Abstract:
A drama is a composition in verse or phrase intended to portray life or character
or to tell a story usually involving conflicts and emotions through actions and
dialogues. A drama is typically designed for theoretical performances. The
written version of a drama is known as the script or the dramatic text and
converting this text into a different language is known as the translation of
dramatic texts. The objective of this research is to find out the manner that culture
influences the translation of dramatic texts and the strategies that can be used to
overcome the challenges that rise during the process. "The Caucassian Chalk
Circle" by Bertolt Bretcht and its Sinhalese translation "Hunu Vataye kathawa"
by Henry Jayasena are used as primary sources and data were collected by
comparing the two texts. The cultural data of the source text and its translation
were categorised according to several topics namely religious terms, political
views, class distinction, food and beverages, life style, parlance, and clothing
items. Accordingly, it was discovered that cultural words appearing in the source
text can be entirely different from those of the target culture. Therefore, having
sufficient knowledge regarding both cultural backgrounds are vital in order to
overcome the problems encountered in translating. Further, it was identified that
methods such as borrowing, use of cultural equivalents creation, reconstruction
are among the methods used by dramatic text translators in addition to direct
translation method. Thus, for a successful dramatic text translation in which the
target readers are allowed to ascertain an unknown culture effectively, having
adequate knowledge in both source language and target language along with their
respective cultures is important for a translator. Both primary and secondary data
were collected by referring to subject related books and Google websites.
