Translation Techniques

The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

Mentouri University – Constantine

Faculty of Letters and Languages

A study of

Translation TechniquesWhen translating between English and Arabic

Project Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement

For the LMD Licence Degree in English (Applied Language Studies)

Project submitted by: Ghali Hafida

Gourzi Ouadie Aboulgacem

Khellas Nawel

Merrad Nessrine

Supervisor: Dr. Laouali Yamouna

June 2011

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Abstract

Jean Claude Vinay and Jean Darbelnet, the two Canadian writers, have mentioned in

their famous book: Stylistique Comparée du Français et de l’Anglais the seven translation

techniques that can be used when translating between English and French. In this short

study, we have tried to apply the same seven translation techniques but when translating

between English and Arabic. We have divided our work into two styles of translation. The

first style is the Direct one, in which we have seen three translation techniques: Borrowing,

Calque, and Literal Translation. The second style is the Oblique (indirect) one, in which we

have seen the last four translation techniques: Transposition, Modulation, Equivalence, and

Adaptation. As a conclusion, we have arrived to find that the seven techniques are applicable

when translating between English and Arabic.

صلخ م

األسلوبیة ، في كتابھما المشھور: جین داربلنتوجین كلود فیناي ذكر الكاتبان الكندیان،

تقنیات الترجمة السبع التي یمكن أن تستعمل عند الترجمة بین ، المقارنة للغة الفرنسیة واالنجلیزیة

الترجمة السبع لكن عند تقنیات نا تطبیق نفس اإلنجلیزیة والفرنسیة. في ھذه الدراسة القصیرة، حاول

األول األسلوب . على أساس تقسیم الترجمة إلى أسلوبین الترجمة بین اإلنجلیزیة والعربیة. قسمنا عملنا

. حرفیة الترجمة ال، والمحاكاة ، االقتراض لترجمة: لتقنیات ثالث فیھالذي فحصناالمباشر األسلوب ھو

،اإلبدال : األربع الباقیةالترجمة تقنیات فیھ الذي فحصنا غیر المباشر األسلوب فھو الثانياألسلوب أما

قابلة سابقا المذكورة السبعالترجمة تقنیات أن إلىوصلنا ت، كخاتمة . ف التكیی، ولمعادلة ا، تحویر ال

.ربیة عالنجلیزیة واإلترجمة بین العندللتطبیق

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List of Abbreviations

SL: Source Language.

ST: Source Text.

TL: Target Language.

TT: Target Text.

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Arabic’s Phonetic Transcription Symbols

Vowels:

/i/ High front short, as in /sinn/ سن(tooth).

/i:/ High front long, as in /fi:l/ .(elephant) فیل

/a/ Low front short, as in /ḥal/حل (solution).

/a:/ Low front long, as in /ḥa:l/حال (state).

/u/ High back short, as in /hum/ھم (they).

/u:/ High back long, as in /tu:t/توت (black berry).

Consonants:

/b/ Bilabial stop, as in /ba:b/ .(door) باب

/t/ Voiceless non-emphatic dental stop, as in /taʕiba/تعب (he got tired).

/d/ Voiced non-emphatic dental stop, as in /da:r/دار (house).

/T/ Voiceless emphatic dental stop, as in /maTar/مطر (rain).

/D/ Voiced emphatic dental stop, as in /Daraba/ ربض (he hit).

/k/ Voiceless velar stop, as in /kataba/كتب (he wrote).

/g/ Voiced velar stop, as in the French word ‘gourde’ /guRd/ (flask).

/q/ Uvular stop, as in /qarja/قریة (village).

/ʔ/ Glottal stop, as in /ʔkala/أكل ( he ate).

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/f/ Voiceless labio-dental fricative, as in /faʒr/فجر (dawn).

/θ/ Voiceless interdental fricative, as in /θaʔr/ثأر (revenge).

/ð/ Voiced interdental fricative, as in /ha:ða/ھذا (this).

/s/ Voiceless alveolar fricative, as in /sa:ʕa/ساعة (watch).

/ṣ/ Voiceless emphatic dental fricative, as in /ṣaba:ḥ/صباح (morning).

/z/ Voiced alveolar fricative, as in /za:ra/زار ( he visited).

/ʃ/ Voiceless alveo-palatal fricative, as in /ʃams/شمس (sun).

/ʒ/ Voiced alveo-palatal fricative, as in /ʒa:r/جار (neighbour).

/h/ Voiceless glottal fricative, as in /huwa/ھو (he).

/ḥ/ Voiceless pharyngeal fricative, as in /ʃa:ḥina/شاحنة (lorry).

/ʕ/ Voiced pharyngeal fricative, as in /ʕabd/عبد (slave).

/x/ Voiceless uvular fricative, as in /xuru:ʒ/خروج (exit).

/R/ Voiced uvular fricative, as in /Rarb/غرب (west).

/m/ Bilabial nasal, as in /maka:n/مكان (place).

/n/ Dental nasal, as in /nu:r/نور (light).

/l/ Lateral, as in /laḥm/لحم (meat).

/r/ Flap, as in /kabi:r/كبیر (great).

/w/ Labio-velar semi-vowel, as in /walad/ولد (boy).

/j/ Palatal semi-vowel, as in /jad/ید (hand).

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Contents

I. Introduction. 1

II. Direct Translation Techniques. 2

1. Borrowing. 2

2. Calque. 4

3. Literal Translation. 6

III. Oblique (Indirect) Translation Techniques. 8

1. Transposition. 9

a. Obligatory Transposition. 10

b. Optional Transposition. 10

2. Modulation. 12

a. Obligatory Modulation. 12

b. Optional Modulation. 13

3. Equivalence or Reformulation. 14

a. Types of Equivalence. 15

b. Fixed Expressions. 16

4. Adaptation. 18

a. Culture-Specific Concepts. 18

b. Lack of Lexicalization in the TL. 19

c. Lack of Specific terms in the TL. 20

d. Differences in Form. 21

IV. Conclusion. 22

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I. Introduction:

As English becomes an increasingly global language, a lot of people become

multilingual and translation becomes a crucial communicative activity. Today, translation is

viewed as an act of invention that produces a new original in another language. Translation

procedures are methods applied by translators when they formulate equivalence for the

purpose of transferring elements of meaning from the ST to the TT.

Generally, translation needs techniques and methods in order to get a new TT that is

similar to the ST. Some of translation techniques are those seven mentioned by the two

Canadian translators: Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet who wrote their famous book

Stylistique Comparée du Français et de l’Anglais in 1958 in which they tried to make a

comparative study between stylistics of the two languages French and English. After the

publishing of this book, many translators all over the world translated the book in many

languages. Moreover, many translators tried to apply those mentioned techniques in

translation from English into other languages other than French.

Vinay and Darbelnet mentioned in their book those seven translation techniques

divided into two kinds of translation: Direct Translation which contains Borrowing, Calque

and Literal Translation; and Oblique or Indirect Translation which contains Transposition,

Modulation, Equivalence and Adaptation.

In this research, we will try to apply those seven techniques when translating from

English into Arabic and vice versa. This application will be as simple as our knowledge about

translation in general as 3rd year students.

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II. Direct translation Techniques:

Direct translation is the simplest way of translating from one language into another. It

is the direct shift from the ST into the TT without any complex methods or changes. This

type of translation is used when structural and conceptual elements of the SL transferred into

the TL. According to Vinay and Darbelnet, direct translation techniques can include:

Borrowing, Calque, and Literal translation (31).

1. Borrowing:

To borrow means “to have or to use something that belongs to somebody else, with

the promise that it will be returned” (Oxford 45). However, borrowing as a direct technique

of translation means that the words of the SL are transferred directly to the TT (Munday 56).

As an example, consider the following words which are taken directly from English

into Arabic without finding an equivalent in meaning:

Pizza بیتزا/bi:tza/

Computer كمبیوتر/kumbju:tar/

Arabic characters are completely different from English letters. The idea of direct

transfer of the SL word is impractical. The SL word normally is changed into fixed Arabic

characters with similar pronunciation.

Due to the development of education and globalization, borrowing becomes a new

raising situation in translation studies. So, translators adopt this method by keeping words in

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the original translation and do not transfer these words into the TL in order to achieve textual

equivalence.

The advantages of the strategy of borrowing are that it brings an original connotation

on the word in the TT. Arabic language creates new words by means of pronunciation. This

word’s form acquires the original concept of SL.

According to Vinay and Darbelnet borrowing is “the simplest of all translation

procedures … used in order to introduce the flavor of the source language culture into a

translation” (31).

There are three types of borrowing that can be distinguished depending on the degree

of the substitution of the foreign form into the TT (Chansou 281):

1. Loan word: The foreign form is completely adopted by the TL.

2. Loan blend: Only partial substitution is achieved; one component is replaced by a

component of the TL.

3. Loan-shift: The foreign form is entirely substituted by a form of the TL; i.e. there is

a total substitution.

The following words are some other examples of words that can be borrowed between

the two languages, English and Arabic:

The Qur’an القرآن/ʔalkurʔa:n/

Al Qaida القاعدة/ʔalkaʕida/

Facebook فایس بوك/fajsbu:k/

Skype سكایب/ska:jb/

Cream كریمة/kri:ma/

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2. Calque:

Calque is a technique used to borrow the source language’s expression or structure

and then transfer it in a literal translation (Vinay and Darbelnet 32). This strategy refers to the

case where the translator imitates in his translation the structure or manner of expression of

the ST. Actually this is the difference between calque and borrowing, since the latter transfers

the whole word. Swell defines calque as the “literal translation into other language of

complex expression or a word used figuratively” (607).

Vinay and Darbelnet consider that calque is “a special kind of borrowing” (32). So, as

borrowing mentioned, it has the same influence on the enhancement of culture integration.

Sometimes this technique makes difficulties in conveying messages in the TL. Considering

the aspect of pragmatics, also it fails to achieve the equivalent response in the TT.

According to Baker, it is the study of meaning, not as generated by the linguistic

system but as conveyed and manipulated by participant in communicative situation (217).

Calque brings gaps between the coherence and presumption in pragmatics.

Presumption refers to “the knowledge sender assumes the receiver to have or which is

necessary in order to retrieve the sender’s messages” (Munday 217). If the information within

the boundary of coherence exceeds that presumption, the target reader cannot get the message

in the TT.

Vinay and Darbelnet have distinguished between two types of calque (Venuti 85):

Lexical calque: in which the syntactic structure of the TL is respected and a new made

of expression is introduced.

Structural calque: it introduces a new construction into the language.

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Here are some examples of calque:

Weekend نھایة األسبوع/niha:jat ʔalʔusbu:ʕ/

Water scale دورة المیاه/dawrat ʔalmija:h/

football كرة القدم/kurat ʔalqadam/

As we have seen, calque is also a direct translation technique that can be applied when

translating from English into Arabic or the opposite.

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3. Literal Translation:

Literal translation is that direct translation from one language into another that gives a

word for word translation. According to Vinay and Darbelnet, “word for word translation is a

translation strategy used most common between languages of the same family and culture”

(33).

As English and Arabic do not share neither the same family nor the same culture, we

will try to apply this technique when translating between them, and give the cases in which

literal translation becomes unacceptable.

Consider this example:

The team is working to finish the report. الفریق یعمل على إنھاء التقریر./ʔalfari:qu jaʕmalu ʕala ʔinhaʔi ʔtaqri:ri/

In this example, a word for word translation is used in order to shift from the ST into

the TT. Every single word in the ST has its equivalent in the TT.

The team الفریق/ʔalfari:qu /

Is working یعمل/jaʕmalu/

To finish على إنھاء/ʕala ʔinhaʔi/

The report التقریر/ʔtaqri:ri/

The main problem that may occur in this kind of translation between English and

Arabic is that some words, either in English or in Arabic, have more than one equivalent in

the other language. Consider the words: ‘street’ and ‘road’ in English that means طریق‘

/Tari:q/’, ‘درب /darb/’ and ‘سبیل /sabi:l/’ in Arabic. Thus, it will be confusing to the translator

to decide on which equivalent is the appropriate according to the context.

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According to Vinay and Darbelnet, there are some cases where literal translation is

considered unacceptable (Vinuti 87). This can occur in one of the following occasions:

1. When literal translation gives another meaning or gives no meaning at all.

2. When literal translation is structurally impossible.

3. When literal translation does not have a corresponding expression within the

metalinguistic experience of the TL.

4. When literal translation has a corresponding expression, but within the same

register.

To illustrate some of those cases, consider the translation of some idiomatic

expressions as in:

It rains cats and dogs.

Literal translation(no meaning) إنھا تمطر قططا وكالبا.

/ʔinaha tumTiru qiTaTan wa kila:ban/Another translation

(right meaning) إنھا تمطر بغزارة./ʔinaha tumTiru biRaza:ra/

The couple lives a cat anddog life.

Literal translation(wrong meaning) یعیشان حیاة القط والكلب.الزوجان

/ʔazawʒa:n jaʕi:ʃa:n ḥaja:t ʔalqiT waʔalkalb/

Another translation(right meaning) الزوجان على اختالف دائم.

/ʔazawʒa:n ʕala ʔixtila:f da:ʔim/It has no

correspondingexpression.

طبقة.وافق شن /wa:faqa ʃan Tabaqa/

Also, according to Newmark, literal translation is more likely to be unsuitable when

translating a literary work especially for the translation of poetry. Newmark claimed that

“poems convey another expression by individual style and pronunciation in a certain form”

(72).

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III. Oblique (Indirect) translation Techniques:

Oblique translation is the second way of translating messages. In some cases, it is

very difficult to translate the ST into the TT element by element. That can occur because of

some structural or metalinguistic differences between the SL and the TL. So, it will be

obvious that the translator has to use some other complex methods in order to shift from the

ST into the TT. These complex methods and procedures are called oblique translation

methods (Venuti 84).

In the coming section, four of these oblique procedures will be presented which are:

- Transposition.

- Modulation.

- Equivalence.

- Adaptation.

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1. Transposition:

According to Vinay and Darbelnet, transposition is a method of translation which

involves “replacing one word class with another without changing the meaning of the

message” (36).

This strategy is mainly found within the same language (Vinay and Darbelnet 36) as

shown in the next example:

English ArabicThe child kissed his mother. V

قبل الولد أمھ.V

/qabala ʔalwaladu ʔumahu/The child gave his mother a kiss. N

قبلة. أعطى الولد أمھ N

/ʔaʕTa ʔalwaladu ʔumahu qublatan/

In both languages as we have seen, the two messages are semantically the same.

Though, the words ‘kissed’ and ‘قبل /qabala/’ have changed from ‘Verbs’ into ‘Nouns’ as

‘kiss’ and ‘قبلة /qublatan/’.

Thus, according to Vinay and Darbelnet, the first expression in this kind of translation

can be called “the base expression”, while the converted form of the ST is called “the

transposed expression” (36).

When translating from English into Arabic or vice versa, the application of this

method is possible. However, in some cases of translation, the translator is obliged to change

the word class of a given word in the ST into another word class in the TT. In other cases, the

use of transposition when translating is only optional.

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a. Obligatory Transposition:

Consider the following example:

The blockage was a success. N

كان التصدي نــاجحا. Adj. /ka:na ʔatasadi naʒiḥan /

In this example, considering English as a SL, the translator is obliged to use

transposition. He must change the word class of the word ‘success’ which is a ‘Noun’ into

another word class in Arabic by using the word ‘نــاجحا /naʒiḥan/’ which is an ‘Adjective’.

The use of the same word class from the ST into Arabic by using the word ‘نجـاحا /naʒaḥan/’

which is indeed a ‘Noun’ will make the TT unsuitable.

b. Optional Transposition:

Consider also the following example:

Since he got up. V

منذ أن استیقظ. V /munðu ʔan ʔistajqaDa/

منذ استیقاظھ. N /munðu ʔisti:qaDihi/

In this case, and again considering English as a SL, the translator is given the choice

between two possibilities. The first one is using the same word class of the word ‘got up’

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which is a ‘Verb’ by using the word ‘استیقظ /ʔistajqaDa/’ which is a ‘Verb’ as well. The

second choice is using the method of transposition by changing the word class in the TL and

use the word ‘إستیقاظ /ʔisti:qa:D/’ which is a ‘Noun’ in Arabic. In both possibilities, the TT is

suitable in Arabic what makes the use of transposition optional.

The following table will give other examples of the word classes that can be used in

transposition when translating between English and Arabic.

Word Class Change English Arabic

Adj. ↔ N

The minister has met the medicalstudents. Adj.

التقى الوزیر طلبة الطب. N

/iltaqa ʔalwazi:r Talabat ʔaTib/

Adj. ↔ V

This way seems to be endless. Adj.

یبدو أن ھذه الطریق لن تنتھي. V

/jabdu ʔana haðihi ʔaTari:q lantantahi:/

Preposition ↔ V

I was driving through the city. Prep.

المدینة بسیارتي. كنت أعبر V

/kuntu ʔaʕburu ʔalmadi:natabisajarati:/

V ↔ N

Yield V

(we find this in traffic banners)

األولویة للیمین. N

/ʔalʔawlawija liljami:n/

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2. Modulation:

According to Vinay and Darbelnet, modulation is a method of translation which refers

to “a variation of the form of the message, obtained by a change in the point of view” (36).

As we have seen in transposition, using modulation can also be an obligation or only

an option. According to Venuti, the translator is obliged to use this method when the literal or

transposed translation is considered as unsuitable or unidiomatic in the TL (89).

a. Obligatory Modulation:

Consider the following example:

A: Where is Ali?

B: No one knows.

أ: أین ھو علي؟/ʔajna huwa ʕali/

ب: هللا أعلم./ʔala:hu ʔaʕlam/

In this example, it is suitable for an English person to answer the question by using

the expression ‘No one knows’, while this expression when translated literally into Arabic,

the TT ‘ أحد یعلمال /la: ʔaḥada jaʕlam/’ seems to be unsuitable or mainly unidiomatic because

the preferable expression in such cases is ‘هللا أعلم /ʔala:hu ʔaʕlam/’. Thus, the translator was

obliged to use the strategy of modulation and change the angle of view. The expression in the

ST means ‘no person knows’ while the angle has changed for the TT into ‘only God knows’.

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b. Optional Modulation:

Consider the following example:

A equals the half of B. أ تعادل نصف ب./ʔalif tuʕa:dil nisf ba:ʔ/

إن ب ھي ضعف أ./ina ba:ʔ hija Diʕf ʔalif/

From this example, the two expressions in Arabic have the same meaning. The first

one is translated literally from the ST while the second is modulated. The modulation occurs

in the sense of changing the point of view when comparing ‘A’ to ‘B’. Both expressions in

this example seemed to be suitable in Arabic what gives the translator the choice between

them because using modulation or not will not lead to any unsuitable or unidiomatic

expression in the TL.

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3. Equivalence or Reformulation:

As it has been said before, language consists of literal and figurative meaning. The

literal meaning is what the words constituting the sentences refer to in a direct way to object

or states of affairs. The figurative sense, however, is different from the literal one because of

the little role played by the meanings of individual words in an expression. Such a meaning is

present in notions like proverbs, metaphors and idioms. The latter represents a large part of

everyday language that differs from one community to another using specific technique

which is called ‘Equivalence’.

Equivalence refers to “a strategy to describe the same situation by using completely

different stylistic or structural methods for producing equivalent text” (Vinay and Darbelnet

38).

Equivalence is a term to describe the relationship which exists between SL and TL

item texts. Equivalence can be considered as a very essential technique of translation as it can

be the basis of translation. The TT must be equivalent to the ST in one way or another

especially in meaning which is the most common basis for equivalence.

Nida also argued that equivalence is important in translation. They said that

“translating consists in producing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of

the source language matters, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style” (12).

However, a heated controversy emerged between theories about the theory of

equivalence. They are divided into three groups. The theory of the first group is based on the

linguistic approach, but they forget that translation is not only a matter of linguistics. The

second group sees that translation equivalence is a transfer of the message from the source

culture to the target culture and the semantic/pragmatic approach to translation. The third

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group stands in the middle. It is the most convincing one because it gathers all approaches

and sees that translation is not the equivalence of individual words, and not only the

equivalence of the pragmatic meaning, however, it is the equivalence at all levels.

a. Types of Equivalence:

i. At and Above Word Level:

The translator takes into consideration words as single units, and then he considers a

number of factors which affect the word such as gender, number and tense.

ii. Grammatical Equivalence:

The second thing that the translator considers is the grammatical categories, and then

compares them in the two languages. If there are some cases where there is no equivalence,

the translator tries to add or omit information.

iii. Textual Equivalence:

This is another level which is based on equivalence in terms of information and

cohesion.

iv. Pragmatic Equivalence:

At this level, the translation is based on implicates and implied meaning. The

translator, sometimes, has to go beyond the message and read between the lines what is

implicitly said in the ST, and avoid any implication when translating the message into the TT

recipients that can cause problems to them in understanding it.

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b. Fixed Expressions:

i. Idioms:

Baker defined idioms as “frozen patterns of language which allow little or no

variation in form, and in the case of idioms, often carry meanings which cannot be deduced

from their individual components” (63). That is because these are very special and have no

direct equivalences in Arabic, they pose many problems. Ghazala classified idioms in two

categories. For each category, he provided a solution after stating the problem.

i.i. Direct Idioms:

According to Ghazala, these are metaphoric meanings translated directly, but should

be understood indirectly. They are easy to translate. Their literal meaning helps getting their

message. For example:

Birds of a feather flock together. إن الطیور على أشكالھا تقع./ʔina ʔaTuju:ra ʕala ʔaʃka:liha taqaʕo/

i.ii. Indirect Idioms:

These idioms are those which cannot be translated literally to understand the meaning

as the first type. For example: the expression ‘Break a leg’ is used to wish luck for someone.

Hence, its literal translation ‘اكسر رجال /ʔiksir riʒlan/’ cannot express its real meaning. The

right translation must be ‘حظ سعید /ḥaDun saʕi:d/’.

ii. Proverbs:

Ghazala claimed that these expressions are just like idioms. A proverb cannot be

translated or understood as a collection of the individual meanings of the words. Moreover,

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proverbs are metaphors…culture specific. Therefore, they should not be translated or

understood directly (142). Ghazala classified proverbs into three categories (143):

ii.i. Direct Proverbs: These can be translated literally. For instance:

Like father like son. كما األب كما االبن./kama ʔalʔab kama ʔalʔibn/

من شابھ أباه فما ظلم./man ʃabaha ʔabaho fama Dalam/

ii.ii. Similar equivalence: The proverbs under this category need to be translated by

equivalence; even the relation between the proverbs seems different. Take for example: ‘A

leopard never changes its spots’. The literal translation ‘ال یغیر الفھد بقعھ / la: juRajiru ʔalfahdu

buqaʕahu/’ makes no sense, but ‘الطبع یغلب التطبع /ʔaTabʕ jaRlib ʔataTabuʕ/’ conveys the

original message clearly.

iii. Metaphor:

This concerns mainly the figurative language and when words are used figuratively,

not in their real sense. Ghazala illustrated this through the word “fox” in the sentence “He is a

fox” (150). The word Fox here is not used to say that the person is really an animal but to

refer to its attitude i.e. he is con like a fox. Therefore, we translate it into Arabic as ‘إنھ ماكر

/inahu ma:kirun/. Ghazala described figurative language and focused on three characteristics

which are quite important for translators and students to bear in mind while translating.

Hence, figurative language may be metaphorical, indirect, and sometimes unclear (152).

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4. Adaptation:

Languages differ due to the cultural differences between them. Every linguistic

community has its own universe and way of interpreting the world. Hence, a concept can be

lexicalized differently from one language into another. Language has a very important role in

building a culture and it is considered as its keystone. And because languages are different,

they make it difficult for the translator to find the equivalent term for some culture-specific

terms that need certain cultural knowledge.

According to Vinay and Darbelnet, adaptation refers to “a method used in those cases

where the type of situation being referred to by the SL message is unknown in the TL

culture” (39).

One of the clearest definitions of culture is provided by Newmark. He said: “I define

culture as the way of life and its manifestation that are peculiar to a community that uses a

particular language as a means of expression” (94).

a. Culture-Specific Concepts:

When culture-specific terms emerge, it may not be easy to find the most appropriate

equivalent term to them, and it will be difficult to carry on the translation in isolation from

cultural factors. Lotman claims that “no language exist unless it is steeped in the context of

culture” (qtd. in Joelle 45). In this respect, Joelle states that the meaning given to a term can

be shaped by culture. For example, the term ‘نیف /ni:f/’ is a culture-specific term that refers to

dignity in the Algerian culture, but it can be understood differently in the English culture i.e.

with only its propositional meaning which is the part of the face (34). Hence, it will be

literally translated as ‘Nose’. Another example is the term ‘صاع /ṣa:ʕ/’ which is a measuring

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unit for cereals that is equal to 120Kgs. There is no exact equivalent term in English, because

English people use the use the measuring unit ‘Bushel’ which equals only 33Kgs.

b. Lack of Lexicalization in the TL:

As it has been mentioned above, because of the cultural differences between the two

languages Arabic and English, there are some concepts that exist in Arabic and do not in

English; they are called ‘lexical gaps’.

Lexical gaps can be related to religion, to food, to customs…etc. and they can be

considered as culture-specific terms, but they have no equivalent in the TL. In other words,

they are not lexicalized in the TL. Tymoczko states that such features of the source culture

are often encoded in specific lexical items for which there are equivalent in the receptor

culture or for which there are only rare or technical words (24-5).

For example, the term ‘أمانة /ʔama:na/’ is an Arabic religious concept or term that

means that Muslims are ordered to keep intact what they are entrusted with, until they give it

back to its owners. This term may not have any equivalent in English. Another example is the

term ‘برقع /burquʕ/ which means a piece of cloth of black colour that covers the face except

the eyes that some Muslim women wear. This term also has no equivalent in English. When

these terms emerge in the ST, they cause problems to the translator. In other word, the

English translator will be confused about how to translate a concept or a term that does not

even exist in English as a TL.

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c. Lack of Specific terms in the TL:

Some languages tend to have a superordinate but lack some hyponyms1 that could be

in another language. This could be because of the cultural differences between them as it has

been mentioned. Every speaking community interprets the word in its own way. For example,

because of the specifies of the weather and environment in most of Arab world, Arabic

includes many hyponyms for the term ‘dates’ according to the shape, taste and colour. This is

not the case in English which has only the general term ‘dates’.

Dates تمـــر

/tamr/

بلح/balaḥ/

دقلة/dagla/

طانيسل/sulTani:/

لحمیة/laḥmija/

برني/burni:/

This number of hyponyms of the word ‘dates’ in Arabic causes problems to the

translator about how to translate them into English where no equivalent exists.

Another example is the term ‘Love’ that has many hyponyms in Arabic. The

following figure shows the term ‘love’ in Arabic:

Love حب

/ḥub/

عشق/ʕiʃq/

غرام/Rara:m/

ھیام/huja:m/

صبابة/saba:ba/

ولھ/walah/

ھوى/hawa/

1 Hyponyms are words which mean different items that belong to the same class of meanings and covered bythe same superordinate.

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English language does not have equivalents for the hyponyms of the term ‘love’ in the

Arabic language. For example, the term ‘صبابة /saba:ba/’ does not have a direct equivalent

term in English. Hence, the translator can use the general term ‘love’ in order to refer to that

hyponym as it has the same propositional meaning. According to Baker, the translator can

“go up a level in [this] semantic field [in order] to find [the] more general word [which is

‘love’] that covers the core propositional meaning of the missing hyponym in the target

language” (28).

d. Differences in Form:

Sometimes the translator cannot find the exact equivalent for some forms that are

technical for the SL. For example, Arabic language can have a sentence in one word, such as

sanastaʕmiluhum/’ which is not the case in English. The former sentence could be/ سنستعملھم‘

translated as ‘we will use them’, i.e. four terms. This could affect the balance in length

between the SL an the TL such as in subtitling.

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IV. Conclusion:

Vinay and Darbelnet, in their famous book: Stylistique Comparée du Français et de

l’Anglais, has mentioned seven techniques of translation between English and French. These

techniques were: Borrowing, Calque, and Literal translation as direct translation techniques;

and Transposition, Modulation, Equivalence, and Adaptation as oblique translation

techniques. Many translators all over the world tried to apply these seven techniques when

translating between other languages. As well, as we have seen in this short study, we have

tried to apply the same seven techniques of translation when translating between English and

Arabic.

As a conclusion, we have arrived to find that the seven techniques are likely to be

applicable when translating from English into Arabic or vice versa. Thus, we recommend that

this study should be developed more and more by experts in translation because such a

subject is needed to help students who want to go further in the domain of translation.

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Works Cited

Baker, Mona. In Other Words: A Course Book on Translation. London: Routledge, 1992.

Print.

Bull, Victoria, ed. Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011.

Print.

Chansou, M. “Claque et Création Linguistique”. Etudes Terminologiques et Linguistiques.

Paris : Les Edition Didier, 1984. 281-85. Print.

Ghazala, Hassan. Translation: Theory and Practice. Beirut: Dar El-Ilm LilMalayin, 1995.

Print.

Joelle, R. La Traductologie: Science et Philosophie de la Traduction. Alger: Office des

Publications Universitaires, 1985. Print.

Munday, Jeremy. ” The Translation Shift Approach”. Introducing Translation Studies.

London: Routledge, 2001. 55-71. Print.

Newmark, P. A Text Book of Translation. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall, 1988. Print.

Nida, E. Towards a Science of Translation. Leiden: EJ. Brill, 1964. Print.

Swell, P. M. “The Occurrence of Calque in Translation Scripts”. Translation: An Advanced

Resource Book. ed. Jeremy Munday. New York: Routledge, 2001. 607-15. Print.

Tymoczko, M. Post-Colonial Writing and Literary Translation. UK: Fawcett Publication,

1999. Print.

Venuti, Lawrence, ed. “A Methodology for Translation”. The Translation Studies Reader.

London: Routledge, 2000. 84-93. Print.

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Vinay, J. P. and Jean Darbelnet. Comparative Stylistics of French and English: A

Methodology for Translation. Trans. Juan C. Sager, M.-J. Hamel. Philadelphia: John

Benjamin’s Publishing Co., 1995. Print.