On Untranslatability

Works on untranslatability abound in academia.But there are misunderstandings about "untranslatability" and "translation-is-impossible",and thus causing a lot of unnecessary debates.This paper combs the researches and debates on untranslatability,and then points out that "untranslatability" is the embodiment of the uniqueness of language and culture in translation;it is an objective existence;"untranslatability" leads to "untranslatable occurrences",but it does not deny that language is translatable.The existence of "untranslatability" should be valued by translators and researchers.Today when we emphasize translators' status,we still need to give the source language texts enough attention;we shouldn't take translation for granted,let alone mistranslation.When we study "untranslatability",we study the uniqueness of source language and source language texts.In the process,we come to understand the original text better and deeper and become truly respectful the original text.It also helps us become better translators.In this paper,I studied the untranslatability in the Harry Potter series,using Catford's theory on untranslatability as the framework.I found that because Chinese and English belong to different language systems,the linguistic untranslatability of"Harry Potter" is very obvious.It is mainly embodied in wordplays,such as acronym,head rhyme,anagram and pun.Cultural untranslatability mainly comes from the novels' British background setting:Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is heavily based on the British boarding school system;the student leaders' titles in Hogwarts are directly borrowed from the British school system;the key figure Hagrid speaks an accent from southwest England;and the magical creatures originate from the European culture.These are missing in Chinese culture,making untranslatability very prominent.