A Comparative Study on the Novel "Giraya" by Punyakante Wijenaike and its Sinhalese Translation by Ceryl C. Perera

Abstract

Translation is the process of reproducing the source text in another language. Translations can be mainly categorised as technical and non-technical translations. The Translation of literary texts which belong to the category of non-technical translations, are basically identified as a challenging task mainly because of the difficulties in handling the language. Mostly, these issues arise when translating a text which belongs to a different cultural context. Translating the cultural terms is indeed a challenging task. Nonetheless, if the translation is done in the very same context of the source text, the task of the translator becomes much easier. The aim of the study is to analyse the way that language has been used in the two texts Giraya by Punyakanthe wijenaike and its translation by Cyril C. Perera. Data were collected from the two books Giraya and its translation. Here, the author of the source text has used the original cultural terms which appear in Sinhalese, without translating them into English. Thus, translating the particular source text is easier as the cultural background, cultural terms and the characters belong to the same local context of the target language. Though the translators encounter several complications due to both language and cultural barriers, translations within the same cultural context are less intricate than translations within two different backgrounds.