International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies (Jan 2021)
A Concise Review of the Principles and Procedures of ‘Explicitation’ as a Translation Universal
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to concisely review the concept of explicitation as a translation universal in terms of both principles and procedures. In three main sections, it presents the related theories from Nida (1964) to Becher (2010) along with a number of previous studies and discusses how explicitation occurs in the form of textual additions in parentheses (TAiPs) in translating a Quranic text (cf. Hawamdeh, 2017). Explicitation is said to be a translation strategy used to achieve the intended SL meanings and secure their appropriate interpretations in the TL as translation is not merely to substitute original codes with other equivalent ones. Many implicit, connotative, pragmatic, cultural, stylistic and associative meanings require a variety of techniques if the translator really seeks natural or appropriate equivalents. Explicitation can best appear as an addition on both levels of cohesion and coherence; it simply means making a text to be rendered clearer and more intelligible for its potential receptors. For the purpose of taming the SL text, Nida rationalizes nine explicitation norms, Toury (1995) mentions two types of translational shifts and Newmark (1988) argues that adding new information depends on the text-type and needs of the TL audience. Explicitation can be concluded to be the translating process itself or at least a technique for improving or adapting the TL text. The implicatures encountered in the language of religion, for instance, are almost explicitated into such a completely different language as English by means of various types of TAiPs.
