۱.
This study aims to investigate how humorous language and content are rendered in audiovisual translation. Focusing on the animated film Minions , the study compares two Persian dubbed versions produced by Kaszadeh (2015) and Khajavi (2015). The entire film was analyzed, and humorous instances were identified and compared with their Persian equivalents to examine the translation strategies employed. The findings reveal notable differences between the two translations. Kaszadeh predominantly relies on free translation, while Khajavi more frequently employs cultural equivalence. Furthermore, Khajavi’s version demonstrates a higher degree of fluency, suggesting a more effective transfer of cultural nuances and contextual references into Persian. These results underscore the impact of translation strategy choice on the naturalness and reception of humor in dubbed animated films.
۲.
In the domain of Persian literature, the Holy Qur’an has consistently played an influential subtextual role in shaping the formal and semantic aesthetics of literary works. The present study, aiming to analyze intertextual relations, investigates Saleh Hosseini’s utilization of Quranic terms and concepts in his translations of English literary works. To this end, based on Kristeva’s (1966) theory of intertextuality and Genette’s (1982) taxonomy, selected examples from seven translated works were analyzed. Following the examination and analysis of the data, a comprehensive interview with the translator was conducted to triangulate the findings. The results indicate that the translator employed two main strategies—explicit intertextuality (direct use of Quranic terms and verses) and paratextuality (using footnotes and appendices)—to create complex references in translations. This approach, while maintaining fidelity to the source semantic networks, reconstructed the text within the cultural context of the target language, providing a multilayered and polyvocal experience for the target readers. In light of the analysis of the collected textual data and the translator’s responses in the interview, it can be concluded that literary translation, far beyond the mere transfer of words, is a creative, interpretive, and intertextual process that facilitates deep cultural and discursive interaction among various texts.
۳.
This study investigates the localization of the rulebook of the board game Modern Art into its Persian version, by focusing on multimodal translation. Taylor’s (2016) framework was employed to examine multimodal translation of the rulebook by focusing on four types of elements, being linguistic, semiotic, cultural, and narrative. To analyze linguistic changes, translation techniques proposed by L. Molina and A. Hurtado Albir (2002) were used, and the findings indicate that reduction, adaptation, and amplification were the most frequently used techniques. Regarding semiotic changes, the matrix proposed by Kostelnick and Roberts (2011) was applied, and the results revealed significant changes, such as modifications in images and the use of exclamation marks. Cultural analysis demonstrated major changes, including the replacement of all the artists featured in the board game. By contrast, the localized version of the board game did not alter its narrative. Overall, the localized version adapts the artworks and artists while preserving the mechanics and essence of the original board game.
۴.
This study examines hybridity in translation through a case study of Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America . It analyzes how references to American and Iranian cultures are rendered in the Persian translation and how these choices shape the hybrid character of the text for different readerships. To this end, the English source text and its Persian translation are compared to identify the translation strategies applied to hybrid elements reflecting Iranian and American cultures. The findings show that material culture, such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation, constitutes the most prominent category of hybrid elements. Transference is the most frequently used strategy overall, particularly for elements reflecing American culture, indicating a predominantly foreignizing approach. In contrast, hybrid items reflecing Iranian culture are more often translated through cultural equivalence and reduction. Interpreted in light of Venuti’s (1995) concepts of domestication and foreignization, the results suggest that the translator preserves the hybrid nature of the memoir by maintaining the foreignness of American elements while reducing familiar Iranian ones.
۵.
The present study examines the role of translation in promoting new sciences in Dar al-Fonun, the first modern school of higher education in Iran during the Nasseri period (1831-1896). Amir Kabir, the chief minister under Nasser al-Din Shah – following his modernization programs for the development of Iran subsequent to the Western industrial revolution after which Iran experienced a delay in benefiting from advancement in science and technology during the early 19th century – established Dar al-Fonun school in a Western and European style with the aim of promoting and strengthening science and knowledge so that Iranian specialists could be trained in various scientific fields. As a result, translation became one of the tools for introducing modern sciences to Iran in order to fight against the country’s backwardness in various fields. The period covered by this research is from 1851 to 1896 – from the foundation of the school to the end of the Nasseri era. The results of the study, conducted by using library method, second-hand sources and their content analysis, show that translation in various ways enabled Iranian students to benefit from modern higher education and after graduation, they served as experts in various fields, making a huge contribution to the expansion of modern sciences for the development of the country.
۶.
The diversity between a source language and a target language and the variation in their cultures make the task of finding equivalents a serious challenge. Expressive texts are among the most difficult text-types to be translated. Being deeply rooted in the culture of a nation, classical literary texts are seldom devoid of culture-specific concepts or cultural references (CRs). Sa‘di’s (1208-1291) Gulistan is a prominent masterpiece of classical Persian literature that abounds with CRs. It is translated by many translators. Anderson (1861) and Rosenbaum (2010) are among the earliest and the most recent translators of the Persian masterpiece, respectively. The paper aimed at identifying categories of CRs in translations, determining translators’ most and least frequent procedures and specifying the most challenging categories of CRs for each of them. The study aims at identifying various categories of the CRs in the Gulistan and the procedures employed by the two translators in rendering them. In order to specify the procedures, Davies’s (2003) model and Huber and Kairys’s (2021) taxonomy were used. The findings revealed that ‘substitution’, ‘literal translation’ and ‘generalization’ were averagely the most frequent procedures. Moreover, it was found that the terms belonging to the categories of ‘religion’, ‘garments’ and ‘social life’ were the most challenging concepts for the English translators.
