Cultural Discrepancies Encountered by Interpreters in International Conferences

Abstract

The present research focuses on the cultural challenges encountered by translators during interpretative translation at international conferences from English to Arabic. The main issue addressed in this study is the cultural differences faced by translators during the interpretative translation process between the English and Arabic languages in international conferences.   The aim of this study include identifying the cultural differences experienced by translators in interpretative translation at international conferences, exploring strategies that can be utilized for interpretative translation, specifically in the context of international conferences, and proposing potential solutions to help translators bridge the cultural gap during the translation process in international conferences.   The current study hypothesized that interpreters may encounter difficulties in capturing cultural differences during the translation of international conferences from English to Arabic. It is also posited that misunderstanding the cultural aspects of both languages can result in inappropriate translations.  To accomplish this study, a theoretical background is presented, providing an overview of the topic. Additionally, the data analysis is discussed and examined based on the adopted model. The findings of this study reveal that some participants were unable to fully grasp the context and cultural differences in the source text. Consequently, they mistranslated cultural content from English to Arabic due to insufficient knowledge of the cultures involved and time constraints during the interpretation process from English to Arabic.