Connecting Chinese intangible culture to Swahili audiences: Exploring thechallenges and strategies in translation

Abstract

This article explores the challenges and coping strategies in translating the vocabulary of Chinese intangible cultural heritage (CICH) into Swahili, from the perspective of cultural gaps in translation. Based on previous studies that have classified culture-specific vocabulary into ‘completely absent terms’ and ‘partially absent terms’, this article further divides culture-specific terms into ‘traditional brand name terms’, ‘art terminology’ and ‘other culture-specific terms’ and proposes six corresponding translation strategies. This study broadens the research perspective in the field of Swahili translation, providing new ideas for the translation of intangible cultural heritage into foreign languages. The findings also have reference value for the translation of other traditional Chinese cultures into Swahili.