Translating Proper Names

Abstract

Proper name is a name used for an individual person, place, animal, country, title, etc. and spelt with a capital letter, ( eg: Jane, London, Everest) is a compulsory element that a translator encounters specially in literary translations. The objective of this study is to identify the different categories of proper names used in literary texts, and the problems in translating them and to present effective ways of translating them according to the particular context. Different categories of proper names are dealt in this study with an analytical approach to elaborate on the importance of them in the particular context in which they have been used. There are "Conventional names" and "Loaded names" as a categorization of proper names." Conventional names" are unmotivated names for translation as they do not carry a semantic load. But, on the other hand," Loaded names" are motivated for translation and consist of different other sub categories. This is where the translator is faced with a challenge in translation of them, such as translation of descriptive names, bicultural names, names with a connotative meaning,etc. The study aims at analyzing how the translator should translate those, not affecting their cultural and literary value. This analysis is presented with examples from selected literary texts with an analytical overview on them. This kind of study is important for translators, basically for literary translators, students of translation studies and pedagogues.