A Sociological Approach to Translation: Translation and Asymmetrical Exchange of Cultural Capital

Abstract

This study aims at a sociological approach to translation based on Bourdieu’s (1991) theoretical framework. It investigates the flow and proportion of translation from English, German and French as means of accumulation of capital and the reverse as consecration with regard to the political, social, literary, and linguistic relations. On the other hand, translation from Arabic, as a dominated language, to Persian is also under investigation. Translation strategies and procedures involved in the process of exchanging capital are also of concern. This study elaborates on methods through which Iranian translators may obtain more capital as a result of translating texts from dominating languages. A duration of up to two hundred years is investigated. Online data bases and encyclopedias have provided the required data. Findings of the study proves that exchange of translations between dominated languages in case of Arabic and Persian language is different from what was hypothetically expected. Moreover, it is concluded that by adopting a foreignizing strategy in the process of translation from dominating languages to Persian, more capital may be secured.