Translating Taboo Words from English into Persian: A Case Study of The Catcher in the Rye

The aim of this article was to determine the strategies chosen for translating one of the most controversial modern novels in the United States and of course all around the world, i.e. The Catcher in the Rye into Persian language. Considering deep differences between the American and Iranian cultures, translating this work seemed to be a tough challenge for a Persian translator, since it is full of taboo words, which are the main concern of this article. According to Allen and Burridge (2006) there are four strategies for translating a taboo: censorship, substitution, taboo for taboo and euphemism. 25 samples of taboo words from the whole novel were selected and the application of these strategies in translating them among 5 versions of Persian translation was studied. As predicted, censorship was the mostly-used strategy with 35 percent of frequency and more than other strategies

Keywords:

translation , taboo words , censorship , the catcher in the rye