RECONSTRUCTING EMOTIONAL MEANING ACROSS LANGUAGES: TRANSLATING CULTURE-SPECIFIC EMOTIONAL CONCEPTS

Annotasiya

Emotional meaning is one of the most challenging aspects of interlingual communication because emotions are not expressed solely through universally shared concepts but are also shaped by language, culture, social norms, and individual experience. Some emotion-related words and expressions have no direct lexical equivalents in another language, creating what is commonly described as a problem of “untranslatability.” However, the absence of a direct equivalent does not necessarily make translation impossible; rather, it requires the translator to reconstruct the emotional meaning through alternative linguistic and contextual resources. This article examines the challenges involved in translating culturally specific emotional concepts and explores the strategies translators employ to preserve their semantic, pragmatic, and cultural dimensions. Particular attention is given to cases in which a single source-language word conveys a complex combination of emotional, social, and cultural meanings that cannot be reproduced by a single target-language equivalent. The study considers such concepts within the framework of interlingual communication and translation equivalence, focusing on the interaction between lexical meaning, context, cultural associations, and the intended emotional response of the target reader. It argues that successful translation of emotional concepts should not be assessed solely in terms of lexical equivalence but also in terms of emotional and pragmatic adequacy.