Translating Proper Names

Abstract

The Oxford Dictionary defines a proper noun as “a name used for an individual person, place, or organization, spelled with an initial capital” while the Merriam Webster Dictionary defines it as “a word or group of words that is the name of a particular person, place, or thing and that usually begins with a capital letter.” Paying attention to the above definitions it is apparent that proper names are used in identifying a person, place, an organization or a thing. Translating proper names or proper nouns is of importance to translators who needs to pay attention in translating their meaning and usage in the source language. Hervey and Higgins in their textThinking Translation (1986) have presented three strategies when translating Proper Nouns/Names, namelyExotism, Transliteration and Cultural Transplantation. On the other hand, proper names can also be found under the cultural categories presented by Peter Newmark, who stated that “you have to look up all proper names you do not know. First, geographical terms” (1988). Though translating proper names is considered an easy task the translator’s knowledge of unknown proper names is crucial. Here, the onus is on the translator to research further on the proper names before translating a text, in particular, the proper names ofthe target language.