1

6002-2007

2

Contents

Acknowledgment

1. Introduction: Linguistic Background 5

2. Source Text 7

3. Target Text 10

4- Equivalence at Word Level 12

4.1 Translation by Illustration/ Explanation

4.2 Translation by a more General Word

4.3 Culture-Specific Concepts

4.4 Translation by Omission

4.5 Translation by Paraphrase Using Unrelated Words

4.6 Translation Using a Loan Word

5- Equivalence above Word Level 17

5.1 Collocations

5.2 Idioms

6- Grammatical Equivalence 20

6.1 Number

6.2 Gender

6.3 Tense & Aspect

6.4 Voice

7– Textual Equivalence 25

7.1 Cohesion through Conjunction

7.2 Cohesion through Reference

7.2.1 Co-Reference

8- Micellaneous Items 31

Conclusion 32

References 33

3

I would like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to the World Arab Translators’ Association (WATA) in general and Professor Baker Al Musawi in particular for his guidance and for giving me this chance to go through this rich experience. I have received a lot of help and support during the period of the course from Professor Baker whose instructions were enormously valuable.

4

It is true that a gifted translator may do well without the theoretical knowledge of the

different fields of translation study, but it is equally true that without such knowledge it is

almost impossible to deal with the study of translation on systematic and academic bases.

It is worth mentioning in this respect that studying theories of translation helped me a lot

through my translation project.

Several scholars have recognized the essence of translation and defined it thoroughly. The

definitions suggested by some scholars are mentioned below in order to be aware of what is

exactly meant by the word “translation”.

Catford holds that translation is “the replacement of textual material in one language

(SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)” (Catford, 1965:20). By the term

“textual” Catford means that not every individual item in the original text is substituted by an

equivalent item in the translated text. Halliday describes translation as the establishment of

textual rather than lexical or grammatical equivalence. He maintains that “translation is the

relation between two or more texts playing an identical role in an identical

situation”.Widdowson, however, holds that translation should neither operate on the word

level nor even on the sentence level, but on the level of the text. According to him, a

translator has to discover equivalents on the communicative level of language, rather than on

the lexical or grammatical levels.

Having introduced the above attempts at establishing an appropriate definition of

translation, we notice that despite the differences in phraseology, their outcome is similar to

a great extent since they reach the same destination through different routes. The previous

views stress the same point; that is - the translated version should have the same effect of

the original.

The problems that I encountered while translating the text in question are analyzed on

different levels as follows:

1. Word Level 2- Above the Word Level 3-Grammatical Level 4-Textual Level

5

6

7

8

مقــدمــة

جوزيف كـونـراد

ها ما والرومانسية وب إن حياة كونراد في حد ذاتها بمثابة قصة من القصص الالفتة للنظر فهي حافلة باألحداثيكفى الستحضار مادة لكتابة رواية مليودرامية أوقع بكثير من الروايات التي كتبها. ولد بمدينة برديشف

Jozef Teodor)جوزيف تيودور كونراد كورزنيوفسكى و تم تعميده باسم 7581بأوكرانيا عام Konrad Korzeniowski ) . لبولندية ذوى األمالك. حصل على الجنسية و كان طفال ألسرة من األسر ا

حيث ُعرف باسم جوزيف كونراد 7291ووافته المنية بالقرب من مدينة كانتربرى عام 7551البريطانية عام (Joseph Conrad) .

ر والتايرات غي ماا بين ذاذه الباداياة والنهاية حياة محفوفة بالم اطر وحافلة بالماامرات والقرارات المصااااااايرية

المتوقعة لمساار حياته. كان في أوقات عديدة الطفل الوحيد الموجود بالمنفى السياسي بروسيا. كان طالبا متمردا الذ يرة . قام بمحاولة انتحار في فرنسااا بعد أنكان مهربا لألساالحة وفي بولندا وكان بحارا مبتدئا في مرساايليا و

و على الساااواحل بارا التجارة مع مدن ساااواحل بحر الشااامال كان قد أغرقته الديون. كان بحارا بسااايطا يرساااصار ُربانا ألعالي البحار. عمل ضابطا بحريا على 7551اإلنجليزي . ثم أصاب ضابطا بحريا قديرا وفي عام

ي فمتن العديد من الساافن التجارية التي كانت تتوجه إلى الشاارق األقصااى وأسااتراليا. كان ُربانا للبا رة أوتا جو رحالتها من بانكوك إلى استراليا ثم إلى موريشيوس. كان قبطانا لبا رة نيلية متهالكة تبحر في مياه نهر الكوناو

في أفريقيا. وفى نهاية المطاف كان كاتبا روائيا محترفا بإنجلترا في الثالثين عاما األ يرة من حياته تقريبا .

من األفعال العفوية وبالطبع التايرات الفجائية. فأكثر قرار مصااااايري من إنها حياة غريبة وعجيبة تتسااااام بالعديد بين م تلف القرارات التي ات ذذا كونراد كان قرارا في وقت مبكر من حياته: أال وذو أنه كان في السااااااادسااااااة

طيع أحد يست عشر فقط من عمره عندما ترك بولندا لألبد بحثا عن الرزق في البالد حيث عمل بحارا تجاريا . الأن يعلل بشاكل تام الدوافع ورا ما قام به أو الدوافع التي جعلت أقاربه أو األوصايا عليه يسمحون له بالقيام بما

قام به. ريما كان قرار ماادرة بولندا قرارا حكيما شجعته العائلة. و بالرغم من أنه ينتمي ألسرة ذات حسب الذي كان ساامة يتساامون بها يم بظالله على طفولته . و من الجدير بالذكر أن و نساابإ إال أن الكبريا الشااديد

أبوللو كورزنيوفسكى والد كونراد كان مواطنا و مناديا بالقومية بتفان و جلد في وقت كانت تقع فيه بولندا ككثير لسياسية أسفرت عن إلقا من األوقات تحت الحكم الروسي و تعانى من االضطهاد الروسي لها. إال أن أنشطته ا

من ثم فإن السنوات األولى . و7519يه إلى شامالي روسايا عام ثم نف 7517القبا عليه و إيداعه بالساجن عام من طفولة كونراد شااااهدت ساااانوات نفى األساااارة والكوارث التي مرت بها. لقد توفت والدته في روساااايا عام

ماتا كثيرا بعد عودته من المنفى وحزن لم يساااااااتطع البقأما والده الذي وذنت صاااااااحته و يم عليه ال 7518

9

باأل ص عمه بتقديم يد العون لكونراد ورعايته حيث . و بعاد ذلاك قاامات العاائلاة و 7512بمرا الادرن عاام اعتنى به عمه ثاديوس بوبرفسكى والذي كان يأ ذ على عاتقه مسئوليه تعليم كونراد فقد اعتنى به ماديا . وكان

عام وصاى عطوف و كثيرا ما تحمل العنا الل سانوات عديدة من مرحلة الشباب التي مر بها كونرادبشاكل المحن . الطيش ووالتي اتسمت بالتهور و

من المؤكد أن قرار ذذاب كونراد لل ارج قد ساااااانده بوبروفساااااكى الذي كان يحاول أن يحصااااال على الجنساااااية

ما عا ر له على أنه ابن سااجين سااياسااي قضااى أكثر من مسااة و عشاارين النمساااوية لهذا الصاابي الذي كان ُينظيؤدى دمة عساااكرية إجبارية بروسااايا إال أن المحاولة با ت بالفشااال. ولتجنب م اطر ذذا األمر مكث كونراد بال ارج حيث كان بمأمن أكثر حتى أنه بعد بضااااع ساااانوات كان بوبروفسااااكى يحثه على عدم زيارة بولندا مرة

تى يتم التأكد من حصاااوله على الجنساااية البريطانية. لكن قرار ذذاب كونراد للعمل بالبحر و التدريب أ رى حعلى التجارة البحرية كان قراره وحده. ذذا القرار قد أصاب العائلة بالدذشة حيث لم يكن من عرف العائلة أن

حر. ربما كان ذذا القرار نتاج قرا ات كثيرة في يلتحق أحد أفرادذا بمثل ذذه األعمال أو أن يكون له عالقة بالبقصص الماامرات مع ولعه بالجارافيا تلك المادة التي لفتت انتباذه التفاتا شديدا و فترة طفولته عن أدب الرحالت

.

إلاا حتى و 7518على أية حال فقد ساالك طريقة و منذ أولى رحالته التدريبية على جذر اإلنديز الاربية عام را مهنته بحا رحلته األ يرة التي كان م طط لها أن يكون كونراد الضابط األول لها كان يكتسب رزقه من الل

التي تضااااااامنات عمليات تهريب األسااااااالحة) و التي حادثات في فترة مبكرة بفرنساااااااا تجاارياا . إن بعا الوقاائعبعد قراره الذي ات ذه لاللتحاق باألساااااااطول التجاري و الذ يرة( لم تنم عن سااااااامعة حسااااااانة على اإلطالق لكن

البريطاني اكتسااااب مؤذالته كضااااابط على فترات منتظمة فيما يبدو بشااااكل مؤكد أنه كان انتصااااارا للعمل الجاد والهدف المحدد.

ن ابشاكل عام كان عمله بالبحر عمال غريب األطوار. ففي ذات مرة أصادر األوامر بإبحار السفينة أوتا جو وك

لديه عادة دائمة أال و ذي التشااااجر مع ضاااباط السااافينة و تايرذم لمراكزذم على السااافينة دون إبدا أي سااابب واضاااا في الوقت الذي يبدون فيه على حالة من االسااااتقرار التام و إدارة األمور بنجال. من الناحية االحترافية

ا يبدو عليه القلق واالندفاع و التردد. ذلك الساالوك كان ضااابطا كفئا أما على المسااتوى الشاا صااي فكان دائما مربما يكون السااابب فى التحاقه بعمل غير مساااتقر مما تسااابب في حدوث قلق و إصاااابة ب يبة أمل في الكثير من

األوقات لعمه و ألصحاب العمل الذي كان يلتحق به لكن ذذا العمل منحه أيضاَ برة كبيرة عن طبيعة الناس األحداث في أجزا شتى من العالم. لقد كانت سنوات التدريب طويلة و مثيرة للعجب للش ص الذي و األماكن و

ه متواصاااااالين تجاه ما ُيدربين وذكا ثاق. لشاااااا ص روائي بالفطرة ذي برة وقُدر له أن يكون روائيا فيما بعد.. عليه العالم من مرارة األيام منذ نعومة أظافره.

يات التي بتوظيف الش صتاالل براته مرارا و تكرارا وبشاكل منتظم ود باعتباره كاتبا باسافي الواقع قام كونرا

قريبة جدا بأسما و قد كان يقابلها في أسفاره. فكثيرا ما كانت تظهر ذذه الش صيات مع تاير طفيف في األحداثراد لم يكن الحياة إال أن كون اة من واقع ألسمائها الحقيقية لدرجة تمكنا بيقين شديد من تتبع لفية أعماله المستوح

11

ته األحداث الموجودة بذاكرواألماكن و ببساطة راويا لقصٍص عن سيرته الذاتية ف ياله ال صب يشمل كل الناس عن األحداث التفصااايلية التي ترتكز عليها رفة شاااا ما عن حياته ال اصاااة ككل ووالتي كانت نتاج ل برته.إن مع

ما أن نرىة لحالته من العوامل المساااااعدة اصااااة على فهم طبيعة عمله حيث يتي لنا ذلك رواية ما يعد بالنساااابال إال إن يارنات دقيقة بين واقع ودفع ب ياله للعمل لكن ليس من الحكمة أيضاااا عقد مقالذي اساااترعى انتباذه و

صة قشاباع رغباته تكون التذكرنا أن يال كونراد يال غير عادى لدرجة أنه في الوقت الذي يكتب فيه قصاة إلتعتبر فقط عمل روائي كما لو كانت من وحي ال يال تماما . )ذذا الشاي يوضع بمنأى عن مصاادرذا الحقيقية و

( . جيم للوردا ااألحداث الواقعية التي جعلها كونراد الركيزة لروايتهإلى األناس الحقيقيين وفي االعتبار عندما ننظر

11

Some problems arise from the lack of equivalence at word level. The question is: what does

a translator do when there is no word in the target language which expresses the same

meaning as the source language word? (Mona Baker 1992: 10)

The answer of the above question is proposed by Mona baker herself. She suggests some

strategies that may guide the translator.

4.1 Translation by Illustration / Explanation

Example 1:

The meaning of (which included the smuggling), (L.58) is understood only by illustration

since it is not mentioned what the word (smuggling) is referring to in that context. A

reference was made at the very beginning of the SLT to explain what kind of explanation is

necessary here. It reads: عمليات تهريب األسلحة و الذخيرةو التي تضمنت

Example 2:

ST: The real –life background to his work (line 81)

TT: خلفية أعماله المستوحاة من واقع الحياة

Example 3:

I encountered a problem with the verbs of the following sentence: his imagination enriches

and transforms all the people (line82, 83).

12

I exerted my effort to explain the general meaning of the sentence by sticking to the

meaning of the verbs. The suggested explanation was:

.و األماكن و األحداث الموجودة بذاكرته فخياله الخصب يشمل كل الناس

Example 4:

The English sentence in line 8 does not clarify what kind of direction. Therefore, some

modification was made to clarify the meaning of the word (direction).

ST: (and unexpected changes of direction) (L8).

TT: و التغيرات غير المتوقعة لمسار حياته

Example 5:

ST: he died near Canterbury in 1924 as Joseph Conrad.

TT: وافته المنية بالقرب من مدينة كانتربرى عام 4291 حيث عرف باسم جوزيف كونراد

Example 6

ST: during several years of youthful extravagances, escapades and misfortunes.

TT: خالل مرحلة الشباب التي مر بها كونراد و التي اتسمت بالتهور و الطيش والمحن

Example 7:

ST: and from his first. Apprentice voyage to the West Indies.

TT: .........منذ أولى رحالته التدريبية إلى جزر اإلنديز الغربية

Example 8:

ST: But the decision that Conrad should go to sea…………..

TT: .........لكن قرار ذهاب كونراد للعمل بالبحر

Example 9:

ST: of giving up posts

13

TT: تغيرهم مراكزهم على السفينة

Example 10

ST: They seemed perfect settled.

TT: يبدون على حالة من االستقرار التام

Example 11

ST: Trading along the North Sea coast of England (L.12).

TT: . بغرض التجارة مع مدن سواحل بحر الشمال اإلنجليزي

4.2 Translation by a more General Word

The verb supply in line 2 was not translated literally. A more general word was used to suit

the target context. مادة لكتابة رواية ميلودرامية الستحضار

4.3 Culture – Specific Concepts

The source language text expresses a concept which sounds unfamiliar to the target

culture. This is due to the fact that it is related to a religious belief. The concept is

underlined in the following sentence:

Example 1

ST: He was born at Berdichev in the Ukraine in 1857 and christened Jozef Teodor

Konrad……

TT: ......ٌولد بمدينة برديف بأوكرانيا عام 4581و تم تعميده باسم جوزيف تيودور كونراد

14

I assume if I wrote it as follows, it would give the reader a quite passive impression about

the quality of the TLT.

!و تم تنصيره باسم جوزيف تيودور كونراد

Example 2:

A similar problem was found in line 5 – 6 :

ST: Having been naturalised as a British citizen in ……………

TT: حصل على الجنسية البريطانية عام ..............

A word – for – word translation is extremely doomed to failure:

TT: بعد أن تم تجنيسه كأحد الرعايا البريطانيين

Such a kind of translation leaves a negative effect since it lacks any kind of creative

structure. Besides, the concepts (تجنيس) and (رعايا) may sound strange to the target culture.

4.4 Translation by Omission

This strategy may sound drastic, but in fact it does no harm to omit translating a word or

expression in some contexts. Baker (1996:40)

Example (1):

ST: Having been naturalized as a British citizen in 1886, he died near Canterbury in 1924 as

Joseph Conrad.

TT: حصل على الجنسية البريطانية عام 4551 ووافته المنية بالقرب من مدينة كانترى عام 4291 حيث عرف باسم جوزيف

. كونراد

15

Example (2):

ST: But the decision that Conrad should go to sea and train for the merchant marine was the boy’s

alone.

.كان قراره وحدهلكن قرار ذهاب كونراد للعمل بالبحر و التدريب على التجارة البحرية

4.5 Translation by Paraphrase Using Unrelated Words.

Paraphrase may be based on unpacking the meaning of the source language.

Example (1):

ST: Although he came of distinguished and properous ancestry

TT: و بالرغم من أنه ينتمي ألسرة ذات حسب و نسب

Example (2):

ST: who was liable as the son of a political prisoner?

TT: الذي كان يُنظر له على أنه ابن سجين سياسي

Some modification was made to the above mentioned examples but my excuse is that translation is

the transfer of meaning rather than words.

4.6 Translation Using a Loan Word

This strategy is particularly common in dealing with culture – specific items. (Baker 1996:34)

Example:

ST: Lord Jim

TT: اللورد جيم

16

5.1 Collocations As Mona Baker (1994: 47) puts it, a collocation is defined as semantically arbitrary

restrictions which do not follow logically from the propositional meaning of a word. It

is also considered in terms of the tendency of certain words to co-occur regularly in

a given language.

Besides, “we can, perhaps, see three kinds of collocational restriction First, some

are based wholly on the meaning of the item. Secondly, some are based on range - a

word may be used with a whole set of words that have semantic features in common.

Thirdly, some restrictions are collocational in the strictest sense, involving neither

meaning nor range.” Frank Palmer (1996: 79).

Frank Palmer’s third kind of collocation can be described in terms of

“arbitrariness”. What he sheds light on is the illogical relation between two words that

may collocate together. These points have been a helpful guideline to me throughout

the research.

Read the following collocations:

1- Prudent decision. (L .25 ) قرار حكيم

2- Distinguished and prosperous ancestory. ( L. 26) أسرة ذات حسب و نسب

3- Cast deep shadows. (L.28) خيم بظالله على

4- Eventful life. (L. 1) حياة حافلة باألحداث

5- Major decisions. (L. 8) قرارات مصيرية

6- Broken in health. (L. 34) وهنت صحته

7- Crushed by grief (L. 35) خيم عليه الحزن

8- Hard work. (L. 61) العمل الجاد

17

9- Fallen into debt. (L. 12) أغرقته الديون

10- Aroused his attention.( L. 87 ) استرعى انتباهه

11- Life full of dangers. (L. 7) حياة محفوفة بالمخاط ر

12- Life full of adventures. (L. 8) حياة حافلة بالمغامرات

13- His early childhood. ( L. 75) منذ نعومة أظافره

The translator should render the above collocations into the target language text (TLT)

bearing in mind producing collocations which are typical in the target language. S/he

should do his / her best to preserve the meaning associated with the source

collocations.

Example: (Cast deep shadows) imparts to the reader a negative connotation. An equal

accurate effect is felt with the word ()خيم. However, the strategy of omission has been

used with the adjective (deep) since the effect is rendered without it.

Example: A tension between accuracy and naturalness is noticed while translating

(broken in health) and (crushed by grief). Their real impact is felt in the SLT. However

the nearest acceptable collocation in the target language text (TLT) is ( صحتهوهنت ) and

( الحزن(خيم عليه .

Example: Similarly, the nearest acceptable collocation which can replace (distinguished

and prosperous ancestory) is ( نسبأسرة ذات حسب و ). This collocation is an example of

preserving only the meaning. No typical words can be used here. No accurate choice

of equivalent words!

18

Example: The Arabic language is highly expressive. Therefore, many equivalents of

single words in the SLT were rendered as collocations in the TLT.

- Who arranged his education و الذي كان يأخذ على عاتقه مسئولية تعليم كونراد

- Unsuccessfully إال أن المحاولة باءت بالفشل

- His sea career was erratic كان عمله بالبحر عماًل غريب األطوار

- Real–life background خلفية أعماله المستوحاة من واقع الحياة

5.2 Idioms

The source text is written in an expository form. Such a kind of writing is

aimed at providing the reader with information about a certain point, paying no

attention to a figurative language or metaphorical expressions. This may clarify why

this text lacks any idiomatic expressions.

19

According to Mona Baker (1994:82) every language makes a different selection

from a large set of possible distinctions in terms of notions such as time, number,

gender, shape, visibility, and so on.

In his book Grammar, Palmer focuses on the notional categories which wrere imposed

upon English by the traditional grammarians. Those categories differ from one

language to another as Mona baker calrifies in chapter four. As far as we are

concerened with a camparison between English and Arabic, the discussion will be

mainly focusel on them.

6.1 Number

With reference to the category of number, the main problem that arises when

translating from English to Arabic and vice versa is that Arabic has singular, dual and plural

forms. The number of forms of , for example, any Arabic verb and its paradigms varies. This

does not exist in English. English has no “dual” forms. “English recognises a distinction

between one and more than one”.Mona Baker says.

What is logical in a language may seem illogical in another language. We notice that English

has plural forms after all the ‘plural’ numerals. But Arabic doesn not . In the following

example. we find “ ًعاما” – which is singular – referring to the plural form “years”.

Example: twenty – five years ًخمسة و عشرون عاما

21

- Light should be shed on how a translator can deal with the structure of (a restless,

searching intelligence and experience). A suggested translation is ( خبرة و ذكاء ثاقبين و

.The translator puts the adjectives in dual forms since they refer to two things .(متواصلين

- As a matter of fact, the problem of dealing with the traditional category of number lies in

the translation from English to Arabic since the translator has to be cautions towards the

right choices of equivalents. For eample, “they often appear” in line 12 has many

possibilities:

تظهر / تظهران / يظهران / يظهرون / كثيرًا ما يظهرون

The suitable form in the TLT is (تظهر).

The above problems arise from the fact that Arabic distinguishes between one, two and more

than two.

6.2 Gender

One of the noticeable problems that may arise when translating from English to

Arabic is as a result of how each language deals with (gender). It is said that English has no

gender since gender can be referred to via articles, adjectives or forms of verbs that show

whether one refers to a masculine or feminine.

On the contrary, gender can be noticed in Arabic through the agreement between a noun and

the adjective that follows it. Even the form of the verb in Arabic is affected according to

whether it refers to a feminie or masculine.

For Example:

القصص الالفتة للنظر

رواية مليودرامية األسر البولندية

حياة محفوفة بالمخاطر

21

القرارات المصيرية الطفل الوحيد

الجنسية النمساوية خبرة و ذكاء ثاقبين و متواصلين

كان بحارًا بسيطاً يرسو ثم أصبح قام بالعمل

باخرة متهالكة تبحر توفت والدته وهنت صحته

خيم عليه الحزن تغيرهم لمراكزهم

يبدون فيه على حالة من االستقرار

6.3 Tense and Aspect

There are many distinctions among languages concerning tense and aspect. Tense

shows when an event happens: before now (happened), right now ( is happening) after now (

will happen) or even all the time (happens) . Hoffman, Th.R. (1993), Realms of meaning.

We notice that English and Arabic use the present tense either to describe a fact or express

an action or a state happening or existing at the time of speaking.

The present tense is rarely found in the SLT since the text presents a complete account to the

life of Joseph Conrand from his childhood to his death.

However, the following examples were found :

1- Conrad’s own life is……….

2- It is a strange…..

3- No one can completely explain.

4- To avoid the risk………

5- They often appear………

6- This is something to bear in mind.

22

7- When we look at…….

Translating the above present- tense sentences constitutes no problem:

...........إن حياة كونراد بمثابة -4

...................إنها حياه غريبة -9

...................ال يستطيع أحد أن -3

...............و لتجنب مخاطر -1

.............كثيرًا ما تظهر -8

..........هذا شئ يوضع في االعتبار -1

..................عندما ننظر -1

Both languages use the past simple tense to refer to an action that

occurred and finished in the past. The whole SLT is almost written in

the past. The following are just some of the translated verbs in the

past tense.

سانده –تحمل –اعتنى –أغرقته –قام –كان –وافته المنية – ُولد

6.4. Voice According to Baker the main function of the passive in English and in a number of other

languages is to avoid specifying the agent and to give an impression of objectivity. The

Passive allows you to mention an action without saying it.

For Example:

He was born at………………..ُولد بمدينة

23

It is noticeable that English tends to use passive more than Arabic which has some

constraints on passivisation. Therefore, it is possible to translate the English passive

structure into an Arabic active structure as Larson (1984:19) says:

It is not uncommon that passive constructions will need to be translated with active

constructions or vice versa, depending on the natural form of receptor language.

Accordingly, the following passive structures were translated into Arabic as follows:

1- having been naturalised as………. و بعد أن حصل على الجنسية البريطانية

2- marked by……………… تتسم بــ

3- Poland was ruled and oppressed by Russia

.كانت تقع بولندا تحت الحكم الروسي و تعانى من االضطهاد الروسي لها

4- Conrad was supportrd and cared for by his family. قامت العائلة بتقديم يد العون لكونراد و برعايته

5- until his British citizinship was confirmed.

.حتى يتم التأكيد من حصوله على الجنسية البريطانية

6- He was inclined always to be restless.

.فكان دائماً ما يبدو عليه القلق

7- on which a novel is based. التي ترتكز عليها رواية

24

Cohesion

Cohesion is a surface relation; it connects together the actual words and expressions that we

can see or hear. (Mona Baker, 1992:180)

The efficient translator has to pay attention to the cohesive devices and their appropriate

transfer into a target text in order to have an appropriate ‘texture’.

The cohesive devices of the SLT are various. The second paragraph, for example, is

connected mainly though the continuous use of punctuation, i.e.semi-colons. One has to be

aware that the Arabic cohesive devices are different from those of English. Even the unwary

translator notices that semi-colons will not be effective in the TLT. A suggested translation is

to be based on the fact that relations between sentences in Arabic are explicit rather than

implicit. Therefore, the TL sentences are connected by repeating (كان).

.....كان في أوقات فراغه

......كان بحاراً بسيطاً

.......كان ُرباناً للباخرة أوتاجو

........كان قبطاناً لباخرة نهرية

..............كان كاتباً محترفاً

Repetition ( which is another cohesive device ) is employed here to keep the thread of the

text upheld.

25

7.1 Cohesion through Conjunction

According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), this device can be separated into four

categories: additive, signalling additional information (e.g. and, also , etc); adversative,

indicating contrast with a previous item (e.g. but, however, etc.) ; casual, signalling cause,

consequence, result and purpose (e.g. so, consequently, etc); and temporal, indicating time

sequence (e.g. then, next, etc).

Some of the examples in the SLT fall in the (adversative) category: but (L 48, 59, 72 and 88);

however (L 81). They are translated in a straight forward manner.

Besides, the additive category is realised through the noticeable use of the conjunction (and)

(L.4,7,20,33,34,37,39,46,49,52,64,67,69,78,79,83,86,87,89,91 and 93 )

The Cohesive device (and) has been mostly transferred in a direct way. However, the use of

and (L. 4, 34 and 46) has been transferred differently. In line 4, it is not translated at all to

give the effect that the coming structure is a new sentence stating a fact in the life the writer.

In line 34, (and) is translated into (أما) as it is more appropriate in the Arabic context. Finally,

in line 46, (and even) is transferred to (حتى) without ( و ) because ( و حتى ) is grammatically ill-

formed.

Another noticeable difference between English and Arabic with regards to the use of cohesive

devices lies in the fact that Arabic – contrary to English – is highly inflected. Standard Arabic

denotes most syntactic relations through inflectional affixes or even a change of the vowel

affixs.

26

So, almost all Arabic verbs, nouns adjectives, pronouns and adverbs are highly inflected.

Nouns, for example, are inflected for number, gender and case. Nouns have singular, dual

and plural forms. Each has two different forms (masculine and feminine). Adjectives follow

nouns and agree with them . الصفة تتبع الموصوف في اللغة العربية. The English language lacks such a

property.

For Example,

1- Adjectives agree with nouns ميلودراميةرواية

المصيرية تالقرارا ةغير المتوقعالتغيرات

روائياً محترفاً كاتباً غريبة وعجيبةحياة ذات حسب أسرة

السياسيةأنشطته النمساويةالجنسية البحريةالتجارة

التاماالستقرار االحترافيةالناحية منتظمبشكل

الواقعيةاألحداث

2- Nouns have singular, dual or plural forms.

The following is a case of a dual form:

خبرة و ذكاء ثاقبين و متواصلين

3- Verbs are inflected to agree with the syntactic structure:

(Singular, feminine) توفت والدته

(Singular, feminine) قامت العائلة

(Singular, masculine) يأخذ على عاتقه

27

(Plural, masculine) يبدون فيه على حالة االستقرار

A special pattern of cohesion is suggested in the target text in order to reflect the accurate

message that the source text conveys. In an attempt to connect sentences together, the

translator uses ( أال و هو ) in line 16 , هي ( أال و ) in line 43, (و من الجدير بالذكر) in line 20 and ( إال أن )

in line 22 .

The above examples illustrate how conjunctions which are typically used in Arabic discourse

are added to a translation to make it smoother, even when no conjunctions are used in the

source text. (Baker: 1992: 194)

7.2 Cohesion through Reference

One of the most common patterns of establishing chains of reference in English and a

number of other languages is to mention a participant explicitly in the first instance, for

example, by name or title, and then use a pronoun to refer back to the same participant in

the immediate context. (Baker: 1992:181)

Halliday and Hasan (1976:37) suggest three types of reference: personal, demonstrative and

comparative.

In Arabic “a different pattern seems to be in operation”. For example, in the first two

paragraphs of the source text a partipant is mentioned (i.e.Conrad) and its anaphora (i.e.

he) is repeated four times (L 3, 6, 8 and 11). This anaphora is not transferred in the target

text; it is omitted since omission of the pronoun is a common grammatical feature in

Arabic.

28

The following structure a structure is not accepted. Note that the asterisc (*) means the

structure is incorrect.

..............ُولد بمدينة) هو* )

.............وافتة المنية) هو* )

.............فى أوقات عديدة) هو)كان *

......أغرقته الديون) هو* )

Therefore, (the pronoun) is omitted. The same technique is used with the other five

paragraphs.

The following point is a conception:

The pronoun (he) in L46 is rendered as the name (كونراد ) because in the target text if the

name is not mentioned in this context, the reader will be confused since the preceding

sentence (L.43) of the source text mentions three persons (Conrad, his father and his

uncle).

7.2.1 Another type of reference relation is that of co-reference. A chain of

co-referential items is:

29

Conrad → the child → a British subject → a reluctant student → apprentice seaman → a

gun-runner → smuggler→ a qualified ship’s officer → a Master Mariner → a serving officer

→ commander → a professional novelist.

The above co-referential chain is translated directly in the target text to keep the same

effect of the SLT.

كاتباً ←قبطاناً ←ُرباناً ←ضابط بحرياً ←بحارًا بسيطاً ←مهرباً لألسلحة ←مبتدئا ←بحاراً ←متمرداً ←طالباً ←طفال ←كونراد

.روائيا

Only one item of the chain is dropped (i.e. a British citizen) because it has been translated

into: حصل على الجنسية البريطانية

Therefore, since it is not translated literally, it is not included in the chain.

1- I encountered a polysemous word which has more than one meaning in Arabic. Polysemy

is defined as: one form having multiple meanings which are related by extension. George

Yule (1996: 121). The word (uncle) covers two related meanings: either (العم) or (الخال). The

meaning is specified according to the understanding of the context. The word ( العم ) has

been chosen as a translation to (his uncle) L.37. This is due to the apparent similarity

between the last name of Conrad’s uncle and that of his father.

2- Finally, one of the strange problems that encountered me was the two forms of the name

of the writer: Conrad and Konrad. The same effect cannot be spelt out in translation since

Arabic makes no distinction between /c/ and /k/ when both are pronounced as a voiceless

velar plosive consonant. The appropriate solution was to write the names in English in the

TLT.

31

Translation is a discipline rather than an art. It is a professional training

approach based on academic studies. The main objectives of the course have been to

teach us ‘the main aspects of linguistics theory underpinning the process of

translation’ and ‘to understand the notion of equivalence at the various levels of

linguistics analyses. We also learned to be aware of the implications of translation. In

the past I used to translate without bearing in mind any of the above points. From

now on, levels of translation will direct me and, hopefully, lead me to perform more

reliable translations.

Most translators prefer to think of their work as a profession and would like to

see others treat them as professional rather than skilled or semi-skilled workers. But

to achieve this translators need to develop an ability to stand back and reflect on

what they do and how they do it. Like doctors and engineers they have to prove to

themselves as well as to others that they are in control of what they do: that they do

not just translate well because they have a “flair” for translation, but rather because,

like other professionals, they have made a conscious effort to understand various

aspects of their work. Mona Baker (1994: 4)

31

Conrad, J. (1982). Lord Jim. London: Macmillan Education.

Baker, M. (1994). In other words: A Cursebook for Translation. London: Routledge.

Yule, G. (1996). The Study of Language. Cambridge University Press,

Halliday, M. and Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.

Catford, J.C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Transaltion. Oxford: Oxford Press.

Newmark, P. (1981) Approaches to Transaltion. England: Pergamon Press.

Palmer, F.R. (1984). Grammar. London: Penguin Group.

Palmer, F.R. ( 1996 ). Semantics. England: Cambridge.

Hoffman, Th.R. (1993). Realms of meaning. England: Longman.

Larson, M. ( 1984 ). Meaning- Based Translation. USA: University Press of American Inc.

بحمد هللاتم

عبد السالم أنصاريمحمد

mansary@indiana.edu

mansasry@email.arizona.edu

001-520-474-0111