The Difference between Arabic and English Translation - Essay Example

Commentary The source text (ST) is a report regarding humanitarian help that the reporter provides regarding Palestinian people. The report reviews a resolution dubbed 64/125 of December 2009 and previous resolutions that were reached in order to provide humanitarian help to the people of Palestine. As attributed to the United Nations’ General Assembly in liaison with the Main Committee, the report provides details of the provisions that had been laid with regard to the basic necessities and policy frameworks that needed to be adopted to avert levels of humanitarian crises that have been witnessed in Palestine in the past few years. The report further integrates relevant international policy frameworks, legal provisions including humanitarian laws, human rights law and essentially, the ratifications of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Economic and Social affairs regarding the situation currently witnessed in Palestine. Generally, all issues, concerns and affairs that have been discussed in the report was communicated in English for the general understanding of the issues discussed in the General Assembly and for convenient interpretations and ramification of legal frameworks and policies that have been outlined with regard to the jurisdictions of the United Nations’ convections on humanitarian crises especially on Palestine. It is for the interest of this commentary that several reviews and critical analyses have been conducted as far as the English version of the report is concerned. To begin with, the report exhibit different aspects of translations that are considered as evidence-based (their research findings have been established in different studies). To begin with, the translation provides critical conceptualization of functionalist approach as suggested by Nord (1997). That is, the text as translated (TT) entails specification of the importance and roles of source text (ST) when it comes to the target-oriented translation process, the language involved (Arabic and English as it is in this case), and levels of direction to what seems to be more relevant when it comes to the production of a target-oriented translation. Just like Nord observed, the TT further provides an example of genre convections since the translator has managed to explicitly bring into existence aspects such as clarity, precision and concise use of language to fit a given context in what can be seen as a general register (Nord, 1997: 53). One of the key findings that have been applied succinctly in this research is the linkage between ST and TT. Nord observed that, “there can be no process of translation without a source text, there has to be a certain link between the Source Text and Target Text” Nord, 1994: 28). As such, a comparison between TT and ST shows that the quantity and quality of the link Nord argues about has been developed further by the translation skopos. Expanding on this matter further, skopos provide the best criteria for the processes of decision as to which elements of the ST-in-situation can be maintained or reserved and which from source text may, or must be adapted to the target situation. Contextualising this argument within the ST and TT (the report), ST is mainly concerned with humanitarian assistance to Palestine and for that matter, TT has majorly focused on that aspect linking it well with the issues of the law which only serves to stress on the key agenda. This is what Reiss and Vermeer (2014: 56) terms as ‘applying and adapting’ aspects of ST to TT since skopos ideology is concerned with preservation and adaptation of some elements of ST to TT. Concluding on the application of skopos and convection as applied in the TT I found that the report had a number of complex sentences whose translations did not come out clearly when assessed from the perspective of Nord’s genre convections and skopos approach (ST 14-18) which when I analysed keenly presented ambiguity with regard to syntax and phonology thus rendering translations in Arabic equally ambiguous. Application of Reiss’ (1971: 171) suggestion when he talked about informative text typology came in handy especially in understanding of key issues that could not be related directly to the targeted language (Arabic). Assessing the tenets of comments such as “Recalling the International Donors’ Conference for the Palestinian State, held in Paris on 17 December 2007, the Berlin Conference in Support of Palestinian Civil Security and the Rule of Law” it is thus possible to note that it is only through Reiss approach that a close translation to Arabic was possible. Nevertheless, I noted that this model/approach could not be relied on entirely since it provided some limitations/problems with regard to issues such as typologies when translators attempt to translate material that conform to specific requirements, cultural orientations and expectations of the targeted language (TT). Putting this statement differently, what Reiss’ (1971: 171) insinuates with regard to this case is that in as much as informative text typology remains to be essential with regard to the TT, the process of translation is not meant to neglect in any way, the significance of the ST as the theory is concerned and highlights the essentiality of the production of a TT that can be accepted highly by the target readership. The views as suggested by Reiss’ (1971: 171) have been captured in other studies arguing that in Western culture, there are two distinct points that are essentially expected from a TT, “how TT functions but at the same time, being loyal toward the ST sender and the intended message’ (Schäffner 2004: 1253). With ‘intended message’ the author meant that being loyal means that one should be in tune with the intention of ST, and not simply with the structure of the ST. In this view, the repot accentuates the principles of loyalty as proposed by Functionalist Language. The importance of ST enlighten readers on the significance of giving attention to crises in Palestine and its applications different legal frameworks and policies that guide steps that United Nation should take. As such, I can see that in as much as the translated text has tended to ignore the structure of the text (ST) it has entirely focused on the intention of ST (which is even essential in any work of translation going by studies such as Klaudy (1998). As a matter of fact, when the two texts are compared (ST and TT) it can be noted that the process of translation did not put much emphasis on the structure of ST but the intention of TT. The principle of collocation has been addressed and as such, remains critical and sensible within the context of the two texts and integrates proposals made by previous scholars (see proposal made by Armstrong 2005: 97 regarding collocations when he researched on Translation, Linguistics, Culture). One aspect that has been applied when the two texts are compared is the collocations were sensible with the context of the readers or people the report was addressing. The Arabic speakers targeted by the report is firstly, the victims (Palestinians) and secondly, the report has brought what can be seen as domain specialists as well as linguistically ‘friendly’ approach that can be captured and conceptualized by non-native English speakers (Palestinians). For instance, the expression such:“Gravely concerned at the difficult living conditions and the humanitarian situation affecting the Palestinian people, in particular women and children, throughout the occupied Palestinian territory” should have been translated as “...gravely concerned about the difficult living conditions and humanitarian situation affecting the Palestinian people, especially women and children, throughout the occupied Palestinian territory” but there was some alterations and this commentary is particularly concerned with the expression “…about the difficult living conditions” rather than “at the difficult living conditions.” This is a case where researchers agree that translations can adopt collocations. The translation cited above means that experience held by the translator formed a framework into which the process of translation effectively integrated the findings of each new ST reception. Basically, the English version of the expression above indicates the translator’s knowledge regarding the target culture (Arabic) which has enabled the translator to reconstruct the possible reactions of a ST recipient. The TT skopos is requiring an imitation of the ST functions by the TT. Furthermore, the case presents a situation where the translator’s knowledge is of the target culture (TC) which again, has allowed him/her to expect possible reactions of a TT recipient and as a result, verify the functional adequacy of the process of translating the text produced (Vermeer, 1996). Again, there is need to assess studies’ definition of ‘function’ and how it has been applied in this case. According to House the term function means “the application or use which the text has in the particular context of a situation” (House 1997: 36). Contextualizing this argument within the framework of ST, the text serves the function of highlighting inherent issues that affect Palestinians, policy frameworks in place to address or remedy key challenges that have been observed and the best approach remedying the situation. The relationship between House’s ‘function’, skopos theory and the functionalist model is that for the ST to attain its objective, the translator fulfilled the following requirements. Knowledge on how to deal with the two languages so as to analyse the ST can produce a TT Knowledge research that helps the process of translation to complete the work Having sufficient knowledge of both source and target language as well as culture Produce a TT as well as develop a research that enables completion of his or her work Also applied in the translation was the principle of ‘equifunctional translation’ as suggested by Nord (see Nord, 1997: 50). According to Nord ‘equifunctional translation’ is the situation where the process of translation is assessed to ascertain whether there is assumed interests of the targeted audience or addressee. This is the case with the report since there are assumed interest of the addressee especially when I compare TT and ST with the fact to the report. In as much as I agree that identical function may have been ignored or assumed it is essential to point out that that objective and perspective of the TT remains different and the targeted audience’ understanding of the key issues (legal frameworks) remain hard to substantiate or presuppose. Importantly, Vermeer wrote on “Skopos and Commission in Translation Action” and observed that any translation should be regarded as an action with specific purpose and thus presents an explanation for the concept of skopos, as ‘a technical term for the purpose or aim of a translation (Vermeer, 2006: 223). However, Vermeer’s view may not be applied when translation is seen as covert process especially when translators attempt to project TT as a needs of the targeted audience (House, 1997: 69). I suppose that the translation was aware of the fact that the doctrine or the norm of the target language may not necessarily be accommodated or go in line with those of the source language. It is for this reason that adjustment (accommodation) in the target text has been considered to help translators arrive at a common point concerning the problem. Additionally, the translator produced TT that can be considered as meaningful to the culture of the receiver (Arabic). Going by Vermeer’s points of view, the TT should be made in a way that it conforms to the standard of what the study terms as ‘intratextuality coherence’ (Vermeer 2006: 362). As a matter of fact, this point has been explicitly explained in his book that collaborated Reiss (Reiss and Vermeer 2014). 1,918 words Reference List ARMSTRONG, N. 2005. Translation, Linguistics, Culture: A French-English Handbook. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. HOUSE, J., 1997. Translation quality assessment: A model revisited (Vol. 410). Gunter Narr Verlag. KLAUDY, K. 1998. Explicitation. In: BAKER, M., ed. Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London: Routledge, 80-85. NORD, C. 1997. Translating as a purposeful activity. Manchester: St Jerome Publishing. REISS, K. 2004 (1971). Type, kind and individuality of text: decision making in translation. In: VENUTI, L. ed. The Translation Studies Reader, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 168-179. REISS, K. and VERMEER, H.J., 2014. Towards a general theory of translational action: Skopos theory explained. Routledge. SCHÄFFNER, C., 2004. Metaphor and translation: some implications of a cognitive approach. Journal of pragmatics, 36(7), pp.1253-1269. VERMEER, H.J., 1996. A skopos theory of translation:(some arguments for and against). TextconText-Verlag. VERMEER, H.J., 2006. Luhmann's" social Systems" Theory: Preliminary Fragments for a Theory of Translation. Frank & Timme GmbH. Read More

Just like Nord observed, the TT further provides an example of genre convections since the translator has managed to explicitly bring into existence aspects such as clarity, precision and concise use of language to fit a given context in what can be seen as a general register (Nord, 1997: 53). One of the key findings that have been applied succinctly in this research is the linkage between ST and TT. Nord observed that, “there can be no process of translation without a source text, there has to be a certain link between the Source Text and Target Text” Nord, 1994: 28).

As such, a comparison between TT and ST shows that the quantity and quality of the link Nord argues about has been developed further by the translation skopos. Expanding on this matter further, skopos provide the best criteria for the processes of decision as to which elements of the ST-in-situation can be maintained or reserved and which from source text may, or must be adapted to the target situation. Contextualising this argument within the ST and TT (the report), ST is mainly concerned with humanitarian assistance to Palestine and for that matter, TT has majorly focused on that aspect linking it well with the issues of the law which only serves to stress on the key agenda.

This is what Reiss and Vermeer (2014: 56) terms as ‘applying and adapting’ aspects of ST to TT since skopos ideology is concerned with preservation and adaptation of some elements of ST to TT. Concluding on the application of skopos and convection as applied in the TT I found that the report had a number of complex sentences whose translations did not come out clearly when assessed from the perspective of Nord’s genre convections and skopos approach (ST 14-18) which when I analysed keenly presented ambiguity with regard to syntax and phonology thus rendering translations in Arabic equally ambiguous.

Application of Reiss’ (1971: 171) suggestion when he talked about informative text typology came in handy especially in understanding of key issues that could not be related directly to the targeted language (Arabic). Assessing the tenets of comments such as “Recalling the International Donors’ Conference for the Palestinian State, held in Paris on 17 December 2007, the Berlin Conference in Support of Palestinian Civil Security and the Rule of Law” it is thus possible to note that it is only through Reiss approach that a close translation to Arabic was possible.

Nevertheless, I noted that this model/approach could not be relied on entirely since it provided some limitations/problems with regard to issues such as typologies when translators attempt to translate material that conform to specific requirements, cultural orientations and expectations of the targeted language (TT). Putting this statement differently, what Reiss’ (1971: 171) insinuates with regard to this case is that in as much as informative text typology remains to be essential with regard to the TT, the process of translation is not meant to neglect in any way, the significance of the ST as the theory is concerned and highlights the essentiality of the production of a TT that can be accepted highly by the target readership.

The views as suggested by Reiss’ (1971: 171) have been captured in other studies arguing that in Western culture, there are two distinct points that are essentially expected from a TT, “how TT functions but at the same time, being loyal toward the ST sender and the intended message’ (Schäffner 2004: 1253). With ‘intended message’ the author meant that being loyal means that one should be in tune with the intention of ST, and not simply with the structure of the ST. In this view, the repot accentuates the principles of loyalty as proposed by Functionalist Language.

The importance of ST enlighten readers on the significance of giving attention to crises in Palestine and its applications different legal frameworks and policies that guide steps that United Nation should take. As such, I can see that in as much as the translated text has tended to ignore the structure of the text (ST) it has entirely focused on the intention of ST (which is even essential in any work of translation going by studies such as Klaudy (1998).

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