The Limits of (Un)translatability: Culturemes in Translation Practice
The Limits of (Un)translatability: Culturemes in Translation Practice

Summary/Abstract: This paper attempts a critique of the concept of “untranslatability” as it has been posited by comparatists (Emily Apter in particular), by a reactivation of the concept’s implications for translational practice. It therefore first engages theoretically with untranslatability and its current critical status, with an emphasis on its detractors, who mostly hail from the translational camp. This is done with a view to ‘unhardening’ the concept of untranslatability while also paying attention to its substantial overlap with other concepts, such as that of cultureme, a concept which has caught on in Central and Eastern Europe in particular. The second half of the paper illustrates the tension between translatability and untranslatability through two case studies regarding two culturemes, one historical, the other ideological. Ultimately, this article advocates practical translatability over its arguably elitist theoretical counterpart.

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