Translating Culture-Specific Items in Literary Texts: Problems and Strategies in Students’ Translations

The aim of this paper is to present the results of a study based on the translation of 4 excerpts from literary texts that contain culture-specific items (CSIs).The study involved 45 fourth-year students of English at the Faculty of Law and Business Studies Dr Lazar Vrkatic, who were required to translate 20 CSIs from the 4 passages as part of the final test.The translations were analysed, focusing on different translation strategies, as well as on the causes of any mistranslations.The results reveal to which degree students have developed an awareness of cultural differences and the importance of understanding and successfully transferring CSIs into the target culture.