A Study On The Limits Of Translatability In Cultural Translation

At present, with the great development of global economy, the chances of communication among different countries and people have greatly increased at the same time, not only in economy but also in people's daily life. Therefore more and more attention is paid to cross-cultural communication. Meanwhile, as the media of cross-cultural communication, translation becomes a hot topic in the whole world. Since the 1990s, in China one obvious change is that more and more emphasis is placed on the limits of translatability in cultural translation. Of course, this change arises from the development of various disciplines and the society.The controversy of translatability and untranslatability, both at home and abroad is always a disputed issue. Nowadays, it is well-accepted that translation is a possible and feasible task. However, there are still some language points and cultural obstructions that are difficult to translate, which are called the limits of translatability. It is widely accepted that the limits of translatability are not absolutely"untranslatable". One cannot say something is totally translatable or untranslatable. With the communications among different cultures and the change of language, there is no clear cut boundary between translatability and the limits of translatability. Its range is always changing. Furthermore, translators can make a great effort to deal with various translation strategies to get a satisfactory version. In a sense, the limit of translatability is a relative conception, especially in the field of cultural translation.With the combination of culture, the study of translation can prove that the limits is not constant, on the contrary it is always changeable. People should take optimistic and active attitudes towards some untranslatable phenomena, especially ones caused by cultural differences. Translators and some scholars should try their best to surmount the obstructions and get satisfactory versions. On one hand, we should not ignore the limits of cultural translation; on the other hand, we should use various methods to reduce the limits.