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Article published In: Babel
Vol. 71:2 (2025) ► pp.170–193

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Translating Arabic allusions into English

For a hermeneutic approach

 | University of SharjahSharjah
ORCiD logo with link | University of SharjahSharjah | The University of Jordan
 | University of SharjahSharjah
Published online: 22 November 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.24091.bur
Abstract
This article analyzes the translation of Key-Phrase (KP) allusions in the short story collection “al-‘Abarāt” by Al-Manfaluti from Arabic to English. More specifically, it looks into how the translator handled the complexity that arises from the highly intertextual and dialogical nature of Al-Manfaluti’s work. Drawing on Leppihalme, Ritva. 1997. Culture Bumps: An Empirical Approach to the Translation of Allusions. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar categorization of allusions and Venuti, Lawrence. 2009. “Translation, Intertextuality, Interpretation.” Romance Studies 27 (3): 157–173. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar approach to the translation of intertextuality, this research maps the translation strategies that the translator employed and their effectiveness in the course of reconstituting source text intertextuality in the target language. The results showed that, by and large, the translator very often employed a literal translation strategy by focusing on semantic correspondence. Such an approach produced a translation that failed to capture the rich intertextual relations in Al-Manfaluti’s original, leading to much cultural and thematic loss. The article concludes that a hermeneutic rather than an instrumental approach would be more effective at preserving the intertextual richness of source texts.
Résumé
Cet article analyse la traduction des allusions sans noms propres dans le recueil de nouvelles “al-‘Abarāt” d’Al-Manfaluti de l’arabe vers l’anglais. Plus spécifiquement, il examine comment le traducteur a géré la complexité découlant de la nature fortement intertextuelle et dialogique de l’œuvre d’Al-Manfaluti. S’appuyant sur la catégorisation des allusions de Leppihalme, Ritva. 1997. Culture Bumps: An Empirical Approach to the Translation of Allusions. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar et l’approche de Venuti, Lawrence. 2009. “Translation, Intertextuality, Interpretation.” Romance Studies 27 (3): 157–173. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar de la traduction de l’intertextualité, cette recherche identifie les stratégies de traduction employées par le traducteur et analyse leur efficacité dans la reconstitution de l’intertextualité du texte source dans la langue cible. Les résultats démontrent que, dans l’ensemble, le traducteur a très souvent utilisé une stratégie de traduction littérale en se concentrant sur la correspondance sémantique. Une telle approche a donné lieu à une traduction qui n’a pas réussi à capturer les riches relations intertextuelles de l’original d’Al-Manfaluti, entraînant ainsi une perte culturelle et thématique importante. L’article conclut qu’une approche herméneutique plutôt qu’instrumentale serait plus efficace pour garantir que la richesse intertextuelle des textes sources soit préservée.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Intertextuality
    • 2.2Allusion
    • 2.3Intertextuality in translation
  • 3.Conceptual framework
  • 4.Method
  • 5.Findings
    • 5.1Sources of allusion
    • 5.2Translation strategies used to render KP allusions
    • 5.2.1Minimum change
      • 5.2.2Reduction to sense
      • 5.2.3Omission
      • 5.2.4Recreation
      • 5.2.5Internal marking
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
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