Translation of a part of The Da Vinci Code

Abstract

This dissertation is set out with the aim of exploring the various translation-related issues with central focus on the strategies adopted to translate a part of the novel The Da Vinci Code from English into Maltese. The translation of a part of The Da Vinci Code is followed by a detailed analytic commentary, explaining the difficulties encountered, the strategies adopted to address them, a list of all the translation possibilities, recommendations of the most suitable translation, and the justification for the choices made. Due to the fact that The Da Vinci Code is an expressive text, the semantic translation focuses on the transfer of meaning. Metaphors, foul language, collocations and culture-specific terms were adapted to make sense in Maltese. This dissertation also addresses a frequent question about the need for literary translation in a bilingual country like Malta. It identifies the positive and negative impacts of bilingualism on the Maltese language together with the role and function of literary translation in an officially bilingual country. The result of this work indicates that although translation problems across different languages may be similar, it is impossible to come up with a solution that would work for all languages. This is due to the inevitable language diversities and their respective cultural contexts throughout the world. Therefore, one of the principal objectives of this dissertation was to provide solutions for translation problems that crop up in an English - Maltese literary translation scenario.