An Analysis of Arabic-English Translation: Problems and Prospects PDF

Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 www.alls.aiac.org.au An Analysis of Arabic-English Translation: Problems and Prospects Md. Faruquzzaman Akan*, Md. Re...

Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 www.alls.aiac.org.au An Analysis of Arabic-English Translation: Problems and Prospects Md. Faruquzzaman Akan*, Md. Rezaul Karim, Abdullah Mohammad Kabir Chowdhury Faculty of English, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia Corresponding Author: Md. Faruquzzaman Akan, E-mail: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history This research paper is designed with a view to looking into various problems of translating Received: September 11, 2018 Arabic texts into English and fixing them with prospective and suitable solutions. As translation Accepted: November 27, 2018 is a very sensitive and subtle task of language studies, it involves some serious issues to deal Published: February 28, 2019 with. However, it becomes a more complex task when we translate from Arabic to English. So, a Volume: 10 Issue: 1 translator must have the critical linguistic knowledge in tackling both the surface and underlying Advance access: January 2019 relations of language. Translation also entails the transferring and transforming a variety of characteristic elements from one language into the other. As Arabic and English are of different and distant origins, any translation from one script into the other poses a lot of difficulties such Conflicts of interest: None as in the areas of vocabulary, grammar, sound, style and usage. The present paper addresses the Funding: None problems relating to translating the Arabic texts, specially of the language, into English as well as resolving the obstructions in a practical, possible and acceptable way on the bases of types of readership, text, context, culture and so forth. To make this work more accessible to the non- Key words: native users of the Arabic language, Arabic IPA transcriptions are furnished wherever necessary. Translation, Meaning, Text, Source Language, Target Language, Equivalence, Culture, Usage INTRODUCTION original, and inspire the same responses in its readers. So, a Translation is indispensable in our everyday life for its being translator is both a reader and writer at the same time. Once a most diverse means of human communication. In these in an answer to the question “What is a Translation?” Fran- days of globalization and widespread immigration, the need cis Steele gives a wonderful definition, “A translation should of translation is increasing due to the continuous expansion convey as much of the original text in as few words as pos- of trade, science, culture, technology and so on. Translation sible, yet preserve the original atmosphere and emphasis. is a field of contrastive linguistics since it is associated with The translator should strive for the nearest approximation in at least two languages and their cultures. It is the process of words, concepts, and cadence. He should scrupulously avoid conveying the message by transferring from one system of adding words or ideas not demanded by the text. His job is language to the other. That is to say, it is the technique used not to expand or to explain, but to translate and preserve the to transfer and/or transform the meaning of a written term spirit and force of the original.... Not just ideas, but words are or text of the source language into the target language using important; so also is the emphasis indicated by word order words which have direct equivalence, new words or terms, in the sentence”. Thus, translation from Arabic into English foreign words written in target language or using foreign needs the processes and techniques which are used to transfer words to fit the target language pronunciation. Bassnett, S. the meaning of the source language (i.e. Arabic) into the tar- (1980:21) says, “Translation involves the transfer of ‘mean- get language (i.e. English). This paper approaches translation ing’ contained in one set of language signs into another set of activity from both academic and professional points of view. language signs through competent use of the dictionary and grammar; the process involves a whole set of extra-linguistic criteria also”. A translation should be read by readers in its DISCUSSION new language with the same enthusiasm and understanding Translation is an act of interlingual interaction which engages as it was in the old. It should have the same virtues as the the cultural, religious, political etc components of language. Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.10n.1p.58 An Analysis of Arabic-English Translation: Problems and Prospects 59 In translation, we do not translate a word, sound, style or language to another. Therefore, literal translation works grammar but meaning. Meaning can be defined as a knotty where there is a correspondence between the two languages arrangement or a product of different linguistic elements such in terms of semantics and structure. The literal translation is as vocabulary, grammar, style, phonology and usage. Usually, a bad practice, specially between the languages of distant anything which is not relevant to meaning is not considered as sources like Arabic and English. Notably, literal translation translation but at times, we may have some exception where often falters, particularly in the case of multi-word units like sounds are more important than meanings for example, poet- collocations and idioms. But literal translation may some- ry. Meaning can be made out from a single word or a group times work in the case of multi-word units which can be il- of words so that something can be understood independently. lustrated as ‘‫ ’الحرب و السالم‬/alharb wa assalam/‒ ‘war and Hence, a word is the smallest and a sentence is the largest unit peace’. of meaning. Translation needs to be viewed as an act of com- This method could be applied in three different ways: munication governed by consideration of comprehensibility Word-for-Word Translation, One-to-One Literal Transla- and readability, rather than an act of prescription informed by tion and Literal Translation of Meaning. The ancient Greeks dogmatic and obsolete views about correctness. So, transla- translated texts into Latin using the literal Word for Word tion is the exchange of the meaning of a source-language text Translation method. Also, one to one basis of literal substi- by means of an equivalent target-language text. tution was preferred. Here, fluency for target readers is more English is the most common lingua franca for universal important than fidelity. communication with 379 millions as native and at least 700 a) Word-for-Word Translation: A word-for-word trans- millions as foreign language users (Ethnologue, 22nd/2019) lation is the way of transferring meaning of each and ev- all over the world. The need and demand of English has be- ery word of the source language into the target language come greater for globalization, trade, commerce, informa- with its equivalent words. This means to translate indi- tion technology, immigration and so forth. English is one of vidual words. It is a bit risky method since it may upset the modern Aryan or Indo European languages but Arabic is meaning. So, it is not recognized as a mature translation one of the oldest Afro Asiatic languages of the world. Ara- practice because it does not take structural mismatch- bic is also one of the famous international languages having es such as differences in word order, modification etc mother tongue of 319 millions (Ethnologue, 22nd/2019) Arab between languages into consideration. It thoroughly ig- nationals who have some controls over the majority of the nores the target language and the context. Here, each world nations economically, religiously and linguistically. and every word or item is translated into TL with an The abundance of minerals has indebted many nations eco- equivalent and similar meaning. e.g. nomically on the one hand and their language, Arabic being Arabic:. ‫ ذهب نجين إلى جدة‬ǁ ðahaba naʤin ila ʤiddah ǁ the language of the holy Quran helped them on the other English:? Went Najin to Jeddah. hand to create world brotherhood. The Arab navigators, trav- Here, the correct word order for the translation in English ellers and specially the Sufis and their spreading of Islam should be ‘Najin went to Jeddah’. In Arabic verbal sentenc- to the different non-Muslim world-nations helped them to es, the verb comes first but in English sentences, the verb come in contact of many. comes after a noun or noun equivalent in a sentence. So, the Translation has been used by humans for centuries, above English word-for-word translation is faulty. beginning after the appearance of written literature. Mod- b) One-to-One Literal Translation: It is a broader form ern-day translators use sophisticated tools and technologies of translation. In this method, we consider the collo- to accomplish their work, and rely heavily on software ap- cation meanings and translate each SL word or phrase plications to simplify and streamline their tasks. However, into an identical word or phrase in the TL with the same problems of translation are mainly caused by syntax (gram- number, grammatical class and type of language. That mar), lexis or vocabulary (word), stylistics (style), phonolo- is, a noun is translated into a noun, an adjective into an gy (sound) and usage of the source language (SL) which is adjective and so on and so forth. In the same way, an Arabic and its translation into the target language (TL) being idiom should be translated into an idiom, a collocation English in our current study. into a collocation, a proverb into a proverb, a metaphor into a metaphor etc. The following example shows the TRANSLATION METHODS translation of an Arabic idiom into English. e.g. The method of translation refers to the way we use to trans- Arabic: ‘‫’لسان طويل‬/lisan tawil fer the meaning from the source language into the target English: ‘long tongue’ (i.e. abussive) language. The main and major classification of methods c) Literal Translation of Meaning: It is the translation of of translation could be: (i) Manual and (ii) Mechanical, or meaning as closely, accurately and completely as possi- (a) Literal and (b) Free. However, in Newmark's words, ble. This is why sometimes it is called Close, or Direct (1988:45), we translate either literally or freely. e.g.: Translation. It takes into account for the TL grammar and word order. Metaphorical and special uses of lan- guage are also accounted for in the TL. This method Literal Translation conveys different meanings in different texts, contexts Literal translation involves the conveyance of denotative and combination with other words. This method can be meaning of words, phrases and sentences in a text from one most acceptable among literal translations. e.g. 60 ALLS 10(1):58-65 Arabic:..‫ ‖ أحبك كثيرا‬ahibbuka kaθiran ‖ (Past) with ‘‫ ’يفعل‬for Arabic negative (and at times affirmative) English: I love you a lot. sentences indicate the tenses only. The verbs ‘Do’ and ‘Did’ in questions have the Arabic equivalent as ‘‫’ھﻝ‬/hal/. e.g. Arabic: ‫ هل تحب الزهور؟‬ǁ hal tuhib azzuhur ǁ Free Translation English: Do you like flowers? It is the act of rendering the wording, structure, and gram- Verb ‘Have’: The verb ‘Have’ to show ownership mar of a source document into the translation as closely as (i.e. ‘‫’يملك‬/jamlik/in Arabic) has fewer problems as the possible. Here, fluency is not as important as fidelity. This is main verb (though it has no use as an auxiliary verb) in often made for students and scholars who have knowledge Arabic. of the language they are reading. This method is considered Questions: In Arabic, for Yes/No-questions ‘‫ ’ھﻝ‬can be to be better than the previous one, the literal translation. Free used in both present and past tenses but for Wh-questions, method means to translate without any constraints. A free we may have the equivalents such as: ‘‫’ما‬/ma/(What), ‘‫’من‬/ translation is a translation that reproduces the general mean- man/(Who), ‘‫’من‬/man/(Whom), ‘‫’لماذا‬/limaða/(Why), ‘‫’كيف‬/ ing of the original text. It may or may not closely follow kaif/(How), ‘‫’أين‬/aina/(Where), ‘‫’متى‬/mata/(When), ‘‫’ما‬/ma/ the form or organization of the original. It is associated with (Which), ‘‫’لمن‬/liman/(Whose) etc. e.g. translating the spirit, or the message, not the letter or the Arabic: ‫ ؟ اين ﻋا ﻣﻥ‬ǁ min aina ali ǁ form of the text. It does not translate each and every sin- English: Where is Ali from? gle word in a text. The translator can translate the way s/ Negations: The Arabic words like ‘‫’ال‬/la/, ‘‫’ما‬/ma/, ‘‫’لم‬/ he understands. It is convenient both for the translator and lam/, ‘‫’لن‬/lan/etc have equivalents in English as ‘no’, ‘not’ the person who reads it. As for free translation, it is anoth- etc. e.g. er translation method whereby an SL literary text is relayed Arabic: ‫ال أعرف‬. ǁ la arif ǁ (Present) vs ‫لم أعرف‬. ǁ lam arif into a TL by reproducing the matter without the manner, or ǁ (Past) the content without the form. So, it is usually a paraphrase English: I do not know. (Present) vs. I did not that is much longer than the original and over and over again know. (Past) wordy and pretentious. e.g. Word Orders: Two languages have different orders of Arabic:‫ليلى امرأة شابة وطيبة القلب‬ words. For English, it is as Subject + Verb + Object/Comple- ‖ laila aimrah ʃabat wa taibatu alqalb ‖ ment, but in Arabic, we have the following two structures: English: Laila is a young and kind-hearted woman. a. Nominal: Subject + (Verb) + Object/Comple- Arabic: ‫لقد سبق أن أخبرتك اال تستخدم قلمي‬. ment:‫نجين مدرس‬. ǁ naʤin (S) mudarris (C) ǁ ‖ laqad sabaq an akhbartuka alla tastakhadim qalami ‖ b. Verbal: Verb + Subject + Object/Complement: English: I had already told you not to use my pen. ‫ذهب علي إلى السوق‬. ǁ ðahaba (V) ali (S) ila assuq (C) ǁ The common methods of free translation could be clas- Usually, English has only nominal sentence structures sified as Adaptive Translation, Semantic Translation, Idi- (i.e. SVC). Arabic is syntactically more flexible than En- omatic Translation, Communicative Translation, Pragmatic glish. In Arabic, there are generally three accepted word or- Translation, Faithful Translation, Creative Translation, Cog- ders: VSC, SVC and VCS. But a typical Arabic structure of nitive Translation, Information Translation, Stylistic Trans- lation, Scientific Translation etc. a sentence is as VSC: the ‘verb’ followed by a ‘subject’ which is further followed by an ‘object’ or ‘complement’ but in English, it is as SVC: the ‘subject’ followed by a ‘verb’ RESEARCH FINDINGS which is further followed by an ‘object’ or ‘complement’. A translation problem is any difficulties we come across But with some change of meaning, the English word order at translating that invites us to stop translating in order to could be different too. check, recheck, reconsider, rethink or rewrite it or use a dic- Personal Pronouns: Personal pronouns can be omitted tionary, or a reference of some kind to help us overcome it (or, embedded) in verbal Arabic sentences if not to put em- and make sense of it. Translation problems can be posed phasis. e.g. essentially by the grammar, word, style, sound and/or us- Arabic:. (‫أنا) اشتريت سيارة‬. ‖ (ana) iʃtaraitu saiarah ‖ age of the concerning languages. Here, some problems like English: I bought a car. syntactic, semantic, stylistic, phonological and usage are Adjectives: English attributive adjectives usually come discussed in detail: before nouns but in Arabic, the opposite is commonly A. Syntactic Problems: There are some problems related found. e.g. to the syntax/structure of the two languages (i.e. Arabic ‫ حمراء سيارة‬/saiarah hamra/vs. (a) red car and English) because they belong to two different and Tenses: Arabic and English have two major types of distant language families and for other reasons. Syn- tenses (e.g. present and past). Arabic has no progressive and tactic asymmetries between Arabic and English require perfective form of tenses. In Arabic, the present and past per- special attention from translators. Most importantly, the fect tenses are treated as past simple. The present progres- translator needs to be aware of the mismatches at the sive is treated in Arabic as present simple but to indicate time sentence level which involve word order variation. e.g. ‘‫’االن‬/alan/is used and similarly, the past progressive is used Verb ‘Do’: ‘Do’ as the main verbs in English are equal to as past simple. The present and past perfect progressive tens- ‘‫’يفعل‬/jafal/in Arabic. The verb ‘Do’ (Present) and ‘Did’ es are not found in Arabic. An Analysis of Arabic-English Translation: Problems and Prospects 61 Conditional Sentences: Arabic has two types of condi- Finally, there is ‘ideational’ equivalence which aims to tional sentences. But English has three. The translation of convey the communicative sense of the SL expression inde- future in the past creates the main problem in Arabic. pendently of function and form. The English translation of Articles: Like English, there is no indefinite article in the Arabic example involving ‘‫ ’من الر ﻤﺿاﺀ إلى النار‬reflects Arabic. It has only definite articles (i.e. ‘‫’ال‬/al/− ‘the’). this type of equivalence: e.g. ‘‫’طالب‬/talib/ (i.e. a student) vs. ‘‫’طالب‬/tullab/  ‫لم يكن قرار ﻨﺠﯿﻥ بترك وظيفته والشروع بأخرى حكيماً– فقد‬ (i.e. students); ‘‫’الشمس‬/aʃʃams/ (i.e. the sun) etc. ‫سارت األمور من سيء إلى أسوء‬. Genders and Numbers: English does not have any ‖ lam jakun qarra naʤin waðaifatah wa aʃrua bi- grammatical genders whereas Arabic has. e.g. ‘‫’ﻣﻌﻟﻢ‬/muallim/ ukhra hakim– faqad sarat alaumour min sia: ila (i.e. a male teacher) vs. ‘‫’ﻣﻌﻟﻣﺔ‬/muallimah/ (i.e. a female aswa ‖ teacher). Also, English has two types of numbers. e.g. Singu- English: Najin’s decision to leave his job for a lar (i.e. a teacher) vs. Plural (i.e. teachers), but Arabic has new one was ill-thought –things went from bad to three types of numbers. e.g. Singular: ‘‫’ﻣﻌﻟﻢ‬/muallim/ (i.e. a worse. teacher), Dual: ‘‫’ﻣﻌﻟﻣاﻥ‬/mualliman/(i.e. two teachers) and Monosomy: A word which has only one meaning is Plural: ‘‫’ﻣﻌﻟﻣﻭﻥ‬/muallimun/ (i.e. teachers) termed monosemous. Monosemous words and terms cause B. Semantic Problems: As words, the basic units of trans- no serious problems because they are standardized and avail- lation play a very significant role, students or translators able in the TL with one single meaning. face more problems here. These problems take place Polysemy: A word which has more than one meaning is when a word, phrase or term cannot be understood di- described as polysemous. e.g. ‘‫’طويل‬/tawil/ (i.e. tall) and rectly and clearly; misunderstood or not found in the ‘‫’طويل‬/tawil/ (i.e. long). Problems of translation arise when a standard lexicons/dictionaries. The other major seman- polysemous word is mistaken for a monosemous one, where tic or lexical problems encountered by translators and one meaning is wrongly assigned to it in all texts and con- students are as follow: texts. Equivalence: In the whole process of translation, equiv- Synonymy: Words which have the same meaning or alence is the key concept for any languages. The notion of similar meaning are called synonyms. Synonyms pose the equivalence is introduced as a major parameter of human problems concerning the difference between the levels of communication. It should be noted that the notion of equiv- closeness or absolute identification of the meanings of syn- alence relates to the ordinary sense of the verb that we trans- onymous words compared with one another in the same lan- late. That is why we are often asked to translate our feelings guage as well as between the two languages, the SL and the into words and our words into actions etc. In general, we can TL, and how effective/ineffective that difference may be on speak of types of equivalence such as formal, functional and meaning in a context. ideational. Firstly, ‘formal’ equivalence seeks to capture the Collocations: Two or more words which usually occur form of the SL expression. Here, form relates to the image together consistently in different texts and contexts are called employed in the SL expression as can be illustrated by the a collocation. We can say, it is the habitual co-occurrence of underlined Arabic idiomatic expression and its underlined words. e.g. ‘‫’شاهي ثقيل‬/ʃahi θaqil/ (i.e. strong tea) formal English equivalent. e.g. Idioms: Types of phrases which have fixed forms and Arabic:. ‫لم يكن قرار ﻨﺠﻴﻥ بترك وظيفته والشروع بأخرى‬ special meanings that cannot be made out from the direct ‫حكيماً– كالقافز من الر ﻤﺿاﺀ إلى النار‬ meaning of their words are called an idiom. e.g. ‘‫’ذو وﺠﮭﺒﻦ‬/ðu ‖ lam jakun qarra naʤin bitark waðaifatah wa aʃrua waʤhin/‒ a hypocrite biukhra hakim– kalkafiz min arramada: ila annar ‖ Proverbs/Sayings: Proverbs are popular fixed sayings English: Najin’s decision to leave his job for a new which are part of culture. Therefore, they have their own one was ill-thought– out of the frying pan into the fire. problems of translation for everybody, specially students of Secondly, we have ‘functional’ equivalence which seeks translation. Here, we have the Arabic proverbs and its En- to capture the function of the SL expression independently of glish translation illustrated below: the image utilized by translating it into the TL expression  Arabic:.‫ ‖ الصدق منجاة‬alsidq minʤah ‖ that performs the same function: English: Honesty is the best policy.  –ً‫لم يكن قرار ﻨﺠﯿﻥ بترك وظيفته والشروع بأخرى حكيما‬ Metaphors: Metaphors are an indirect, non-literal lan- ‫كالمستجير من الرمضاء بالنار‬. guage. They are used to say something but mean something ‖ lam jakun qarra naʤin bitark waðaifatah wa aʃrua else. They are usually quite problematic and difficult. A met- biukhra hakim– kalumustaʤir min arramada: binnar ‖ aphorical translation involves the translation of SL meta- English: Najin’s decision to leave his job for a new phors into TL metaphors. In creative metaphors, the vehicle one was ill-thought– from hot to hotter. (i.e. the form) and the tenor (i.e. the content) become inter- Sometimes, ‘formal’ and ‘functional’ equivalence may twined and subsequently inseparable. However, metaphors coincide to furnish what could be called ‘optimal’ translat- are not always creative; they are frequently used as decora- ability. The following Arabic proverb and its English transla- tive. tion illustrate this: Morphology: Morphology deals with the forms of Arabic: ‫ ‖ إن الطيور على أشكالها تقع‬inna alttur ala aʃka- words. It corresponds to that branch of Arabic linguistics liha taqui ‖ known as ̒‫’علم الصرف‬/ilm assarf/. In the case of Ara- English: Birds of a feather flock together. bic-English translation, the problem stems from the fact that 62 ALLS 10(1):58-65 Arabic morphological system is more flexible than English parallelism is not always easy to translate, and may have its morphological system is. Derivation is a core aspect of mor- problems in both Arabic and English. phology. It allows the derivation of numerous words forms, Short vs. Long Sentences: To combine short sentences with different shades of signification, from the same root. into one or to divide long sentences into short ones may e.g. ‘‫( ’ذۿݕ‬root) ‒ ‫( ذﺍهب‬i.e. go/goes) ‫( ﻴذهب‬i.e. can go) ‫ذهب‬ cause confusion. (i.e. went) But English morphological system is not so rigid Redundancy: The employment of extra and unnecessary with respect to all parts of speech. e.g. big - bigger - the words expressing something might have some purpose in biggest. Morphological differences between languages tend translation. So, it should not be dropped but taken care of. to pose a serious problem in the case of Arabic-English Nominalization vs. Verbalization: Unlike English, Ara- translation. bic has two types of sentence structures namely noun domi- Connotations: A connotation has the meaning that a nated and verb dominated. This is an important area of Ara- word can be suggested in addition to its denotative meaning. bic to English translation. For instance, the Arabic word ‘‫’اﺳﺪ‬/asad/ (i.e. a lion) can sig- Irony: It is a very difficult style of any languages. Here, nify in addition to its known meaning as ‘a strong and brave the translator has to be very careful. It is of three types: ver- person’. Words acquire their connotation from the culture to bal, situational and dramatic irony which they belong, as in every culture, people associate par- Anaphora: An anaphora is a literary technique where ticular signification with particular words till they become several phrases or verses begin with the same word or words. the shades of those word meanings. Passive vs. Active Style: There are some differences be- Paraphrases: It is a brief explanation used when there is tween the Arabic passive and the English passive and its im- no way to make an unclear term or expression (e.g. cultural plications on translation. The Arabic passive is predominant- or religious etc) understandable. The Arabic word ‘‫’ردة‬/rid- ly emotive although it can be used for other purposes such as dah/without explanation will not be clear to the English thematization for emphasis. The English passive is also emo- speakers though meaning ‘to refrain from’ but not having the tive albeit to the lesser extent. Like the Arabic passive, it is exact meaning. So, a paraphrase is usually longer than the also used for the purpose of thematization. Let us examine original. the following examples: Naturalization: It is a translation strategy where SL us- Arabic: ‫ ‖ قتل علي بواسطة مؤيد‬qutila ali biwasitat age is converted into normal TL usage. This process is basi- muaid ‖ cally carried out at lexical, collocation and structural levels. English: Ali was killed by Muaid. By way of illustration, the Arabic lexical item ‘‫’قابل للتفاوض‬/ The misleading error in this translation is that while the qabil littafaud/is translated as ‘negotiable’, the Arabic collo- SL text explicitly says ‘Muaid’ is the real perpetrator, the TL cation ‘‫’يعير االنتباه‬/jauir ulintibah/ is translated into ‘to draw text implicitly portrays ‘Muaid’ as a sheer accomplice. The attention’ and the Arabic sentence ‘‫’الجو ماطر‬/alʤaw matir/ TL suggests that ‘Muaid’ did not kill ‘Ali’ by himself but translates into ‘It is raining now’ in English. In that case, made somebody else to kill him (i.e. Ali). The translation of naturalization of usage is inevitable in translation, as literal ‘by’ as ‘‫’بواسطة‬/biwasitat/can be avoided rendering it as ‘‫على‬ translation would produce unnatural expressions in the TL ‫’يد‬/ala jed/which confirms the real perpetrator of the action in cases where naturalization is called for. by the doer. e.g. ‘‫قتل على يد مؤيد‬.’ ‖ qutila ala jed muaid ‖ Again, Moreover, parallelism, literal translation, phrasal verbs, we have the following example, localization etc also create problems in translating a term or Arabic:. ‫ ‖ التدخين ممنوع بموجب القانون‬altadkhin mamnu text. bimuʤab alqanun ‖ C. Stylistic Problems: In recent times, style is considered English: Smoking is forbidden by law. to be an essential part of meaning. It may cause prob- It is to be noted that the translation of ‘by’ as ‘‫ ’بواسطة‬can lems for translators. It includes various types of figure be maintained as a second option in cases where the action is of speech. Among the stylistic problems, there will be physically done through the agent. the following points to consider: Of course, besides these there are other issues in transla- Fronting: A word, a phrase or a clause can be put in the tion like ambiguity, (in)formality, punctuation, repetition beginning of a sentence in a usual way. Such fronting is done and variation, simple vs. complex style, euphemism etc. on purpose to achieve a stylistic function of some kind: em- D. Phonological Problems: Phonological problems or is- phasis of the fronted word, or drawing attention to its special sues are those which are connected to sounds and their importance to the meaning of the sentence. e.g ‘‫’اشتريت سيارة‬/ effects on meaning. These characteristics and effects iʃtaraitu saiarah/ instead of ‘‫’سيارة اشتريت‬/saiaratu iʃtaraitu/. may sometimes be very important for meaning and text Translators may be unfamiliar with such a stylistic function, as a whole where sounds are more significant than sens- and, hence ignore the style of fronting. But this is not advis- es. Phonological features become an important aspect of able since meaning will be affected, however indirectly. It translation when form comes to the fore in discourse and creates fewer problems in Arabic than in English. presents itself as inseparable from content. This is where Clichés: There are some expressions that have some kind of phonological features emerge as part and parcel of con- comparison. e.g. The Arabic expression ‘‫’مشغول مثل النحل‬/maʃɣul tent that need to be taken care of by the translator. The miθla alnahal/ may be translated as ‘very busy’ in English. clearest manifestation of phonological features occurs in Parallelism: Two clauses or sentences may have the poetry (e.g. alliteration, rhyme, meter, paralleled repeti- same structure and are, therefore, parallel. Such style of tion, etc.) where defamiliarization and the creation of An Analysis of Arabic-English Translation: Problems and Prospects 63 new paradigms are embodied in such features (Fowler, Possibility: The possibility of saying something in the 1996). Hence, translating verse into verse is the most TL or not, for example the Arabic term ‘‫’راتب ضخم‬/ratib da- challenging task in translation; it may require, as many khim/ is translated in English as ‘a fat/handsome salary’. believe, a poet translator in order to render the formal Logical Acceptability: The logical acceptability of an properties that improvise poetic features which legiti- expression may be significant. e.g. The logical translation of mate the discourse in this genre. So, careful and repeated ‘‫يعتذر‬/‫’يسحب كالمه‬/jaʃab kalamuhu, or jataðir/ is ‘to eat one’s reading, specially poetry, dropping unnecessary words words’ but the Arabic term ‘‫’ياكل كلماته‬/jakul kalimatuh/is not and looking for the widest possible range of synonyms correct as nobody can eat words. for key words, rhyming words etc can help the transla- Frequency: The frequency or non-frequency of an ex- tors. This is very necessary for rhythmical language. So, pression or a grammatical structure matters a lot. e.g. The we have to consider the issues about Arabic-English frequent translation of ‘‫’يزرع الشقاق‬/jazra alʃiqaq/ is ‘to sow translation. e.g. Sounds are important in language, spe- division’ or the structure ‘‫’قلبا و قالبا‬/qalban wa qaliba/is ‘heart cially when they combine together in different patterns and soul’. to give meaning. To support the importance of sounds, Familiarity: The degree of familiarity or strangeness of we can quote Lawson’s (1981:97), “… much more an expression, or a grammatical structure can cause confu- meaning is conveyed by rhythm and stress than we rec- sion. e.g. The familiar translation of ‘‫’اسباب وجيهة‬/asbab wa- ognize”. The sound effect could be more important than ziha/ is ‘good reasons’. meaning and it plays an aesthetic function of language. Understandability: The understandability, or not of an So, we have the following points to talk about. e.g. Arabic expression such as the translation of ‘‫’مهمة شاقة‬/ma- Tone: It is an attitude of a writer towards a subject or hammah ʃaqah/ is ‘a difficult/hard/daunting task’ in English. an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words, or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject. SUGGESTIONS FOR TRANSLATION PROBLEMS Rhyme: It is a type of matching sound found at the end of words in a verse. Any problems demand a solution. So, without a solution, Rhythm: It is a phonological feature of language consist- there is no great or real use of pinpointing a translation prob- ing of a regular stressed and an unstressed syllable. lem. Indeed, without solutions to translation problems, we Alliteration: In English, it is an initial rhyme involving stop translating altogether. This is why all problems located the repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning in this work are accompanied by the same time with their but in Arabic, it is at the end of words. possible solutions. In order to be acceptable, any suggested Assonance: It is the repetition of the same vowel sound in solutions are made clear, reasonable, feasible, reliable, appli- the middle of words. It is not so clear in Arabic as in English. cable, contextual and in the right direction. Otherwise, it will Onomatopoeia: The use of imitative and naturally sug- not be acceptable. The solutions proposed to the translation gestive words for rhetorical, dramatical or poetic effect is problems are, therefore, based on the following criteria: termed onomatopoeia. Untranslatability: The problems of translating from Other issues like consonance, meter, foot, beat, off beat Arabic to English can be termed as untranslatability etc are also important. So, we can say phonological fea- which as such can straightly be of four types: cultural, tures and effects have an important role in translation where geographical, religious and linguistic. Problems of loss sounds are more significant than senses. in translation include difficulties encountered by the E. Usage Problems: Usage subsumes various issues of translator when faced with terms or concepts in the SL language such as cultural, religious, social, geographi- that do not exist in TL. cal, political and so forth. Examples that may demon- Types of the Text: The text may be general, technical, strate approximation are so many items that may belong religious, political etc. For example, books with humour to various linguistic levels. These issues are great fac- require a translator with wit, and where there is an un- tors of translation. e.g. usual or intricate use of language (in the case of dialects, Cultural Terms: Anthropologists suggest that language slang terms, and even cadence), a good understanding is culture bound. So, a culture-specific expression in the SL of and ability to translate the spoken word is essential. is translated into a cultural substitute in the TL. e.g. The ex- Sometimes, the idiomatic or religious terms need a little pression for greeting in Arabic ‘‫’صباح الخير‬/sabah alkhir/ has explanation for English readers. the meaning in English as ‘good morning’ whereas ‘‫’صباح جيد‬ Genders: A decision may be made that a female transla- is not accepted culturally or socially in Arabic though it may tor is better for the text with a particularly feminine sub- have same meaning. Similarly, ‘good evening’ is not correct ject matter, or a male for one on a particularly masculine in English as a parting greeting at night. topic. Religious Terms: The Arabic lexical item ‘‫( ’هللا‬Allah) is Major Linguistic Contexts: The whole text could be translated in English as ‘God’ with little change in meaning one sentence, one paragraph, a poem or a short story etc. because the word ‘‫ ’هللا‬has no male/female and singular/plural Minor Linguistic Contexts: It is to take account of the distinction, specially in Arabic. preceding and following word, phrase, clause or sentence. Political Terms: In Arabic, ‘‫’شهيد‬/ʃahi:d/ is a person who Types of Relationship: The level of the reader as such died for the cause of religion or the state and its translation in uneducated, educated, highly educated, specialists, chil- English is ‘martyr’ which might be different from Arabic. dren, etc is of a great consideration for translation. 64 ALLS 10(1):58-65 Areas of Interest: Areas that could present some 2018, pp. 1-21. difficulty in translation could include extensive use of Akan, M.F. et al (2018). A Discourse on Bangla Translation dialect, humour, poetry or literary conceit, all of which of Arabic Texts: Problems and Proposals. International will need to be approached in a systematic and pre- Journal of Language, Literature and Translation, Vol. 2, agreed manner. Issue- 4, 2018, pp. 1-21. Areas of Specialty: Some books focus on specialist ar- Akan, M. F. (2014). The Linguistic Overviews of Arabic and eas, perhaps involving historical facts or scientific the- Bangla: A Comparative and Contrastive Analysis. Ban- ory, for instance. In this case, the translator should have gladesh Research Foundation Journal, Dhaka, Bangla- a good working knowledge of the subject matter, or a desh, Vol. 3, No.1, April 2014, pp. 103-110. proven ability to research, disseminate and extrapolate Al-Hamdalla, R. (1998). Problems and Approaches to Trans- information successfully. In some cases, travelling to lation with Special Reference to Arabic. Journal of King the host country may be necessary. Saud University, Languages and Translation, 10, 23-38. So, it should be kept in mind that one problem can have Al-Hassnawi, A. (2000). Aspects of Scientific Translation: more than one solution, as much as one solution can be ap- English into Arabic Translation as a Case Study. www. plied to solve more than one problem. TranslationDirectory.com. Al-Masri, H. (2004). Semantics and Cultural Losses in the Translation of Literary Texts, unpublished PhD thesis: CONCLUSION Purdue University. Translation is a very tricky task of linguistics. It has always As-Safi, A. B. (2011). “Translation Theories, Strategies and been a complicated job, specially transferring the character- Basic Theoretical Issues”, Petra University, Amman. istics and properties of two languages belonging to differ- Awwad, M. (1989). Equivalence and Translatability of En- ent origins. Richards, I. A. (1953:l3) remarks, “Translation glish and Arabic Idioms, Papers and Studies in Contras- probably is the most complex type of event yet produced tive Linguistics, Vol. 26, pp. 57-67. in the evolution of the cosmos”. So, translating Arabic texts Bahameed, A. (2007). Hindrances in Arabic-English Inter- into English necessitates a huge bilingual expertise. More- cultural Translation. Translation Journal. Retrieved from: over, the cultural and religious influences are very strong http://translationjournal.net/journal/43culture.htm. in both the languages. It has been shown that though lexi- Baker, M. (1992). In Other Words: A Course book on Trans- cal problems are greater in number, grammatical, stylistic, lation. London and New York: Routledge. usage and phonological problems are not insignificant. For Baker, M. (1992). “In Other Words: A Course Book on instance, Arabic has more inflexion than English. Transla- Translation”, London: Routledge. tion programmes at the undergraduate and postgraduate DOI: 10.1515/cllt-2013-0018, June 2013. levels have become a common feature of universities and Bassnett, S. (1980). Translation Studies. London and academic institutes due to the increasing demand in the job New York: Routledge. market. Therefore, the charge of translation teaching is of- Bell, R. (1991). Translation and Translating, (Longman, ten assigned to bilingual academics specializing in literature London and New York). and/or linguistics. Translation is not merely about convey- Catford, J. C. (1965). “A Linguistic Theory of Translation”, ing meaning, it is something more. Although to resolve the London: Oxford University Press. Walton Street, Ox- challenges of translating Arabic into English or finding any ford 0x2 6 D P Oxford, London. straightforward means is in no way an easy task, a compara- Elyas, A. (1989). “Theories of Translation” University of tive study will benefit the translators, readers, practitioners, Mowsil: Mowsil. Linguistics Across Culture, Ann Ar- learners and teachers in this field with a more clear-cut in- bor: University of Machigan Press. formation. Farghal, M. (2012). Advanced Issues in Arabic-English Translation Studies. Kuwait: Kuwait University Press. Frawley, William, ed. (1984). Translation: Literary, Linguis- ABOUT THE AUTHORS tic, and Philosophical Perspectives. Newark, Delaware, Md. Faruquzzaman Akan, Md. Rezaul Karim and Abdullah University of Delaware Press, 218 p. Mohammad Kabir Chowdhury, three Bangladeshi nationals Ghazala, H. (2008). Translation as Problems and Solu- are presently working at King Khalid University, Saudi Ara- tions- A Textbook for University Students and Trainee bia. They have been teaching English as a foreign and second Translators (Special Edition), Dar El- IlmLilmalayin language for a long time. Mr. Akan is also the author of a good Publishing Press. number of research papers and academic textbooks in English. Ghazala, H. (2007). “Simultaneous Development of SL and His major areas of interest are applied linguistics, ELT, contras- TL Skills in Translation Class”, A Conference, Sultan tive linguistics, translation, phonetics, phonology, syntax etc. Qaboos University, Oman. Gadacha, A. (2006). On Translatability from English into Arabic: Words and Beyond. Meta: journal des traduc- REFERENCES teurs/Meta (Translators’ Journal), 51, 1, 36-50. Akan, M.F. (2018). Transliteration and Translation from Hatim, B. (2012). Teaching and Researching Translation. Bangla into English: A Problem Solving Approach. London: Longman. British Journal of English Linguistics, Vol.- 6, Issue- 6, Hatim, B. (1997a). Communication Across Cultures: Trans- An Analysis of Arabic-English Translation: Problems and Prospects 65 lation Theory and Contrastive Text Linguistics. Exeter: by Gill Paul. At British Centre for Literary Translation, University of Exeter Press. Arts Council England, The Society of Authors, British Hatim, B. (1997b). The Translator as Communicator. Lon- Council, and Dalkey Archive Press. don and New York: Routledge. Richards, I. A. (1953). Towards a theory of translation. Hatim, B. and Mason, I. (1990). Discourse and the Transla- “Studies in Chinese thought”, American Anthropologi- tor. London and New York: Longman. cal Association. Vol. 55, University of Chicago Press. Huq, Daniul, M. (2008). The Dhaka University Journal of Robbert, P. (1982). Linguistics and Translation, IRAL 20, Linguistics: Vol. 1 No.2 August, 2008, Published on Au- No. 3. gust 2009 © Registrar, Dhaka University, ISSN-2075- Saedi, L. (1996). Translation Principles vs. Translator Strat- 3098, pp. 45-66. egies. META 4(3): 389-392. Lambert, W. E. (1978). “Psychological approaches to bilin- Saraireh, M. (1990). Some Lexical and Semantic Problems gualism, translation and interpretation”, Language In- in English-Arabic Translation. Madison: The University terpretation and Communication, ed. by David Gerver of Wisconsin. [Doctoral Dissertation] and H. Wallace Sinaiko, pp. 131-143, New York, Ple- Searle, J. R. (1981). Expression and Meaning. Cambridge: num Press. Cambridge University Press. Levy, J. (2000). “Translation as a Decision Process” in Ve- Shunnaq, A. (1993). “Lexical Incongruence in Arabic-En- nute, L (ed.) The Translation Studies Reader. London: glish Translation due to Emotiveness in Arabic”. In Routledge. “Turjuman”. Vol. 2, No. (2): pp. (37-63). Neubert, A. and Gregory, M. S. (1992). Translation as Text. Shamaa, N. (1978). A Linguistic Analysis of Some Problems Kent: The Kent State University Press of Arabic to English Translation. Unpublished doctoral Newmark, P. (1988). A Textbook of Translation. London: thesis, Oxford University. Prentice Hall. Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics: A Resource Book of Students, Newmark, P. (1982). The Translation of Authoritative State- Routledge: London and New York. ments META 27(4). Steiner, G. (1975). After Babel: Aspects of Language and Newmark, P. (1981). Approaches to Translation. Pergamon Translation. London, OUP, 507 p. Press: London. Yaroslav, V. (2010). “On the Linguistic Definition of Trans- Nida, E. A. (1997). The Nature of Dynamic Equivalence in lation”. Journal of Siberian Federal University. Human- Translating. BABEL 13: 99-103. ities & Social Sciences- 2, pp. (33-81). Nida, E. A. (1994). Translation: Possible and Impossible. Wehr, H. & Cowan, J. M. (1976). A Dictionary of Modern turjuman 3(2): 147-163. Written Arabic, (Third Edn), (Ithaca, New York: Spoken Nida, E. A. (1964). Toward a Science of Translating. Leiden, Language Services, Lnc.). E. J. Brill, 331 p. Wilss, W. (1982). The Science of Translation. Tubingen. Paul, G. (2009). Translation in Practice, a symposium edited Narr.