Boundaries and Scope of Cultural Error in Translation

Abstract

         The present study seeks to explore the notion of cultural error in translation through the analysis of the Moroccan novel written in French—an inherently hybrid literary space where French, Arabic, and Moroccan cultural references intersect. Drawing on a corpus of works translated into Arabic, we examine the challenges associated with the transfer of phrasemes, aiming to determine how linguistic and cultural errors manifest themselves, and to what extent they stem from a lack of cultural awareness or from a justified interpretive choice. Our approach is comparative and descriptive, based on a contrastive analysis of source and target texts in light of functionalist theories, phraséotranslation studies, and the poetics of translation (Reiss, Berman, Ladmiral, Jadir). The findings demonstrate that error in translation cannot be reduced to mere fault, but may represent a site of intercultural negotiation, revealing the interpretive and creative dimension of the translator’s work.