Explicitation in translation of culture-specific items: the case of footnotes

ENCulture-specific items (CSIs) are a very specific group of references that cause many problems in translation and require from translators both linguistic and cultural competence. To produce the target text of similar value as that of the source text, translators employ different translation strategies. Although everyone in translation studies recognize footnotes as a valid strategy of translation, but opinions are rather conflicting. Thus, the aim of this article is to analyse instances of explicitation of CSIs by using footnotes in translations of literary texts into Lithuanian. This article briefly describes the notion of CSIs, presents translation strategies which could be employed in their translation and discusses the usage of footnotes as one of the means to explicate cultural information. The research is based on selecting instances of CSIs from three Joanne Harris’ novels assigned to the genre of the gourmet novel and analysing translation strategies used by translators into Lithuanian. The total number of CSIs selected from these Harris’ novels is 1141, and the scope of the research is extended by their equivalents found in Lithuanian versions of the novels. Explicitation as a footnote is commonly used due to a difference in the background knowledge of source and target readers. In translation of the three gourmet novels, footnotes manifest themselves mainly in the semantic group of food-related items and that is viewed as a distinguishing feature of the translation process of the genre.