least frequent techniques found in
translation?

(iii)What are the gaps found in meaning in the translation of the selected novel?

(iv)What are the pedagogical implications of this study?

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1.5 Significance of the Study

The present study is significant as it throws light on the cultural aspect of translated terms
related to the novel Muglan. The findings of the study will be helpful for the prospective
researchers who want to undertake researches in translation. It will also be significant to
English and English medium text-book writers who have to deal with Nepali culture and
teachers who teach English in Nepal. It will also be of great use for those Nepali speakers,
writers and novelist, who use English in cross cultural context. All the people who are
directly or indirectly involved in translation will be benefited from the study.

1.6 Delimitations of the Study

The study was limited to frequency of different techniques used in translation and cultural
gaps found in meaning in word level in this novel.

1. The area of the study as the title suggests are limited to only the translation of cultural
terms of the selected novel.

2. The study is limited to only 150 cultural terms.

3. The study is further limited to only analysis of techniques used in translation and
cultural gaps found in meaning in the novel.

The study was limited to frequency of different techniques used in translation and cultural
gaps found in meaning in the novel.

1.7 Operational Definition of the key Terms

Translation: The process of changing something that is written or spoken in to another

language.

Techniques: The process of translating what can be exactly applied in translation.

Cultural Gaps: The lack of correspondence between ST and TT due to differences in

language, culture and contexts.

Target texts: the language into which the message is render from Source texts.

Context: The circumstances that from the setting for an event, statement or idea such as
formal and informal setting.

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 CHAPTER-II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND CONCEPTUAL

FRAMEWORK
Under this chapter, related theoretical, empirical literature, implication of the reviewed
literature and conceptual framework of the study are included.

2.1 Review of Related Theoretical Literature

This part consists of the overall theory related to translation, translation techniques/
procedures, gaps in translation, cultural categories and introduction of “Muglan”.

2.1.1 An Introduction to Translation Studies

The discipline "Translation" is old but the 'translation studies' is a new one. The term
translation is a bilingual activity, which has been taken as the process of translating the
message or idea of one language into another one. The term has been extended to refer to the
rendering of the message from one dialect, register or style to another dialect, register or
style. Translation is a linguistic activity which comprises the transfer of the meaning of a text
in one language and the production of a new, equivalent text in another language. The text of
the language to be translated is called source language text (SLT) and the text of the language
in which it is translated is called target language text (TLT). Translation is not only a
linguistic activity, it is also a cultural activity and something more. A good translator must
not only be at least a bilingual but also a bicultural. Translation is a cross-cultural
transmission between two speech groups and is judged by the degree of
gratification/acceptance among the audience of the target language.

Translation in general, is an effort to express opinions, thoughts and feelings of language.

This definition clearly focuses on the main aim of translation that is to express opinions,
thoughts and feelings expressed in source language without loosing its originality in the
target language.

"Translation is first a science and then a skill, third an art and fourth a matter of taste"
(Newmark, 1998, p.6). According to Bell (1991), "Translation is the expression in target
language of what has been expressed in the source language, preserving semantic and stylistic
equivalences" (as cited in Phyak, 2005, p.3). Catford (1965, p.20) defines translation as "the
replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another

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language (TL)". Brislin (1976) definition of translation embraces a wide scope. To put it in
his words:

 Translation is the general term referring to the transfer of thoughts and ideas
from one language (source) to another (target), whether the languages are in
written or oral form, whether the languages have established orthographies or
do not have such standardization, or whether one or both languages is based
on sings, as with sign language of the deaf. (as cited in Bhandari, 2007, p.2)

Translation has its own excitement, its own interest. A satisfactory translation is always
possible, but a good translator is never satisfied with it. It can usually be improved. There is
not such thing as a perfect, ideal or correct translation. A translator is always trying to extend
his knowledge and improve his means of expression, he is always pursuing facts and words.
He works on four levels: translation is first a science, which entails the `knowledge and
verification of the facts and the language that describes them-here, what is wrong, mistakes of
truth, can be identified. Secondly, it is a skill, which calls for appropriate language and
acceptable usage. Thirdly, an art, which distinguishes good from undistinguished writing and
is the creative, the intuitive, sometimes the inspired, level of the translation. Lastly, a matter
of taste, where argument cases, preferences are expressed and the variety of meritorious
translation is the reflection of individual differences (Newmark, 1998, p.6).

Translation is both linguistic and cultural activity. The goal of translation is to establish a
relationship of equivalence between the source text and target text, while taking into account
a number of constraints. These constraints include context, the rules of grammar of the source
language, its writing convention, its idioms and cultures. Translation is primarily a
presentation and secondarily a text of its own.

2.1.2 The Importance and Scope of Translation

Translation is very important in language learning. Nowadays, people are experiencing a

growing need for scientific translation, academic translation, machine translation everyday.
The age of translation is practicing to employ the translation extensively as the most powerful
and indispensable vehicle for disseminating knowledge and information. Highlighting the
importance of translation, Butlar (1979) wrote, "English speaking world could have no Greek

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Epics, no Bible, Germany could have no Milton or Wordsworth, Soviet Union no
Shakespeare" without translators (as cited in Bhattarai, 2007, p.11). Thus, we know the world
through translation. The greatest contribution of translation is to impart to man the knowledge
about a varied world of literature which consequently inculcates in him love for contact,
sense of beauty, fraternity, peace and harmony. Translation has primarily been a means of
communication and an instrument of developing a world culture. Literary exchange has
promoted men's understanding of the diversity in language, helped celebrating cultural
contacts among them and consequently led to the promotion of peace. Translation has
inculcated in men some greater values such as knowledge, truth and beauty. The greatest
contribution of Translation is regarded as civilizing cosmopolitanism. It is the age of
translation for the text "Translate or die". It is not simply an act of imitation or substitution; it
also means innovation, innovation in the receiver language.

The main purpose of translation is to create spiritual and devotional unity among the various
dialectal societies and individual in both national and international level. Translation on
national level weaves the various dialectal societies and people into one maxim to promote
firm national unity, where as in international level, translation helps to establish unity among
the people for peace and harmony. Translation crosses and blurs the geographical boundaries
as well as breaks the linguistic barrier and helps to find the base for universal brotherhood
and friendship. Translation has its valuable use in the field of exchanging the thoughts,
opinions, feelings and ideas as a means of communication among the various dialectal
communities. The exchange of thoughts, opinions, feelings and ideas help to promote social
behaviour and tries to form a relation between them. In this way, translation has created
ample of chances to interact between the two or more dialectal people and has made its dream
of uniting human beings in one linguistic maxim come true. There are adequate store of both
new and old written materials almost in every languages of the world.

In the past, the scope of translation was very limited. It gave sense only to the translation of
religious and philosophical text but now a day, it covers wide area. Different people may
have different ideas, thoughts and knowledge. If they belong to different countries and speak
different languages translating process helps to share their knowledge and thoughts. We can
enjoy the vast treasures of knowledge by the literary world which is possible by translation
process, business may not be possible from one country to another country. To spread the
technological development and information, translation process plays the valuable role. The
scope of translation studies is very broad in such a way that we can not limit it. Although we

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can not limit scope of translation studies, some major scopes are: literature, linguistics and
language teaching, culture, religion and history, political and business world and science and
technology, etc.

2.1.3 Techniques/Procedures of Translation

A technique used in translation is what can be exactly applied in translation. It may be one or
different approaches or methods. Whatever may be the case, techniques used in translation
are weapons to the translator to cut through the maze of translation problems. The name
'Translation Studies' has now been adopted to study the production and description of
translation. As a young discipline, it has constantly undergone many changes until recently.
Different scholars have suggested various techniques of translation. Newmark (1998, p.81)
states eleven translation procedures. Although he has stated twelve procedures, no single
procedure is absolutely helpful to produce perfect translation without any gaps. The
procedures proposed by Newmark (1998, p.81) are as follows:

a. Literal Translation
b. Transference/Borrowing
c. Substitution
d. Paraphrasing/Definition
e. Back Translation
f. Claque
g. Blending
h. Couplet
i. Naturalization
j. Addition
k. Deletion.

Language is culture specific. No two cultures are same; it is specific to certain linguistic
periphery. There is no any single procedure which is absolutely helpful to procedure a perfect
translation without any gaps. Various scholars have suggested various techniques and
procedures among them some of the usual ones are presented as follows:

I. Literal Translation

It is a translation procedure, which searches for close correspondence of meaning between

source text and target text. It ranges from word to word level and sentence to sentence. This
translation is SL oriented translation. In this translation, the SL grammatical constructions are

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converted into their nearest TL equivalents. Literal translation is the easiest and simplest form
of translation, it occurs whenever word by word replacement is possible without breaking
rules in the target language. It searches close correspondence of meaning between SCT and
TCT as in;

SL TL

Maidan ground

Syal jackal

Hawa air

Tuwala haze

II. Transference/Borrowing

Transference is the process of transferring a SL word to TL text as a translation procedure. It

includes transliteration which relates to the conversion of different alphabets, e.g. Russian,
Greek, Chinese, etc into English. The words which do not have equivalent terms in TL are
borrowed. For example;

SL TL

Triveni tribeni

Dokos dokos

Namaste dai namaste dai

III. Substitution

This is not a good procedure of translation because in most of the cases, it creates gaps
between SLT and TLT. But in some cases, the translator replaces the cultural elements by
similar words or near equivalent words or generic word/meaning in TL. For example;

ST TL

Gamchha towels

Thekedar contractor

IV. Paraphrasing/Definition
In short, defining means reducing the unknown to the known and the unshared to the shared.
In translation, SL terms are replaced by the short definition or paraphrase. In other words,

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additional or clear information is provided for the SL term. When the translator is unable to
find accurate or near equivalent term in TL, this procedure is adopted. For example;

ST TL

Dokos bamboo waven basket

Maita a married woman’s parental home

Saptami the seventh day of a forthnight of a lunar month

V. Back Translation

Back translation is one of the ways of testing the quality of translation. In this technique one
translates a text from language 'A' into language 'B' then a different translator translates the
'B' text back into 'A' and the resulting 'A' text is compared with the original 'A' text. For
example;

ST TL

Siran siran

VI. Claque

It refers to the creation of new words in receptor language (RL) on the model of donor
language (DL). In this technique, each unit of translation is translated into the equivalent unit
in another language. The morpheme, word, phrase or even a short sentence is the unit of
translation but not idiomatic expression, because it makes no sense. It follows the word order
of the SLT. For example;

SL TL

Bhote keto bhote boy

VII. Blending

In this process, words are coined through borrowing one constituent from the SL and
reproducing or translating the other constituent of the construction. In this process, we can
find the fusion of two words. For example;

SL TL

Satikosarap sati curse

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 VIII. Couplet

The combition of procedures (Borrowing+literal translation) is called couplet. It deals with a

single problem. They are particularly common for cultural words, if transference is combined
with a functional or a cultural equivalent for example;

SL TL

Bidai farewell ceremony

Ghanta temple bell

IX. Naturalization

This procedure succeeds transference and adapts the SL word first to the normal
pronunciation, then to the normal morphology (word forms) of the TL for example;

SL TL

Dipate dipaitey

Rikute recruitment

X. Addition
Addition is necessary procedure in the translation of the implicit elements of culture. It makes
receiver understand SL cultural items. It makes implicit information explicit for example;

SL TL

Gundri straw mat

XI. Deletion

Although deletion is not taken as a procedure in the process of translation, this technique is
also used. Generally, it occurs at syntactic level of translation but items omitted are mostly
lexical expressions. It creates gaps in translation and it is the last resort to the translator for
example;

SL TL

Titepati ----------------------

Gaudan ----------------------

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2.1.4 Gaps in Translation

Gaps in translation refer to the absence of any concept available in any sources, i.e. gap
occurs when an item available in one language gets absent in another. It can be both on SL
and TL. Gap in translation is common and natural as no two languages and the cultures are
the same. Gaps occur if concept available in one language is absent in another. Text is
composed up of a language and culture within certain context ( Awasthi, Bhattarai, Khaniya,
2011).

2.1.4.1 Linguistic Gap

The gaps, because of difference between two languages are called linguistic gaps. Linguistic
gap is a primary type of gap.

I. Graphological Level

Two languages are different in their graphological system. Graphemes available in one
language may be absent in another. For example, 'A' one noodles, 'A' to 'Z' photo studio, etc.

I. Phonological Level
English has 44 phonemes but Nepali has 35 phonemes. Translation of phoneme which is
absent in one language but present in another creates gap. We can see that translating /kh/ is
difficult into English because English has no /kh/ phoneme. Such sound is allophone in
English but phoneme in Nepali.

II. Lexical/Word level

Lexical gaps create serious problems in translation. Some lexical items available in SL may
not be available in TL. For example, Nepali anomatopoetic words like, thacakka and
jhwāmma do not have equivalent terms in English. Similarly, reduplicated words, such as
pānīsānī, bājāgājā, etc. do not have equivalent terms in English.

III. Structural level

There is difference in linguistic structures and the grammar rules between the languages,
which create the gaps in translation. For example, Nepali has three voice systems but English
has only two. Nepali does not have article system but English has.

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2.1.4.2 Extra Linguistic gap

A text is both linguistic and extra-linguistic. Pragmatics plays a crucial role in the formation
of a text. The context is jotted down in linguistic signs and symbols while composing a text.
This is why, pragmatics should also be translated while translating the semantics of the text.
The writer, the setting and other non-linguistic factors are associated while composing a text.
Pragmatic gap occurs when there lies problem of correspondence between context of SL and
TL text. A text contains real world knowledge, text intended knowledge and contextual
knowledge. Extra-linguistic gap occurs while the translator fails to transfer these types of
knowledge in the target language.

2.1.4.3 Cultural Gap

Culture means the set of beliefs, attitudes, customs, social behaviour, habits of members of
the particular society. It is obviously different from another society or cultural group and it
creates gaps or loses meaning in translation. It may have the belief and concept in one culture
but another lacks which is called cultural gap. In translation, one does not translate language
but cultures and one transfers cultures not languages.

Culture is an inseparable part of language. Translation is more cultural and less linguistic
activity. The degree of complexity in translation is determined by how close the two (SL and
TL) cultures are. Cultural gaps exit if there is a vast difference between the SL and TL
culture. Culture includes foods, habits, dress, festival, rituals etc. Cultural gaps make
translation impossible. So, it needs further explanation to make its readers easy to understand
the concept. For example: jatra, dhami jhakri, bratbandha, dashain,tihar, tīj etc. 'dhami
jhakri’can be explained as "traditional witch doctor”.

2.1.5 Cultural Categories

Newmark (1998, p.34) defined culture as “The way of life and its manifestation that is
peculiar to a community that was a particular language as it's means of expansion." The
concept of culture has been the concern of many different disciplines such as philosophy,
sociology, anthropology, literature and cultural studies. There are two basic views of culture:
the humanistic concept of culture and the anthropological concept of culture.

The humanistic concept of culture captures the cultural heritage as a model of refinement, an
exclusive collection of community's masterpieces in literature, fine arts, music, etc. The
anthropological concept of culture refers to overall way of life of a community or society, i.e.

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all those traditional explicit and implicit designs for the behaviour of members of the culture,
culture in the anthropological sense of a group's dominant and learnt sets of habits, as the
totality of its (the groups) non-biological inheritance, social norms and values, etc. Generally,
culture includes way of life of community, system of government, religious belief and values,
geo-graphical region, social class, age, sex, professional activity of the member of society,
etc. Newmark, (1998, p.95) has made five fold classification a. Ecology b. Material culture
c. Social culture d. Organizations, customs, activities, procedures, concepts e. Gestures and
habits. In general, cultural terms can be categorized in five topics as follows:

I. Ecology

It refers to the relation of plants and living creatures to each other and to their environment.
This ecology includes such geographical features as plants, animals, hills, lakes, sea, forests,
winds, rivers, etc.

II. Material Culture

Material cultural category is also known as 'artifacts'. It includes the man made things/terms,
which are used in a particular culture. It includes food, clothes, housing, transport and
communications, ornaments and utensils.

III. Social Culture

It includes the words, which are concerned with the social organization and relation between
people and particular community. The topics, which the social culture includes core work and
leisure, political, administrative and artistic organizations, customs, activities, social
traditions, sculptures, paintings, carving and monuments, social norms and values, historical,
religious facts.

IV. Religious Culture

It includes myth, religious beliefs, names of gods, religious activities, etc. It includes the
concept like swarga, narka, pap, dharma, jatra, deuta, etc. According to Newmark (1988, p.
120) in religious language the proselytizing activities are reflected in many fold translation.
The language of the other world religion tends to be transferred when it becomes a target
language interest, the most common are being naturalized.

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V. Conceptual Terms

Conceptual meaning is also called 'cognitive' and sometimes 'denotive' meaning. Concept is a
part of common system of language shared by members of a speech community. Technical
and non-technical terms are included in this definition.

2.1.6 An Overview of the Novel Muglan

Famous Nepali novel ‘Muglan’ is written by innovative, versatile and genuine literary figure
Prof. Dr. Govinda Raj Bhattarai. He is one of the famous literary figures of Nepali literature.
It is his first novel published when he was 21. The novel records the story of late
1960s.Muglan depicts the core ethos and pathos of Nepali life where home or abroad.
Literally, muglan means’ related to ‘muglan’ historically and geographically. So, the word
has been derived from Muglan period (1526-1857) and it connotes to something outside
Nepal, a foreign or alien land. However, in the course of development, the word has
undergone a complete shift in meaning. When people from Nepal went to Mughlan India and
later British India in search of greener pastures, or agrarian lands or some menial jobs, it was
reffered to as “going to Muglan”. New in modern parlance, the word is not restricted to
‘going to India’ alone. It encompasses broader sense, meaning any ‘promised land’ or a
‘dreamland’ or ‘a Sanghri-La’. So ‘ Muglan’ in a sense, remains more of an abstract
construct, rather than a particular tangible land. In this novel, the protagonists leave home
with an aims of ‘going to Muglan, in search of fulfillment of their dreams of being recruited
in Army, be it British or Indian paltan ( platoon), a dream that an average rural land in Nepal
harbours . But they have no clear idea where this fantasyland ‘Muglan’ exists: it could be
Assam in North East of India, it could be Siliguri in West Bengal or any other part of India or
Malaya (Malaya chhauni cantonment). The characters in this novel ultimately land in Bhutan,
their ‘Muglan’, as road diggers. Muglan is the story of those poor and innocent Nepali youths
who were attracted by agents, human traffickers and sold as labors in very heartless and
hopeless mountains of Bhutan for slavery. They had blasted the huge mountains to construct
the road. The agent behave very badly with those poor people. The writer himself is the semi
character and witnessed everything that happened to them. The novel represents the cultural
situation of three countries; Nepal, India and Bhutan. Generally, it represents the tireless
struggle of poor and innocent Nepalese people.

I found many people who read the novel more than twice. Especially, this novel impresses
and touches the heart of those people whose personal story is related to the story of the novel.

17
It is the real reflection of the aims for ‘Muglan’ of those Nepali youths at that time. Not only
a literate people but also illiterate people who cannot read and those people who have less
time to read the book also get opportunity to know the story of Muglan through HBC/Ujyalo
90 Network radio Bachan Programme. Now, the well- wisher of ‘Muglan’ Lekhnath Sharma
Pathak translated it in to English and made it readable to the all over the world. He spent full
seven years to complete it. The translated version of ‘Muglan’ is best one. If it is viewed from
theoretical perspective, although more than two dozen Nepali novels were translated in to
English, the writer and translator of this novel’s experiences does not match any others.
Theory of translation says that translation shouldn’t be a solo work, he/she should join the
author and receiver and donor and this novel follows the same. It is possible with the help of
Sewa, who cross checked their work twice. The main intention of the writer and translator
behind the English version is to promote Nepali literature, to let the world know their efforts
and achievements. Like the cases of translated version other contemporary novel, present
novel has also problems in world level equivalence. So, I will have an attempt to identify
such problems in this novel.

2.1.7 Review of the Related Literature “Muglan”

Muglan the first novel by Govinda Raj Bhattarai is a heartrending tale of illiterate and naïve
Nepalese youths who arte tricked to work as bondage labors in Bhutan while in search of
better future in India. It is a saga of sorrow owing to lack of education and consciousness;
there is cruelty of the heartless and extreme of the dictatorship of the state and
discrimination suffered by the immigrant Nepalese. Thule and Sutar, the major characters
represent thousands of poor, innocent and illiterate Nepali youths who flee their homes every
year with the dream of better quality of life but their dreams get shattered in the hands of
frauds and tyrants in the alien land. Various well known authors and critics like parijat and
Michael Hutt have spent words to praise the magic the twenty one year old author cast on the
audience in those days and even now. For parijat, Muglan is the second novel I have read in a
single breath, within a decade. Unless the language, style, presentation is good, it becomes
difficult to read any literature”. Muglan, however, is criticized for being too pessimistic in
tone and exaggerating the then existing circumstances. Muglan has been rendered into
English from Nepali Lekhnath Sharma Pathak.( online
bookstore/ramrobook.com>book>muglan (2016)

18
2.2 Review of the Related Empirical Literature

Translation has had a long tradition of practice in Nepal. A significant number of texts have
been translated from English to Nepali and vice-versa. A number of research works have
been carried out in the field of translation. In the department of English education, many
research have been conducted their studies on the challenges faced by the translators. Though
there are several studies to explore gaps in translation, no one has carried out a study on the
techniques used in translation and cultural gaps found in meaning in translation of the
‘Muglan’. So I hope it will be a new exploration in this field.

Adhikari (2003) carried out a research to find out the Techniques and Linguistic Problems of
Translation of Technical Terms Used in Science Textbook for Grade IX. He collected 200
English scientific terms, fifty terms each from physics, chemistry, biology, zoology and
astronomy and their Nepali translation. He found the use of a number of techniques: literal
translation, hybrid formation, paraphrasing, borrowing and loan creation and remarks that
literal translation is great. He concluded that the problem lies in translation, when a target
language text lacks equivalent terms that is presented in the source language text.

Similarly, Singh (2004) carried out a research to find out the Techniques and Gaps in
Translation of Cultural Terms. He collected 200 lexical terms from Nepali and English
versions of Our Social Studies for Grade VIII and classified them into five categories:
ecology, material culture, mythic pattern, social culture and institutional and conceptual
terms. He found a number of techniques of translation, literal translation being the most
widely adopted procedure or translation of the technical and non-technical terms. He found
that there existed a number of gaps in translation in cultural terms due to various reasons:
lack of conceptual accuracy, lack of cultural equivalence, lack of lexical items, etc.

Sharma, B.K. (2004). A linguistic analysis of the strategies employed in the english
translation of a textbook: A case of social studies for grade X. He collected sentence structure
(sentence type, negation, voice and tenses) and concept of transfer of meaning from Source
text and Target text. He found that there is a lack of correspondence in number and types of
sentences between the ST and the TT. There exist a number of structural gaps between Nepali
and English. The translated text in question consists of a higher degree of omission of
concepts and consequent loss of meaning.

19
Likewise, Karki (2006) carried out a research on the 'Techniques and Gaps in Translation of
Cultural Terms: A case of Our Social Studies textbook for Grade VII.' In his research, he
collected 240 words from ecology, material culture, religious culture, social culture and
conceptual terms and analyzed the techniques of translation. He found that eleven different
techniques are used to translate the cultural words: literal translation is the most widely used
in translating ecological and social cultural world. Literal translation and claque are the most
widely used techniques in material culture and deletion is the least used technique in
translation of cultural words. He found that there exist a number of gaps in translation of
cultural terms due to various reasons: lack of conceptual accuracy, lack of cultural
equivalence, lack of lexical items.

Bhandari (2007) carried out a research entitled "A Study on Techniques and Gaps of
Translation of Cultural Terms: A Case of the Novel Basai". He evaluated both versions of the
novel and collected 200 cultural terms. He categorized cultural terms into five categories. He
found that literal translation was the most widely used technique in translating ecology,
conceptual terms, social culture, material culture and religious culture. He also found that
there was a number of gaps in translation of cultural terms due to the various reasons: lack of
conceptual accuracy, lack of cultural equivalence, lack of lexical items, etc.

Pandey (2008) carried out a research entitled "The Techniques of Bridging Cultural Gaps in
Translation: A Case of Dwandwa Ra Yuddhaka Katha". She collected 200 nepali cultural
terms used in the selected novel and their translation. She categorized the cultural terms into
five categories. She found that eleven different techniques are used to translate the cultural
terms, literal translation is the most widely used technique and mistranslation is the least used
technique of cultural terms. She also found gaps of thirty eight pairs due to negligence and
laziness in proper word selection, editing and proof reading and exact equivalent term.

Bhusal (2009) carried out a research entitled “study of the Cultural Translation of the novel
‘Seto Bagh’. The main objective of this study was to identify and categories the Nepali
cultural terms used in the novel ‘Seto Bagh’; and to find out the techniques employed in the
translation of Nepali cultural terms into English version. He used non- random judgment
sampling procedure to collect the cultural words used in the novel ‘Seto Bagh’. Observation
was the tool for data collection. The major finding of this study was the cultural term was
used in novel ‘Seto Bagh’ was found in five different categories in terms of their related

20
meaning features. Similarly, in translating cultural terms of novel, he identified nine different
techniques used.

Adhikari (2011) carried out a research entitled, World Level Equivalence: A Case of
“Sukratka paila”. The main objective of his study was to find out techniques and frequency
employed in translating Nepali cultural words in the English version of the novel. Another
objective was to point out gaps in the translation. He used observation as the tool for data
collection. He used non-random sampling procedure to select the cultural words on the basis
of five cultural categories and selected 200 cultural words from the Nepali version and their
equivalent terms. He counted frequency of those selected cultural terms and gaps caused by
different reasons of this novel. The finding of the study showed that ten different techniques
were employed in translating cultural terms. Literal translation had highest and mistranslation
has lower frequency.

Similarly, Shreshtha (2011) carried out a research entitled, “Techniques of Translating

Cultural Term: A Case of Sani’s Valour’. The main objective of his study was to find out the
techniques employed in translating cultural terms and to find out the frequencies of different
techniques use in translation. To obtain those objectives he used descriptive, exploratory and
analytical procedures along with qualitative data, and observation was used as tools for data
collection. By following judgmental sampling procedure, he collected Nepali cultural terms
used in novel with their equivalent terms in English. The major finding of this study was that
thirteen different techniques had been employed by the translator in translating cultural terms.
Literal translation was frequently used while translating.

Bhatta (2013) conducted a research entitled “The Terminological Equivalence of Translated

Text: Education Act 2028”. The main objective of her study was to identify the
terminological equivalence of translated text: Education Act 2028 and to determine the
degree of equivalence of the terminologies used in the translated technical text. She collected
40 terms from Nepali and its equivalent terms used in English version of Education Act 2028
and made an analysis to find how equivalent was the translation with the original version. Her
finding was that out 40 legal terms, 19 terms lies under optimum degree of translation i.e.
(47.5%),terms lie under near optimum translation (20%) and 7 terms under partial translation,
mistranslation and zero translation respectively.

21
All the research works mentioned above are related to translation and translation evaluation.
Some of them are related to scientific terms, some are literal and some are cultural terms. A
very few researches have been carried out to find out the procedures and gaps in translating
cultural terms of the novel. The present study has analyzed the procedures / techniques used
in translation and cultural gaps found in meaning in translation of the novel.

2.3 Implication of the Review of the study

Literature review is an integral part of the entire process and it makes a valuable contribution to
almost every operation steps. It has its own importance for researcher which helps to bring the
clarity and conclude the findings. After reviewing, some scholars define literature review can be
time consuming, during and frustrating, but it is also rewarding. It helps me differently.

Adhikari (2003) I found the use of a number of techniques: literal translation, hybrid formation,
paraphrasing, borrowing and loan creation and remarks that literal translation.

A research carried out by Singh (2004) will help me to classify the collected cultural terms into
five categories: ecology, material culture, mythic pattern, social culture and institutional and
conceptual terms.

Similarly, Karki (2006) I get cultural terms into five categories. He found that literal translation
was the most widely used technique in translating ecology, conceptual terms, social culture,
material culture and religious culture. And Pandey (2008), she also supports Karki’s categories.

Sharma (2004), I can get ideas of a higher degree of omission of concepts and consequent loss of
meaning.

Similarly, Bhandari (2007) also said number of gaps in translation of cultural terms due to the
various reasons: lack of conceptual accuracy, lack of cultural equivalence, lack of lexical items,
etc.

in this way from the study of Bhusal (2009) I get the ideas to translate the cultural terms. And
from Adhikari (2011) provides me hints about sentence types, addition, deletion, and so on.

More than that, the above mentioned literature review helped me in focusing research problems,
improving methodology and contextualizing my findings.

22
 2.4 Conceptual Framework of this study

Conceptual framework is used in my study is presented below;

Techniques and Cultural Gaps in Translation

Translation

Word Phrase Clause Sentence

Word Level Gaps in Translation

Linguistic Gap Cultural Gap Extralinguistic Gap

Cultural Terms Techniques of Translation

Blending
Literal Translation
Ecology
Borrowing Couplet
Man-made
Substitution
Naturalization
Social Cultural
Paraphrasing Addition

Religious
Back Translation Deletion

Conceptual
Claque

23
 CHAPTER-III

METHODS AND PROCEDURE OF THE STUDY

3.1 Chapter Overview

Under this chapter, design and method of the study, population sample and sampling strategy,
data collection tools and techniques, data collection procedure, and data analysis and
interpretation procedure are included.

3.2 Design and Method of the Study

While carrying out any research work, researchers have to follow a certain research design.
There are different research designs, such as experimental, quasi-experimental, survey,
historical, ethnographic, case study, action research and so on. Among them this research
study based on survey research design. Survey research is most commonly used method of
investigation in educational research. Therefore, survey research design is considered most
reliable to the present study. To define the survey research, various scholars have put forward
their views.

Similarly, according to Cohen and Manion ( 2010, p. 206) Survey is the most commonly
used descriptive method in educational research and may vary in scope from large scale
studies carried out by a single researcher. The purpose of survey research generally to obtain
a snap-shot of condition, attitudes and or events at a single point of time (as cited in Nunan,
1992, p.140).

Similarly, the main purpose of a survey is to obtain as nap-shot of conditions, attitudes and or
events at a single point of time. Survey is always done in the natural setting. So, I have
selected this research design because it provided me an authentic and reliable data to
complete my research work. It helped me to find out “Techniques used in translation and
Cultural gaps found in meaning : A Case of novel ‘Muglan’.

3.3 Population, Sample and Sampling Strategy

The population of this study consisted all the cultural terms used in Nepali and English
version of ‘Muglan’. One hundred and fifty words selected as the sample of this study.
Sample of this study selected from the novel ‘Muglan’. In this study to fulfill the objectives
of the study I used purposive non- random judgmental sampling procedure.

24
3.4 Study Areas/field

English translated novel of Nepali novel ‘Muglan’ is research area of this study. Techniques
used in translation and cultural gaps found in meaning in translated novel ‘Muglan’ are the
field of this study.

3.5 Data Collection Tools and Techniques

Both Nepali and English version of Novel “Muglan” were read and re-read to get required
information. The tool for data collection was observation checklist by the help of the tool the
required cultural terms from both Nepali and their equivalence terms in English version were
collected.

3.6 Data Collection Procedures

The following stepwise methodological procedures were used to collect the required data.

 I collected the Nepali (original text) and English (translated text) of the novel
“Muglan”.

 I went through the both texts Nepali and English version again and again.

 Then, I underlined the cultural words in both Nepali and English version of the novel
“Muglan”.

 I made a list of 200 terms from Nepali version and their equivalent terms used in the
English version.

 And out of 200 terms I selected 150 terms by using non- random purposive sampling
procedure.

 I listed all 150 cultural terms from Nepali and its equivalent terms used in English
version of Muglan.

 I translated each equivalent SL cultural terms into Roman script.

 Then I categorized those cultural words into five different categories. They were
ecology, material culture, religious culture, social culture, and conceptual terms.

 I counted the frequency of the selected cultural words.

 Then I found out the techniques used in translation and cultural gaps found in
meaning.

25
3.7 Data Analysis and Interpretation Procedures

This research study was descriptive as well as qualitative in nature. So, the data were
analyzed and interpreted descriptively and qualitatively. For statistical data simple statistical
tools as percentage and frequency count were used in the study for systematic presentation.
First, I noted cultural term in source text then the equivalent terms in target text were found.
After that, I noted down the translated words of each cultural term from original and their
equivalent term are given according to their meaning. Then I analyzed the strategies/
techniques used in translation and cultural gaps found in meaning.

26
 CHAPTER-IV

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS

In this chapter, I have presented the analysis and interpretation of data which were collected
from the two versions of the novel. The raw data were analyzed and interpreted qualitatively.
This section deals with the analysis and interpretation of the data obtained from original and
translated versions i.e. English and Nepali versions of the novel ‘Muglan’, which was written
by Dr. Govinda Raj Bhattarai and translated by Mr. Lekhnath Pathak and published by
Oriental Publication, Kathamandu. The collected data were presented, analyzed and
interpreted under the following headings:

4.1 Analysis of the data and Interpretation of the Results

To carry out the study, I at first, collected the cultural terms. I classified the cultural terms in
to five categories also studied the techniques and investigated the gaps which are presented in
the following section.

4.1.1 Identification and Classification of the Cultural Terms

Cultural terms used in any languages are categorized to what types they are or particular
features they have in commons. Newmark (1981.p.95) has classified the culturally specific
terms of the language into five distinctive types, such as ecology, materials cultural, social
cultural organization, conceptual terms and gesture. I used Newmark’s idea in the
classification of the cultural terms. The cultural classification of the novel ‘Muglan’ are as
follows:

4.1.1.1 Ecology
Ecology contains the geographical features such as plants, lakes, hills, rivers, winds, seas,
forest etc. The ecological terms which were used in its and its translated terms TT are as
follows;

SL Terms TL Terms

Chiyabagan tea garden

Nadi river

Pahad hills

Sal sal tree

Hiu snow

Nagbeli pahara serpentine hills

Ghar goth village

27
Bhir ra aakas dizzy cliffs and sky

Jangal forest

Bhalu bear

Kera ko bot banana tree

Badar monkey

Ghoda horse

Khachar mule

Laliguras rhododendron

Himal himal

Malingo malingo

Salah locusts

Goth cattle/sheds

Besi foothills

Patal groves

Basako phohora fountain

Danda ghar bhinaju danda ghar bhinaju

Kamakshya kamakshya

Muglan muglan

Begmaya ...............

Dhiska earthen mounds

Triveni triveni

Siran top

Puchar bottom

Himal himal

Bhanjyan .................

Pani chepera water in it solver of bamboo

Pahad pahad

28
Alu kharka alu kharka

Khoselo husk leaf

Ranban entire hills

Bhanjyang bhanjyang

Nainital nainital

Kuwa well

Tusaro frost

Banso banso

Chilaune chilaune

Basghari bamboo grave

Him rasi metal of snow

From the observation, above mentioned forty five cultural terms were found to be categorized
under ecological cultural category.

4.1.1.2 Material culture/Artifact

Material culture/artifice are those objectives which are made by human beings and used in a
particular culture. It contains foods, clothes, houses, towns, transportation, communication,
ornaments, and utensils and so on. The material cultural/artifact found in novel ‘Muglan’ and
its translated version are as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Doko basket of bamboo

Namlo namlo

Dhakar basket of bamboo

Trak truck

Jip jeep

Tin tin

Bodi bodi

Gamchha gamchha

Tren train

29
Madal madal

Tebal table

Tyaksi taxi

Riksa rickshaw

Makaiko chamalra phalatma rosted grains of corns

Satu satu

Saikal cycle

Bhuneratheki bhune and theki

Ulka awful

Ganji vest

Dhoti dhotis

Topi topi

Hariyo much .............

Khadi handwaven coarse dress

Daura daura

Thute stubbed

Surwal surwal

Chamal grains of rice

Chay garam chay garam

Dhindo – roti dhindo- roti

Manas manas

Daura daura

Jhumro ragged

Turai dal watery soup

Pote bead

Bageda bageda

Karai utensils

30
Dhungra hollows

Mad starch

Madal madal

Maita maita

Patuka belt

Goth shed

Tolunga tolunga

Above list represents that forty three material cultural/ artifacts were found in the translated
version of novel ‘muglan’.

4.1.1.3 Religious Culture

It includes myths, religious believes, name of the gods and goddess, religious activities etc.
are given below:

SL Terms TL Terms

Daibar driver

Moktan monk

Naumati baja naumati baja

Pap sin

Dharma heaven

Maiti maiti

Yogya kunda yogya kunda

Jatbhata cast

Damai tailor

Musalman muslim

Bhinaju brother in law

Thekedar contractor

Bihe marriage

Bhote keto vote boy

Panditji priest

31
Paran take out life

Tuppi tuppi

Dashain dashain

Tihar tihar

Saptami saptami

Dhaminajhakri dhamijhakri

Dohoro ................

Tilanjali .................

Bajraghat deathly blow

Deha body

Amrit elixir

Aputali issueless

Tika tika

Dharma dharma

Punditjit punditji

Vedas vedas

Chandi chandi

Rudri rudri

Pooja pooja

Goda dhunu drink from feet

Siloke chanters

Mantraharu mantras

Kamakshya kamakshya

Bibhas assailant

Diwangat departed

Las death body

Nachatra constellation

32
Purnimako rat fool moon

Bhajan devotional song

Balachaturdashi ko jatra jatra of balachaturdashi

Above list shows that forty five religious cultural terms were used in both of the versions of
novel “Muglan”.

4.1.1.4 Social Culture and Organization

Those terms which are related to the social organization and relations between people and
particular community work and leisure, customs, social traditions, paintings, social norms
and values and historical facts are kept under this category. The following social culture
based terms are included in the novel “Muglan”.

SL Terms TL Terms

Tusukk squatted

Kutura ..............

Chipreaakha dirty eyes

Thaccai aquatted

Paletikase cross legged

Sahep sahep

Ratopiro flushed with perspiration

Pakki bat pakki bat

Nimek waga

Gundri straw mat

Bhar mortgage

Chhetri chhetri

Bahun bahun

Ram name of god

Dai elder brother

Jyotish astrologer

Rudri religious scriptures

33
 Thuli eldest daughter

Damai damai

Dhido dhindo

Dhoko dokos

Lipejsto mapped

Bhote bhote

Kulli coolies

Gadho gadho

Dukpa dukpa

Dukpeni dukpa girl

Bahidar foreman

Had ghotera suck drop of blood

Galera pani gunu ........................

Dhiki logs

Dhyangro drums

Choya peels of bamboo

Pada bacha launu milked the cows

Ageno ...................

Naumati naumati

The above list shows that thirty seven different social cultural and organizational terms were
used in the novel ‘muglan’ and its translated version.

4.1.1.5 Conceptual Terms

Conceptual terms are non- concrete or abstract terms whose concept can be given only by
definition. It is a part of a common system of language shared by the member of a society.
The conceptual terms found in that very novel are as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Jhilimili sights

Aapat ma pare bewildered

34
Hurukk .................

Swpanwat dreamlike

Jhlyas startle

Chui squeaking sound

Mlyakmuluk turning their eyes

Khangrang panicked

chhid hole

Charbis four twenty

Lukyayo wagged

Luruluru meekly

Talpal sparkied

Pwo pwo snoring

Thachhaka .............

Batule ovel

Mluwa mild

Hururu dashed

Jhina slight

Luire lanky

Cyaera peeping

Ha ho hull ablloo

Aang tandai stretching

Chuiya .............

Jhyamma ...............

Phui- phui ...............

Tuplukka ..................

Dhurine rested

Jurukki .................

35
Musla logs

Ams ounce

Above list represents the thirty one conceptual terms that were selected and translated into the
translated version of novel ‘muglan’ under the conceptual category.

4.1.2 Techniques used in Translation of Cultural Terms

A technique is procedure to complete the task. In other words, it is a skill or ability to
perform a task. Techniques of translation include those ways or procedures which are
employed by the translator while rendering the SL texts into TL texts. It was found that the
translator used ten different techniques in the process of translation. The main techniques
used in the translation are presented below:

a) Literal translation

b) Borrowing/transference

c) Substitution

d) Paraphrasing/Definition

e) Back Translation

f) Claque

g) Blending

h) Naturalization

i) Addition

j) Deletion

The techniques found in the translation of the novel “Muglan” are analyzed and interpreted
discretely in the following sub headings:

4.1.2.1 Techniques used in Translation of Ecological Terms

The techniques which were employed in the translation of ecological terms in the very novel
are described in brief in following manner with examples.

a) Use of Literal Translation as Technique

Literal translation is a procedure which looks for a close correspondence between the
meanings of SL and TL words and words groups. The terms in ecology translated through
literal translation are presented belows:

36
SL terms TL Terms

Salah locusts

Siran top

Puchar bottom

Dhiska earthen mounds

Tusaro frost

It shows that the translator has used literal translation as the techniques to translate the above
culture terms. It was found that, only five cultural terms were translated by using literal
translation technique of ecological term

b) Use of Borrowing as Techniques

SL Terms are borrowed into TL through translation process in this translation. The following
words were found to be translated by using this technique.

SL Terms TL Terms

Parabateboli parbateboli

Dada gharbhinaju dada gharbhinaju

Kamakshya kamakshya

Muglan muglan

Triveni triveni

Himal himal

Alukharka alukharka

Bhanjyan bhanjyan

` Nainital nainital

Chilaune chilaune

It was found that the translator has borrowed the above cultural terms as the technique of
translation ecological terms. The ten cultural terms were borrowed by the translator to
translate the novel ‘Muglan’.

37
c) Use of Substitution as Technique
In this SL Terms are substituted by similar or near equivalent word meaning in TL. The
ecological terms translated through the techniques substitution is as follow:

SL Terms TL Terms

Besi foothill

It was found that the translator substituted the cultural term ‘besi’ to ‘foothill’ in the process
of translation of ecological terms.

d) Use of Paraphrasing/ Definition as Technique

In this procedure, some words are added in the translated TL text. The terms in ecology
translated through additions are presented below:

SL Terms TL Terms

Panichepera water in it silver bamboo

Himrasi metal of snow

It was found that only two words ‘pani chepera’ and ‘himrasi’ were elaborated by the
translator in ecological cultural terms.

e) Use of Back Translation as technique

In back translation is one of the ways of testing the quality of translation. In this technique
one translates a text from language ‘A’ into language ‘B’ then a different translator translates
the ‘B’ text back into ‘A’ and the resulting ‘A’ text is compared with the original ‘A’ text are
as follow;

SL Terms TL Terms

Daiver driver

Rikute ricrutment

It was found that above mentioned terms were back translation by the translator while
translating ecological terms.

f) Use of Claque as Technique

The term which was translated through claque under ecological cultural is asfollows:

SL Term TL Term

Khoselo husk leaf

38
It was found that only one word i.e. ‘khoselo’ was translated by using the technique claque by
the translator to translate ecological cultural terms.

g) Use of Blending as Technique

Part of SL word is combined with a part of TL word in this technique. The term in
ecology translated through blending is as follow:

SL Term TL Term

Basghari bamboo grave

It was found that the translator has blending as the technique to translate the ecological
cultural term ‘Basghari’.

h) Use of Couplet as Technique

In this procedure, some words are borrowed in the translation TL text. The term in
ecology translated through borrowing are as follow:

SL Term TL Term

Malingo malingo

Triveni triveni

It was found that the translator has borrowed + literal translated the above cultural terms as
the techniques of translation ecological terms in this novel ‘Muglan.’

i) Use of Naturalization as Technique

In this procedure, the SL term which was naturalized while translating into TL under the
ecology is as following:

SL Terms TL Terms

Dipate dipaitey

Jip jeep

It was found that the translator has change in only syntactic level the above cultural terms as
techniques of translation ecological terms.

j) Use of Addition as Technique

In the addition the SL term which was added while translating into TL term under the
ecology is as following:

39
 SL Terms TL Terms

Dhisko earthen mounds

Panichepra water in it solver of bamboo

Himrasi metal of snow

They were found that the ecological term as addition technique in the novel ‘Muglan’.

e) Use of Deletion as Technique

The SL term which was deleted while translating into TL under the ecology is as following:

SL Terms TL Terms

Begmaya ...................

It was found that the ecological cultural term ‘begmaya’ was deleted in the process of
translation the novel Muglan.

The frequency of the use of techniques in the translation of cultural ecological terms are
presented below:

Table 1

Frequency of Techniques in Translation of Ecological Cultural Terms

S.N. Techniques No. Of Terms Percentage (%)

1. Literal translation 5 16.67

2. Borrowing 10 33.33
3. Substation 1 3.33
4. Definition 2 6.67
5 Back translation 2 6.67
6. Claque 1 3.33
7. Blending 1 3.33
8. Couplet 2 6.67
9. Naturalization 2 6.67
10. Addition 3 10
11. Deletion 1 3.33

In the above table, I have presented the data based in the frequency techniques used in the
translation of ecological cultural terms. There were thirty three terms which were taken as
study data within ecology category. Eleven different techniques have been employed in the
translated version of the novel ‘Muglan’. Among those techniques, borrowing was the most
frequently used which was 33.33% that was followed by literal translation 16.67%, addition

40
translation was 10%. paraphresing/definition, couplet, naturalization and back translation
included same percentage 6.67%. Similarly, substitution, claque, blending and deletion
consisted same percentage 3.33% which is the lowest percentage.

4.1.2.2 Techniques used in Translation of Man-made cultural Terms

The techniques used in translation of man-made cultural terms refer to the things which are
made by human beings and famous within a particular. This category includes the following
terms:

a) Use of Literal Translation as Technique

The terms in man-made cultural terms translated through literal translation are as follows:

Terms TL Terms

Makai kochamalraphalotma rosted grains of corns

Ganji vest

Khadi handwaven coarse dress

Thute stubbed

Chamal grain of rice

Jhumro ragged

Karai utensils

Dhungra hollows

Mad starch

Goth shed

It shows that the translator has used literal translation as technique to translate above
mentioned man made cultural terms. Ten cultural terms were found to be translated by literal
translation.

b) Use of Borrowing as Technique

The terms which were translated through borrowing under man-made culture are as follow:

SL Terms TL Terms

Satu satu

41
 Dhakar dhakar

Bhuneratheki bhune and theki

Dhoti dhoti

Topi topi

Daura daura

Surwal surwal

Dhindo- roti dhido- roti

Manas manas

Chaya garam chaygaram

Bagda bageda

Maita maita

Tolunga tolunga

Above list represents that, the translator has borrowed the thirteen cultural terms to translate
man made cultural terms.

c) Use of Substitution as Technique

The terms which were translated through substitution of man- made culture are as follow:

SL Terms TL Terms

Ulks awaful

Pote bead

It shows that, only two man- made cultural terms were substituted by the translator to
translate the novel Muglan.

d) Use of Paraphrasing/Definition as Technique

The term which was elaborated while translating man-made cultural terms is as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Turai dal watery soup

42
It shows that only one mad- made cultural term i.e. ‘Turai dal’ was elaborated in the
translation.

e) Use of Claque as Technique

The term which was translated through claque under man- made cultural is as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Basako dhungrama bamboo pipe

It shows that only one cultural term was translated by using claque technique.

f) Use of Back Translation as Technique

The following term was back translation under man- made cultural.

SL Terms TL Terms

Dipaite department

It was found that only one man- made cultural term i.e. ‘dipaite’ was back translation in the
translated version novel Muglan.

g) Use of Deletion as Technique

The terms which were deleted of man-made cultural terms are as follow:

SL Terms TL Terms

Hariyomukh ................

Dhido ..................

It shows that, two man-made cultural terms were deleted by the translator to translate the
novel Muglan.

The frequencies of the use of techniques in the translation of man- made cultural terms are
presented in the table below:

43
 Table 2

Frequencies of Techniques in Translation of Man-made Cultural terms

S.N. Techniques No. of Terms Percentage

1 Literal Translation 10 33.33

2 Borrowing 13 43.33

3 Substitution 2 6.67

4 Deletion 2 6.67

5 Paraphrasing 1 3.33

6 Claque 1 3.33

7 Back Translation 1 3.33

Above table represents that thirty terms were found as the man made cultural terms used
in the novel. In the process of translation of these terms, seven different techniques were
employed. In total frequency, borrowing (43.33%) was the most widely used and literal
translation (33.33%) was the second most widely used technique. In the same way,
substitution and deletion (6.67%) are in middle position and paraphrasing, claque and
back translation had the same percentage (3.33%) and same position, i.e. last.

4.1.2.3 Techniques Used in translation of Social Cultural Term

Social cultural terms includes social custom, political, administrative and artistic
organizations, traditions, social norms and values, paintings, carvings and monuments,
historical facts, etc. Those techniques which were employed in translation of social cultural
term in the novel are described in brief here:

a) Use of Literal Translation as technique

The terms which were translated through literal translation in social culture are as follow:

SL terms TL Terms

Bahidar foreman

Lipejasto mapped

Bhar mortgage

Nimek wage

44
 Tusukk squatted

Paletikasera cross legged

It shows that translator has used literal translation as the technique to translate the above
social cultural terms. It was found that only six social cultural terms were translated by using
literal translation.

b) Use of Borrowing/ Back Translation as Technique

The terms which were translated through borrowing/back translation in social culture are
as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Bhote bhote

Sahep sahep

Pakkibat pakkibat

Chhetri chhetri

Bahun bahun

Damai damai

Dhoko dokos

Kulli coolies

Gadho gadho

Dukpa dukpa

Naumati naumati

It shows that translator has used borrowing as the technique to translate the above social
cultural terms. It was found that only social cultural terms were translated by using borrowing
translation.

c) Use of Deletion as Technique

The terms which were deleted in social cultural are as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Kutura ...............

45
 Galerapanihunu ................

Ageno ................

It was found that three social cultural terms were deleted in translation on novel Muglan.

d) Use of Paraphrasing/definition as Technique

The terms which were paraphrased/ defined in social culture are as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Ratopiro flushed with perspiration

Pada bacha launu milked the caws

It was found that only two social cultural terms were defined in the translated version of the
novel ‘Muglan'.

e) Use of Claque as technique

The term in social cultural translated through claque is as follow:

SL Terms TL Terms

Dukpeni dukpa girl

It shows that one social cultural term i.e. ‘Dukpeni’ was elaborated in the translated version
of the novel ‘Muglan’.

f) Use of Couplet as technique

The term which were translated through couplet translation in social cultural are as follow:

SL Terms TL Terms

Chepreaakha dirty eyes

Choya peel of bamboo

Dhyangro drums

Gundri straw mat

It shows that the translator has used couplet translation as the technique to translate the above
social cultural terms. It was found that only four terms were translated as couplet translation.

46
 g) Use of Naturalization as technique

Following terms were naturalization in socio cultural terms;

SL Terms TL Terms

Pada bachha launu milked the cows

Dhiki logs

Thakai squatted

The above words show that they were naturalization while translating social cultural terms.

The frequency and percentage of the use of the techniques in the translation of social cultural
terms are given in the following table.

47
 Table 3

Frequencies of Techniques in Translation of Social Cultural Terms

S.N Techniques No. of Terms Percentage (%)

1 Literal 6 20

2 Borrowing 11 36.67

3 Deletion 3 10

4 Paraphrasing 2 6.67

5 Claque 1 3.33

6 Couplet 4 13.33

7 Naturalization 3 10

Above table shows the frequency of techniques used in translation of social cultural terms.
There were altogether thirty social cultural terms taken for the study. In the process of
translation of these terms eight different techniques were employed. In this category,
borrowing (36.67%) was the most widely used techniques. Among the other, literal
translation is second position (20%). Couplet translation is (13.33%), both deletion and
naturalization are (10%). Paraphrasing is (6.67%) and Claque (3.33%) is the last position.

4.1.2.4 Techniques used in the Translation of Religious Cultural terms

Religious culture refers to myths, beliefs, name of gods and goddess, different types of
religious activities, religious places etc. I also observed the techniques which were used to
translate the religious culture in the novel were described in brief as follows with examples:

48
a) Use of Literal Translation as technique
The terms which were translated through literal translation under religious culture are as
follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Bhajan devotional song

Las dead body

Nachhetra constellation

Purnima fool moon

Amrit elixir

Deha body

Silok chant

Diwangat departed

It shows that translator has used literal translation as the technique to translate the above
religious cultural terms. It was found that only eight religious cultural terms were translated
by using literal translation.

b) Use of the Borrowing as Technique

The terms which were translated through borrowing in religious cultural are as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Tuppi tuppi Dashain

dashain

Saptami saptami

Dashami dashami

Tihar tihar

Tika tika

Dharma dharma

Punditji punditji

Vedas Vedas

49
 Chandi chandi

Rudri rudri

Pooja pooja

Kamakshya kamakshya

Mantraharu mantraharu

It shows that translator has used the borrowing as the technique to translate the above
religious cultural terms. It was found that only fourteen religious cultural terms were
translated by using literal translation.

c) Use of Substitution as Technique

The term which was translated through substitution under religious cultural is as follows:

SL Terms TLTerms

Dhami na jhakri dhami jhakri

It was found that only one cultural term i.e. ‘Dhami na Jhakri’ was substituted by the term
‘Dhami jhakri’ in the translation.

d) Use of Deletion as Technique

The terms which were deleted in the SL text under religious cultural as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Dohoro ...............

Tilanjali ................

It was found that two religious cultural terms were deleted in translation on novel Muglan.

e) Use of Paraphrasing as Technique

The terms which were translated through elaboration under religious cultural are as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Parn take out lives

Bjrghat deathly blow

Bhajan devotional song

50
It was found that only three religious cultural terms were elaborated in the translation of
novel ‘Muglan'.

f) Use of Couplet Translation as Technique

The term which was translated through couplet translation in religious cultural is as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Aputali issueless

It was found that only one religious cultural term was translated by using couplet translation
technique in the novel ‘Muglan'

The frequency and percentage of use of the techniques to the translation of religious cultural
term are given in the table below:

Table 4

Frequencies of Techniques in Translation of Religious Culture Terms

S.N. Techniques No. of Terms Percentage

1 Literal Translation 9 30

2 Borrowing 14 46.67

3 Substitution 1 3.33

4 Deletion 2 6.67

5 Paraphrasing 3 10

6 Couplet translation 1 3.33

The table above presents the frequencies of techniques in translation of religious cultural
terms. Under the category, thirty terms were selected as the study data. The translator had
adopted nine techniques to translate these terms. In total occurrences of the techniques;
borrowing (46.67%) was the most frequently used technique. Then, literal translation (30%)
was the second highest frequency, paraphrasing (10%) the middle position and deletion with
(6.66%) was used. In the final position, substitution and couplet translation are used with
(3.33%).

4.1.2.5 Techniques Used in Translation of Conceptual Terns

It is part of a common system of language shared by the members of a society. Palmer

specified conceptual terms into abstract or non-concrete terms whose concept can be given

51
only by definition. Those techniques which were employed in translation of conceptual terms
in the novel are described in brief here:

a) Use of Literal Translation as Techniques

The terms which were translated through literal translation in social culture are as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Jhilimili sights

Chui squeaking sound

Khngrang panicked

Chid hole

Luruluru meekly

Pwopwo snoring

Jhina slight

Luire lanky

Aantandai stretching

Ams ounce

It shows that translator has used literal translation as the technique to translate the above
conceptual cultural terms. It was found that only ten conceptual cultural terms were translated
by using literal translation.

b) Use of Substitution as Technique

The terms which were translated through paraphrasing in conceptual category are as follows;

SL Terms TL Terms

Maluwa mild

Hururu dashed

It was found that only two cultural terms were substituted by the translator in the translation
of the novel Muglan.

52
c) Use of Paraphrasing as Technique

The terms which were translated through paraphrasing in conceptual category are as follows;

SL Terms TL Terms

Malyak muluk turning their eyes

Chilyaidela pick your pocket

Chui dwak squeaking sound

It shows that only two conceptual cultural terms were paraphrased in the translated version of
the novel Muglan.

d) Use of Deletion as Technique

The terms which were deleted while translating conceptual category are as follow:

SL Terms TL Terms

Hurukk ..............

Thachhaka ................

Chuiya ................

Jhyamma ...............

Phui-phui ................

Tuplukka .................

Jurukki .................

The above words show that the use of deletion as the technique of translation. It was found
that seven conceptual cultural terms were deleted in the translated version of the novel
Muglan.

e) Use of Blending as Technique

The terms which were translated through sense translation in conceptual categories are as
follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Charbis four twenty

53
It shows that only one conceptual cultural term i.e. ‘Charbis’ was paraphrased in the
translation of novel Muglan.

g) Use of Couplet Translation as Technique

The terms which were translated through couplet translation in conceptual catagories are as
follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Aapat ma pare bewildered

Talpal sparkkled

Lurkyayo wagged

Batule ovel

Maluwa mild

It shows the translator has used couplet translation as the technique to translate the above
conceptual cultural terms. It was found that only five conceptual cultural terms were
translated by using couplet translation.

h) Use of Back Translation as Technique

The term which is back translation was translated in conceptual category are as follows:

SL Terms TL Terms

Rikute recruitment

Jip jeep

It shows that translator has back translated while translating conceptual terms. It was found
that only two conceptual cultural terms were translated.

The frequency and percentage of use of the techniques to the translation of conceptual
cultural terms are given in the following table:

54
 Table No. 5

Frequencies of Techniques Used in Translation of Conceptual Terms

S.N. Techniques No. of Terms Percentage

1 Literal Translation 10 33.33

2 Substitution 2 6.67

3 Paraphrasing 3 10

4 Deletion 7 23.33

5 Blending 1 3.33

6 Couplet Translation 5 16.67

7 Back Translation 2 6.67

In the table above I have presented the frequencies rate of the techniques used in translation
of conceptual terms. Thirty terms were taken as the study dada within the category of
conceptual terms. Altogether eight techniques were used in this category of conceptual terms.
Altogether eight techniques were used in this category. Out of eight techniques; literal
translation (33.33%) was the mostly used blending (3.33%) were the least used techniques.
And other techniques which were employed in the middle position while translating are
substitution, back translation and paraphrasing (6.67%), paraphrasing (10%) and deletion
(23.33%) under conceptual category.

4.1.2.6 The Overall Analysis of the Techniques Used in Translation of

cultural Terms

The overall analysis of the techniques used in translation and cultural gaps found in meaning
are used in the novel is presented in the table below:

55
 Table 6

Overall Analysis of the Techniques Used in Translation of Cultural

Social Religious
Categories Ecology Man Made Culture Culture Conceptual Total
S.N. Techniques Free % Free % Free % Free % Free % Free %
1 Literal 5 16.67 10 33.33 6 20 9 30 10 33.33 8 26.67
2 Substitution 1 3.33 2 6.67 0 0 1 3.33 2 6.67 1.2 4.00
3 Couplet 2 6.67 0 0.00 4 13.33 1 3.33 5 16.67 2.4 8.00
4 Borrowing 10 33.33 13 43.33 11 36.67 14 46.67 0 0.00 9.6 32.00
5 Paraphrasing 2 6.67 1 3.33 2 6.67 3 10 3 10 2.2 7.33
6 Deletion 1 3.33 2 6.67 3 10 2 6.67 7 23.33 3 10.00
7 Blending 1 3.33 0 0.00 0 0 0 0.00 1 3.33 0.4 1.33
8 Claque 1 3.33 1 3.33 1 3.33 0 0.00 0 0.00 0.6 2.00
9 Addition 3 10 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0.6 2.00
10 Back 2 6.67 1 3.33 0 0.00 0 0.00 2 6.67 1 3.33
11 Naturalization 2 6.67 0 0.00 3 10 0 0.00 0 0.00 1 3.33
Total 30 100 30 100 30 100 30 100 30 100 30 100

The above table shows that the ten different techniques were employed in translating one
hundred and fifty cultural terms found in the novel “Muglan". Among those ten different
techniques, borrowing was the most frequently used and substitution was the second widely
used technique. Then other techniques that followed in descending order are deletion,
addition and back translation. Then other remaining techniques were blending, deletion,
claque and mistranslation. In total hierarchical order, techniques were graded as; borrowing,
literal translation, deletion, couplet, definition/paraphrasing, substitution, back, naturalization,
claque, addition and blending translation, in this study, borrowing, literal translation, have
high frequency and addition, claque and blending translation have low frequency in the
translation procedure.

4.1.3 Analyzing of the Cultural Gaps Found in Meaning in Translation

Simply saying, gaps refer to absence of concept. In other words, when there is no
correspondence between source of meaning resulting from the SLT and TLT. Gaps can be
both on source language and target language. However, some cultural difference and gaps are
the natural phenomena of all the living language. I studied only cultural gaps in the novel
‘Muglan'. The cultural gaps found in the translated version of the novel ‘Muglan’ are
presented in the following section:

56
 Pair -1

SL Term: Pote

TL Term: Bead

The source term ‘pote’ is a garland of marriage woman marriage which is given by her
husband in the day of marriage and which have a significant role in their marriage life but the
term ‘bead’ refers to a little perforated ball to be string on a thread. Thus it couldn’t give
exact sense of source term.

Pair – 2

SL Term : Ulka

TL Term : Awful

The target term ‘awful’ refers oppressing with fear or horror appalling, terrible whereas
‘ulka’ gives the meaning of unburden problems created by naughty works. So, it creates gap
in translation.

Pair – 3

SL Term : Dhungro

TL Term : Bamboo pipe

The source term ‘basko dhungro’ refers to a substance made by bamboo, which has hole
inside and below of it is closed. Generally, use to carry on water on it whereas ‘bamboo pipe’
refers to a long tube or hollow body of bamboo use as a conductor of water.

Pair – 4

SL Term : Cholo

TL Term : Blouse

The target term ‘blouse’ doesn’t give exact meaning of source term ‘cholo’ which refers to a
traditional Nepali blouse which is specially used by female.

57
 Pair – 5

SL Term : Dhyangro

TL Term : Drum

A source term ‘ dhyangro’ is instrument which seems as like drum with handle and both parts
of its covers by skin. It is beaten by special kind of thin stick generally played on special
religious occasion of rai, magar, limbu, gurung, tamang and so on by Dhami and Jhakri. But,
‘drum’ is the common instrument for marketing time in material music or one of the pair of
tympani an orchestra or cavalry band. Similarly, dhyangro is singular, it represents only one
dhyangro but drum refers more than one drums so, it creates gaps the meaning in target term.

Pair -6

SL Term: Dhiki

TL Term: Logs

‘Dhiki’ is a kind of old instrument used in country side as a rice grading mill which is made
by piece of wood which worked after pressure given by legs below of its whereas logs refers
to piece of wood. Thus, target term ‘Logs’ creates cultural gaps to give the exact scenes of
target term ‘Dhiki’.

Pair- 7

SL Term: Siloke

TL Term: Literal

The term ‘siloke’ refers to a person or a group of people who sing a song in marriage
ceremony by expressing their happiness in source term but literal refers according to the letter
or verbal expression real not figurative or metaphorical meaning in target term which creates
gaps in translation.

Pair- 8

SL Term: Muslo

TL Term: Logs

The source term ‘musla’ is amount of flesh raised in the body part because of swelling or
some other reason whereas ‘Logs’ refers to piece of wood. Thus, it creates gap in translation.

58
 Pair- 9

SL Term: Charbis

TL Term: Four Twenty

In source language ‘Charbis’ refers to a person with very sharp mind, very clever and so on
but the target term ‘Four Twenty’ gives only a literal meaning of charbis which creates a gap
in translation.

Pair – 10

SL Term: Chipre aakha

TL Term: Dirty eyes

In source term ‘Chipreaakha’ gives a meaning of a kind of white liquid stickable substance so
on the sides of eyes whereas target term ‘Dirty eyes’ lacks those meaning, so it creates a gap
in translation.

Pair – 11

SL Term: Sikuwa

TL Term: Threshold

Target term ‘Threshold’ couldn’t give the actual meaning of source term ‘Threshold’ because
‘Sikuwa’ refers to a big sitting room which is situated in the ground floor of the home or kind
of sit able place near by the main gate of the home but ‘Threshold’ refers to the palce or point
of entering or beginning, entrance.

Pair – 12

SL Term: Gunda

TL Term: Hoodlum

The source term ‘Gunda’ refers to a group of people or party of such people who frighten
people by beating, making confused, making fool and so on whereas target term ‘Hoodlum’
refers to young rowdy a rough, low less fellow.

59
 Pair – 13

SL Term: Kuwa

TL Term: Well

In Nepali, the SL term ‘kuwa’ means common spot from where water comes automatically
and people make pond like area to protect the water. But the TL Term ‘well’ means a deep
hole in the ground from where people obtain water or oil or a narrow space in a building that
drops down from a high to a court of law. Therefore, TL term does not give the equivalent
meaning of SL term. That’s why it cerates a gap.

Pair – 14

SL Term: Dhisko

TL Term Grassy

SL term ‘dhisko’ and TL term ‘grassy’ are different term. SL term refers to the place which is
like mountain in a plain area, which may or may not be covered by grass. But TL term
‘grassy’ refers to the place which is covered with, containing or resembling grass. So,
between these terms there is a gap.

4.2 Summary of the Findings

From the above analysis and interpretation of the data, the summary of the findings is
presented below:

One hundred and fifty cultural terms were divided into five different cultural categories
explicitly, they are ecology, material cultural, religious cultural, social cultural and
conceptual terms. Eleven different translation techniques were employed such as borrowing,
literal translation, deletion, couplet, paraphrasing, substitution, back translation,
naturalization, claque, addition and blending translation. Among translated terms borrowing
(32%) had the highest frequency and blending (1.33%) had the lowest. The frequency rate of
other techniques was literal (26.67%), deletion (10%), couplet (8%), paraphrasing (7.33%),
substitution (4.00%), back (3.33%), naturalization (3.33%), claque (2.00%) addition (2.00%),
blending translation (1.33%).

.In translating the cultural term under ecology, eleven different techniques were employed
and were graded as borrowing is (33.33%), literal (16.76%), addition (10%) and couplet,
paraphrasing, back and naturalization have (6.67%), and substation, deletion, and blending
have (1.33%).

In material cultural (man-made) category, seven different techniques were employed.

Namely, borrowing is (43.33%), literal (33.33%), substitution, deletion (6.67%),
paraphrasing, claque and back translation (3.33%).

60
Seven different techniques were employed while translating social cultural terms among them
highest ratio (36.67%) in borrowing and lowest score (3.33%) for claque. Similarly, others
literal (20%), couplet (13.33%), deletion and naturalization (10%), paraphrasing (6.67%).

There were altogether six techniques were used while translating religious cultural they are
borrowing (46.76%), literal (30%), paraphrasing (10%), deletion (6.67%) and substitution
and couplet (3.33%).

Altogether seven techniques were employed in translation of conceptual term among them
literal (33.33%) is in the highest position. Blending (3.33%) is lowest position. Similarly,
deletion (23.33%), couplet (16.67%), paraphrasing (10%), substitution and back translation
(6.67%). The techniques such as literal, paraphrasing, and deletion were found in all
categories. Sometimes same words such as ‘logs’ selected as target term for several source
term like ‘dhiki’, ‘musla’. So, it creates gap in translation. Borrowing is found as the most
frequent techniques in translation of ‘Muglan’. Generally literal is most frequent used
technique for most of other translated text. Present of multiple TL terms for SL terms and
vice versa had created cultural gap found in meaning in translation. Most of translated pairs
had gaps found in meaning in semantic level as they fail to provide the exact.

61
 CHAPTER- V

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion
Generally, literary texts are characterized by the intentions of author aesthetic excellence of
their performance such as poetry, short strories, essays, novels and dramas. Writers exploit
linguistic and cultural resources to communicate his ideas to their readers. So, it varies from
person to person and so does by the translator while translating. So, we can say that we
cannot get absolute reflection from them; it is always in approximation where culture creates
hindrance. Translation is the process of rendering the message across linguistic and cultural
barriers. Translation is important to create spiritual and destined unity among the people from
different speech communities and individual both national and international level. Translation
has become a part of human life and transference of culture, art, and religion is necessary for
entire human civilization. In the same situation, the translator has to face challenges while
translating because, it is not always possible to maintain one to one equivalent between ST
and TT. So, it creates a gap in translation. The main reason of creating a gap in translation is
culture which include not only material such as ideas, customs, family, patterns and
conventional belief. This study ‘ Techniques used in translation and cultural gaps found in
meaning in case of novel ‘Muglan’’ is carried out to find out the degree of word level
cultural gaps found in meaning in source text and target text of ‘Muglan’.

This study is organized in five chapters. In this first chapter, I discussed background of the
study, statement of the problems, objectives of the study, significance of study, delimitation
and definition of key terms. In chapter two dealt with the review of related theoretical and
empirical literature similarly, implication of review and conceptual framework. In the third
chapter, I designed the method of my study. Population, sample and sampling strategies were
made. Similarly, I included tools of data collection, procedures of data collection and data
analysis and analytical procedures in the same chapter. In chapter four, I analyzed the data
and interpreted the results. Similarly, summarized the findings. In chapter five, I concluded
the whole study related along with the recommendations to be applicable in policy related
and practice related and the further research related areas.

From the study, I found literal was the most frequent technique and blending was less
frequent technique used to translate the word level cultural terms. On the basis of above

62
finding it can be concluded that, while translating a text from one to another language a
translator should be well aware to preserve the cultural flavour of ST in TT. For that he/she
should be well known about both language. To be more specific, through this study, it is
clear that a translation of literary text from one language to another is not an easy job. On the
basis of this findings it can be said that, the translator should be well known to adopt proper
techniques to bridge up the possible gaps. He/she should be tactful enough to correspond the
ST in to the TT. The translator tried to preserve cultural values of ST in to the TT. The
translator tried to maintain the gap by using various techniques which seems to be suitable.

5.2 Recommendations
Translation is not easy task, a person should be tactful to choose appropriate term from
source text otherwise translation will be worthless. In the case of literary translation, the
translator should be much more careful because it is very difficult to get appropriate
terminology to convey the message of ST to TT. It is very easy to be a writer but very
difficult to be a translator. There is no any hard and fast rule to evaluate and judge the
translation work. So, evaluating the degree of equivalence may not be free from subjective
notion but tried my best to be objective as far as possible in this study. On the basis of
findings, I have recommended some recommendations to be applicable in policy, practice and
further researches in following sections:

5.2.1 Policy Related

1. The government has to make appropriate policy for teaching and learning translation.
So, the translator will be facilitated in their work.

2. As new translator emerging rapidly now a day the study will be more benefited to
them.

3. The translator should train to minimize the gaps in the translation as the study shows
that there is a wide gap in the word level evaluation of translation. So, the concerned
authorities are recommended to consider this aspect.

4. As new translator can apply any techniques in translating cultural terms depending
upon contexts and the nature of words.

5. To design the curriculum of the subject translation, the university will be benefited
from this kind of study.

63
 6. It will highly effective to make policies to discourage the poor translation and
encourage the good translation.

7. Nepal Bhasa Anubad Samiti can utilize the study to formulate the policies related to
translation.

5.2.2 Practice Related

The major implication of the study in practice level includes:

1. The professional translator can effectively use the study in their actual practice of
translation.

2. The translators who are translating English text from English to Nepali are
benefited with this translation.

3. The teachers who are involved in teaching translating text will be got benefit from
it.

4. The students who are studying translation as elective subjective can be benefited
from this study.

5. The novice translators who are participate in the work of translation will be
certainly facilitated from this study.

5.2.3 Further Research Related

The study will be milestone to conduct other research work because there are others
aspect or other from of translation e.g. clause, phrase, sentence level techniques used
in translation and cultural gap found in meaning. More than that, most of the other
area or sub- fields are yet to be researched. So, I hope, this study will be benefited for
the researchers who are interested in conducting further studies in this broad field. A
part from this the new researchers are suggested to carryout large scale study for find
out the techniques, gaps.

64
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 APPENDICES

APPENDIX: 1

CULTURAL CATEGORIES

1. Ecological Terms
SL Terms TL Terms
Chiyabagan tea garden

Nadi river

Pahad hills

Sal sal tree

Hiu snow

Nagbeli pahara serpentine hills

Ghar goth village

Bhir ra aakas dizzy cliffs and sky

Jangal forest

Bhalu bear

Kera ko bot banana tree

Badar monkey

Ghoda horse

Khachar mule

Laliguras rhododendron

Himal himal

Malingo malingo

Salah locusts

Goth cattle/sheds

Besi foothills

68
Patal groves

Basako phohora fountain

Danda ghar bhinaju danda ghar bhinaju

Kamakshya kamakshya

Muglan muglan

Begmaya ...............

Dhiska earthen mounds

Triveni triveni

Siran top

Puchar bottom

Himal himal

Bhanjyan .................

Pani chepera water in it solver of bamboo

Pahad pahad

Alu kharka alu kharka

Khoselo husk leaf

Ranban entire hills

Bhanjyang bhanjyang

Nainital nainital

Kuwa well

Tusaro frost

Banso banso

Chilaune chilaune

Basghari bamboo grave

Him rasi metal of snow

69
 2. Material Culture

SL Terms TL Terms
Doko basket of bamboo

Namlo namlo

Dhakar basket of bamboo

Trak truck

Jip jeep

Tin tin

Bodi bodi

Gamchha gamchha

Tren train

Madal madal

Tebal table

Tyaksi taxi

Riksa rickshaw

Makaiko chamalra phalatma rostedrais of corns

Satu satu

Bhuneratheki bhune and theki

Ulka awful

Ganji vest

Dhoti dhoti

Topi topi

Hariyo much .............

Khadi handwaven coarse dress

Daura daura

70
Thute stubbed

Surwal surwal

Chamal grains of rice

Chay garam chay garam

Dhindo – roti dhindo- roti

Manas manas

Daura daura

Jhumro ragged

Turai dal watery soup

Pote bead

Bageda bageda

Karai utensils

Dhungra hollows

Mad starch

Maita maita

Patuka belt

Goth shed

Tolunga tolunga

71
 3. Religious Culture
SL Terms TL Terms
Daibar driver

Moktan monk

Naumati baja naumati baja

Pap sin

Dharma heaven

Maiti maiti

Yogya kunda yogya kunda

Jatbhata cast

Damai tailor

Musalman muslim

Bhinaju brother in law

Thekedar contractor

Bihe marriage

Bhote keto vote boy

Panditji priest

Paran take out life

Tuppi tuppi

Dashain dashain

Tihar tihar

Saptami saptami

Dhaminajhakri dhamijhakri

Dohoro ................

Tilanjali .................

72
Bjrghat deathly blow

Deha body

Amrit elixir

Aputali issueless

Tika tika

Dharma dharma

Punditjit punditji

Vedas vedas

Chandi chandi

Rudri rudri

Pooja pooja

Goda dhunu drink from feet

Siloke chanters

Mantraharu mantras

Kamakshya kamakshya

Bibhas assailant

Diwangat departed

Las death body

Nachatra constellation

Purnimako rat fool moon

Bhajan devotional song

Balachaturdashi ko jatra jatra of balachaturdashi

73
 4. Social Culture
SL Terms TL Terms
Tusukk squatted

Kutura ..............

Chipreaakha dirty eyes

Thaccai aquatted

Paletikase cross legged

Sahep sahep

Ratopiro flushed with perspiration

Pakki bat pakki bat

Nimek waga

Gundri straw mat

Bhar mortgage

Chhetri chhetri

Bahun bahun

Ram name of god

Dai elder brother

Jyotish astrologer

Rudri religious scriptures

Thuli eldest daughter

Damai damai

Dhido dhindo

Dhoko dokos

Lipejsto mapped

Bhote bhote

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Kulli coolies

Gadho gadho

Dukpa dukpa

Dukpeni dukpa girl

Bahidar foreman

Had ghotera suck drop of blood

Galera pani gunu ........................

Dhiki logs

Dhyangro drums

Choya peels of bamboo

Pada bacha launu milked the cows

Ageno ...................

Naumati naumati

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 5. Conceptual Terms
SL Terms TL Terms
Jhilimili sights

Aapat ma pare bewildered

Hurukk .................

Swpanwat dreamlike

Jhlyas startle

Chui squeaking sound

Mlyakmuluk turning their eyes

Khangrang panicked

chid hole

Charbis four twenty

Lukyayo wagged

Luruluru meekly

Talpal sparkied

Pwo pwo snoring

Thachhaka .............

Batule ovel

Mluwa mild

Hururu dashed

Jhina slight

Luire lanky

Cyaera peeping

Ha ho hull ablloo

Aan tandai stretching

76
Chuiya .............

Jhyamma ...............

Phui- phui ...............

Tuplukka ..................

Dhurine rested

Jurukki .................

Musla logs

Ams ounce

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 APPENDIX - 3

PHONETIC SYMBOLS USED IN THE STUDY

Based on Turner's (1931) Nepali Alphabet and Diacritic marks.

C A s\ K b\ d
Cf Ā v\ Kh w\ dh
O I u G g\ N
O{ Ī 3\ Gh k\ P
P U 8=\ Ń Km\ ph
Pm Ū r\ C a\ b
P E 5\ Ch e\ bh
P] Ai h\ J d\ m
cf] O em\ Jh o\ y
cf} Au `\ ~
N /\ r
cF am,an 6\ T n\ l
˙
c+ Ã 7\ th j\ w/v
˙
: H 8\ d z\ ś
˙ ˙
9\ dh If\ ş
˙
0f\ n ;\ s
˙
t\ T x\ h
y\ Th

(Note: The traditional letters If, q and 1 are translated as conjunction letter, eg. If = ks,
ksh, kch 1 =gy, gn, q =tr)

78