Arabic-L:LING:English expressions in Jihad Al-Khazin's Al-Hayat column

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Tue 29 Mar  2005
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:English expressions in Jihad Al-Khazin's Al-Hayat column

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1)
Date: 29 Mar  2005
From:wasamy at umich.edu
Subject:English expressions in Jihad Al-Khazin's Al-Hayat column

There has been some reference recently about the influence of English  
on Arabic.  The examples mentioned had to to with syntax (order), and  
other linguistic categories.
One thing I have noticed in Jihad al-Khazin's column (Eyes and Ears) in  
the newspaper al-Hayat, is his literal translation of English  
expressions into Arabic, which have a rather comic effect, for those  
who might be familiar with the English origin, but might not mean  
anything for Arabic speakers who don't know the English expression. 
  For example in his column of 27 March, 2003 (url:  
http://www.daralhayat.com/opinion/editorials/03-2005/Article-20050326- 
dfc6e372-c0a8-10ed-0051-18a7f9830d7c/story.html), he makes the  
following assertion:


  كشافة.ارهابي وأكبر ارهابي حي في الشرق الأوسط، مما يجعل أبو عمار  
بالمقارنة ولد اذا كان أبو عمار أخطأ، فشارون مجبول بالجريمة، وهو أول

  assertion If 'Abu 9ammar has erred, then Sharon is a criminal by  
nature; he is the prime terrorist, and the worst living one in the  
Middle East, which makes 'Abu 9ammar a boy scout.

His ولد كشافة, walad kashshaafa, boy scout, is really quite  
absurd-sounding in Arabic.

Although al-Khazin column is respectable, these literal renditions of  
English into Arabic are rather absurd.  One might wonder why he does  
this kind of thing.  There could be several answers:  His ideal reader  
is fluent in English, he is making an allowence for the English  
translation of his column, which al-Hayat provides the following day,  
and for embassies and government agencies that translate the column (as  
is evident from the column from which the above quote is an excerpt).   
Finally, this is how English (and other) expressions find their way  
into Arabic media discourse.

Waheed 
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End of Arabic-L:  29 Mar  2005