Abstract:
Dialects play an indispensable role in an effective translation. A dialect is a form
of a language unique to a particular region or a social group. These social dialects
spawn according to the social boundaries like profession ethnicity, race, religion
or even gender and age, whereas regional dialects occur in relation to the physical
barriers like geographical boundaries. In Sri Lanka several regional and social
dialects are found to be in existence. Being an island, Sri Lankan coastal
communities withhold a unique form of fishermen dialect based upon their
lifestyle in the coastal areas. To present a successful literary translation to the
readership it is a necessary skill for any translator to have knowledge of the
cultural background of both SL and TL. The purpose of this study is to identify
the effectiveness of using such knowledge of fishermen dialect in Sri Lanka with
reference to the Sinhalese translation of Ernest Hemingway's "Old Man and the
Sea". The terms related to the fishery industry were selected and analysed by
comparing them to the terms in the original text. It was found that the use of
fishermen dialect has contributed towards giving an authentic reading to the
target readership. Further, this translation proved to be rather a remake of the
original text than a word to word translation. Therefore, translators need an indepth
knowledge of the cultural elements in both SL and TL. An understanding
about dialects and their effective use will therefore be of utmost importance to
the success of a literary translation.
