A Comparative Study of Shifts in English Translations of The Quran: A Case Study on “Yusuf” Chapter

Abstract

Long since Translation Studies emerged as a nascent academic discipline, it has seen a considerable number of descriptive theories and models, among which, Catford’s (1965) translation ‘shift’ approach has garnered particular attention within the realm of translational comparative studies. Quranic texts have constantly been the center of attention, as the Quran has established itself as the most famous and sublime text in Arabic. As such, the present comparative study aimed at investigating the frequencies of different types of translation shifts occurring in translations form Arabic into English drawing on Catford’s (1956) shift typology. To this end, seven translations of the first thirty verses of the Chapter ‘Yusuf’ rendered by Sarwar, Arberry, Irring, Pickthall, Saffarzade, Shakir and Yusef Ali were selected to be studied. First, each element was compared for any probable shift(s). Then, the Chi-square procedure was applied in order to establish the existence of any statistically significant differences in shift frequencies. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between five types of shifts. The results also revealed that the most frequent translation shifts from Arabic into Persian were Unit shifts and Level shifts with a mean of 83 and 49 respectively.

Translation Shift in Garfield “Takes His Licks” a Bilingual Text

“…When the findings of this research were compared to another relevant research finding as in Dewi (2016), Dorri (2016), andMobarakeh (2016), it was found that the dominant shift occurred was structure shift which was similar to the finding of this research. While in Rezvani (2014), Herman (2014 and Maasoum (2013) found that the dominant shift occurred was unit shift. The difference occurred because of the linguistics characteristics and features to convey a message, it has its own system and form.…”

Prelims

“…5 The Quranic verse "We have certainly honoured the children of Adam" can be read as explicit recognition of human dignity. 6 This passage emphasises that every person has inherent value, regardless of race, gender or social standing. 7 The Islamic view of human dignity derives from the conviction that all people are formed in God's image and equipped with special abilities that distinguish them from other living things, such as reason and free will 8 .…”

“…17 From the perspective of personal dimension, Islam's idea of human dignity at the level of the individual is based on the belief that each person is unique and created by God with qualities like reason and free will that make them different from other things. 18 This intrinsic value is a quality that all people possess that transcends a person's race, gender, social standing or any other distinguishing qualities. 19 The social concern aspect of human dignity is reflected in the guiding principles of social justice, equality and compassion in Islamic ethics.…”

Investigating Category Translation Shifts of a BBC News Article from English into Arabic

“…The notion of Translation shifts was also investigated in Islamic texts. Rezvani and Nouraey (2014)conducted a comparative analysis study adopting Catford model of analysis where they specifically analyzed the occurrence of translation shifts in the English translation of the Holy Quran. The researchers selected seven translations of the first thirty verses of the chapter of 'Yousif'.…”