Grammatical issues in translation
NB: The following is a summary of the main ideas mentioned in the
chapter. However, the student has to refer to the examples of the
book for further illustration.
The grammatical level:
1. Morphology: words and their formation by affixation, inflection, derivation and
compounding
2. Syntax: the arrangement of words into phrases and sentences
It is the grammatical level where translation loss is generally obvious given the
grammatical differences between languages. However, the question is not whether
there is translation loss (there always is), but what it consists I and whether it matters.
1.1 Words (lexis)
It is vital to remember that meanings are not found exclusively in the words listed
individually in the dictionary.
Any text shows that the combination of words creates meanings that they do not
have in isolation and even meanings that are not wholly predictable from the
senses of the words combined.
In translation lexical loss is very common. It arises from the fact that exact
synonymy between ST words and TL words is relatively rare.
Example,
The word may be considered an exact synonymy of English 'meat'. For many Arabs
‫لحم‬
however, chicken may not count as ‫ لحم‬, and fish almost certainly will not.
Another source of lexical translation loss is that words often acquire associative
overtones over and above their denotative meaning.
‫ أحمل الزمن المحترق في عيني‬Example,
' I carry this scorched era in my eyes.' Rather than I carry this burnt era in my eyes'.
'scorched era' sounds much more acceptable because the phrase echoes the military
phrase 'scorched earth'.
1.2 Grammatical arrangement
Lexical issues are a particular category of grammatical issue. So it is not surprising
that some lexical issues are discussed under the heading of grammatical arrangement.
1.2.1 morphological patterns affecting individual words- affixation, inflection,
derivation and compounding.
1.2.1 syntactic patterns: words are linked to form more or less complex phrases and
sentences
For example, the accusative suffix is a recognized means of forming adverbs in
Arabic, while English adds 'ly' to form adverbs.
‫أ‬
Arabic adverbs
English translations
Much, often ‫كثيرا‬
recently ‫في األونة األخيرة‬
‫علي نحو ملح‬
persistently
‫بكي بكاء مرا‬
He wept bitterly
‫ و كانت عيناها تبتسمان فرحتين‬Her eyes twinkled happily.
‫ منظمة مدعومة أمريكيا‬American-backed organization
Compounding:
Compounding differs from one language to another. English is capable of relatively
long compounds, while in Arabic compounds are formed in two ways:
1. by the use of genitive structure:
bedroom' ‫غرفة نوم‬
2. by noun adjective pairs
‫' الشرق األوسط‬The Middle East'
However, both of these structures can yield complications when combined with other
elements.
Example:
‫ستائر غرفة النوم الجديدة‬
In the absence of case-ending markers in the text it is unclear whether the phrase
means 'the new curtains of the bedroom' or 'the curtains of the new bedroom'
Verb tenses:
The system of tenses in Arabic is quite different from English;
Can mean 'buys' and 'is buying' . In some contexts, it might mean 'will buy'
‫يشتري‬
In some contexts it can be translated as 'bought' or 'was buying (e.g. in certain
subordinate clauses, or in a story where a general past tense setting has already been
established for a particular part of the text).
In English tenses relate fairly consistently to natural time. Arabic operates with a
system that combines tense and aspect. For example, the perfect can indicate
completion of the action as well as occurrence in the past( as in he bought). The
imperfect may indicate non-completion of the action regardless of whether it occurs
in the past or present(For example, in contexts where translates as is /was buying.
‫يشتري ) اشتري‬
The actual time significance of the imperfect in particular is very often contextdependent.
To sum up, translators should give priority to the exact meaning of word in a
particular context and to constructing idiomatic TL sentences, even where this entails
translation loss.
Morphological repetition:
The most important forms of morphological repetition which are of most importance
for translation are: Pattern repetition, root repetition and suffix repetition.
1. Pattern repetition
Pattern repetition involves the repetition of the same pattern ( ‫فعل‬,‫فاعل‬,‫مفعول‬,,‫فعل‬,‫(مفعلة‬
in two or more words in close proximity, while root repetition involves repetition of
the same root in two or more words in close proximity.
They provide textual cohesion as well as stylistic and other purposes e.g. ‫البيت القديم‬
‫' الكبير‬The big old house' Here the ‫ فعيل‬pattern does not have any particular
significance. However, when Pattern repetition is combined with some kind of
semantic relationship, they give additional emphasis.
There are three relevant types of semantic relationship:
a. semantically related words
b. synonyms or near- synonyms
c. antonyms
Semantically related words are words whose meanings fall within the same general
semantic field, which are clearly distinct in meaning e.g. ‫ أفكار‬and ‫" أحالم‬thoughts and
dreams' , ‫ دهشة‬and ‫' صدمة‬amazement and shock'. These can be translated fairly
literally without any problems.
The translation of synonyms or near- synonyms with pattern repetition involves the
same techniques as used with repetition of synonyms generally, i.e. merging,
grammatical transposition, semantic distancing and maintenance.
Examples
a. Merging: ‫' كان ال بد له من التأدب و التعلم‬so he had no alternative left to him but
education'
b. grammatical transposition: ‫ ' التنظير والتحليل‬systematic analysis' .
c. semantic distancing: ‫' خوفا عليها من الفزع و الهلع‬for fear of alarming and upsetting her'
.
d. maintenance ‫ تقويم وتحليل‬: ‫' دور العسكر التغيري‬The transformational role of the
military: evaluation and analysis' The ST structure has been maintained through the
use of the fairly standard English translations of ‫' تقويم‬evaluation' ‫' تحليل‬analysis'.
Pattern repetition with antonyms is also fairly common. Consider the following:
(See examples in the book page 102 ‫ ' ) صعودا وهبوطا‬the changing fortunes'.
Pattern repetition may also occur with a combination of synonyms and antonyms.
(See examples in the book page 102 ) ' ‫ العسر و اليسر‬.
Root repetition
As mentioned before root repetition involves
repetition of the same root in two or more
words in close proximity ‫درسنا هدا الدرس‬
involves the repetition of the root ‫درس‬. It may
be divided into three kinds:
a. System-intrinsic
b. Absolute accusative
c. Other
System-intrinsic root repetition simply
reflects the fact that words in Arabic are
typically made up of roots along with patterns,
etc. ‫ كتب كتابا‬.'he wrote a book'. 'He drank a
drink': More common alternative in English is
'he had a drink'
Root repetition absolute accusative is used
to form adverbials. ‫لقد تطورت ظاهرة التطرف الديني‬
‫' تطورا سريعا‬The phenomenon of religious
extremism has developed rapidly'.
Uses of root repetition which fall under the
category of 'other' in general have a more
obviously emphatic function. They occur in an
unlimited range of grammatical structures.
(see the book page 105).
It is also possible to find root repetition in
larger stretches of text. This sometimes has a
rhetorical function and sometimes as a textbuilding device, i.e. it contributes to the
cohesion of the text.
The following examples provide examples of
root repetition as a text-building device.
(see the examples in the book page: 105-107).
Suffix repetition:
It is the repetition of the same suffix at the
end of words in close proximity (see the book
example Page: 108).
Lexical repetition:
It is a common form of repetition in
Arabic. It involves the repetition of the
same word or a whole phrase in a
particular sense. Repetition of a single
word is termed word repetition or
lexical item repetition, while repetition
of a whole phrase is termed phrase
repetition.
Lexical item repetition:
(see the examples in the book page:
109-110).
Phrase repetition:
(see the example in the book page:
111 ‫(في مالطا قتل فتحي الشقاقي‬.