Introduction to Translation
Semester 4
Academic Year 2024-2025
Lahoucine Aammari
FLDM, Fez
"a translation can never equal the original; it
can approach it, and its quality can only be
judged as to accuracy by how close it gets."
(Gregory Rabassa 1989)
"ﻻﺑد ﻟﻠﺗرﺟﻣﺎن ﻣن أن ﯾﻛون
ﺑﯾﺎﻧﮫ ﻓﻲ ﻧﻔس اﻟﺗرﺟﻣﺔ ﻓﻲ وزن
ﻋﻠﻣﮫ ﻓﻲ ﻧﻔس اﻟﻣﻌرﻓﺔ وﯾﻧﺑﻐﻲ
أن ﯾﻛون أﻋﻠم اﻟﻧﺎس ﺑﺎﻟﻠﻐﺔ
اﻟﻣﻧﻘوﻟﺔ واﻟﻣﻧﻘول إﻟﯾﮭﺎ ﺣﺗﻰ
ﯾﻛون ﻓﯾﮭﺎ ﺳواء وﻏﺎﯾﺔ".
اﻟﺟﺎﺣظ ،ﻛﺗﺎب اﻟﺣﯾوان.
Defining Translation
In Arabic, the word ﺗﺮﺟﻢmeans (1) "to
explain speech into another language"!
(Al Bustani, 1998, p. 69) and (2) "transfer
speech into another language" (AI-Basha,
1992, p. 253). Rida (1 958, p. 391) says
that ﻛﻠﻤﮫ ﺗﺮﺟﻢmeans "explained it" and
that ﺗﺮﺟﻤﺎنrefers to "the person who
transfers speech from one language into
another." The word اولmeans "explain"
(Rida, 1958, p. 224).
Defining Translation
Translation is the gateway for understanding and
dealing with others and their civilizations. Most
translation scholars and linguists agree that the
translation process is achieved as a
communicative process from a foreign language
to the mother tongue, so translation is considered
a unique linguistic device that has the very
important task of imparting the sense of the text
from one language to another language.
Translation involves rendering a text from a
source language (SL) to a target language (Tl).
Generally speaking, translation can be
defined as the process of transferring,
reproducing, replacing, or interpreting
source text (ST) message, material, text,
or meaning into another language
focusing on meaning and style
respectively. The differences between
English and Arabic, be they linguistic or
cultural, must be taken into
consideration when translating. To
exemplify grammatical and cultural
differences between English and Arabic,
consider the following:
اﺣﺰﻧﮭﺎ رﺣﯿﻠﮫ
She was saddened by his departure
اﻟزﻛﺎة ﻣن ارﻛﺎن اﻻﺳﻼم اﻟﺧﻣﺳﺔ
Zakat is a pillar of Islam
Translation Strategies
Strategic decisions: The first set of reasoned
decisions taken by the translator. These are taken
before starting the translation in detail, in
response to the following questions: What is the
message content of this particular ST? What are
its salient linguistic features? What are its
principal effects? What genre does it belong to,
and what audience is it aimed at? What are the
functions and intended audience of my
translation? What are the implications of these
factors? If a choice has to be made among them,
which ones should be given priority?
TYPES OF TRANSLATION
A.Literal translation/Word-for-word translation
Literal translation is also called word-for-word
translation. This type of translation keeps the SL word
order; words are translated out of context according to
their most common meaning.
When you do so, you lose the idiomatic meanings.
a. Rain cats and dogs :ﺗﻤﻄﺮ ﻗﻄﻄﺎ وﻛﻼﺑﺎ
b. look after :ﯾﻨﻈﺮ ﺑﻌﺪ
c. Poke your nose into sth :ﺗﻐﺮس اﻧﻔﻚ ﻓﻲ ﺷﯿﺊ
d. deliver speech :ﯾﺴﻠﻢ ﻛﻼﻣﺎ
e. on a high horse :ﻋﻠﻰ ﺣﺼﺎن ﻋﺎﻟﻲ
Idiomatic translation
Idiomatic translation "reproduces the 'message' of the original." It
prefers colloquialisms and idioms which do not exist in the original.
Consider the following examples showing English source text
expressions and their translation into Arabic:
a.He did not get a thing :ﺑﺨﻔﻲ ﺣﻨﯿﻦ/ﻋﺎد ﺧﺎﻟﻲ اﻟﻮﻓﺎض
b.Cool down :ھﺪئ ﻣﻦ روﻋﻚ
C.His departure saddened her deeply : ﺗﻔﻄﺮ ﻗﻠﺒﮭﺎ ﺣﺰﻧﺎ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻓﺮاﻗﮫ
e.I loved her and accepted everything about her : واﺣﺒﮭﺎ وﺗﺤﺒﻨﻲ وﯾﺤﺐ
ﻧﺎﻗﺘﮭﺎ ﺑﻌﯿﺮي
Communicative translation
This type of translation attempts to render the exact contextual
meaning of the original text in such a way that both content and
language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the
reader. Communicative translation aspires to create the same
effect created by the SL text on the TL reader. Though it is not as
accurate as semantic translation which sticks to the original text,
it communicates the meaning at the expense of accuracy.
5) Semantic translation :
Semantic translation attempts to render, as closely as
the semantic and syntactic structures of the second
language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the
original (Newmark 1982: 39). Semantic translation
aims at replicating the original texts’ forms within the
target language, reproducing the original context,
and retaining the characters of the SL culture in the
translation.
Translation by addition
Translation by addition strategy simply refers to adding something,
not present in the ST, to the TT ( Dickins et al., 2017 ). This strategy
is commonly used when translating from Arabic into English as in
adding the word days to the English translation of ﻣﻧذ اﻟﮭﯾﻣﻧﺔ اﻟﺗرﻛﯾﺔ
making it “since the days of the Turkish hegemony” (Dickins et al.,
2017, p. 21). Another example is the translation of maternity wear into
Arabic as ﻣﻼﺑس ﺧﺎﺻﺔ ﺑﺎﻟﺣواﻣلin which the word ﺧﺎﺻﺔis added to the
Arabic translation. Drinking water is translated into Arabic as ﻣﯾﺎه
ﺻﺎﻟﺣﺔ ﻟﻠﺷربThe word. (ﺻﺎﻟﺣﺔsafe/ fit) is added to the Arabic
translation.
Translation by addition
Translation by addition strategy simply refers to adding
something, not present in the ST, to the TT. This strategy is
commonly used when translating from Arabic into English as in
adding the word days to the English translation of ﻣﻨﺬ اﻟﮭﯿﻤﻨﺔ
اﻟﺘﺮﻛﯿﺔmaking it “since the days of the Turkish hegemony”.
Another example is the translation of maternity wear into Arabic
as ﻣﻼﺑﺲ ﺧﺎﺻﺔ ﺑﺎﻟﺤﻮاﻣﻞin which the word ﺧﺎﺻﺔis added to the
Arabic translation. Drinking water is translated into Arabic as
ﻣﯿﺎه ﺻﺎﻟﺤﺔ ﻟﻠﺸﺮبThe word. (ﺻﺎﻟﺤﺔsafe/ fit) is added to the Arabic
translation.
Equivalence
Equivalence is a strategy whereby different stylistic or structural
means are used by the SL and TL, respectively, as in idioms and
proverbs. In other words, the ST and TT can render the same
message using different styles or different structures. A)
Linguistic equivalence: the SL and TL texts are similar on the
linguistic level (word for word translation); B) Paradigmatic
equivalence: there is focus on the elements of grammar; C)
Stylistic (translational) equivalence: focuses on the functional
equivalence of the elements in SL and TL texts and seeks to
achieve identical meaning; and D. Textual (syntagmatic)
equivalence focuses on equivalence of form and shape.
Borrowing, is where an SL word is transferred to the TT
to fill a semantic gap in the TL. One of the advantages of
this strategy is that it keeps the same connotations of the
SL (Ni, 2009). Moreover, this method adds the favour of
the SL culture to the TL. Some of the borrowed items
became a central core of the repertoire of lexicons in the
TL. For example, menu, coup d’état, café, alcohol, sheik
and Islam are part of the English language, though they
basically belong to other cultures and language.
Similarly, Arabic words such as ﺳﻮﺑﺮﻣﺎرﻛﺖ، أﻧﺘﺮﻧﺖand
many others were borrowed from English.
Domestication and Foreignisation
Translation has always involved considering the values
of the target language and the source language. Whether
these values are linguistic or cultural ones, an equivalent
meaning should be given. Lawrence Venuti addresses
two issues, foreignization and domestication.
Domestication looks like a fluent translation which
makes the translation seem as an original work, while
foreignization keeps the foreign features in the translated
text by transferring the values, beliefs and culturally
specific terms in the translated version.
