THE TRANSLATION OF IDIOLECTS: A STUDY ON SERGIO ATZENI’S LANGUAGE
THE TRANSLATION OF IDIOLECTS: A STUDY ON SERGIO ATZENI’S LANGUAGE

Summary/Abstract: This article tackles the topic of idiolects and their translation. According to Catford (1965), SL texts and items are more or less translatable rather than absolutely translatable or untranslatable. There are also linguists stating that we all speak a different language. For example, Hofstadter (2009) suggests that we all have a personal language, our idiolect. Crystal (2003) defines idiolect as “one’s personal dialect”, while Wales (2001) even talks about it as the equivalent of a fingerprint. With reference to translation, considering that words are a form of translation in themselves – as they translate thoughts and feelings into speeches or texts – the distance between the source version and the target one becomes even longer. The aim of this article is to propose some reflections on the concept of cultural untranslatability in the translation field by presenting a corpus and demonstrating how some words or expressions could be interpreted – and then translated – in one or more different ways, according to the semantic meaning they are attributed

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