1.

Interlingual translation or ‘translation proper’: ‘an interpretation of verbal signs by

means of some other language’; Interlinguial translation occurs between two different
languages. An example of this type can be translating the English word day into Arabic as
‫يوم‬, or translating ‫ رجل‬into man. The SL unit is indefinite in terms of its volume.
2. Intersemiotic translation, or ‘transmutation’: ‘an interpretation of verbal signs by means
of signs of non-verbal sign systems.’ Intersemiotic translation occurs when a written text,
for example, is translated into a film. An example of that can be acting one of Shakespeare
plays. In Arabic, the same can be turning One Thousand and One Night ‫ ألف ليلة وليلة‬into a
TV show.
Exercise three: Translate the following.
- The man who was wearing a blue shirt …….
………………………………………………………………….. -
- I did not know that Mayram wanted to come.
………………………………………………………….............. -
- Ahmed passed Translation One exam with flying colors.
…………………………………………………………………. -
- A large number of tourists visit the Temple of Hercules in Amman.
…………………………………………………………………. -
- Cairo is the largest city in the Arab world.
…………………………………………………………………. -
.‫ لم يتمكن طارق من السفر بسبب اﻷوضاع في قطاع غزة‬-
- ………………………………………………………………….
.‫ دول‬6 ‫ يتكون مجلس التعاون الخليجي من‬-
- …………………………………………………………………
.‫ وعمان وبيروت‬،‫ قام رئيس الوزراء بزيارة رسمية إلى إلى القاهرة‬-
- ……………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………
.‫ سرق اللصوص ثﻼثة سيارات قبل أسبوع ولم تلقي الشرطة القبض على أي مشتبه به‬-
- …………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………

.‫يهدف هذا المشروع اﻻستراتيجي إلى دعم اﻻقتصاد الوطني‬ -

- ……………………………………………………………….
1.2.2 Literal translation
This type of translation is also called word-for-word translation (Munday, 2016, p. 31).
What is important to note here is that you basically translate one word at a time in the same order
rather than translating phrases or larger units. Let us examine the problems of literal translation
in the following examples:
Type 1: No respect for TL grammar or idiomatic expressions
 1. Sami is a student.
‫سامي‬ ‫يكون‬ ‫طالب‬
‫طالبا‬ ‫يكون‬ ‫سامي‬
2. He is a chicken.
‫هو‬ ‫يكون‬ ‫دجاجة‬
‫هو يكون دجاجة‬
These examples reflect that literal translation can result into grammatical problems (1) and (2),
no respect for the idiomatic meaning of the sentence where he is a chicken means that he is a
coward. This can be solved by producing acceptable Arabic sentences of the ST ones as follows:
.‫ سامي طالب‬.1
.‫ إنه جبان‬.2
Type 2: Collocational meanings
3. hand a friend a letter
‫يد‬ ‫صديق‬ ‫رسالة‬
‫رسالة‬ ‫صديق‬ ‫يد‬
4. The court passed a new law.
‫المحكمة‬ ‫مرت‬ ‫جديد‬ ‫قانون‬.
.‫المحكمة مرت قانون جديد‬

The collocational1 meaning is lost in (3) and (4). To overcome such a problem, hand in (3) needs
to be rendered as ‫( سلم‬delivered) and pass in (4) as ‫يسن‬. The resulting sentences will then read:
‫ سلم صديق رسالة‬and ‫ سنت المحكمة قانونا جديدا‬for (3) and (4) respectively.
Type 3: Idiomatic expressions
5. sitting duck.
‫جالسة‬ ‫بطة‬
6. beat about the bush.
‫اضرب‬ ‫حول‬ ‫شجيرة‬
‫اضرب حول الشجيرة‬
The idiomatic meanings are completely lost in (5) and (6) above. The actual meaning of the two
idioms cannot be derived from the meaning of the individual words. Sitting duck refers to a
person or a thing which is not protected against attacks. Beat about the bush means that someone
is discussing a matter without coming to the main point. These can be translated into Arabic as
‫ هدف سهل‬and ‫يراوغ‬.
Literal translation is not always a bad choice. Certain SL textual materials can be literally and
appropriately translated between English and Arabic. Telephone2 can be literally translated into
Arabic as ‫ ;هاتف‬heavy industries as ‫ ;صناعات ثقيلة‬black list as ‫ ;قائمة سوداء‬an eye for an eye as ‫العين‬
‫بالعين‬.
More examples:

1
Sinclair (2004:10) defines collocation as “the co-occurrence of two items in a text within a specified environment.”
2
Telephone is only translated into Arabic as ‫هاتف‬. The word has no other renderings.
 English Inaccurate Arabic rendering Accurate rendering
1. rain cats and dogs ‫تمطر قططا وكﻼبا‬ ‫تمطر بغزارة‬
2. look after ‫ينظر بعد‬ ‫يعتني ب‬
3. stick your nose into sth ‫تغرس أنفك في شيء‬ ‫تتدخل فيما ﻻ يعنيك‬
4. deliver speech ‫يسلم كﻼما‬ ‫يلقي خطابا‬
5. on a high horse ‫على حصان عالي‬ ‫متكبر‬

Exercise four: Given the table above, translate the following.

1. It rained cats and dogs and all flights were cancelled.
…………………………………………………………………………
2. The King will deliver a speech this evening.
…………………………………………………………………
.‫ اعتنت اﻷم بأطفالها ولبت كافة احتياجاتهم اﻷساسية‬.3
…………………………………………………………………….
.‫ ﻻ تتدخل فيما ﻻ يعنيك‬.4
…………………………………………………………………….
1.2.2.1 Constraints on literal translation:
Despite its usefulness in certain contexts, literal translation can be subject to certain restrictions.
Newmark (1988, p. 75) suggests that if words are context free, they must be translated literally
into their ‘usual’ TL equivalents. This means that we must translate chicken as