Interlingual Pronoun Errors in English-Arabic Translation

Abstract

Unlike English, Standard Arabic has two forms of subject pronouns: Independent such as ?na (I), and a pronominal suffix that is an integral part of the verb such as katab-tu (I wrote). Independent subject pronouns are commonly used in nominal sentences, not verbal sentences. Use of independent subject pronouns in verbal statements depends on syntactic, pragmatic, discoursal and semantic factors available in a particular context. The present study investigates translation students' awareness of the syntactic, pragmatic and discoursal restrictions that determine the use of Arabic subject pronouns when translating connected discourse from English into Arabic. An error corpus of faulty uses of Arabic independent subject pronouns was collected from the translation projects of senior students majoring in translation. Syntactic, pragmatic and discoursal criteria were used to judge the deviations. It was found that students translate imitatively rather than discriminately. Since English sentences begin with a subject pronoun such as I, he, they, the students used an independent subject pronoun followed by a verb + pronominal suffix in declarative, affirmative statement, without realizing that the subject is contained in the verb, and use of ?na or huwa is redundant. Implications for increasing students' awareness of pragmatic, discoursal and syntactic constraints in translating English pronouns into Arabic are provided.

Time Metaphors in English and Arabic: Translation Challenges

“…The English sample consists of 320 time expressions distributed as follows: Time (109); era/age (49); day (44); epoch (31); year (29); minute (27); hour, watch, clock (26); second (5) The percentages of time expressions in each category were computed. Translations, comparisons and categorization of English and Arabic time expressions were verified by two professors of English-Arabic translation.…”

Expressions of Impossibility in Arabic and English: Unveiling Students’ Translation Difficulties

“…In some Arab countries of the Arabian Gulf, one would say ‫قرونها‬ ‫على‬ ‫البقرة‬ ‫حجت‬ ‫إذا‬ "when the cow goes to pilgrimage on its horns". In Egypt, they say ‫المشمش‬ ‫في‬ "when apricots bloom" and in Palestine, they say ‫الملح‬ ‫ينور‬ ‫لما‬ "when salt blossoms" or "when salt flowers" 3 . Expressions of impossibility convey emotions and impressions through metaphor.…”