TRANSLATION AND CULTURAL DIMENSIONS: BRIDGING LANGUAGES THROUGH CULTURE

Translation is not a mere linguistic act but a profound cultural negotiation between societies, ideologies, and worldviews. Every language encodes its community’s heritage, identity, and worldview; therefore, translation must go beyond words to convey meaning shaped by culture. This paper explores the intricate relationship between translation and cultural dimensions, examining how cultural differences affect equivalence, idiomatic expression, metaphor, humour, and literary representation. It also analyses theoretical frameworks from scholars such as Nida, Venuti, Bassnett, and Lefevere, who view translation as an act of cultural mediation rather than mechanical substitution. The paper further discusses issues of cultural untranslatability, domestication versus foreignization, the translator’s role as an intercultural communicator, and the influence of globalization and technology on cultural translation. It concludes by emphasizing that translation’s cultural dimension is its most dynamic and human element—transforming it from linguistic transference into cross-cultural dialogue and creative reconstruction.