Holidays, food and jokes: cultural references in translation
When a book moves into another language, it contains things the new reader simply won't know: a holiday, a dish, a joke or a local institution. There are two ways to handle cultural references in translation. You can keep them and let the reader work them out from context, or you can swap them for something the reader knows. There's no single right way. There's the way that fits your book, and it's worth choosing it before the translation starts, not halfway through.
What counts as a cultural reference
Anything an Israeli reader understands without thinking, and a reader in London or Chicago doesn't. Some examples from a typical Hebrew book:
- Holidays and customs. Friday night dinner, sufganiyot (jam doughnuts) at Hanukkah, bonfires on Lag BaOmer (a spring holiday).
- Institutions. Miluim (army reserve duty), the kibbutz (a collective community), the bagrut (the national high-school exams), the va'ad bayit (the residents' committee in an apartment building).
- Food. Shakshuka (eggs cooked in tomato sauce), bourekas (filled pastries), an artik (an ice pop) on the beach.
- Expressions. Al hapanim (literally "on the face", meaning awful), sababa (fine, cool), yalla (come on, let's go), chaval al hazman (literally "a waste of time", meaning amazing).
- Jokes that rest on a word. Puns, names with a meaning, rhymes.
- Shared background. A song everyone knows, an old ad, a kids' TV show.
Some of these the reader will guess from context. Some will leave them confused. And some, like a joke built on a word, simply won't work if translated word for word.
The first way: keep it
The translator keeps the original and lets the reader work it out from context. The heroine eats a sufganiya at Hanukkah, and an English-speaking reader may not know what that is, but they understand it's a holiday food and that it's sweet.
The upside: the book stays where it belongs. The reader feels they're reading a book from Israel, and that's part of the charm. Most readers of translated fiction choose it for exactly that reason.
When needed, you add a small explanation inside the sentence itself. Instead of "he went to miluim", you can write something like "he left for his annual reserve duty". A few words, no footnote, and the reader keeps going.
The second way: adapt it
The translator swaps the reference for something the new reader knows. A pun in Hebrew is replaced with a different joke that works in the new language. Units of measurement get converted. A well-known children's song is replaced with a children's song everyone knows over there.
The upside: the reader feels what the original reader felt. They laugh in the same place, they're moved in the same place, and they don't stop.
The downside: overdo it and the book loses its place. A heroine from Tel Aviv who suddenly eats Christmas cookies feels fake.
Cultural references in translation: deciding by type of book
| Type of book | Usually | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Memoir, historical novel | Keep | The place and the period are part of the story |
| Contemporary novel | Keep, with small adaptations | The reader wants to feel Israel, not study it |
| Children's book | Sometimes adapt | A child won't stop to figure out a foreign concept |
| Humor and satire | Mostly adapt | A joke you have to explain isn't funny anymore |
| How-to or nonfiction | Adapt | Units, institutions and examples need to work for the reader |
The table is a starting point, not a rule. Even a memoir has one joke that needs adapting, and even a children's book has a food worth keeping. We wrote more about the differences between types of books in a different translation route for every book.
What about footnotes and a glossary at the back
Footnotes break the reading. In a novel, a reader who has to drop to the bottom of the page every three lines will stop reading. In most cases a short explanation inside the sentence, or simply trusting the reader, works better.
A short glossary at the back can work in a book with a lot of recurring words, like a memoir that keeps using terms from the army or the kibbutz. Whoever wants to can take a look. Whoever doesn't keeps reading.
What to do before the translation starts
Three things worth doing in advance:
- Decide on the overall direction. Should the book feel Israeli, or should it feel local to the reader? One sentence is enough.
- Mark the hard spots. Puns, names with a meaning, songs, and terms that recur throughout the book. A short list saves the translator a lot of guessing.
- Leave the small decisions to the translator. Once the direction is clear, a good translator knows when to keep and when to adapt.
If you're not sure how to pass that direction on to the translator, we wrote about it in how to tell a translator how your book should sound. And if you want to see these decisions in action before you commit, a sample chapter will show you very quickly whether the direction is right.
Frequently asked questions
What is a cultural reference in translation?
Anything in the book that a reader from your culture gets straight away and a reader from somewhere else doesn't: a holiday, a dish, a TV show, an institution like the kibbutz or army reserve duty, an expression, or a joke that rests on a word. Those are the places where the translator has to decide what to do.
Is it better to keep the original references or replace them?
It depends on the book. In a memoir, a historical novel, or any book where the place is part of the story, you usually keep them and explain gently. In a how-to book, a children's book or humor, it's sometimes better to adapt to the new reader.
Should I add a footnote for every unfamiliar term?
Usually not. Footnotes interrupt the reading in a novel. A short explanation woven into the sentence works better, or you let the context do the work. In most cases the reader understands enough without understanding everything.
Who decides, me or the translator?
The big decision is yours, because it's your book. Give the translator a direction before they start: should the book feel Israeli, or should it feel local to the reader? The small decisions, word by word, are best left to them.