Translation Strategies of Christianity-related Terms from English into Thai in Fiction: A Case Study of Tracy Chevalier’s A Single Thread

Abstract

This research article focuses on Christianity-related terms in the novel A Single Thread, translation strategies and the relationship between translation strategies and the use of Christianity-related terms in Thai society. The terms are grouped by adapting Newmark’s (1988) and Inphen’s (2020) categorization. Newmark’s (1988) and Baker’s (2018) translation strategies are adopted to analyze translation strategies found in the translated version. The result shows that there are 4 categories of Christianity-related terms, namely, object, venue, religious service and religious days, and people. For   translation strategies, 9 strategies are found, namely, translation by using accepted standard translation, literal translation, using loan words and explanation, using loan words, paraphrasing, using more general words, using cultural substitution, omission, and using mixed strategies. For the relationship between translation strategies and the use of Christianity-related terms in Thai society, it is discovered that translation by using accepted standard translation is employed in accordance with the use of terms in the Christian community in Thailand. The terms that have similar or overlapping cultural meaning or are known among Thai people are translated by literal translation, paraphrasing, translation using a more general word, using loan words and cultural substitution, while the terms indicating specific details are translated by using loan words and explanation or mixed strategies. To translate Christianity-related terms from English into Thai in fiction, the translators should explore whether there are accepted standard translations in the TL. Also, the translators should consider similarity or overlap between SL and TL’s cultures to utilize translation strategies appropriately.