Tackling Translation Problems in Short Stories

Authors

Shatha Saleh ELShehry, 1College of Humanities, Effat UniversityFollow
Zainab Abuelmaatti, College of Humanities, Effat UniversityFollow

Abstract

In the age of globalization, the fact of being exposed to different cultures and backgrounds is unavoidable and literary texts are one of the most important sources that portray people's lives and believe. Translating such texts is vital in order to achieve understanding between different societies. However, the task of translating a literal text from Arabic into English is not easy as Arabic and English belong to different semantic maps and cultural settings. Therefore, problems encountered in translating these texts are inescapable. This study addresses the major problems faced by translators during translating a literary text from Arabic into English. This study considers three short stories from Al-Tantawi's قصص من الحياة "Stories form Life" are translated from Arabic into English: الفتيات العربيات في إسرائيل "Arab Girls in Israel", اليتيمان "The Two Orphans" and قصة أب "Story of a Father". The problems encountered in the translation process of these stories fall in three categories: lexical problems, stylistic problems, and cultural problems. This study investigates these problems and suggests different solutions.

Recommended Citation

ELShehry, Shatha Saleh and Abuelmaatti, Zainab (2022) "Tackling Translation Problems in Short Stories," Effat Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 12.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.aaru.edu.jo/eurj/vol3/iss1/12