Waleed Othman

What is translation?
Generally, translation is a process of rendering meaning, ideas, or messages of a text
from one language (source language/SL) to another language (target language/TL).
This is no easy task, especially when the source text (ST) and the target text (TT)
belong to two different cultures, such as those of English and Arabic.
Translated texts vary according to the method of translation, translators skills and
abilities, as well as other factors involved in the process of translation. The following
translators principles can be regarded as a summary of contradictory qualities of a
translated text:
1. A translation must give the words of the original.
2. A translation must give the ideas of the original.
3. A translation should read like an original work.
4. A translation should read like a translation.
5. A translation should reflect the style of the original.
6. A translation should possess the style of the translation.
7. A translation should read as a contemporary of the original.
8. A translation should read as a contemporary of the translation.
9. A translation may add to or omit from the original.
10. A translation may never add to or omit from the original.
11. A translation of verse should be in prose.
12. A translation of verse should be in verse. (Lev, 33-34, transl. J.Ch.).
The choice of one or more of the abovementioned principles to follow depends on
several factors. These include the type of the ST, the distance between the two
languages and the two cultures, the aim of the translation, the translator's level of
experience, and the target audience, among other factors.

The nature of the translated text is a result of the type or method of translation
adopted, as well as the translation strategies or techniques employed in the translation
process. The principles above correspond with several translation types and
techniques that will be considered in detail below. Before that we need to consider a
very important issue; i.e. types of meaning.

Baker (???) claims that every lexical unit has something that is individual and makes
it different from other words. There are four main types of meaning that deal with
words and utterance:
Conceptual or Denotative Meaning (also known as propositional, literal, logical, or
dictionary meaning): This type of meaning provides the speaker of a particular
language a description of a particular word or utterance in a real or imaginary world.
According to Cruse this type of meaning provides the basis on which one can consider
the utterances as a true or a false.
Example: Woman = human + female + adult )(
Examples: (owl ( ;)

Connotative meaning: Connotative meaning is the communicative value of an

expression over and above its purely conceptual content. It is something that goes
beyond mere referent of a word and hints at its attributes in the real world. It is
something more than the dictionary meaning. Thus purely conceptual content
of 'woman' is 'human + female+ adult', but the psychosocial connotations could
be gregarious, having maternal instinct or typical attributes of womanhood
such as babbling, experienced in cookery, skirt or dress wearing' etc. Still
further connotative meaning can embrace putative properties of a referent due to
viewpoint adopted by individual, group, and society as a whole. So in the past woman
was supposed to have attributes like frail, prone to tears, emotional, irrigational,
inconstant , cowardly etc. as well as more positive qualities such gentle, sensitive,
compassionate, hardworking etc. Connotations vary age to age and society to society.
Connotations can be general or personal. General connotations refer to what a word or
concept means to a large group of people.
Example: owl = bad omen
Personal connotation: associative meaning:
A meaning that is unique to the user; the emotions or feelings a word creates in you or
in any one individual
Example: cat = playful, spiteful, etc.
Under personal connotations, we can also speak of expressive meaning: This type of
meaning is related to the speaker's feelings and attitudes rather than to what a word or
an utterance refers to. For instance, the difference between Dont complain and Dont
whinge is not in the propositional meaning but it lies in the expressiveness of the
latter mentioned which shows a certain degree of the speakers annoyance. Expressive
meanings cannot be judged as true or false.
With this type of meaning we can explain differences between synonyms like:

Unkind, cruel (disapproval is stronger in cruel)

Famous in English = Well-known (neutral)
Fameux in French = ill-reputed (negative)

presupposed meaning: This meaning results from co-occurrence of restrictions.

There are two types of restrictions to be distinguished: selectional and collocational.
Cruse defines selectional restrictions as a function of the propositional meaning of a
word. Regarding to these restrictions, it can be expected what kind of words can occur
before and after a certain lexical unit as for instance a use of particular types of
adjectives with a human subjects and subjects that are inanimate. Nevertheless, these
rules can be broken when figurative language is considered yet in all other cases they
should be strictly observed.
Examples:
Studious ( an adjective for a human being);
a studious person
Geometrical (an adjective for a shape)
A geometrical shape

On the other hand, collocational restrictions do not follow logically from the
propositional meaning of a word. For instance, teeth are brushed in English, they are
polished in Italian and washed in Polish. It means these restrictions are semantically
arbitrary and it should be bear in mind that there are differences among languages in
this arbitrary use.
Break the law =

Evoked meaning. It arises from dialect and register variations. Depending on the
origin, three types of dialect are distinguished:
geographical (e.g. American compared to British English lift and elevator)
- temporal (e.g. words and structures used by members of different age groups
within a community as well as words used at different periods in the history of a
language verily and really)
social ( e.g. words and structures used by members of different social classes scent
and perfume).

B- Register: A variety of language that a language user considers appropriate to a

specific situation
(1)
Field: What is going on (football match, political speech)
(2)
Tenor: The relationship between speaker and listener/ writer and reader
(mother/child; doctor/patient)
(3)
Mode: speech, essay, lecture, instructions, written
The problem of non-equivalence
Non - Equivalence at Word Level
Non - equivalence at word level means that the target language has no direct
equivalence for a word that occurs in the source text. There are many factors to cause
the problems of non equivalence. Baker (1992) lists the following problems of non
equivalence at word level:
1. Culture specific concepts

The source-language word may express a concept which is totally unknown in

the target language (abstract or concrete; it may relate to a religious belief, a social
custom or even a type of food).
eg. English concept difficult to translate: Speaker (of the House of Commons)- it has
no equivalent in many languages, such as Russian, Chinese and Arabic, among others.
It is often translated into Russian as Chairman, which does not reflect the role of the
Speaker of the House of Commons as an independent person who maintains authority
and order in Parliament.
e.g.

2. The source language concept is not lexicalized in the target language

eg. Landslide

3. The source language word is semantically complex
eg: arruao, a Brazilian word which means clearing the ground under the coffee
trees of rubbish and piling it in the middle of the row in order to aid in the recovery of
beans dropped during harvesting

e.g.

4. The source and target language make different distinctions in meaning

eg. Indonesian makes a distinction between going out in the rain without the
knowledge that is it raining (kehujanan) and going out in the rain with the knowledge
that it is raining (hujanhujanan). English does not makes that distinction, with the
result that if an English text referred to going out in the rain, the Indonesian translator
may find it difficult to choose the right equivalent.

5. The target language lacks a superordinate term

The target language may have specific words (hyponyms) but no general word

(superordinate)to head the semantic field.

eg. Russian has no ready equivalent for facilities, meaning any equipment, building,
services, etc. that are provided for a particular activity or purpose. It does, however,
have several specific words and expressions which can be thought of as types of
facilities, for example sredstva peredvizheniya (means of transport), naem (loan),
neobkhodimye pomeschcheniya (essential accommodation) and neobkhodimoe
oborudovanie (essential equipment).

6. The target language lacks a specific term (hyponym)

More commonly, languages tend to have general words (superordinates) but

lack specific ones (hyponyms).

eg. under house, English again has a variety of hyponyms which have no equivalents
in many languages, for example bungalow, cottage, croft, chalet, lodge, hut, mansion,
manor, villa and hall.

7. Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective

Physical perspective has to do with where things or people are in relation to

one another or to a place, as expressed in pairs of words such as come/ go, take/ bring,

arrive/ depart, etc. Perspective may also include the relationship between participants
in the discourse (tenor).
eg. Japanese has six equivalents for give, depending on who gives to whom: yaru,
ageru, morau, kureru, itadaku and kudasaru (McCreary, 1986).

8. Differences in expressive meaning

There may be a target-language word which has the same propositional

meaning as the source-language word, but it may have a different expressive meaning.
If the target-language equivalent is neutral compared to the source-language item, the
translator can sometimes add the evaluative element by means of a modifier or adverb
if necessary, or by building it in somewhere else in the text.
eg. the rendering of the English verb to batter (as in child/ wife battering) by the more
neutral Japanese verb tataku, meaning to beat plus an equivalent modifier such as
savagely or ruthlessly.

9. Differences in from

There is often no equivalent in the target language for a particular form in the

source text.
eg. English makes frequent use of suffixes such as ish (e.g. boyish, hellish, greenish)
and able (e.g. conceivable, retrievable, drinkable). Arabic, for instance, has no ready
mechanism for producing such forms and so they are often replaced by an appropriate
paraphrase, depending on the meaning they convey (e.g. retrievable as can be
retrieved and drinkable as suitable for drinking).

10. Differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms

11. The use of loan words in the source text

Words such as au fait, chic and alfresco in English are used for their prestige

value, because they add an air of sophistication to the text or its subject matter. This is

often lost in translation because it is not always possible to find a loan word with the
same meaning in the target language.
eg. dilettante is a loan word in English, Russian and Japanese; but Arabic has
no equivalent loan word. This means that only the propositional meaning of dilettante
can be rendered into Arabic; its stylistic effect would almost certainly have to be
sacrificed.

12. Differences in propositional meaning

Types of Translation:
These refer to the methods you apply to a text as a whole the primary choice you
have to make here is how close to the source text you want your target text to be.
Newmark refers to the following translation methods.
Word-for-word translation: The SL word order is preserved and the words are
translated singly by their most common meanings, out of context. Cultural words are
translated literally. The man use of word-for-word translation is either to understand
the mechanics of the source or to construe a difficult text as a pre-translation process.
When you are in Rome do as the Romans do.
.
Literal translation: The SL grammatical constructions are converted to their nearest
TL equivalents but the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context. As a
pre-translation process, this indicates the problems to be solved.
When you are in Rome do as the Romans do.
.
Faithful translation: A faithful translation attempts to produce the precise contextual
meaning of the original within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures and to
be completely faithful to the intentions and the text-realization of the SL writer.
When you are in Rome do as the Romans do.

.
Semantic translation: Differs from 'faithful translation' only in as far as it must take
more account of the aesthetic value of the SL text. The distinction between faithful
and semantic is that the first is uncompromising and dogmatic, while the second is
more flexible.
When you are in Rome do as the Romans do.
.
Adaptation: The freest form of translation, and is used mainly for plays (comedies)
and poetry; the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the SL culture is
converted to the TL culture and the text is rewritten.
For example the adaptation of Shakespeares play {King Lear} into an Arabic
Play called : ""

Free translation: Produces the TL text without the manner, content or form of the
original. Usually it is a paraphrase much longer than the original.
When you are in Rome do as the Romans do.
.

Idiomatic translation: Reproduces the message of the original but tends to distort
nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms where these do not exist
in the original.
.
This is like carrying coal to Newcastle.
Communicative translation: Attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the
original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and
comprehensible to the readership (Textbook of translation 45-47). Communicative, in
comparison with literal translation, is clearer and more direct and aims at making the
reader understand the ST message often by over-translation. The TT becomes more
specific than the original. The translator has the right to correct or improve the logic,
remove obscurities and reduce repetitions in the ST to help the reader comprehend
the ST fully. Yet, this manipulation needs to be clarified when necessary.
Communicative translation is applied in translating various types of texts including
proverbs, metaphors, standard notices, colloquialisms and ordinary language.
When you are in Rome do as the Romans do.

. /

Some Translation Techniques

The types of translation mentioned above, except the literal one, require certain
common strategies, since they aim at making the TT as comprehensible as possible to
the TL reader.
Borrowing (Arabization): A word taken directly from another language, e.g.,

Calque (through translation): A foreign word or phrase translated and incorporated
into another language, e.g.,
Cold war
Air to air missile -
Transposition: A shift of word class, i.e., verb for noun, noun for preposition e.g.,
Upon arrival

Modulation. A shift in point of view. Whereas transposition is a shift between
grammatical categories, modulation is a shift in cognitive categories. Vinay and
Darbelnet postulate eleven types of modulation: abstract for concrete, cause for effect,
means for result, a part for the whole, geographical change, etc., e.g., the geographical
modulation between encre de Chine and Indian ink.
Abstract for concrete:
Cause for effect: He cleared his throat.
Means for result:
A part for the whole: workers
Geographical change:
Space for time:
Immediate aim vs. ultimate aim:
Negated contrary: Remember to lock the door. .
Active for passive:
Reordering or changing form: As if he owned the house /

Equivalence. This accounts for the same situation using a completely different phrase,
e.g., the translation of proverbs or idiomatic expressions like, Comme un chien dans
un
jeu de quilles and Like a bull in a china shop.
You're welcome.
Like father, like son.

Adaptation. A shift in cultural environment, i.e., to express the message using a

different
situation, e.g. cycling for the French, cricket for the English and baseball for the
Americans.
He had bread and butter for breakfast.
Compensation. An item of information, or a stylistic effect from the ST that cannot be
reproduced in the same place in the TT is introduced elsewhere in the TT, e.g., the
French translation of I was seeking thee, Flathead. from the Jungle Book Kipling used
the
archaic thee, instead of you, to express respect, but none of the equivalent French
pronoun
forms (tu, te, toi) have an archaic equivalent, so the translator expressed the same
feeling by using the vocative, O, in another part of the sentence: En verit, cest bien
toi
que je cherche, O Tte-Plate.
Your honor
Grammaticalization: A man in blue.
Lexicalization: A man in blue:
Generalization: front window
Particularization: front window
Explicitation: The patient: /
Reinforcement: He called for a taxi.
Amplification: Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting
Reduction: Ramadan
Substitution: Put your hand on the Quran
Description: optional pilgrimage to Mecca at any time other than the pilgrimage
time.
Modulation: You are going to have a child.
Descriptive Strategy
Rain forest
Many other translation theorists have discussed the issue (e.g. Fawcett, 1997:34-41)
and some have come up with their own classifications.

For example, Newmark in his book Approaches to Translation (1981: 30-32)

discusses seventeen translation techniques, that differ in importance according to the
contextual factors of both the ST and the TT.

Lundquist lists seven translation procedures, while Newmark lists a whole bunch of
them. Here is

an overview which integrates the Lundquist's and Newmark's procedures into one list:
Direct procedures:
Literal translation: word-for-word translation
Transference / loan: transferal of a word or expression from the source language/text
directly into the target text without translating it at all
Translation loan: retention of syntactic construction, but translation of the words in
it
Through translation: literal translation of collocations and combinations the
difference between this and translation loans is that in through translation, you strife
for
literal translation and a higher degree of formal retention
Naturalization: basically transference in which you apply target language spelling
and
morphology (and pronunciation) to the expression or word in question
Indirect procedures:
Equivalence: here, you focus on equivalence in meaning in the perspective of the
reader
of the target text this means that you may sacrifice equivalent in form, or you may
have to choose something which is note exactly the same thing as in the source text,
but
which is the closest get to it in the target language.
Cultural equivalent: translating a culturally rooted word in the source text/language
with a roughly equivalent culturally rooted word of the target language/text note,
this is what Lundquist calls tilpasning
Functional equivalent: translating a word in the source language/text with a
functionally equivalent target language word (i.e. a word which has the same
meaning)
Descriptive equivalent: translating a source language/text word using a description

of the concept it refers to in the target language

(Near) synonymy: translating a source language/text word or expression with a
target language expression that is nearly, but not completely, functionally equivalent
Reduction/expansion: adding or removing elements in translation (essentially a type
of shift)
Paraphrase: amplification or explanation of meaning in target text
Compensation: making up for the loss of something in the source text, by adding
something else in the target text
Shifts: this is when you
Transposition: translation of a source language/text expression into a target
language expression which involves change in grammatical structure or in word
class
Modulation: change of viewpoint or substantial conceptual concept in the
translation, for instance, using the name of a category for a specific member of the
category, using a part for the whole (and vice versa), active for passive, changing
polarity etc.
Componential analysis: splitting up a lexical unit into meaning atoms and
translating those
Others:
Recognized translation: using a well-known accepted target language translation for
aa
specific source language institutional term
Translation label: provisional target language translation of a source language term
that
does not have any conventional translation in the target language

Equivalence in Translation
Another key term in translation theory is Equivalence. ST and TT can be
formally equivalent, functionally equivalent, or ideationally equivalent. The
following examples illustrate this point:
.

Formal equivalence: I love her and she loves me. My he-camel loves her she-camel.
Functional equivalence: Love me, love my dog.
Ideational equivalence: If you love me, you have to love the people I love as well.

Discuss the three types of equivalence with your classmates and teacher.
Now try to translate the following formally, functionally, and ideationally.
Which translation do you think causes the least loss?
.
Formal equivalence:
Functional equivalence:
Ideational equivalence:

.
Formal equivalence:
Functional equivalence:
Ideational equivalence:


Formal equivalence:
Functional equivalence:
Ideational equivalence:

.
Formal equivalence:
Functional equivalence:
Ideational equivalence:

.
Formal equivalence:
Functional equivalence:
Ideational equivalence:

.
Formal equivalence:
Functional equivalence:
Ideational equivalence:

.
Formal equivalence:
Functional equivalence:
Ideational equivalence:

Natural translation

?Which of the following do you think sound natural in Arabic

1
.
2 .
3 .
4 .
5 .
6 .
7 .
8 .
9 .
9 .
10 .
11
12 .
13 .
14 .
15 .

Discuss the examples above with your classmates and teacher.

The examples above prove how important, in fact essential, naturalness is.
Therefore when you translate into English, you have to make every effort to
produce natural translations. But how can this be achieved?
To render a text naturally, you need to opt for the correct words, collocations,
and structures. You also need to be aware of other factors at the text and
discourse levels. These will be discussed below:
First, Words:
Consider the following example:
.
The first thing you should do is to think about the meaning of the word intralingually (i.e. in Arabic). Only the words " " could be problematic here. If
an Arabic-English dictionary does not have the word as an entry, you need to
look it up in an Arabic-Arabic dictionary (Al-Wasseet is a good one). In AlMawrid Arabic-English dictionary, you can find the following:
To carry, support, bear, sustain, hold up, prop (up), shore up, stay,
brace, pillar
To undertake, take upon oneself, assume, carry (the burden of),
shoulder, bear
To harbor, entertain, cherish, conceal, hide, secrete
To incite, prompt, spur on, induce, move, actuate, impel, drive,
motivate, stimulate, inspire, cause, make

:) (
:

To attack, assail, assault, launch or make an attack on, charge, raid,

bear down upon, fall upon

: : ()

Which row in the table should you resort to in order to translate the Arabic
example above? Translate and discuss.

More examples:
. 1
. 2
. 3
. 4

You must have noticed that the dictionary entries provided above were not of
use for you in translating sentences 3 & 4. So what should you do if your
Arabic-English dictionary does not help?
Consult an English-English dictionary. In example 3 above, the word " "could
be your starting point. What does " "mean in English? Seriousness, serious,
seriously. You would opt for "seriously" as " " has an adverbial
function in the Arabic sentence. Now look up "seriously" in your English-

English" dictionary. (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Oxford Advanced

Learner's Encyclopedic Dictionary, and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
English are good choices.) Here is the entry "seriously" as found in the Oxford
Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic Dictionary:
Seriously adv 1 in a serious way: speak seriously to her about it
seriously ill, injured, etc. 2 (infml) (used at the beginning of a sentence
when turning to a serious matter): Seriously though, you could really
hurt yourself doing that. Usage at HOPEFUL. 3 (idm) take sb/sth
seriously regard sb/sth as important and worth treating with respect:
You can't take her promises seriously: she never keeps her word. I
take this threat very seriously.

You can see that English has an idiomatic expression that conveys the
meaning we are seeking. Now translate sentence 3 above.
Which word in sentence 4 would take as a starting point? Discuss and
translate.
How did you decide among the English senses of the word " "in example 2
above? )( .
Here are the English senses of " " again:
To attack, assail, assault, launch or make an attack on, charge, raid,
bear down upon, fall upon

: : ()

There are nine English senses here. What should you do? The English-English
dictionary is your guide in this case. You need to look up each and every word
to find the one that can naturally be used in a similar context in English.

Second, Collocations:
Collocation is the way words combine in a language to produce naturalsounding speech and writing. For example, in English you say strong wind but
heavy rain. It would not be normal to say *heavy wind or *strong rain.
Language that is collocationally rich is also more precise because most single
words in a language (say, English) embrace a whole range of meanings. The
precise meaning in any context is determined by that context: by the words
that surround and combine with the core word by collocation.
Collocations
Collocative meaning is the meaning which a word acquires in the company of certain
words. Words collocate or co-occur with certain words only e.g. Big business not
large or great. Collocative meaning refers to associations of a word because of its
usual
or
habitual
co-occurrence
with
certain
types
of
words. Pretty and handsomeindicate good looking.
However, they slightly differ from each other because of collocation or cooccurrence. The word pretty collocates with girls, woman, village, gardens,
flowers, etc.
On the other hand, the word handsome collocates with boys men, etc.
so pretty woman and handsome man. While different kinds of attractiveness,
hence handsome woman may mean attractive but in a mannish way. The
verbs wander and stroll are quasi-synonymous- they may have almost the same
meaning but while cows may wonder into another farm, they dont stroll into that
farm becausestroll collocates with human subject only. Similarly one trembles with
fear but quivers with excitement.

Sample Collocations
There are several different types of collocation. Collocations can be adjective +
adverb, noun + noun, verb + noun and so on. Below you can see seven main types of
collocation in sample sentences.
1. adverb + adjective

Invading that country was an utterly stupid thing to do.

We entered a richly decorated room.
Are you fully aware of the implications of your action?

2. adjective + noun

The doctor ordered him to take regular exercise.

The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage.
He was writhing on the ground in excruciating pain.

3. noun + noun

Let's give Mr Jones a round of applause.

The ceasefire agreement came into effect at 11am.
I'd like to buy two bars of soap please.

4. noun + verb

The lion started to roar when it heard the dog barking.

Snow was falling as our plane took off.
The bomb went off when he started the car engine.

5. verb + noun

The prisoner was hanged for committing murder.

I always try to do my homework in the morning, after making my bed.
He has been asked to give a presentation about his work.

6. verb + expression with preposition

We had to return home because we had run out of money.

At first her eyes filled with horror, and then she burst into tears.
Their behaviour was enough to drive anybody to crime.

7. verb + adverb

She placed her keys gently on the table and sat down.
Mary whispered softly in John's ear.
I vaguely remember that it was growing dark when we left.

Collocations Lists

Exercise
have a bath
have a drink
have a good time
have a haircut
have a holiday
have a problem
have a relationship
have a rest
have lunch
have sympathy
Exercise
annual turnover
bear in mind
break off negotiations
cease trading
chair a meeting
close a deal
close a meeting
come to the point
dismiss an offer
draw a conclusion
draw your attention to
launch a new product
lay off staff
go bankrupt
go into partnership
make a loss
make a profit
market forces
sales figures
take on staff

Collocation covers the following types, among others:

Noun + adjective

Quantifier + noun
Verb + noun

Verb + noun

Noun + noun

5
6

Preposition + noun

Verb + adverb
Verb + preposition

Adjective + adverb

Adjective + preposition

10

Noun + of + noun

11

Culturally established collocations

Established sequence of elements

Borrowed collocations
Text-type relevant collocations

Do you think a bilingual dictionary can be of much use here?

What you need is a good English-English dictionary that provides plenty of
examples. Let's consider the expression " " using the Oxford
Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic Dictionary. Which word would you look up?
"lecture"? OK.

Lecture

(to

sb)

(on

sth)

talk

giving

information

.:give/deliver/read a lecture a course of lectures on Greek

philosophy [attrib] a lecture tour. 2 long reproach or scolding: The
policeman let me off with a lecture about speeding. give sb a lecture,
i.e. scold sb.

Discuss the entry above with your classmates and teacher, and then suggest a
translation of " " .
An even better resource to check is the Oxford Collocations Dictionary. Let's
consider " " as an example: We are going to look under the entry of
"light" in the Oxford Collocations Dictionary:
Lecture noun
1 talk given to a group of people
ADJ. fascinating, interesting | boring | formal | illustrated |
impromptu | guest A two-day event of guest lectures, seminars and
workshops. | popular, public | annual | inaugural ,
QUANT . course, program, series
VERB + LECTURE deliver, give, present | hold, put on The society is
putting on a series of lectures on the subject next term. | attend, go
to, hear (formal), listen to | miss, skip | prepare, write
Lecture + NOUN course, programme, series | hall, room, theatre |
notes | tour | circuit a familiar figure on the international lecture
circuit
PREP. At a/the --She wasn't at the lecture.

Discuss the dictionary entry above.

Third, Structure:

What makes the following sentences unnatural in Arabic?

. 1
. 2
. 3
4
. 5
. 6
. 7
. 8
Discuss the sentences above with your classmates and teacher, and
then rephrase them into natural-sounding Arabic and translate
them into natural English.

Fourth, Cohesion:
By cohesion we mean the explicit and transparent linking of sentences and
larger sections of text by the use of overt linguistic devices, such as

conjunctions or grammatical anaphora. Cohesive devices also include

substitution, ellipsis, and synonymy, among others.
Is the following Arabic text cohesive? If not, rewrite it into a more cohesive
version:
...

...............................................................

:





. ...

...............................................................

...............................................................
...............................................................
...............................................................
...............................................................
...............................................................
...............................................................
...............................................................
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What other features can you find in the text above? Do you think such
?features would make it difficult to translate the text

The Translator's Resources

Dictionaries:
There are different types of dictionaries, including bilingual, multilingual, historical,
biographical, and geographical dictionaries.

2.1.1 Information Found in Dictionaries

Monolingual dictionaries, and some bilingual dictionaries, provide various
kinds of information about the lexical items, such as phonological, syntactic
and semantic information, that give the translator an insight into the meaning
and usage of the word. For instance, the entry for the word boy in the Oxford
Advanced Learners Dictionary gives the following information:
/b/ n 1. Male child up to the age of 17 or 18. 2. Son (colloq. of any age): He

has two boys and one girl.

The first piece of information given in the dictionary is the phonological

information (phonemic transcription) that helps the user in pronouncing the
word correctly with the correct stress and syllabication; e.g.
en-thus-iasm

/njuzaz()m

The second kind of information given in the dictionary is syntactic. It indicates

the part of speech of the word ; whether it is a verb, noun, adjective or
adverb etc. It also shows whether the verb is transitive or intransitive. The
verb enthuse, for example, is followed by the letters vi which means that the
verb is intransitive. Syntactic information also shows what preposition goes
with the verb, and the irregular forms of the past, past participle and,
sometimes, the present participle. Other types of grammatical information
are often given such as the plural form, especially if it is irregular e.g.
data/ deit/ n pl. (pl. of Latin datum).

The semantic information follows. It is the basic meaning of the word as in the
meaning of boy above. Then we get the other sense or senses of the word
boy, son in this case.

Most college-size dictionaries, such as the Oxford Advanced Learners

Dictionary provide the user with illustrative sentences which show how the
word is used.

Finally, some larger monolingual dictionaries give brief information about the
origin of the word whether it is Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Greek, French etc.
As shown above, monolingual dictionaries, in general, provide the user with
valuable information and help him/her to have access to all the shades of
meanings of the words and the way each is used.
How to use a dictionary for translation purposes
All the following are translated literally. Think of a better translation if you
think the literal translation is not successful. Justify your decision.
ST
1. The football match
was cancelled because
of the heavy rain.

2. Charity begins at
home.
3. The President
delivers a speech at 8
p.m. tonight.

4. The committee is to
hold a meeting tonight.
5. John works at the
Bundestag.
6. Please, do not
disturb.
7. This is the Voice of
America.
8. A bird in the hand is
worth two in the bush.

TT Hint
. Subject verb order

. Culture-bound

expression

Collocation
. 8

. Tense
. What is 'Bundestag'?
. Unclear message
. What is 'the Voice of

America'?

Not natural
.

9. He is in black mood
today.
10. Are you really
interested in yellow
magazines?
11. This is the British
Home Office.

. Collocation
What are 'yellow
magazines'?

. Cultural Substitution

Baker, Mona. In other words: A course book of translation. London:Routledge

1992.Print
Newmark, Peter. A Textbook of Translation. Hemel Hemptstead: Prentice Hall
International, 1988. Print.