Language and Translation

Translating from one language to another requires a deep knowledge of the language to be translated because one word may carry several meanings for different linguistic usages of the word according to its sentence structure or according to what the speaker wants to express. This point is very important; many of those who undertake translation from one language to another have neglected it. The same word can be received differently in different languages. Simple word-to-word translation may not always provide the intended meaning. Other factors that relate to the structure of language and culture need to be taken into account. Studies (Cintas & Anderman, 2009; House, 2009; Munday, 2001) have claimed that translation is closely related to culture because, during the process of translation, there is a significant contact between two languages and cultures as well. Therefore, translation is a form of intercultural communication (House, 2009).

It is crucial that the translator from a source language to a target language is proficient in both languages and strongly familiar with the vocabulary and grammar of both languages. He/she also needs to have a deep understanding of the morphology and

structure of sentences and be fully aware of the meanings of words. Moreover, the language to be translated should be the mother language of the interpreter to account for the influence of culture, background, customs and religion. All this is required in order to deliver the correct meaning to the target user. Siddiek (2010) showed that elements of bad translation can occur from a lack of knowledge of culture as well as from a lack of understanding of the context in the source language.

Nantel and Glaser (2008) emphasised that perceived usability rises when a website is initially created in the native language of the end user. Hence, translation, even if the quality is excellent, affects users of a site. Hillier (2003)’s study showed how context and culture play a significant role in the way people interact with a website, demonstrating a relationship between cultural context, usability and language. Hence, when the text is translated, the design of a site may need to be changed (Rustenburg et al., 2000). Hillier (2003) argued that there are three types of multilingual websites that can be established

 Home websites: these involve a short translation to another language and usually translate some pages into another language.

 Multi-home sites: this involves translation into many languages where each site is generally placed under one single domain name, and each language has the same design and layout.

 Separate sites: this involves creating a separate site for each translation. Sun et al. (2000) argued that each kind of site needs different techniques and specific attention in all the stages of translation.

Translators need to identify lexical units, e.g. words and idioms, and understand their meaning in linguistic contexts and distinctive social areas, and need to emphasise the

multifactorial differences. One word could mean various things according to the context in which it appears and the translation process requires identifying the correct lexical, grammatical and stylistic parts. Translation needs a deep understanding of the original text on the one hand and the expression of content and method in another language on the other hand. Moreover, translation necessitates the consideration of the relationship between language and culture and requires a deep understanding of the target language especially when one considers the differences between the composition of Arabic and English languages (this is in addition to the divergence in Arab and English cultures which is quite distinct (Lee et al, 2011). The quality of machine translation output has affected the morphological richness of languages and the differences in syntax of languages (Verleysen, 2013).

2.5.2.1

Translation from English to Arabic Language

Each language has its own features and characteristics that distinguish it from other languages. The Arabic language with its building blocks and meanings is different from the English language in a number of areas such as the compositions, morphologies, meanings, grammatical rules, spelling, and even the direction of writing. It is evident that the divergence between the two languages is greater than their convergence. Moreover, the Arabic language is a Semitic language whereas the English language is a West Germanic language (Fulk, 2008).

The two cultures are also distinct. Such linguistic differences make it hard to translate from Arabic to English and vice-versa. Whenever there is a convergence of cultures, customs and traditions, translation becomes easier and the understanding of a meaning becomes closer to the intended meaning. However, whenever cultures diverge, meaning becomes diverged too, and translation becomes more difficult. Moreover, such a

divergence requires more scrutiny of the semantics and meanings of the words that are to be used in the translation of websites (e.g. an educational programme or a commercial website that is translated from one language to another). For example, the Arabic word ‘ﻰﺤﺼﻓ’ , pronounced ‘Fussha’ in English; when it is translated into English, using Google translator or a Babylon dictionary or any other dictionary, the following definitions are provided: “pure, classic, and standard”. However, these definitions do not reflect the true meaning of the word ‘Fussha’. There are English words with a close meaning but they do not reflect the exact meaning. The same problem occurs when one tries to translate the words ‘ﺲﺟﺎھ and ﺲﺟاﻮھ’, pronounced

‘Hajiss and Haouajiss’ respectively in English. There are no English words which reflect the true meaning of those two words. There are many sentences and phrases that are impossible to translate from Arabic to English and still keep their original meaning. For instance, the literal translation of the Arabic sentence‘ﺮﻤﻘﻟﺎﻛ ﺔﻠﻔط ﺖﯾأر’, pronounced

‘raaytu teflaten ka-lkamar’ in English is: I saw a girl like the moon. In English this sentence is incomprehensible and does not make much sense. However, the actual meaning of this sentence in Arabic describes the stunning beauty of the girl. Arabs use the word ‘moon’ beyond its literal meaning to describe anything beautiful. This attribution stems from their environment and culture as Arabs across the Arab world see the moon frequently in the clear sky and its light symbolises beauty. A literal translation of the following example’ ارﻮﺜﻨﻣ اءﺎﺒھ’, pronounced ‘habaan manthoran’, into English does not provide any appropriate meaning; Babylon translates it to: floating dust scattered about. However, the closest meaning to that sentencein English is “your work has gonedown the drain”.

The Arabic language is very rich in words and in meanings of words and, at the same time, it has many rooted words. The ancient Arab grammarians put forward the rules

and created an integrated approach to the study of Arabic language. Hence, the grammarians divided the Arabic language into two main parts: grammar and morphology. Grammar is concerned with the changes that can take place in the last letter of the word while morphology is concerned with the structure of the word. In other words, the science of Arabic grammar focuses on the cases of the word according to their location in the sentence in terms of ‘damma’ which makes a sound of “oo” , ‘Fathah’which makes a sound of “a”, or traction ‘kasra’which makes a sound of “ee”

or sokoun“a~a”. Morphology focuses on building a word in terms of weight increase or decrease and ensures that it knows the difference between the types of derivation and the actions of the act. Morphology provides rules for transforming a word from one format to another in order to get a new meaning. The following figure shows some examples of this.

The example above confirms that a translator needs a deep knowledge and understanding of the target language in order to create a e-learning website, that can reflect the right meaning and to ensure that the e-learning websites are useful and easy to understand. In respect to the Arabic language, without a knowledge of grammar, morphology and the syntactic functions of Arabic language pronouns, it becomes extremely challenging to translate to and from Arabic into another language (e.g. English). The quality of translation will not be of as good a quality if a web content is simply translated from English to Arabic without any consideration of culture. Cintas and Anderman (2009, p.14) argued that “localisation needs to build in an in-depth knowledge of the local culture which in turn means that a multilingual website cannot be researched and developed in English and then simply sent off to be translated; rather, every aspect needs to be discussed and studied prior to development and subsequent

implementation”. As noted by Dong and Salvendy (1999), it is essential in the field of interface design to accommodate cultural diversity.

In conclusion, the Arabic language is a complicated and very rich language (Al- Sughaiyer & Al-Kharashi, 2003). Translation into Arabic needs special care; it particularly requires that attention be paid to checking and examining every word. It is possible to reach the target of the translation for any e-learning website by offering courses covering the rules of the Arabic language and mastering its translation, taking into account cultural influences and constraints to deliver the correct meaning. In the Arab world, specific words have dedicated meanings and they ought to be placed in specific contexts. The previous examples show the link between some words and Arabic culture. Additionally, one has to take into consideration the general construction of the Arabic language.