Qatari Arabic Corpus: Arabic to English Translation Guidelines

The English translation must resemble the meaning and style of the Arabic source text.
Thus, the translation of a news story should be journalistic, and a talk show should be translated in a conversational style. Similarly, if the speaker is using polite, excited, or angry style, the translation should reflect it in a similar manner. While doing so, the translation should preserve grammaticality, fluency, and naturalness as much as possible.

The translation should not add, delete, or change information. For instance, if the original text uses Obama to refer to the US President, the translation should NOT be President
Obama, Barak H. Obama, etc. Similarly, if the Arabic text uses the phrase Comrade
Jalal Talabani , the translation should NOT be Mr. Jalal Talabani.

No bracketed words, phrases or other annotations should be added to the translation as an explanation or aid to understanding.

Each segment should be translated individually regardless of context. However, if the source text has words that can be translated in multiple ways, for example, the translator should then depend on the context to determine the best translation.

All files should be reviewed for typographical or formatting errors before submission.
Proper Names:

Proper names should be translated using conventional practices.

Whenever an Arabic proper name has an existing conventional translation in English, that translation should be used. For example, Sheikh Hamad bin Kalifa ( ريمأ ،ةفيلخ نب دمح خيشلا
ىدفملا دلابلا), should be translated as
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, Emir of Qatar , not Sheikh
Hamad ibn Khalifa, the beloved Emir as Modern Arabic would have suggested.

The order of first names and surnames in the source text should be preserved. For instance, if the source file reads Thomas Milroy , this should NOT be changed to Milroy
Thomas in the translation

For specific proper names such as names of agencies, programs, conferences, books, ministries and others, translators should follow the generally accepted or most commonly used form.

Names should be translated consistently within and across files.
Edited by Heba Al-Kababji and Noha Selim

Capitalization
Translators should follow the capitalization rules of Standard English of proper names, places, countries, etc.
Idioms
If a similar expression exists in English for the idiom/colloquial expression at hand, the translators should use it. When there is no equivalent in English, the translator should render the meaning of the Arabic expression in fluent English instead of translating it word-for-word.
ينيع نم تحط
Should be translated as: I am disappointed in you.
Incorrect Literal Translation: You fell from my eye.
Numbers:

All numbers should be translated as words not digits.
English Source Text:
1.
Phrases and words uttered in English are rendered as is:
(ok I will see you later)
>> رَتيِل وُي يِس ليِو يآ يِكوأ << چيِفشا هّمُي
What's wrong mom, ok I will call you later
Factual Errors in Source Text

The translator should NOT correct facts that are incorrect in the source text.
يدعم ناطرسلا ضرم
Cancer is contagious.
Unnecessary words

Words that have no equivalent in English, and don’t add any meaning can be left out.
،طباضلا ةرظح
Officer,
Edited by Heba Al-Kababji and Noha Selim

Fillers

The translator should NOT include fillers like [EH], [b], laughs, etc.
Typographical errors
Typographical errors or incorrect use of homophones should NOT be corrected in the source text. Instead, translators should translate the intended meaning but should add the flag = before the translated word to indicate that it is a correction of a typo, and the corrected typo should be placed between curly brackets. For example,
اهلكأيل ريقف لا لجر لل ةحفت لا ىطعأ
He gave ={the apple} to the poor man to eat it
If it is unclear whether an item is a typographical error, the translator should NOT correct it.
Words/Phrases Difficult to Translate
If the source text is very difficult to understand, and, therefore, very difficult to translate, translators should make their best guess about the appropriate translation, and place it between two asterisks * * to indicate that this is a guess based on confusing source text.
Repetition and Restarts
When a speaker repeats him/herself or restarts a sentence halfway through, the repeated words should be translated into English:
.اكيرمأ يف نيميقملا نييلاربيللا ضعب اهل لبطي امدنع ،امدنع ةراد إ تسيل تسيل ،ينعي
I mean, it is not, it is not an administration when, when some liberals residing in America beat, beat the drum for it.
Partial Words
A partial word is when the speaker does not pronounce a word in full. Partial words should NOT be translated; their existence should be indicated by using the symbol %pw in the English translation, and if more than one partial word occurs, the translation should indicate all of them.
For instance:
ينطولا لا لا قفاوتلا لاو ينطولا مهافتلا
National mutual understanding and %pw, accord, %pw, %pw, national accord.
Edited by Heba Al-Kababji and Noha Selim

ةديدجلا ةينقتلا مادختساب ب اهنم دحلا نكمي
It can be limited %pw, by using the new technology.
Proclamation
It is common in Arabic language to use the prefix اي (ya) to call a person. (ya) if added before a name of a person, or an adjective, it signifies a direct address to the person. Since Ya has no used equivalent in English language, any Ya of a proclamation will indicated as:
يتبيبح اي
(Proclamation){my darling}
Side Note:
 Always add ‘the’ for the translation of the word which contain the definite article لا

The syntax of the translation doesn’t have to be consistent with that of the transcription

When there is a word such as هبي, and the addressee is a female, If it does have a meaning in that context translators should render it according to the context while trying to maintain consistency. For example, a term of endearment such as ‘darling’, but if it does not then they can leave it out

When a word يخا اي comes to mean man instead of brother, translators should be consistent, and mostly use brother. Similarly, كوخا اي can be translated as ‘my brother’.
Symbols used:
%pw
={ }
( )
{ }
* *
Partial word
Typographical errors
To clarify something
For proclamations
Difficult to translate/for review
Edited by Heba Al-Kababji and Noha Selim