An Ancient Translation : Lexical and cultural aspects in a text about the Lullingstone Roman Villa

Abstract: Abstract This study deals with the translation of the second part of the English Heritage guidebook Lullingstone Roman Villa (2009), written by Pete Wilson. The analysis focuses on the translation of terms and other vocabulary items within the fields of archaeology and architecture, as well as how to deal with cultural aspects. The theoretical framework for the analysis is based on models by Vinay & Darbelnet (1995), Newmark (1981, 1988) and Ingo (2007). The two most common translation procedures in the translation of terms and other vocabulary items were literal translation and transference. However, equivalence and omission were other procedures put to use when dealing with lexical aspects. When it comes to the translation of references to cultural aspects, alterations are sometimes needed in order to adapt the target text to its target group. Consequently, Vinay & Darbelnet’s adaptation procedure was put to use in a number of cases. However, the most common way of translating cultural aspects was in the form of couplets (Newmark 1988:91), more precisely transference of certain proper nouns coupled with a functional or descriptive equivalent, out of which the former was most common. Various forms of additions were also used in several cases, and an omission was put to use in one particular case. Throughout the translation process, parallel texts proved to be of great help.