Linguistic representation of taboo in Persian translations and its implications

The word taboo، coined in the eighteenth century، originates in Polynesian languages where it meant something forbidden. Taboos، which are those items considered culturally inappropriate topics to be openly talked about، vary from community to community and from language to language. Analyzing a collection of texts translated into Persian، the present paper seeks a classification of taboos in Persian. Two types of censorship have been discussed in this paper: one performed by the translator himself، and the other dictated by the social institutes or organizations and implemented by the translator. Comparing the original text in the source language، the initial translation and the revised translation (one approved by the publishing company)، we identify the type of the taboo in each example and the translator’s solution to deal with it. The results indicate that unfortunately، translators frequently opt for the deletion strategy، which is the easiest. In some cases، however، based on their knowledge and skill، translators use other solutions such as using a sperordinate or broad word، replacing the taboo word with the closest non-taboo in the target language (though they may have different meaning and usage in the two languages) and coinage of words or expressions or even innovating a whole paragraph to preserve the coherence of the text in the target language. The confusion over what is taboo in one language or the other may lead to the creation of incomprehensible or non-truthful translations which damage the meaning of the source language writer.