Literature and translation, two old companions, have been the subjects of abundant studies. Literary translation, particularly, plays an effective role among cultures. Translating any text by transmitting ideas and emotions is still difficult between two different cultures. However, the differences between the nature of two languages and the differences between their cultures make the transmitting meaning from one language to the other a difficult task. Nabokov believes that ‘the person, who desires to turn a literary masterpiece into another language, has only one duty to perform, and this is to reproduce with absolute exactitude the whole text and nothing but the text’ (as cited in Venuti, 2000, p. 121).
In case of English and Arabic, languages are alliances to each other, they have different cultures, expressions, slangs, dialects and so on and it needs a wide area of knowledge to overcome these difficulties in order to make the translation understandable and readable. Therefore, many translators applied a series of methods or translation procedures in translating a novel or literarily text or non-literal text. In this regard, according to Vinay and Darbelnet (Venuti 2000, p.84) there are two procedures of translating: direct or literal translation, and oblique or free translation. Literal translation occurs when two languages are equal in terms of structural, lexical and morphological items. Landers mentioned ‘a myriad of fine pieces of literature appearing in hundreds of languages is of the best argument for doing literary translations’ (Landers 2001 p. 5).
Everybody knows that knowledge of the language is not enough for having a good translation. Every target text must be meaningful and acceptable to target readers living in the target culture. The American theorist Lawrence Venuti defines translation as " a process by which the chain of signifiers that constitutes the source-language text is replaced by a chain of signifiers in the target language which the translator provides on the strength of an interpretation" (Venuti 1995: 17). So, translation is an instrument of education and truth precisely because it has to reach readers whose cultural and educational level is different from the readers of the original. Newmark defines the act of translation as transferring the meaning of a text, from one language to another, taking care mainly of the functional relevant meaning. Venuti sees the aim of translation is:
To bring back a cultural other as the same, the recognizable, even the familiar; and this aim always risks a wholesale domestication of the foreign text, often in highly self conscious projects, where translation serves an appropriation of foreign cultures for domestic agendas, cultural, economic, and political.
(Venuti 1995: 18)
Literary translation is considering as one of the most popular genres of translation due to the creativity in which a work in one language is rendering in another language. The definition of literary translation according to Bush is "an original subjective activity at the center of a complex network of social and cultural practices". Lander also adds "literary translation entails an unending skein of choices." Translating a literary text is a challenging endeavor for many translators. Literary translation tends to be restricted in comparison with other types of translation and other texts. It is not the issue of aesthetic features and figurative language. The main issue in translating any literary work is translating culture-specific terms. The translation scholar, Lawrence Venuti, gives a big value to the translation of foreign literature into English. The translator of a literary work should be smart, accurate, and well versed in both the SL and the TL cultures in order to accurately convey the meaning. It is an inherent idea that the translation of literary texts is very problematic, yet we have to agree that the translators also have to face lots of difficulties when it comes to translating literature. Therefore, creativity and translation are correlative, especially when dealing with literary texts.
Arabic and English are two different languages belong to two different language families. Arabic, on the one hand, is a Semitic language while English, on the other hand, belongs to the Indo European family. Therefore, the linguistic systems of Arabic and English are incompatible. In such cases, Vinay and Darbelnet’s 'translation procedures' are among the procedures that are used to overcome language differences and convey the meaning accurately when literal translation cannot provide a suitable translation equivalents in the target language. However, the use of translation procedures is related to the discretion of the translator.
For the purpose of this study, the researcher will apply Vinay and Darbelnet’s model of translation procedures to a literary work, namely, Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz. Trevor Le Gassick’s English translation of Midaq Alley was published in 1966 by The American University in Cairo Press. Its original Arabic publication was in 1947 as Zuqaq al-Midaq.The researcher intends to compare the Arabic novel with its English translation in order to identify the appropriateness and success of the translation, particularly those corresponding to Vinay and Darbelnet's model, that were used to deal with the disparity between Arabic and English cultural and linguistic systems. This study will aim to trace the literary items in light of Vinay and Darbelnet's procedures on the micro-level analysis of the source text.
Problem of the study:
The translation of literary texts is different from other kinds of translation. Precision, carefulness, and cautiousness, are much more required in the translation of literary texts because the translator should read between the lines to convey the accurate meaning of the source text to the target text as it is intended in the SL. Since translation has become essential for conveying the meaning among cultures, it is also important to introduce the features of the Arab cultural to all non-Arab people around the world. The great differences between the Arabic and English linguistic systems in addition to the complex nature of the literary texts make the use of translation procedures indispensable to overcome the problem of lack of formal correspondents in the TT.
Importance of the Study
The study is theoretically and practically important and useful for the students of translation and translators, especially those interested in literary translations. It helps the readers, especially those who are interested with knowledge about translation studies and translation procedures. The study also aims to apply Vinay and Darbelnet’s model of translation procedures to the translation of literary texts from Arabic to English. It aims also to identify the most frequently used types of procedures that were adopted by the translator of the Arabic text. The writer hopes that this analysis will be inspiration for those who want to do further research on the field of translation procedures.
Significance of the study:
The aim of this study is to apply Vinay and Darbelnet’s model of translation procedures to a literary work, namely, Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz. Also, it is important to introduce and describe the types of procedures that are used in the English translation of the Arabic literary text according to Vinay and Darbelnet's model and to discover which types of procedures are used most frequently in the translation of literary text from Arabic to English in light of Vinay and Darbelnet's model of translation.
Research Questions:
The paper attempts to answer the following questions:
1-What types of procedures are applied in the translation of a literary text
from Arabic to English according to Vinay and Darbelnet’s theory?
2-Which of Vinay and Darbelnet’s procedures are most frequently used by the translator of Midaq Alley text from Arabic to English?
3- What is the effectiveness of the seven translation procedures model to the process of transferring the meaning of the ST into the TT?
4-To what extent do these translation procedures help to transfer meaning from the ST to TT as naturally and fluently as possible?
Hypothesis
Based on the reviewed literature, the researcher hypothesizes that:
1- Translation procedures are employed in rendering literary texts from Arabic into English.
2- Translation procedures of Vinay and Darblent are employed in describing the decisions and changes opted for by the translator in rendering the literary text Midaq Alley from Arabic into English.
3- Translation procedures help narrow the gap between the Arabic and the English systems.
4- The procedure of Equivalence is the most frequently used procedure by the translator in the translation of Midaq Alley text from Arabic into English.
Definition of Terms
Translation
According to Nida and Taber in The Theory and Practice of Translation, ‘Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style".
Newmark (1981) defines translation as ‘a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or a statement in one language by the same message
and/or statement in another language’ (p.7). His definition of translation is then understood as ‘rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the same way that the author intended the text’. (1988:5)
House (1977:29) adds that: "Translation is the replacement of a text in the source language by a semantically and pragmatically equivalent text in the target language’.
Catford (1965/1978: p.1) defines translation as "a process of substituting a text in one language for a text in another".
Procedures
Newmark (1988b) mentions the difference between translation methods and translation procedures. He writes that, ‘while translation methods relate to whole texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and the smaller units of language’ (p.81).
The translating procedures, as depicted by Nida (1964) are as follow:
I. Technical procedures:
A. analysis of the source and target languages;
B. a through study of the source language text before making attempts translate it;
C. Making judgments of the semantic and syntactic approximations. (pp. 241-45)
Organizational procedures:
constant reevaluation of the attempt made; contrasting it with the existing available translations of the same text done by other translators, and checking the text's communicative effectiveness by asking the target language readers to evaluate its accuracy and effectiveness and studying their reactions (pp. 246-47)