TRANSLATING RELIGIOUS TEXTS. OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
TRANSLATING RELIGIOUS TEXTS. OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

Summary/Abstract: It is common knowledge that religion and its particular characteristics have been the object of heated debate worldwide. Scholars from various related domains as well as ordinary people have continually sought to identify the nature of religion and establish a series of criteria in order to define and characterize it as accurately as possible. When it comes to identifying the origins of the term religion, Carl Olson (2011: 1), currently a permanent fellow of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, pinpoints that religion derives from the Latin religio, which originally refers to the human fear of God or other divine beings. In the field of Translation Studies, texts dealing with religion have also been subject of controversy. Catching a glimpse of the characteristics of the religious register has become a necessary endeavour, especially since one of the most important aspects to discuss is its profound conservative tendency. Nowadays, when religion has become a crucial factor of conflict and even war, religious texts must be tackled with wisdom and discernment. Moreover, there are cases when the religious texts are strewn with biblical quotations and patristic references, in order for the text to be more credible and have a higher level of authority. In such particular situations, translators have to tinker with the text more, in order to preserve the original characteristics and provide a faithful translation. Last but not least, translators can resort to various translation strategies, especially the ones put forward by the Canadian linguists Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet.

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