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Assignment: 30 October 2013

Due: Wed 6 November, 2013
Name: Weaam Sobhi Mohamed Afifi

Analysis of Idris' "" and its translation
Literary translation is one of the most challenging types of translation. The challenge
and the difficulty lie in the literary style itself which is an integral feature that should be
rendered in the target text. Additionally, literary works are mostly loaded with various
cultural concepts that will raise the challenge for the translator. This is more obvious when
the translation is conducted between two languages that have very distinct and distant
cultures; such as Arabic and English. In an attempt to observe the shifts in translation and
the different solutions used by translators, a part of Yusuf Idris' short story "" and its
translation will be analyzed.
The title "" is translated as "hard up". Although "" is a noun that means "a
job", translating it into the adjective "hard up" is acceptable. This is because the hero of the
story; Abdou, is so hard up that he would look for and accept any job, even if it was to sell
his blood as the story indicates. The hard living conditions of the hero are the focus of the
story, not the job he is doing itself. In the very first paragraph of the story, "The condition
was chronic" is not in the Arabic source text. It is added by the translator and it can be
omitted without causing harm to the meaning. However, its existence places more emphasis
on the hero's lifetime struggle to earn a living. This emphasis continues when the translator
uses the idiomatic expression "to make ends meet" as a translation for " ".
Obviously, the translator here prefers to be pragmatically accurate rather than merely
rendering the semantic meaning.
There are other additions by the translator. For instance, "From being a cook" and
"When for some reason he quit that too" are not in the ST. Yet, they contribute to the
smooth flow of both sentences and events. In the same paragraph, the translator has
omitted the word "" from " ". Omitting this word has not distorted
the meaning or made it incomplete. However, if "on his own", for example, is added, it will
confirm how skillful Abdou is. Next, " " is translated as "strong muscles". This part-
for-another-part modulation is very well-employed. It renders the real intention of the
Arabic expression which means a strong body in general and not only strong arms. The right
collocations are also observed in translating " " as "developed a hernia". The
translator has taken into account that in Arabic the verb "" is the one usually used with
diseases or medical conditions, while the English verb usually used in such cases is
"develop".
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After that, the translator has linked Abdou's muscles to his voice describing both of
them as "good". This can be regarded as an acceptable solution for translating the Arabic
sentence " " which does not provide any kind of an explicit description to "".
The translator could have used an adjective such as "strong"; however, it will only be a
repetition as "powerful" is already used later on in describing the voice. Here, the translator
has omitted the Arabic adjective "" and only rendered "". This seems appropriate
after linking the voice to the muscles.
Moreover, rendering "" as "hawking" is a great translation. It does not go for the
referential meaning of the word; "sell". Yet, it moves deeper to the connotative meaning
provoked by the context which indicates that someone like Abdou will necessarily be going
from place to place to sell things. Another great solution is using the verb "wangle" as a
translation for "..." as it involves getting something through a clever plan and not
through hard working. A very interesting translation is that of "" as "there was none to
compare with him". The translator has not used "wonderful" or "skillful"; but she goes for a
higher level using a complete sentence to give the meaning of "" which involves
something that is not only wonderful but also unusual and hence is not be compared to
other things.
In the following paragraph, the personification of "
" is rendered as another personification; "life went on providing their daily bread,
growing daily more niggardly". The translation expresses the meaning of the Arabic image
which suggests the meanness of their life. Next, the translator again favours the pragmatic
meaning over the semantic meaning in translating " " as "she would force him"
instead of using the verb "drag". In the same paragraph, the translator omits " " and
only translated " " as "yearning". This is an acceptable solution for dealing with the
cultural connotation of this expression. For, later on, it will be explained by adding "a peach
as a birthmark" indicating the cultural concept that a baby will be born with a birthmark in
the shape of whatever type of food the mother was yearning for and could not get.
The translator, in the following paragraph, uses a transposition, translating the verb
"" as the adjective "shrill" which does not only mean "loud" but it also conveys the
connotation that it is unpleasant and annoying for Abdou. The translator has also used
modulation, replacing something concrete which is " "

, referring to
Abdou's neighbours, by something abstract which is their feeling towards him; "felt sorry for
him". Another modulation is replacing a part of the body " " by another
part of the body "were no good to his empty stomach". Another addition by the translator is
"glimmer of hope" as a translation for "" only. This can be seen as a valuable addition
because in Abdou's case, any hope for finding a job will not be great. Hence, again, the
translator goes for the pragmatic or connotative meaning rather than the mere semantic or
referential meaning.
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This analysis of a part of Idris' short story shows that the translation is idiomatic rather
than literal. This is obvious from the very beginning in the translation of the title.
Collocations are also well-observed. Images are rendered as images, and their meanings are
taken into consideration. In general, the translator prefers to be pragmatically accurate
rather than semantically accurate, in order to be able to translate the various cultural words
and concepts included in the short story.