Arabic-l:TRANS:gratuitous foreignization

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Fri 19 Oct 2001
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: gratuitous foreignization
2) Subject: gratuitous foreignization
3) Subject: gratuitous foreignization

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1)
Date:  19 Oct 2001
From: Jackie Murgida <jmurg at star.net>
Subject: gratuitous foreignization

<<you're email on the English translation of Allah made me think. Could
it be that the reason why the term for "God" has had resistance in
modern translation (esp. of Muslims) because of the sacrality of the
Quranic language?>>

Yes, Vito, I think that's part of it. The belief that the Arabic Koran is
sacred and is untranslatable probably adds to the other reasons to leave
some of the concepts in romanized Arabic, rather than to translate them. I
understand these reasons, such as the fact that the concept of the deity and
the relationship that human beings have to the deity  are different in
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. However, we normally don't use the Hebrew
words for the deity of Judaism when we discuss Judaism in English, so I
strongly believe we should do the same thing for Islam. Otherwise we
definitely imply stongly that this deity is very foreign and exotic (and
maybe even pagan, to unaware Christians), and we obscure the fact that Islam
is monotheistic, Abrahamic, has prophets and stories in common with
Christianity and Judaisum, and so on.

Of course, I'm not a Muslim, nor am I even a scholar of Classical Arabic.
I'm basing my opinion on what I consider to be sound translation practice of
MSA into English.
~ Jackie

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2)
Date:  19 Oct 2001
From: zouhair maalej <zmaalej at gnet.tn>
Subject: gratuitous foreignization

Dear List memebers,
I have been lurking in the background. The issue of translating Allah into
God is what Nida* classifies as a mistake of "religious culture." The reason
for refraining from translating Allah into God is not the sacredness of
Quranic language as Vito Evola mentioned (e.g. ?ar-rasul is simply
translated as the prophet in all the translation I know of), but has to do
with deep religious reasons: (i) the fact that in Islam Allah is not part of
the Trinity as in Christianity, and (ii) the fact that Allah is not the
father of Jesus Christ. In cognitive linguistic terms, the Idealized
Cognitive Model for Allah in Islam and for God in Christianity simply do not
fully overlap as the concepts show different packaging of meaning in the two
cultures.

*Nida, Eugene (1964). "Linguistics and Ethnology in Translation-Problems."
In D. Hymes (ed.), Language in Culture and Society: A Reader in Linguistics
and Anthropology. New York: Harper & Row, pp. 90-97.

I hope this will help.
Best

**********************
Dr Zouhair Maalej,
Department of English, Chair,
Faculty of Letters,
University of Manouba,
Tunis-Manouba, 2010, Tunis, Tunisia.

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3)
Date:  19 Oct 2001
From: "Schub, Michael" <michael.schub at trincoll.edu>
Subject: gratuitous foreignization

But why not in Italian??:  "Nel nome di Dio, clemente
misericorioso!"...etc.

      Best wishes,
                                              Mike Schub

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End of Arabic-L:  19 Oct 2001