On Using of Translation Transformations in the Culturemes Transmission

This paper focuses on the study of translation transformations used to convey culturemes–culturally specific elements that often lack direct analogs in other languages and cultures. These elements reflect unique aspects of a society’s life, traditions, and mentality, making their translation a challenging task. The paper primarily addresses the theoretical aspects of translating culturemes, such as cultural transfer, cultureme, and translation transformation. Cultural transfer is viewed as the process of transferring cultural elements from one culture to another through translation. Cultureme is defined as the minimal unit of cultural information, the translation of which requires a specific strategy. Translation transformation involves modifying the structure and content of the source text to achieve adequacy in the target language. The article explores various types of translation transformations, including transliteration, transcription, calque, generalization, descriptive translation and the use of cultural analogs. Each of these methods is analyzed in detail, explaining when and why they are applied. Particular attention is given to the use of these techniques in the translation of Ernest Cline’s novel «Ready Player One», which contains numerous references to 1980s American pop culture. The complexities of translating these elements are examined, along with specific examples of using different translation strategies to adapt the text for Russian-speaking readers. The article emphasizes the importance of choosing the right translation strategy to preserve the cultural features of the original text and adapt it for readers from another culture, ensuring the cultural and contextual integrity of the work is maintained.