Translation Challenges Facing University Students a Case Study: EFL Students at Ajloun National University (Published)
This study aims at identifying the main translation challenges that face EFL students as well as investigating students’ attitudes towards learning translation at Ajloun National University (ANU). The researcher used a quantitative research method. A total of 57 (male and female) (EFL) students responded to an online questionnaire consisting of 20 items. The results of this study revealed that EFL students at ANU had positive attitudes towards learning the translation course. The results also showed that a considerable number of students had difficulties translating texts from Arabic into English and vice versa. Moreover, the study recommended that the number of translation courses at universities should be increased, since one translation course is not enough to provide students with high-quality practice and knowledge to deal with translating texts correctly.
Citation: Mahmoud A. Al.Sobh (2022) Translation Challenges Facing University Students a Case Study: EFL Students at Ajloun National University, European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, Vol.10, No.5, pp.10-23,
Keywords: Ajloun National University, Challenges, EFL students, translation
Translating Sarcasm in Some Quranic Verses into English (Published)
The present study focuses on translating the rhetorical meanings of sarcasm in the Holy Quran and the translated texts in an attempt to find a kind of compatibility between the two languages. It sheds light on the method of sarcasm in some verses of Holy Quran in an attempt to understand its purpose, meaning and clarify the differences involved in its translation into the English language. The study aims to present some conceptions of sarcasm and take them into consideration in observing the original texts for the purpose of showing whether the translators are able to properly translate the implicit meanings of sarcasm, based on Newmark’s Model (1988), “semantic and communicative translation”. Qualitative analysis is appropriate for the purpose of the study, as it is suited for exploring people’s attitudes, opinions, beliefs, perceptions, interactions and behaviors in various settings and where the approach is interpretative and the data are presented subjectively rather than statistically. The study hypothesizes that translating sarcasm leads to some potential problems for translators; one of the conclusions obtained from this study is the diversity of translations depending on the translator’s understanding of the meaning of the original text. The main findings of the study are that the translators have produced different translations depending on their understanding of the verse’s meanings. In addition, in most cases, the renderings of the three translators sound inappropriate because they did not show the sarcastic function as it is in the source text (ST). So, the three translators in general, failed to express the intended ironical meaning as it is in the source text (The Holy Quran), and also could not manage to convey the sarcastic message implied.
Keywords: quranic verses, sarcasm, semantic and communicative translation, translation
Problems in Arabic-English translation of articles encountered by Saudi Students (Published)
The present study aimed at investigating the problems of translating articles from Arabic into English encountered by a sample of Saudi students. The study employed one data collection tool which was a translation test. The test was administered to 25 fresh students at the Community College of King Saud University in the first semester of the academic year 2019. The examination of the data showed that 57.2% of the students could not translate articles into English correctly. There were four main findings with regard to the type of error made by the students in the translation of articles into English. These were the overuse of ‘the’, the wrong use of ‘a or an’, the omission of ‘the’ and the omission of ‘a or an’. Based on these types of errors, the researcher offered some logical explanations. As this difficulty proved to be serious, the researcher suggested carrying out some large-scale studies to either confirm the findings of this study or add other insights into the topic of the present study.
Keywords: Arabic, Articles, English, Problems, Saudi students, translation
Investigating Translation Competence of Iraqi EFL Students in Conveying Cultural Expressions into Arabic (Published)
Translation studies has given more attention to translation competence in recent time to figure out what a translator needs to possess in order to come up with a professional and accurate translation. The present study aims at investigating translation competence with a view to measure Iraqi EFL Learners’ translation competence. A test has been administered to the Iraqi EFL learners to translate a text, which is full with cultural expressions, from English into Arabic. Five translations have been selected and analysed. Finally, some of the findings have been reached among these is that EFL learners possess an appropriate linguistic competence, but they lack a key component, namely the cultural competence component.
Keywords: Competence, Culture-Bound Expressions, translation
Translation of Prophetic Hadeeths: Divine Challenges (Published)
Unlike the Quran, the translation of Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah (r) has not only been given little attention but also falls short of achieving its ultimatum divine message. This paper is an attempt to examine the divine challenges facing the translators of Prophetic hadeeths using contextualised linguistic, cultural and rhetorical elements as parameters in Muhammad Muhsin Khan’s summarised translation of Sahih Al-Bukhari (1994) as examples for discussion and analysis. Results of the discussion and analysis of the samples used in this paper have indicated that there is an urgent need for Islamising rather than Christianizing or Jewishizing the translation of Prophetic Hadeeths. So as to achieve the objective of Islamising the translation, a list of suggestions and recommendations have been made for use by professional translators, teachers and students of translation as well as for those who are interested in carrying out further research in this field.
Keywords: Divine., Hadeeth, Islamising, Prophet Muhammad, Prophetic Texts, Sunnah, translation
Translation of Prophetic Hadeeths: Divine Challenges (Published)
Unlike the Quran, the translation of Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah (r) has not only been given little attention but also falls short of achieving its ultimatum divine message. This paper is an attempt to examine the divine challenges facing the translators of Prophetic hadeeths using contextualised linguistic, cultural and rhetorical elements as parameters in Muhammad Muhsin Khan’s summarised translation of Sahih Al-Bukhari (1994) as examples for discussion and analysis. Results of the discussion and analysis of the samples used in this paper have indicated that there is an urgent need for Islamising rather than Christianizing or Jewishizing the translation of Prophetic Hadeeths. So as to achieve the objective of Islamising the translation, a list of suggestions and recommendations have been made for use by professional translators, teachers and students of translation as well as for those who are interested in carrying out further research in this field.
Keywords: Divine., Hadeeth, Islamising, Prophet Muhammad, Prophetic Texts, Sunnah, translation
Looking For Factors and Reasons That Has Relation with Difficulties and Problems (Published)
This study aims at investigating the basics factor and reasons that has relation with difficulties and problems. The study also aims at identifying these factors, showing the kind of factors, introducing reasons in details and suggest suitable solution. For these purpose, research questions are posed. The study focus on factors makes problems and difficulty. Translation is viewed as a number of problems of different kinds that require suitable and possible solutions. English and Arabic belong to two different language families Germanic and semitic, therefore difficulty will definitely arise. Some grammatical features of both languages pose problems in translation from Arabic into English or vice versa. Arab students should know that English grammar is not identical with Arabic grammar so we cannot translate each other in a straightforward way.
Keywords: Factors, Problems, Reason, Relation, difficulties, translation
Dubbing and Subtitling American Comedy Series (Published)
Multimedia communication is ubiquitous in our daily life (Gambier, 2001). This study presents a descriptive and discursive analysis of how elements in humorous extracts from an American comedy series (Malcolm in the Middle) travel across linguistic and intercultural barriers in dubbing and subtitling (English-Persian). The analysis is based on several Translation Studies and Pragmatic methods as well as on taxonomy of humorous elements in audiovisual texts. The taxonomy was first proposed by Juan Jose Martinez-Sierra (2005) which consists of eight types of humorous loads including: (1) Visual, (2) Community-Sense-of-Humor, (3) Community-and-Institution, (4) Linguistic, (5) Non-Marked, (6) Paralinguistic, (7) Sound and (8) Graphic. These are used to (a) quantify and (b) analyze the humorous elements in the source and target texts, (c) calculate the percentage of humor in the source text that had been realized in the target version, (d) make observations on humor translation in the comedy series’ episodes, and finally, (e) create a list of translational tendencies, potential norms, in humor translation in multimedia texts. The results show that the rendered humorous pieces into Persian are lower in number than the original text. Moreover, the reduction of humorous elements is more noticeable in subtitling than dubbing.
Keywords: Dubbing, Humor taxonomy, Subtitling, translation