TRANSLATING DIALECTS: CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES FROM AN APPLIED LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Translating dialects poses significant challenges in both literary and audiovisual contexts, as dialects carry localized cultural identities, social meanings, and stylistic nuances that resist direct equivalence in target languages. From an applied linguistics perspective, this paper explores the intersection of sociolinguistics, translation theory, and pragmatics in handling dialectal variation. Core challenges include the preservation of sociolectal features, avoiding stereotyping, and achieving functional equivalence in multilingual or multicultural contexts. Strategies employed by translators include compensation, domestication, heterolingual translation, and the use of non-standard varieties in the target language. Drawing on recent studies in audiovisual translation (Bartolomé & Martínez-Sierra, 2023), corpus-based translation analysis (Munday, 2022), and dialect stylization in media (Hodson, 2024), this paper emphasizes the need for translator training in sociolinguistic awareness and ethical representation. It argues that applied linguistics can provide critical insights into how dialects function in discourse and how translation practices can be adapted to better reflect linguistic diversity. The study concludes by advocating for a functionalist and context-sensitive approach to dialect translation, informed by audience design and interlingual pragmatics.