The importance attached to the letter of the law has meant that most studies of legal translation have been devoted to questions of terminology, while pragmatic and functional considerations tend to be disregarded. The purpose of the present study is to display how pragmatic and functional considerations have an important role in legal translation and should be taken into account when determining translation strategies. The representative data was in the form of three authentic contracts written in Arabic. These are a Real-Estate Sales Contract, a Lease Contract and an Employment Contract. Each text was translated by three certified legal translators from English into Arabic to produce nine different versions. A comparison was made of how each translator approached problematic areas of legal translation in all nine texts. After that, the study explored the applicability of Speech Act theory to legal translation by comparing the translation of regulative acts in all nine texts. As for the translation from English into Arabic, a group of graduate students studying applied Linguistics and Translation at An-Najah National University were asked to translate a "Power of Attorney" text as an assignment. In addition, a professional translator was commissioned to translate the same text. They were all asked to translate this text twice: once as part of a Legal thriller novel and another as a classified newspaper advertisement. The translated versions were scrutinized for ability to perform these new functions in the target language. The study has shown that the application of pragmatic and functional perspectives to legal translation can provide valuable insights to the translator, reinforcing the premise that legal translation is essentially an act of communication.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Managing and Emotiveness in the Production and Translation of Ideology: A Case Study of the Israeli Incursion into the Gaza Strip (2006)
This study is aimed at exploring the implications and applications of two text-linguistic notions: ''managing'' and ''emotiveness with special reference to the production and translation of sensitive news texts. It shows how Israeli media writers use various manipulative strategies in reporting the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip in 2006. Additionally, and more significantly, the study explores the ways translators approach sensitive news reports loaded with ideological content and news media norms to redraw the ideological map impinged in translated media discourse. For the purpose of analysis, three main news articles along with many sample texts are extracted from two Israeli newspapers, namely: Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post (2006). The data is analyzed in accordance with discourse analysis approaches (de Beaugrande and Dressler 1981, Brwon and Yule 1983, Basil Hatim 1990, 1997). As far as translation is of interest, the researcher has designed three content-based questionnaires of each fifteen copies were distributed as translation assignments to Palestinian students enrolled in the MA Program of Applied Linguistics and Translation at An-Najah National University in Nablus. The questionnaires contain three news articles in the English version (from Haaretz & The Jerusalem Post, 2006). In two of the articles, the commission is to translate the text for Al-Quds paper. The purpose is to test which parts of the text are most nervous and to describe the translation strategies employed. The first text was left non-contextualised to determine whether translators abide by or depart from the linguistic features of the ST. The thesis consists of five chapters: chapter one includes the introduction, methodology, organization of the study and review of related literature. Chapter two, negotiating text type in translation, focuses on the translation of hybrid texts and compares the translation with the original. Chapter three presents thematic structures and their effects on translation. It discusses the various norms of staging discourse, such as information structure, headline, passive vs. active, markedness and source quoting. It also compares the staging norms Al-Quds paper employs with translated target samples. Chapter four examines the ideological components that mark sensitive texts. It investigates the translation strategies employed in turning texts of sensitive nature into the TT. It also compares emotive sensitive lexis in the TT with those that appear in Al-Quds paper. The study concludes that Israeli media discourse addresses one view, one defending the Israelis portrayed in a state of response, but condemning the Palestinians pictured as initiators of violence. This is done through explicit and implicit manipulative lexical and syntactic choices. The institutional policy, translator's self-editing, audience and community are all factors that determine translators' choices and strategies. The strategies include: neutral equivalence, minimal and maximal mediation, insertion of evaluative expressions, culture-specific terms, deletion and transformation of passive into active. In response to these factors, and when commission is defined, translators of sensitive texts do, more often than not, assume a high degree of dynamism in rendering ST materials target texts.
Translation of Neologisms of the Two Palestinian Intifadas the First (1987-1993) and the Second (2000-2005)
The study examines the translation of neologisms in the two Palestinian Intifadas to see how translators deal with them. It highlights the mistranslations and the translation problems caused by cultural, political and linguistic differences. It categorizes these neologisms according to the standpoint of their formation and the criteria of use and of translational occurrences in English and other sources, especially Hebrew. By evaluating the correctness and the effectiveness of the neological translations, it attempts to provide some appropriate renditions for some neologisms. Furthermore, the study refers to the strategies used by translators in dealing with these culture-bound neologisms. The findings of the analysis of neologisms in translation point to the importance for translators to have the background information about the subject matter of Intifada neologisms to help them understand the concepts embodied therein, and so render the messages properly. The findings, also, show the following: 1. Achieving a translational equivalent of an Intifada neologism without considering its contextual use is not an easy task. 2. Translators often fail to convey all the nuances and the subtleties of Intifada neologisms being unaware of the cultural implications and differences between Palestinian Arabic and English. 3. Culture can not be excluded in translation because language is part of culture. 4. The dictionary is not the only source to resort to in dealing with the meanings of such neological expressions. 5. Some additions are needed to compensate the missing information in the translations so that the original meaning can be retained. The study consists of four chapters. Chapter One introduces the topic and the importance of culture in translation, the purpose, significance, limitations and methodology of the study, and statement of the problem. Chapter Two provides definitions of the concept of neologisms and reviews some related literature on the subject. Chapter Three presents an analysis of the translational occurrences of these neologisms as they appear in English sources. It also touches upon their referential and contextual meanings with focus on their instable semantic features. Finally, Chapter Four provides conclusions and recommendations for further research.
The Translatability of Cognitive Synonyms in Shakespeare's Macbeth: A Comparative / Contrastive Study
This study investigates the notion of cognitive synonyms in literary works in English-Arabic translation. In order to highlight the problem under discussion, the study explores the translation of some cognitive lexical items in their original context of use. The researcher takes these cognitive synonyms from Shakespeare's Macbeth as a case study. This comparative/ contrastive study focuses on how cognitive synonyms are translated by four translators of Shakespeare's play: Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, Khalil Mutran, Farid Abu-Hadid and Hussein Ameen. The present study argues that cognitive synonyms are harder to translate than any other lexical items due to some subtle differences that exist between cognitive synonyms. Shakespeare sometimes associates fine-grained semantic connotations with words. Synonyms are used to convey certain implications. Differences in meaning or use among pairs of synonyms are claimed to be context-dependent. The context is the only criterion for selecting appropriate words. There are many occasions when one word is appropriate in a sentence, but its synonyms will be odd. In literary texts where synonyms are used to convey certain implications, translators can provide formal, functional or ideational equivalence. The study reveals the different idiosyncrasies and translation styles of different translators of Macbeth. This comparative/ contrastive translation study shows that the four translations included in the research fall into two categories. On the one hand, the translations of Jabra and Abu-Hadid reveal a tendency toward formal equivalence. On the other hand, Mutran and Ameen prefer ideational equivalence. The study shows that formal equivalence should be used as long as it secures the intended meaning; otherwise, functional or ideational equivalence must be provided. The researcher believes that it is impossible to separate the conceptual meaning from the connotative meaning because an essential role of the word is the impression it gives to the reader. The researcher discusses also word-strings involving two cognitive synonyms or more, identifying their functions, and pinpointing the obstacles of this phenomenon for translation. This thesis is divided into four chapters. The first introduces the types of synonymy, function of synonyms, statement of the problem, significance of the study and methodology of research. The second deals with the review of literature and related studies. The third focuses on the analysis of cognitive synonyms and translation styles. The fourth chapter provides some conclusions and recommendations.
Staging and Monitoring in Arabic and Non-Arabic Media Discourse
The analytical categories of the study include staging (thematic structures and linearization, passivization or activization, and lexical choice). Staging reveals how the writer’s topic area is structured and how avoiding staging, especially in media discourse, receives no cooperation on part of the readers, i.e. there is a good likelihood that they aren't implicitly affected.
For the sake of analysis, three topics from six Arab, and six Non-Arab newspapers, are extracted. This data is analyzed in accordance with discourse analytical approaches (Brown and Yule, 1983; Beaugrande & Dressler, 1981). In this vein, one can understand how media is effectively manipulated in the Arab & Non-Arab Worlds. Other samples from expository news reports translated from Arabic into English are to be chosen to see how Arab translators render the texts into English since the study builds on the assumption that foreigners may read what Arabs write.
The study ends with the conclusion that Arab media discourse (according to the present analysis) addresses two views, one defending the Israelis, and the other favouring the Palestinians. The former is portrayed through implicit linearization, i.e. linearization of themes. The latter is supported through (inconsistent) lexical emotiveness. When the text is translated into English, there is a good chance that it would not reflect the Palestinian viewpoint. Arab media writers may unintentionally order the themes in a way reflecting the Israeli attitude. It is this (un)intentionality that should be taken at face value.
The study recommends that translators exert all their effort to transfer the actual viewpoint of the Arab public, and not that of the political parties or leaders. Arab writers, of the presented data, are required to pay attention to staging devices in media discourse especially when it comes to its indirect and hidden modes such as linearization.