Grammar-Related Semantic Losses in the Translation of the Holy Quran, with Special Reference to Surah Al A’araf (The Heights)

Abstract

Translating the Holy Quran is a challenging task. However, it is a necessity due to the large number of Muslims who do not speak Arabic. To date, various translations are available for nonnative speakers of Arabic. These translations, however, have revealed complete and partial translation losses. One type of such losses is grammatical loss, which sometimes occurs due to differences between the source text (ST) and the target text (TT). This study aimed at investigating the grammatical losses in the translation of the Holy Quran, with special reference to Surah Al A’araf, and the extent these losses cause partial or complete semantic loss. Qualitative descriptive approach was adopted to analyze the data extracted from Abdel Haleem’s English translation of Surah Al A’araf. The study revealed losses occurring in translating grammatical aspects such as conjunctions, syntactic order, duality, tense, and verbs. It was also found that grammatical losses contributed to semantic losses, which are mostly partial semantic losses of the connotative or the expressive meanings. However, some of the identified grammatical losses were found to cause complete semantic losses. This study suggests that appropriate translation strategies be adopted to reduce loss in the translation.