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- Volume 57, Issue, 2011
Babel - Volume 57, Issue 3, 2011
Volume 57, Issue 3, 2011
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Criteria for the translation and assessment of Qur’anic metaphor: A contrastive analytic approach
Author(s): Iman El-Zeinypp.: 247–268 (22)More LessThis paper discusses different approaches to the translation of Qur’anic metaphor, as one of the semantic problematic areas in translating the Qur’an, with a view to recommending principled criteria for translating Qur’anic metaphor. An attempt has been made to analyze, compare and assess six different approaches to the translation of Qur’anic metaphor and a blueprint is provided. The six selected translations are those by Sale (first published in1734), Ali (first published in 1937), Arberry (first published in 1955), Dawood (first published in 1956), Khatib (first published in 1986) and Khān–Hilālī (1996 edition). These translatons represent different orientations in translating the Muslim’s holy Book. Moreover, their translations are regularly reprinted.
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Fostering social competence in translation studies
Author(s): Zita Krajcsopp.: 269–282 (14)More LessSocial competence for translators? Is social competence not a privilege for students of medicine, pedagogy and economics? Is translation not a course of studies preferred by students who are shy and introverted? By students lacking self-confidence? Hiding themselves as translators behind the computer, isolated from the outside world? Obviously this image of the translation profession belongs to the past, before the information age. Globalization and worldwide competition influence the language mediation market, which is programmed for perpetual change. But, to what extent are translation education programmes ready to meet the ongoing, changing needs of the market, which call for able and well-qualified translators?Indeed, if translation education wants to succeed, it should keep up with the current market and equip students not only with strong skills but also with social competence to meet the needs of society. But can social competence be taught? And which methods are appropriate in translation studies to convey it? These questions will be discussed in this paper.
While social competence is now commonly employed in the fields of economy and pedagogy, there has not yet been any significant movement to introduce this approach in the area of translation training programmes. I will present some recommendations based on the results of an empirical study. As the study was carried out in the course “oral communication” at the Centre for Translation Studies, University of Vienna, the attention is focused on the German-speaking environment, especially on the Austrian context.
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Translating English modal expressions: An Arab translator trainee’s perspective
Author(s): Domenyk Eadespp.: 283–304 (22)More LessModals are a source of difficulty in translation due to the subtle and complex nature of the meanings they convey, as well as the diversity of formal means by which modal meaning is coded from one language to another. The present study sheds light on difficulties associated with the translation of modal expressions by exploring errors in the translations of a group of native Arabic-speaking translator trainees, and identifies difficulties they experienced in transferring modal meaning from an English source text (ST) to an Arabic target text (TT). Shortcomings in the skills and training of the participants are discussed in the light of these findings, and suggestions are given as to how these may be remedied.The results of the study show that while the students generally exhibit a sound knowledge of the dictionary meanings of the modal expressions in the ST, the precise sense of a given modal was often misconstrued and in many cases the modal meaning was missing entirely from the translations. These problems suggest that the participants tended to process the meanings of the ST at the word and sentence level while neglecting broader macro-level meanings conveyed in the text (e.g. cohesion, text type, relationship between author and audience).
The study reveals that in addition to the need for students to develop greater awareness of the nature of modality and its expression in both English and Arabic, greater emphasis is needed in the training of the students on the improvement of topdown text processing skills.
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La subtitulación al servicio del aprendizaje de lenguas: el entorno LvS
Author(s): Lupe Romero, Olga Torres-Hostench and Stavroula Sokolipp.: 305–323 (19)More LessLvS (Learning via Subtitling) is a subtitling tool for language teaching. The main objective of LvS is to provide educational material for the active learning of foreign languages through subtitled video clips. Using this tool and the specific activities created by the teacher, students can add subtitles to video clips, thus participating in active writing and listening comprehension activities. LvS is a subtitle simulator for specific purposes.This paper presents the possibilities offered by an environment such as LvS for learning languages through subtitling and the effectiveness of the use of news videos in L2 teaching. It describes the different stages of a LvS activity involving teaching Italian for translators.
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A comparative study of English translations of Lu Xun’s works
Author(s): Xu Xiaominpp.: 324–341 (18)More LessThis paper compares three translators, Chi-chen Wang, the Yangs, and William A Lyell, who translated Lu Xun, the most important and a canonized Chinese writer in the twentieth century, so as to examine how non-linguistic factors affect translation.Beginning from the introduction of the divergence of the translators’ identities, motivations and socio-cultural background, the paper analyzes the reasons of their preferences in selections of originals, different translation strategies and different translation products.
To introduce real China to the Americans in the 1920s, Wang translated the best stories of Lu Xun into fluent American English, with the difficult and unimportant cultural terms simplified or omitted. The Yangs worked for a nation-sponsored publishing house on mainland China and their translations of Lu Xun in the 1960s were attached with much political significance, which partly explained the closeness and literalness of their translation. While Lyell, an American scholar translating Lu Xun in the 1990s, is more scholarly in his translation, containing very detailed explanations and notes of cultural elements.
This paper is not to judge but to find out how translations are like what they are under certain circumstances and in certain historical periods.
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Traduire la culture poétique du français en anglais: le cas des poèmes à forme fixe
Author(s): Tuesday Owoeyepp.: 342–353 (12)More LessThat literary texts appear to be more difficult to translate than technical ones is no longer a subject of debate. This truth is fundamentally as a result of obvious challenges the literary translator has to face, since he is under the obligation to translate not only the literal meaning of his source text, but also its literary style. Even within the literary field of translation, if the translator of prose or drama rarely has an easy task, the translator of poetry is likely to meet harder obstacles in the course of his exercise. Poetry — especially when it has to do with traditional poems – appears, thus, the most dreaded terrain for the translator.This article presents a comparative study of the poetic culture of French and English with the principal objective of demystifying the theoretical and practical problems associated with poetic translation. Supported by a critical analysis of an English translation of a French sonnet, the paper argues that the work of the poetic translator would be made more simplified if priority is given to the culture of the target language. The article thus recommends faithfulness to the poetic culture of the target language in order to produce a translation that will be acceptable to the reader of that language.
Volumes & issues
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Volume 71 (2025)
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Volume 70 (2024)
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Volume 69 (2023)
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Volume 68 (2022)
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Volume 67 (2021)
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Volume 66 (2020)
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Volume 65 (2019)
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Volume 64 (2018)
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Volume 63 (2017)
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Volume 62 (2016)
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Volume 61 (2015)
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Volume 60 (2014)
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Volume 59 (2013)
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Volume 58 (2012)
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Volume 57 (2011)
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Volume 56 (2010)
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Volume 55 (2009)
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Volume 54 (2008)
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Volume 53 (2007)
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Volume 52 (2006)
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Volume 51 (2005)
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Volume 50 (2004)
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Volume 49 (2003)
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Volume 48 (2002)
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Volume 47 (2001)
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Volume 46 (2000)
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Volume 45 (1999)
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Volume 44 (1998)
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Volume 43 (1997)
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Volume 42 (1996)
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Volume 41 (1995)
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Volume 40 (1994)
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Volume 39 (1993)
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Volume 38 (1992)
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Volume 37 (1991)
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Volume 36 (1990)
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Volume 35 (1989)
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Volume 34 (1988)
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Volume 33 (1987)
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Volume 32 (1986)
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Volume 31 (1985)
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Volume 30 (1984)
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Volume 29 (1983)
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Volume 28 (1982)
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Volume 27 (1981)
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Volume 26 (1980)
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Volume 25 (1979)
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Volume 24 (1978)
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Volume 23 (1977)
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Volume 22 (1976)
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Volume 21 (1975)
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Volume 20 (1974)
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Volume 19 (1973)
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Volume 18 (1972)
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Volume 17 (1971)
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Volume 16 (1970)
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Volume 15 (1969)
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Volume 14 (1968)
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Volume 13 (1967)
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Volume 12 (1966)
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Volume 11 (1965)
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Volume 10 (1964)
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Volume 9 (1963)
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Volume 8 (1962)
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Volume 7 (1961)
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Volume 6 (1960)
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Volume 5 (1959)
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Volume 4 (1958)
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Volume 3 (1957)
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Volume 2 (1956)
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Volume 1 (1955)
Most Read This Month

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The Myth of the Negro Past
Author(s): Melville J. Herskovits
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Can "Metaphor" Be Translated?
Author(s): Menachem Dagut
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