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Faculty of Languages and TranslationPostgraduate Studies

English DepartmentLinguistics Branch2nd Year

A Contrastive Analysis of Two Translations by T. Okasha

and A. Bishir for Gibrans THE PROPHET

(Term Paper)

Prof. Hussein MayasProfessor of Linguistics

Submitted by

Ahmed Sayed Ahmed Al Gaisi

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A Contrastive Analysis of Two Translations by T. Okasha

and A. Bishir for Gibrans THE PROPHET

1. Introduction

The twentieth century has been called the age of translation. The termtranslation is itself ambiguous, since it has several meanings. Munday (2001: 4)assumes that the term translation can refer to the general subject field (oftranslation), the product (the text that has been translated) or the process (the

act of producing the translation, otherwise known as translating). The process oftranslating between two languages means to transfer a text from the sourcelanguage into the target language. Modern theories of translation deal with thefollowing linguistic issues, 'equivalence' 'equivalent-effect', 'the translationshift', 'functional theories of translation' discourse and register analysisapproaches.

2. Why adopting a theory of translation is not easy?

Although every translator has his own method(s) whether covertly orovertly, choosing the most suitable, not the best, theory of translation is not aneasy labour as the translation process is being evaluated regarding so manyaspects. Moreover, another thing that should be pointed out is whethertranslation should be considered as a science or an art? It depends on both. Atranslator should, first, have a very good command of his mother tongue, then,of the foreign language he is translating from or into. It will be very useful taskif he has a good knowledge of some classical and modern theories of translation

in order to adopt whatever is suitable for his piece of work. If he understandswhat message he would like to deliver to his recipients when doing translation,he could predict how far he can succeed in delivering accessible translation onthe basis of texts variety.

A translator should always strike a balance between form and content asmuch as possible. If there is a contradiction, he should resort to a way in whichhe could convey the intended message as near as possible. If a translator is toseparate semanticism from semioticism, he may produce a bad translation

because form and content are but a bi-tool of communication and conveying

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certain messages. Otherwise, the intended message, which is the fundamentaltask of translator, will risk another meaning, or be swerved or conveyed fuzzily.

3. About Okashas Translation

D r. T. Okasha set out to translate five whole books written by Gibran;they are The Prophet, The Garden of the Prophet, Sand and Butter, and JesusSon of the Man. Successfully, Okasha shoulders this burden in the best way.He does not deprive his pen the flexibility needed for the fluency of thetranslation or for the equivalence. In The Prophet, he imposes neither his owncharacter nor his time style on the text. Rather, he strikes a balance successfully

between flexibility and honesty. Differences between the two ages and the long

time that has passed involve this comprehensive translation and that modernstudy (in the introduction).

Romantic view prevails The Prophet, however, it varies in its naturedue to linguistic stylistic features, and thoughtful psychological provenance.This entails a cute sense of the nature of the target and source languages, andexerting fundamental effort to transfer the text (meaningfully, spiritually, andstylistically) within the least amount of non-literality due to the general style and rhythm of the target (Arabic)

language.

Indubitably, such little non-literality is allowable to prevent producingplain mechanical translation, and to permit our translator to use somevocabulary on structural styles that do not invade the text by torture,explanation, or addition.

Okashas translation has some amount of poetry that does not discountthought, and has thought that does not turn the whole translation into a straight

mental activity. Manipulating very skillfully, Okasha deals with The Prophetwhere the advice supersedes to the insightful vision and the philosophers viewunites with the poets view and style. Okashas translation, thus, is featured bysensitivity, poeticality, and selectivity to liken Gibrans English text, and todismiss entirely the impression that the Arabic text in translated. This is knownas the Domestication Approach to Translation. On the other hand, we can feelthe opposite approach in Bishirs translation, which is Foreignization.

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4. The Text Analysis

I am going to deal with the first page of Religion (p. 85) to comparing

the two translations of Okasha and Bishir; for short I will use G for Gibran, Ofor Okasha, and B for Bishir.

1) G: And an old priest said,Speak to us of religion.O: :B: :

B is using more vocabulary than O. He resorts to addition and explanationwhile O is committed to the economy of Gibran musical sense.

refers to the will of the prophets followers to listen more and moreas B uses it frequently in the beginning of all topics; he is consistent.

2) G: And he said:Have I spoken this day of aught else?O:B:

O keeps up the rhythmical sense going with Gs style while Bs " "makes the reader away of such sense.

3) G: Is not religion all deeds and all reflection?O:B:

It may be strange to translate reflection into , of course theplural form is used to be plural like .The addition of servesas a strange sound within the utterance if we look to the original utterance.

4) G: And that which in neither deed non reflection,O:B:

Os saves the author from contradiction; he has said, all deeds

and all reflection, then he says, neither deed nor reflection. On the other

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hand, Bs repeating serves as an evidence for thiscontradiction.

5) G: but a wonder and a surprise ever spring in the soul,

O:B:

Very odd to translate wonder into . Os makes the readerfeel as if this wonder and that surprise are flying in the air like smoke, orremember us with the idea of resurrection that changes a status to another. Bs

is also suitable and goes well with Gs springing. although it isan addition, it suits . Anyway. I liked Os utterance more than Bs.

6) G: even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?O: .B:

Indubitably the poeticality of O is utterly touched. He makes his verb dothe job and avoid using many abstract nouns, while B does not. When we reed

at once we imagine factories of dry clothes or machines ofwavering, etc., and the imagination and the sensitivity of the original text loses.

7) G: Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from hisoccupations?

O:B:

As we have said, Os translation is characterized by Domestication; is found in our Arabic tradition; (the Holy Quran) while is not

bad but it has no special sense; it is very ordinary. stands as a piece ofevidence for Os success.

8) G: Who can spread his hours before him,O: :B: :

Os is less familiar than Bs . " " and mayseem equivalent except for O s economy.

frankly I see an abject failure as we do not, as native speakers,say it in the formal version, rather, we say as in the verses:

" ..... ."" ........"

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" .........."

9) G: this for god and this for myself; this for my soul and this for mybody?

O: " B:

Another Bs failure is translating soul into as it in usuallytranslated into not , because is self; we usually say myself to mean .

Os ......... ...... makes him succeed in avoiding plainmechanical translation as B does.

10) G: All your house are wings that beat through space from self toself.O: ,B:

and are traced to the translators view as there is nomuch difference. O,s embodies some of the music of the utterance wheregemination gives rise to poeticality unlike Bs which is music-void.Moreover, B has to translate self into not as he has justtranslated soul into . the word refers to human motions andfeelings; to spiritual attitude, while refers to the human body andmaterials needs, so is more suitable than ` .

Although Bishirs translation is not a bad one, and althoughOkashas translation is brilliant, it is not possible to make typically the sameresponse of the original text created by the original speaker or writer at alllevels and types of translation, it may be just limited to some circumstances andin most cases a translator conveys more or less the original message.

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References

Baker, M. (1992) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. London andNew York: Routledge.

Bassnett, S. (1991) Translation studies. London and New York: Routledge.Bell, R. (1991) Translation and Translating: Theory andPractice. London and

New York: Longman.

Catford, J. (1965).A linguistic theory of translation. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress.Duff, Alan ((1989) Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Gerding-Salas, C. (2000) 'Teaching Translation: Problems and Solutions.'Translation Journal: Website, @Munday, J. (2001) Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and

Applications. London and New York: Routledge.Newmark, P. (1981)Approaches to Translation. Oxford, Pergamon Press.Nida, E. A. (1964). Toward a science of translating. Leiden: E. J. Brill.Nida, E. A. (1982). Translating meaning. California: English LanguageInstitute.

Nida, E. A. & Taber, C. R. (1982). The theory and practice of translation (3rded.). Leiden: E. J. Brill.Wilss, W. (2001). The science of translation: Problems and methods.

INTERNET References

Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2007) 'Idioms', Website @http://translationdirectory.com/Misreading and Mistranslationwww.accurapid.com/journal/43culture.htmwww.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/nobel-prize-winner-Naguib-mahfouz-dies-aged-94-414083.htmlhttp://accurapid.com/journal/13educ.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/idiomshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/interpretationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/translation

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http://translationdirectory.com/Misreading%20and%20Mistranslationhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/nobel-http://accurapid.com/journal/13educ.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/idiomshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/interpretationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/translationhttp://translationdirectory.com/Misreading%20and%20Mistranslationhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/nobel-http://accurapid.com/journal/13educ.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/idiomshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/interpretationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/translation