A psychological-semiotic approach to cultural translation: A case study of translational performance text and translated cultural identity

Abstract

Cultural translation promotes cross-cultural synthetization and hybridization. Against the backdrop of cultural assimilation and inherent conceptual contestation of different languages, the cultural meaning of the source performance text is interpreted and reconstructed by specific cultural translator who intentionally creates the aesthetic value and significance for a specific target readership/audience. Drawing on Valsiner’s cultural psychology and Marais’ notion of representamen translation, this paper focuses on an exemplary example of a cross-cultural stardom-fandom exchange regarding the Korean artist Lee Joon Gi, who produces his translational performance texts of the source Chinese performance texts for his target Chinese audience. The psychological-semiotic approach to Translation Studies also explores the issue of translated cultural identity within cultural translation. Thus, the concept of translational performance text is proposed as Lee is deemed as both cultural translator and translated cultural product simultaneously. On the one hand, by incorporating non-linguistic semiotic process-phenomena into the conventional linguistic-biased Translation Studies, Translation Studies could be nurtured promisingly with cultural psychology and semiotics for interdisciplinary progress. On the other hand, a translational perspective enhances the understanding of the profound psychological-semiotic aspect of cultural translation pertaining to the production of entertainment jouissance within cultural translation.