ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY – LEBANON
E303 / IS TRANSTLATION FAITHFUL TO THE WRITER’S PERSONA?
RESEARCH SUBMITTED TO
DR HAYAT AL-KHATIB
ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE PROGRAMME COORDINATOR
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF
UNITED KINGDOM OPEN UNIVERSITY/ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY
BACHELOR DEGREE
IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SAHAR YOUSSEF
2011
0 Acknowledgment
My sincere gratitude is addressed to Dr. Hayat El-Khatib whose assistance and guidance were
essential in the elaboration of this study.
I am grateful to my family especially my parents who are supporting me all the time and
providing me with all the necessary resources in order to succeed and excel.
A special thanks is dedicated to my sister who is always beside me and whose advices, help
and support are essential to my academic improvement.
Sahar Youssef
1 Abstract
This research paper is aimed at testing the claim that the writer’s persona is
maintained in translation. There are several studies related to functional linguistics and
translation as separate disciplines; this research will try to create a link between the two of
them. The literature review will include details regarding the Systemic Functional Linguistic
approach (by Halliday) which is the framework of analysis and the translation discipline
including a review of its most important works. The method used for the elaboration of this
study comprises of the analysis of a source text and its two versions of translation where we
will detect the various aspects of the writer’s persona in the source text as well as in the target
texts.
2 Content Page
I.
Acknowledgement
page 2
II.
Abstract
page 3
III.
Title
page 5
IV.
Introduction
page 5
V.
Rationale and Aims of the Project
page 7
VI.
Literature Review
page 8
VII.
Data Collection, Methodology and Analysis
page16
VIII.
Findings
page 17
IX.
Interpretation and Evaluation
page 22
X.
Works Cited
page 25
XI.
Appendices
page 26
3 Project Title: Is translation faithful to the writer’s persona?
Introduction
Texts, either spoken or written, convey their meanings through several devices which
are mainly related to the formal characteristics of the language. In fact, languages in general
and English in particular attribute meaning to a text referring to their own structural
components; such components are identified as the lexis, the grammatical structures and the
latter’s different combinations, in addition to the collocation, intonation (in speech) and
thematisation (in writing); the last two being related to the organisation of information.
Language structures at all levels (morphemes, words, phrases, clauses, and hence the whole
text) are responsible for transmitting more than just the intended meaning; the syntactic and
paradigmatic relations in language are considered to be at the basis of the linguistic analysis
concerned with the expression of implicit connotations. Thus, the writer’s/speaker’s
selection of a term from a list of synonyms related to the subject matter rather than another
term reveals some details about the meaning of the text itself, but in addition, it allows the
reader/hearer to position the writer/speaker in a specific context or category rather than
others. Furthermore, the writer’s/speaker’s choice in organising the information mainly
related to the parts that he/she wants to highlight or conceal, in addition to the types of
processes chosen and the level of modality help the reader/hearer to detect aspects of the
writer’s/speaker’s stance and standing which are both directly related to his/her persona.
On the other hand, translation is a discipline that deals with more than one language and
structures. According to Roman Jakobson: “The translator recodes and transmits a message
received from another source. Thus translation involves two equivalent messages in two
4 different codes.” [(Jackobson 1959/2000: 114) in (Munday 2000: 37)]. This description of
translation refers to the importance of translating the message and hence the meaning rather
than word-for-word.
“Meaning is closely associated with choice...” [(Baker, 1992, pp. 129-30) in (English
Grammar in Context Book 5, p.63)], thus the choice of terms by a translator should be
directly related to the meaning expressed in the source text (ST). Moreover, languages’
structures differ and thus the expression of meaning differ from one language to another and
therefore the selection and organisation of words and sentence structures are viewed as an
important factor in transmitting explicit and implicit meanings - referred to as “equivalent
meaning”. This equivalent meaning is based on the target language’s potential to convey
almost the same meaning that is expressed in the source language and thus it is concerned
with the equivalence of the impact that the writer/speaker of the source text wanted to create
and which should be totally respected and protected in the target text (TT).
5 Rationale and aims of the investigation
The concerns of maintaining the meaning in the target text constitute the general concepts
of this research paper which is more precisely aimed at analysing the writer’s persona’s
category. Since this study is concerned with translation as written discipline and does not
focus on instant interpretation of the spoken discourse, I will only refer to the writer of the
text without mentioning the speaker from now onwards. This research paper is mainly driven
by the following question:
-
Is the writer’s persona in the source text preserved through translation in the target
text?
Most of the research in translation studies was only concerned with the techniques of
translation, either word for word (literal translation) or equivalent translation which refers to
the translation of the equivalent meaning from the source language to the target language. My
aim is to examine the effect of translation on an important element in the Systemic Functional
Linguistics framework which is the writer’s persona.
The main focus of the study will be based on examining the effect of the notion of
“equivalence in meaning” discussed by Jakobson and Nida and the influence of
“explicitation” on the writer’s persona.
6 Literature Review
Since this research paper is concerned with two major disciplines (linguistics and
translation), the literature review comprises, in addition to a brief study of the SFL approach,
an examination of the works of Jakobson with regards to the concept of equivalence in
translation, and the pursue of this concept by Nida through the theory of “the science of
translation”.
SFL and writing persona
The SFL approach to languages seeks to determine the characteristics of the social
context of communication that specify the different elements of language being used.
According to SFL, the language style in a text reveals and is influenced by several facets of
the text; these facets are related to the text’s subject matter discussed under the label of
“field”, the social relations and interpersonal relationships created between the writer and the
reader termed as “tenor” and the channel of communication whether the text is spoken or
written discourse termed as “mode”. These aspects of situation of “field”, “tenor” and
“mode” represent the linguistic metafunctions of “experiential”, “interpersonal” and “textual”
respectively (English Grammar in Context Book 2 pp 14-15).
When analysing the “field” of a text, we mainly examine the type of participants, the type of
processes (mental, verbal, relational...) and the circumstances involved in the interface; thus
we consider certain amount of information grouped in noun phrases that represent “entities in
some experiential world”, verb phrases that deal with “happenings and states of affairs in
some experiential word”, in addition to the adverbial or prepositional phrases that “provide
some context for the participants and processes” (English Grammar in Context Book 2 p.
7 143). The study of the “mode” refers to the study of the characteristics of the channels of
communication (either spoken or written discourse) since these affect the grammatical
choices which are related to the variations in context.
The “tenor” of a text represents the most important element for this project since it comprises
the writer’s persona which is the object of study of this research. In fact, the analysis of the
interpersonal relationship created between the participants in the communication through the
various grammatical devices employed is mainly related to the study of language potential to
create friendships, avoid or provoke conflicts, indicate respect..., it allows as well, the
analysis of language use as a means to exert power, claim expertise in the subject matter etc...
(English Grammar in Context Book 3 p. 11).
As already stated, the interpersonal linguistic features associated with “tenor” can reveal, not
only the relationships between the participants but it can also disclose some details about the
different social roles presented in a certain text. Thus the analysis of “tenor” comprises the
following factors:
-
Equality/Inequality (social status of the participants)
-
Writer’s/Speaker’s persona (power, expertise, authority)
-
Social distance (formality. interactivity, familiarity)
The writer’s persona is concerned with the position of the writer toward the subject matter as
being authoritative, expert, powerful, influencing..., which is manifested through several
elements: stance, personalisation and standing of the writer.
8 (English Grammar in Context Book 2 p. 130)
The stance of the writer refers to the approach with which he/she presents the information in
the text: is it negotiable, assertive, un-negotiable...? In other words, does the writer allow the
reader to construct a proper opinion regarding the subject matter, or does he/she impose
his/her opinion? Does the writer show himself/herself as an expert in the subject matter
through the use of reliable technical terms and statistics? What is the attitude of the writer
towards the text’s topic? Is it positive, negative or neutral? In order to detect the answers to
all these questions in the text, we have to select the markers of modality whether epistemic or
deontic; the former refers to the modal of certainty expressed by verbs like:”will, would,
9 must, may, might and could” and which convey the degree of certainty, possibility or
assertiveness in the text; while deontic modality is concerned with the degree of obligation
which varies according to the level of obligation needed from strong to weak obligation:
“have to, must, had better, ought to, should, need to, be supposed to”.
The attitude of the writer is manifested through his/her lexical selections which transmit
his/her “feel” towards the subject matter through the choice of specific (qualifying) terms that
illustrate the positive, negative or neutral position of the writer.
As per personalisation, it shows the degree of involvement of the writer; it refers to the
writer’s subjective or personal role in the text that can be highlighted or concealed through
the use or the avoidance of certain terms and structures like the inclusive pronouns (us, we),
the exclusive first person pronoun (I), direct second person pronoun (you), in addition to the
titles and strategies of addressing.
(English Grammar in Context Book 2 Unit 10).
The standing of the writer is concerned with his/her communicative function in the text: is it
“storytelling, providing or seeking information, advising, commanding, interrogating,
offering a service, debating, persuading, and passing judgement?” (English Grammar in
Context Book 3 p.42).
All the attributes of the writer’s persona (stance, personalisation and standing) will be
discussed while analysing the source text in this study.
10 The translation discipline
A distinction should be made between the “literal” or “word-for-word” and the “free”
or “sense for sense” translations. In fact, the first refers to the idea of translating each word of
the source text with an equivalent in the target language, whereas the second conveys the
meaning of the source text using the linguistic structures proper to the target language
without altering them (Munday 2000: 21).
According to Jakobson and his paper “On linguistic aspects of translation”, there are three
kinds of translation: intralingual, intersemiotic and interlingual where the latter refers to
translation between two different languages. In the context of interlingual translation,
Jakobson interprets essential elements concerning “linguistic meaning” and “equivalence”.
He founds his analysis on the approach elaborated by Saussure with regards to the “signifier”
and the “signified”: the former represents “the spoken or written signal” whereas the latter
refers to “the concept signified” (Munday 2000: 36), these two (signifier and signifier)
grouped together illustrate the “linguistic sign” which is considered to be arbitrary. Jakobson
considers that “interlingual translation involves ‘substituting messages in one language not
for separate code-units but for entire messages in some other language’” (Munday 2000: 36).
This substitution of messages is labelled “equivalence in meaning” among the various
languages involved. Since every language has its specific linguistic structure, the code-units
of each language are not likely to be the same or to be equivalent in the target language;
therefore, in order to construct an equivalent meaning between the source text and the target
text, the code-units will differ for they are part of different “sign systems” or languages.
Jakobson tackles the topic of equivalence and meaning through the dissimilarities in the
structures and the lexis of the languages in question rather than through the possibility of a
language to transmit a message by means of another. He considers that linguistic differences
11 (in several languages) are mainly obvious at many levels: gender, aspect, and semantic fields
where the latter refers to the variety of meaning of a same concept used in different languages
(Munday 2000: 37).
Furthermore, Nida, an important figure in the field of translation, established his studies on
several areas such as semantics and pragmatics and on the syntactic structure within
Chomsky’s generative transformational grammar. His main argument is based on the
“functional definition of meaning” where a term gains its sense from the context in which it
occurs and which can generate various responses according to culture (Murray 2000: 38).
The technique that Nida adapts is the “semantic structure analysis” in which he denotes that a
term can have several meanings within the same language, as an example he refers to the
word “spirit” which can be interpreted as “demons”, “angels”, “gods”, “ghost” etc...
according to the context in which the term is used since it is immersed in a specific culture
that attributes to it certain connotations ; in translation, the meaning of the term might also
vary according to the target audience and its culture (Murray 2000: 38).
Unlike Jakobson, Nida rejected the principles of “literal” and “free” translations and stressed
upon two different categories of equivalence: “formal equivalence” and “dynamic
equivalence”. The concept of “formal equivalence” deals with both the form and content of
the message; in this context, Nida considers that “... the message in the receptor language
should match as closely as possible the different elements in the source language”. Hence,
this category is based on the source text’s structures that determine accuracy and correctness
(Munday 2000: 41). As per the “dynamic equivalence”, it represents Nida’s perspective
toward the effect created by the source text message in its audience: “the relationship
between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between
the original receptors and the message”. In order to preserve the equivalence of the effect
12 created by the message, linguistic preferences and cultural implications should be respected:
grammar rules should be adapted and lexical items need to be adjusted to cope with the
cultural implications of the target language. This approach to translation is referred to as
“receptor oriented”; it seeks a natural transmission of the message where there is not any
interference from the source language and where the translated text is not perceived as
“foreign” (Munday 2000: 42).
Another important area that should be considered in this study is the notion of
linguistic explicitness which refers to the encoding of information; the encoded message is
considered to be explicit (with reference to the grammatical and lexical means) and it
includes as well implicit meanings that are said “between the lines”, which means that they
are suggested by the writer (Baumgarten, Meyer, Ozçetin 2008: 177). Therefore the notion of
explicitness varies between languages owing the dissimilarities in languages’ structures: a
certain message might need more linguistic structures to be explicitly encoded than in other
languages in order to be acceptable in communication.
In translation, and in addition to the idea of encoding information overtly, the concept of
explicitness is considered to be “the result of the process or procedure of ‘explicitation’ ”.
This concept is referred to as “the technique of making implicit in the target text [discourse]
information that is implicit in the source text [discourse]” [Klaudy 1998: 80 (in Baumgarten,
Meyer, Ozçetin 2008: 180)]. Explicitation was also expended by Nida who specified three
techniques applied in translation: addition, alteration and subtraction; these techniques refer
to the linguistic adaptations to the target language that occur in translation. Besides, Nida
considers that explicitation is either obligatory or optional: the former is bound to the
grammatical structures that impose the changes whereas the latter is the result of cultural
implications in both the source and the target languages. These cultural implications centre
around the divergences in communicative conventions between the communities involved
13 which differ in several levels but mainly in “the overt encoding of the writer persona in the
text” (Baumgarten, Meyer, Ozçetin 2008: pp. 181-182).
Through the several details mentioned in this section regarding the writer’s persona,
the main researches conducted in translation, in addition to the reference to the concept of
“explicitation”, I will try to construct a connection between the disciplines involved in this
study (linguistics and translation) in order to find an answer to the question raised in the
previous section.
14 Data Collection, Methodology and Analysis
The data needed for the elaboration of this study is mainly a written text chosen from
a social studies book entitled “Social Intelligence” written by Daniel Goleman, in addition to
two translated versions to Arabic of the same text (performed by two different asserted
translators).
Adopting a qualitative approach, the analysis will be based on a thorough study of the
original text in order to detect the details that highlight the writer’s persona. Furthermore, I
will conduct an analysis of the two translated versions of the original text looking for
indicators of the persona. Besides, I will check if the concept of “equivalence” is present in
the text’s translations and will look for any additions in the translated texts in order to
interpret their effect or influence on the writer’s persona.
15 Findings and Interpretation
This section of the research includes the analysis of the source text in order to trace
the writer’s persona in addition to the analysis of the two translated versions to check if this
persona is still detectable. It will include details that illustrate the stance, personalisation and
standing of the writer in all the texts concerned.
Analysis of the source text: “No to impulse” (Appendix 1)
Goleman starts the text with a narration of an incident that occurred to a man in
England; his narration includes certain terms that reveal his interference in the text:
“diligently”, “for once”, “overwhelmed” which attributes an implicit meaning to the rather
explicit information presented in narration. In the paragraph that starts with “A news item”
and ends in “missed opportunities”, the writer is perceived as sympathising with the man that
committed suicide over lottery loss, this is obvious in terms like “tragedy” and “poor lottery
player”; furthermore, the attitude of the writer seems to be negative since he uses many verbs
with negative connotations: “unhinged”, “lack”, “unfazed”.
The following paragraph shows the stance of the writer as an expert since he includes several
technical details related to the subject matter discussed. The verb “exerts” in the first line of
the paragraph illustrates the assertive position of the writer and hence his certainty regarding
the information he is discussing in the entire paragraph. From “These patients” till “to guide
the low”, we notice a more mild position of the writer obvious through the use of epistemic
modals like “would”, “may”, and “might”. In this part of the text, the writer describes the
behaviour of persons who have damage in the key circuit of the OFC; within this description,
the terms employed are packed with negative connotations: “unfazed”, “mortifying”,
“tasteless”, “handicapped”, and “powerless”. The modal verb “can” expresses a certain level
16 of certainty with regards to the potential of these people to “explain rationally the proper
social norms”; hence it is noticed that in this sentence terms are being more positive since
they are associated with normal comportment that people should follow: “rationally”,
“proper”, “propriety”.
The following paragraph goes on explaining the effect of the lesions in the OFC on people
especially on war veterans, a description that also includes negative terms: “awry”, “are
flooded”, “traumatic”, “nightmares”, “panic”, “mistaken reaction”, “trauma”; the epistemic
modality of “would” shows a certain level of probability based on a hypothetical condition
which is emphasised by the use of “Ordinarily”. The use of the first personal pronoun plural
“we” in “we’re watching”, shows the intention of the writer to create a feeling of solidarity
with the reader which minimises the distance between the two parties. The writer continues
the following paragraph including technical details related to the text’s subject matter which
reinforces his stance as expert.
In the rest of the text, the writer starts including the reader through the employment of “we”
which renders the information discussed a more natural perspective common to all human
beings: “when those brakes falter, we act inappropriately”. He directly addresses the reader in
order to make him/her more involved in the discussion; this is obvious through the use of the
imperative tense in “Consider”. Moreover, the writer seems to be judgemental in his attitude
towards the nature of the internet conversations included in a study which is noticeable
through the use of the adverb “startlingly”. The section starting with “Presumably” till the
end of the text includes more instances of personalisation: the writer uses the inclusive
pronoun “we” and the object pronoun “us” several times in order to refer to people’s natural
behaviour in in-person interactions; he is not exposing his expertise in the text’s subject
matter but he is referring to a theme that the readers and himself experience during face-to
face interactions.
17 Analysis of the first version of translation entitled " "‫ – ﻻ ﻟﻠﻨﺰوة اﻟﺠﻨﺴﻴﺔ‬Text 1
(Appendix 2)
The translator of this version intended to transmit the direct meaning expressed in the
source text; therefore we notice that each sentence in the original text is replaced by its
correspondent in the target language (Arabic) with the necessary adjustments and adaptations
proper to the Arabic language’s structures. The translator follows the same distribution of
information as the original text, starting by the narration of the incident that happened to the
lottery player and then moving toward the explanation of the process that happens in the OFC
where he uses the Arabic version of the technical terms employed in the original text. He uses
terms in Arabic that refer to the same meaning expressed in English: " "‫ﻻﻋﺐ اﻟﻴﺎﻧﺼﻴﺐ اﻟﻤﺴﻜﻴﻦ‬
that is the exact translation of “poor lottery player”.
The translator does not amend the manner in which the information is transmitted and follows
the exact schema of the original text substituting the lexical items and grammatical structures
with their equivalent in Arabic; therefore we notice that the negative connotations expressed
in the source text are still obvious in the target text: "‫ "اﻟﻤﺎْﺳﺎة‬for “tragedy”, " "‫ اْزﻋﺠﺖ‬for
“unhinged”, "‫ "ﻳﻔﺘﻘﺪون‬for “lack”.
The reader of this version notices that the direct and exact transmission of meanings from
English to Arabic causes the misinterpretation of certain expressions: “missed opportunities”
becomes "‫"اﻟﻈﺮوف اﻟﻔﺎﺷﻠﺔ‬, and “war veterans” is translated "‫"رواد اﻟﺤﺮب‬, “mistaken reaction”
becomes "‫"ردة ﻓﻌﻞ ﺧﺎﻃﺌﺔ‬, “high road system” becomes "‫"اْﻧﻈﻤﺔ ﺧﻂ اﻟﻄﺮﻳﻖ اﻟﺴﺮﻳﻌﺔ‬, “the brain’s
bad boy” is "‫… "دور اﻟﻮﻟﺪ اﻟﻤﺸﺎآﺲ‬
This direct transmission of the meaning causes the translator to miss an important element in
the translation process which is the effect that the writer in the original text intended to
create; the reader does not detect the implicit senses constructed in the source text.
18 On the other hand, the translator preserves the use of the inclusive pronoun “we”: "‫"ﻧﺘﺼﺮف‬
for “we act”, "‫ "ﻧﺘﻘﻠﺐ‬for “we loop”, "‫ "ﺗﺨﺒﺮﻧﺎ‬for “tell us”…
With regards to this version’s title, we notice that the translator attributed to it a meaning that
was not mentioned by the writer of the original text; the latter did not include any term that
have sexual connotations neither explicitly nor implicitly, in addition to the fact that the word
“impulse” is a general term that can be used in several contexts.
Analysis of the second version of translation entitled "‫ – "اﻻﻧﺪﻓﺎع ﻣﻤﻨﻮع‬Text 2
(Appendix 3)
This second version of translation of the original text is perceived as more equivalent
in terms of the effect created by the original writer since it does not follow a direct
transmission of the message but rather it expresses equivalence in meaning adapted to the
structures of the target text. The translator keeps the same structure of the original text and
adjusts the information to be conveyed to the structures of the Arabic language: he starts by
telling the story of the lottery player and then moves to the explanation of the symptoms
related to the OFC deficiencies. He does not transfer the information exactly as they are
presented in the source text but he amends the structures according to the needs of
equivalence in order to construct the intended effect: “Overwhelmed by disappointment, he
killed himself” becomes "‫"ﻓﻘﺘﻞ ﻧﻔﺴﻪ ﻣﻦ ﻣﺮارة ﺧﻴﺒﺘﻪ‬, “they are utterly unfazed by missed
opportunities” is translated: "‫"ﻻ ﻳﺘﺄﺳﻒ ﻣﻄﻠﻘﺎ" ﻋﻠﻰ ﻓﺮﺻﺔ ﺿﺎﻋﺖ ﻣﻨﻪ‬.
The term “tragedy” is translated as "‫ "اﻟﻔﺎﺟﻌﺔ‬which preserves the negative connotations
attributed to this incident better than the word "‫"اﻟﻤﺎْﺳﺎة‬. Moreover, the expression “poor
decision” becomes "‫"ﻗﺮار ﻏﻴﺮ ﺣﻜﻴﻢ‬. It is also noticed that “the self-recrimination that so
19 unhinged that poor lottery player” is not obvious in this translated version and we read
instead: ‫اﻋﺘﺮاﻓﺎ" ذاﺗﻴﺎ" ﺑﺎﻟﺬﻧﺐ ﻳﺪﻓﻊ ﻣﻦ ﻳﺸﻌﺮ ﺑﻪ آﻤﺎ دﻓﻊ رﺟﻞ اﻟﻴﺎﻧﺼﻴﺐ اﻟﻰ اﻻﻗﺪام ﻋﻠﻰ ﺗﺼﺮف ﻏﻴﺮ ﻋﻘﻼﻧﻲ‬
Therefore, the translator changed the structure of the original text and added details that were
not mentioned in order to transmit the overall message intended by the writer; moreover, the
translator does not mention certain terms like “diligently” which removes certain
connotations expressed by the writer.
The translator of this version used the concept of “explicitation” since he amended the
original text with several additions and extractions just for the purpose of maintaining the
effect of the original text within the concept of equivalence in meaning; that’s why the
structure “The OFC also goes awry” is not present in the translation and the translator chose
to disregard it and move directly to talk about the war veterans.
The “high-road systems” and “low-road circuitry”
are no more available in the translated
text and the translator transmits the overall meaning of the paragraph. “When those brakes
falter, we act inappropriately” becomes "‫"ﻋﻨﺪﻣﺎ ﺗﻌﺠﺰ ﻋﻦ آﺒﺖ ﻣﺸﺎﻋﺮك اﻷوﻟﻴﺔ ﺗﺘﺼﺮف ﺑﺸﻜﻞ ﻏﻴﺮ ﻻﺋﻖ‬,
hence the translator alters the whole structure of the sentence including the pronouns used:
the personal pronoun “they” with reference to the patients is transferred to "‫"ﻣﻦ ﻳﻌﺎﻧﻲ‬.
Furthermore, the imperative tense of “Consider” is translated to "‫"ﻓﻠﻨﺘﻤﻌﻦ‬, whereas the
inclusive pronoun “we” is not mentioned in translation: “during in-person interactions we
loop, getting an ongoing flow of feedback” becomes ‫"ﻋﻨﺪﻣﺎ ﻳﺘﻮاﺻﻞ اﻟﻤﺮء ﻣﻊ ﺳﺨﺺ اّﺧﺮ ﺑﺸﻜﻞ ﻣﺒﺎﺷﺮ‬
" ‫ﻳﺮﺗﺒﻚ ﺑﺴﺒﺐ ﻣﺎ ﻳﺮاﻩ‬. Besides, additions and alterations are also obvious in the following
structure: “Ordinarily the high road keeps us within bounds” ‫"ﺗﻔﺮض اﻟﻌﻘﻼﻧﻴﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﻤﺮء ﻗﻴﻮدا" ﻳﻠﺘﺰم‬
"‫ﻋﺎدة‬.
As per the title of Text 2, it seems more accurate in terms of the general aspect of the word
“impulse” which does not always have sexual connotations.
20 Interpretation and Evaluation
As already discussed previously in the literature review section, there are several
theories governing translation as a discipline. The analysis of the two versions of translation
conducted above show that Text 1 adapts the formal equivalence concept of Nida whereas
Text 2 follows the dynamic equivalence model.
In fact, Text 1 maintains the “form” of the source text with regards to the sentence structures
and the lexical items used; the translator does not change in the whole structure of the text
nor he intends to convey more that the meaning communicated by the writer of the original
text. His work consists of matching each sentence to its equivalent in Arabic including the
adaptation of the Arabic structures with regards to sentences and lexical items; English terms
(even technical words) are translated in a sort of word for word translation which leads to the
loss of meaning and effect intended by the writer of the source text. With regards to the
writer’s persona in Text 1, it is noticed that, since the translator follows the exact structure of
the source text, he preserves some aspects of the writer’s persona but without maintaining its
impact: negative connotations of the terms used are not felt as strong as in the source text.
Owing to certain flaws in the translation techniques adapted in Text 1, the stance of the writer
as an expert is not presented as strong as in the source text, besides, the epistemic modality’s
effect in the text is not too obvious because of the nature of the Arabic structures that do not
transmit the same effect as those of other languages like English for example (Jakobson’s
approach). As per the personalization, and since the translator matches the exact structures in
English to those in Arabic, we notice that he maintains the use of the inclusive pronoun “we”
in Arabic but he fails to keep the direct address used by the writer in “Consider” since he
substituted it with the inclusive pronoun in Arabic.
21 Text 2 does not stick to the exact forms and structures of the original text; the
translator adapts the text’s information to the Arabic structures keeping in mind the audience
the translated text is addressed to. He works on transmitting the impact created by the writer
which results in several amendments including additions, alterations and subtractions (Nida’s
perspective for explicitation in translation).
The stance of the writer as an expert is more obvious in this version since the translator
focuses on conveying both the technical meaning and its effect to Arabic, therefore the
translation of the technical terms seems more correct and efficient than that of Text 1. On the
other hand, owing the amendments performed in the translated version, several elements of
the writer’s persona are removed like the effect of the epistemic modality and personalisation
since the translator does not use the inclusive pronoun “we” but replaces it with a more
general term “‫”اﻟﻤﺮء‬.
22 Evaluation
The analysis conducted in this research study on the source text and on two different
versions of translation shows that the writer’s persona of an original text in English is not
preserved in translation to the Arabic language. It is noticed also that, no matter the approach
used in translation, whether adapting the formal equivalence approach or the dynamic
equivalence, the faults that occur in the translation process, especially with regards to the
translation of the technical terms, in addition to the alterations, additions and subtractions
(which are part of the explicitation process) affect the writer’s persona of the original text to
an extent that this persona is not perceived anymore in translation. This effect on the persona
may be also caused by the nature of the target language’s structures that influence the
transmission of information and both their explicit and implicit meanings.
Thus we can conclude that translation is not faithful to the writer’s persona of the original
text. Each translator adopts translation techniques that are different from that employed by
his/her colleagues; it is noticed that no matter the technique used the writer’s persona is not
always apparent in translation like in the two versions analysed in this research. Therefore,
another theme of study could be the relationship between translation approaches (formal or
dynamic equivalence) on preserving the writer’s persona.
23 Works Cited
-
Baumgarten, Nicole; Meyer Bernd; Ozçetin. Explicitness in Translation and
Interpreting: A Critical Review and Some Empirical Evidence (Of An Elusive
Concept).
Available
online:
http://www.bemey.de/fileadmin/material/explicitness_Across.pdf
-
English Grammar In Context Book 2
-
English Grammar In Context Book 3
-
English Grammar In Context Book 5
-
Goleman, Daniel. Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships.
London: Arrow Books, 2007
-
Munday, Jeremy. Introducing Translation Studies - Theories and Applications.
London, 2000.
24 Appendices
25 Appendix 1
26 27 28 Appendix 2
29 30 31 Appendix 3
32 33 34