King Lear on the Arabic Stage: Linguistic, Social and Cultural Considerations
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| Title | King Lear on the Arabic Stage: Linguistic, Social and Cultural Considerations |
| Authors | |
| Abstract | This paper discusses the challenges translators face when rendering Shakespeare’s King Lear into Arabic. Issues considered include metaphor, diction, classical references, and social titles. Our strategy depends on finding out examples of the distinctive features of Shakespearean style and comparing them with their counterpart s in two Arabic translations of the play by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra and Fatima Moussa Mahmoud. Comparisons reflect various problems translators face when conveying Shakespearian language into Arabic. For example, some imagery, especially personification of abstract ideas, is either absent or modified. Such deletions and changes render the target text less effective. Translators also adopt different approaches in translating classical references relating to Roman gods. While Jabra adopts foreignization as he keeps the feel of the source text by transliterating a number of these references, Mahmoud naturalizes them by giving Arabic paraphrases. The advantages and pitfalls of each technique are evaluated to find out what aspects of the ST are rendered into Arabic and which ones are not given priority. Contextual factors involved in the decision making process are discussed to illuminate the complex nature of translation. Problems of translating social titles appear when one finds that the same title is given different renderings in different parts of the play. Shakespearean diction causes certain problems due to the absence of one-to-one word equivalence. The need to take audience’s social and cultural background into consideration makes translators avoid literal renderings. Explanations and better renderings are suggested to provide the Arab audience with a better access to Shakespeare and enrich translators’ knowledge of their multifaceted task. |
| Publisher | ACADEMY PUBLISHER |
| Date | 2013-02-01 |
| Source | Theory and Practice in Language Studies Vol 3, No 2 (2013) |
| Rights | Copyright © ACADEMY PUBLISHER - All Rights Reserved.To request permission, please check out URL: http://www.academypublisher.com/copyrightpermission.html. |