Arabic-L:TRANS:Some notes on Arabic translations of Western Texts

Fri Jan 13 23:05:48 UTC 2006

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arabic-L: Fri 13 Jan 2006
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
[To post messages to the list, send them to arabic-l at byu.edu]
[To unsubscribe, send message from same address you subscribed from to
listserv at byu.edu with first line reading:
            unsubscribe arabic-l                                      ]

-------------------------Directory------------------------------------

1) Subject:Some notes on Arabic translations of Western Texts

-------------------------Messages-----------------------------------
1)
Date: 13 Jan 2006
From:Michael.Schub at trincoll.edu
Subject:Some notes on Arabic translations of Western Texts

EXCELLENT ADVENTURES IN TRANSLATION

                   By Michael B. Schub (aka  Dhuu  as-Sawwaabiq   
`alaa  `ahdi-hi  s-saabiq))

(#1)  G. Orwell’s Animal Farm:[1]  “[All the pigeons, to the number  
of thirty-five,] flew to and fro over the men’s heads and muted upon  
them from mid-air; and while the men were dealing with this…”

Facing Arabic translation:  /  yaTiiru  dhahaaban  wa-iyaaban  fawqa   
ru’uusi  r-rijaal.  wa-fii-maa  kaana  r-rijaalu  yu`aajiluuna  
dhaalika…/.

The “Source Text” phrase “and muted upon them from mid-air” is  
omitted in the “Target Text.”  Legitimate causes for “translation by  
omission [not ‘muting’]” is given by Dickens, et al. in their  
Thinking Arabic Translation.[2]

Wa-maa  ra’yu-kum?

(1a)  Perhaps the mirror image of this process (what linguists call  
‘the Bizarro World View’) is found in Orwell 261 end:  “They are  
taking Boxer to the knacker’s [a Britishism],”  which is translated  
on the facing page as  /inna-hum  ya’khudhuuna  Bokser  ilaa   
taajiri  l-Hayawaanaati  l-haziilati  li-dhabHi-hi  wa-taqdiimi-hi   
Ta`aaman  lil-kilaab/.

(#2)   In a bilingual ad for Lâncome perfume, the French:[3]  “Tue es  
le grand soleil qui me montre `a la tête [ You are the great sunlight  
that goes to my head], the Arabic has:  / anti  nuur  sh-shamsu  l- 
ladhii  yasrii  fii  damii  kal-Hamiim/.  The last word is intended  
to convey “a close friend,” but those familiar with this expression  
in the Qur’an will note that there it is also used in the sense of   
“the boiling hot water that the sinners in Hellfire will have to  
drink as part of their punishment.”  Shmeckt  nisht (it doesn’t smell  
right).[4]

(#3)  Impressive big words.  Dickens, Thinking Arabic Translation: 
[5]  “In such cases, compensation does not come into the reckoning.   
For example,  faraash  in Arabic covers  includes both ‘moths’ and  
butterflies.’ In English (that is to say, it is a hyperonym of ‘moth’  
and ‘butterfly’…)  accordingly, one would expect an Arabic  
entomological book title  al-faraash  to be translated into English  
as “Moths and Butterflies’, or as ‘Butterflies and Moths’.  In either  
case, there is no question of compensation being involved here.”

If one opens H.  al-Karmi’s humongous Al-Mughnii  al-Akbar,[6] one  
should take especial care not to flutter by the full-color plate  
facing p. 182 entitled “Butterflies and Moths /  al-faraash  wal- 
`uthth.”

Given Mr. Dickens mite-sized acquaintance with debugging, perhaps he  
should come out of his cocoon and study some Semitic  word origins,  
an activity he would no doubt call “entymology (sic):”  The  
irrefragable proof of this is found in The Arabic Language.[7]

(#4)  Snow and ice.  In Orwell, vowel signs are almost never used.   
Thus  /bard/  =  “cold;”[8]  /nafs/  =  “self; selfsame; soul,”  
several times.  Notable exceptions: (a)  /baradun  thumma  thalj  fa- 
jaliid  qaasin/  =  “…sleet and snow, and then…a hard frost  
[sic],”[9] where the first and last words only are vocalized:  the  
first, properly “hail [collective]” to contrast it to  /bard/  =   
“cold.”  (b)  /ma`a  taHarruk  nafasi-h/   =  “…stirred and rustled  
in his breath,”[10] where the final word is vocalized to distinguish  
it from  /nafs/.  It looks like we still have to rely on those hearty  
vowels.[11]

(#5)  Lord, what fools these mortals be!

G.  Bergsträsser wrote a book about the Semitic languages in the most  
cryptically incondite German prose imaginable.[12]  An English  
translation followed.[13]

   In the former, the author translates the Ge’ez (Old Ethiopic)  
broken plural  /anaaqeS/  correctly, as “Tore (= gates”).[14]  The  
English version, however, is “fools.”[15]

In German, Tor, pl. Tore is “gate;” Tor, pl. Toren is “fool.”

(#6) Don’t ask:  /kaana  Z-Zalaamu  daamisan/  =  “it got really  
dark” is rendered “oppression was in hiding.”[16]

O my Lolita!  I have only words to play with.  yaa  faraashatii,   
`uudii  `uudii  ilaa  firaashii  l-muriiHi  l-murii`.

[1] Orwell, George.  Animal Farm (English-Arabic).  Bierut  1999.   
88, 89 top.
[2] Dickens, J. et al.  Thinking Arabic Translation.  London  2002.  23.

[3] Hervey, S. and I. Higgins.  Thinking French Translation.  2nd  
ed.  London and NY  2002.  83.
[4] See Krystal, Alex in latest American Scholar.
[5] TAT 48 top.
[6] Al-Karmii, H.  Al-Mughnii  al-Akbar.  Beirut  1987.   
(Eng.==>Ar.,  1710 pp.)
[7] Chejne, Anwar G.  Tha Arabic Language.  Minneapolis  1969.  105 mid.
[8] Orwell 240 mid.
[9] Same.  158, 159 top.
[10] Same.  214, 215 end.  See Kaye, Alan S.  JSS [= Journal of  
Semitic Studies].  L/1.  Spring 2005.  189, note 109.
[11] Note misprints in Ryding, K. C. A Referene  Grammar of Modern  
Standard Arabic.  Cambridge 2005:  (1) */badalat-un/  for  / 
badlatun/  =  “suit [of clothes]” 271 mid; (2) */ashhuur/  [Ar.  
script] for  /ashhur/  =  “months” 290 top; (3) */ka-`umar-in/  for  / 
ka-`umar#/  or  /ka-`umara/  =  “ like Omar [Sharif]” 374 mid; (4)  / 
tanmuu/    “they grow” spelled with an otiose  alif  at the end,
[12] Bergsträsser, G.  Einfüring in die semitischen Sprachen.   
Munich  1963.
[13] Trans. Daniels, P. T.  Introduction to the Semitic Languages.   
Winona Lake, Indiana.  1983.
[14] 102 end.
[15] 125 mid.
[16] Badawi, E. et al.  Modern Written Arabic:  A Comprehensive  
Grammar.  London and NY  2004.  277 top.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
--
End of Arabic-L:  13 Jan 2006

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/arabic-l/attachments/20060113/40ac0926/attachment.htm>