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Translating Arabians in early twentieth century European travel writing

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Abstract
Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach borrowed from translation, cultural writing, and travel writing studies, this research has investigated semantic shifts in Yousef Noor Awad’s Arabic translation (1991) of The Lord of Arabia: Ibn Saud: An Intimate Study of a King, a British travel account by Armstrong, Harold C. 1934. Lord of Arabia, Ibn Saud: An Intimate Study of a King. A. Barker.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. Situating the two texts within a cultural and historical “continuum” (Bassnett, Susan, and Harish Trivedi, eds. 1999. Post colonial Translation: Theory and Practice. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2), the study has explored how Armstrong’s English travel account, characterized by both sympathetic biographical portrayals of King Abdul-Aziz and stereotypical depictions of Arabian culture, is transformed in translation. For this, two complementary questions were addressed: (1) How are Arabians and their culture represented in the source text? and (2) How does the target text reflect or alter these representations? By quantifying and analyzing selected semantic shifts, modifications, and omissions in Awad’s translation, the study reveals how the translator domesticates the source text (ST) to align it with his ideological preferences of an idealized leadership. The findings highlight the interplay between translation, ideology, and cultural representation, and underscore Awad’s translational choices. The latter are found to diverge from Armstrong’s ethnographic inaccuracies, yet perpetuate a different form of cultural bias that further complicates the issue of cross-cultural representations.
Résumé
En s’appuyant sur une approche interdisciplinaire empruntée aux études de la traduction, de l’écriture culturelle et du récit de voyage, cette étude examine les glissements sémantiques dans la traduction arabe de The Lord of Arabia: Ibn Saud: An Intimate Study of a King — récit de voyage britannique de Armstrong, Harold C. 1934. Lord of Arabia, Ibn Saud: An Intimate Study of a King. A. Barker.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar — réalisée par Yousef Noor Awad (1991). En inscrivant les deux textes dans un « continuum » culturel et historique (Bassnett, Susan, and Harish Trivedi, eds. 1999. Post colonial Translation: Theory and Practice. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, p. 2), l’étude analyse la manière dont le récit de voyage anglais d’Armstrong, marqué à la fois par des portraits biographiques empathiques du roi Abdelaziz et par des représentations stéréotypées de la culture arabe, est transformé en traduction. Deux questions complémentaires sont abordées : (1) Comment les Arabes et leur culture sont‑ils représentés dans le texte source ? et (2) Comment le texte cible reflète‑t‑il ou modifie‑t‑il ces représentations ? En quantifiant et en analysant une sélection de glissements sémantiques, de modifications et d’omissions dans la traduction d’Awad, l’étude montre comment le traducteur domestique le texte source (TS) afin de l’aligner sur ses préférences idéologiques en faveur d’un leadership idéalisé. Les résultats mettent en évidence l’interaction entre traduction, idéologie et représentation culturelle, et soulignent les choix traductifs d’Awad. Ces derniers s’écartent des inexactitudes ethnographiques d’Armstrong, tout en perpétuant une autre forme de biais culturel qui complique davantage la question des représentations interculturelles.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Research questions and objectives
  • 3.Review of the literature
    • 3.1Translation, travel, and representation
    • 3.2Translation of cultural elements
  • 4.Method
    • 4.1DTS
    • 4.2Translation shifts
  • 5.Materials
    • 5.1Armstrong’s lord of Arabia
    • 5.2Awad’s translation
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Quantitative results
      • 6.1.1Representation of people
        • 6.1.1.1Modification shifts
        • 6.1.1.2Mutation shifts
      • 6.1.2Representation of tradition
        • 6.1.2.1Modification shifts
        • 6.1.2.2Mutation shifts
    • 6.2Qualitative findings
      • 6.2.1Translation of people
        • 6.2.1.1General physical characteristics
          • a.Modification shifts
          • b.Mutation shifts
        • 6.2.1.2Translation of conduct and personal characteristics
          • a.Modification shifts
          • b.Mutation shifts
      • 6.2.2Translating Arabian traditions
        • 6.2.2.1Customs, gestures, and habits
          • a.Modification shifts
          • b.Mutation shifts
        • 6.2.2.2Material culture
          • a.Modification shifts
          • b.Mutation shifts
        • 6.2.2.3Religious beliefs and practices
          • a.Mutation shifts
        • 6.2.2.4Personal names
    • 6.3Macro-level implications
  • 7.Discussion: Awad’s translation and the construction of norms in translation
    • 7.1Ideological orientation and translational choices
    • 7.2Context of production and translator’s background
    • 7.3Ideology and the construction of national identity
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Author queries
  • References
References (29)
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