Translating the Meanings of Arabic Preposition “الباء” to Persian Preposition “به” Case Study: Surah Al-Imran

Abstract

The analysis of the meanings of the preposition “الباء” and its translation in Surah Al-Imran identifies two basic principles related to the types of languages: First, we translate but we do not fully comprehend the source and target languages (the communicative original); second, languages collide in the translation process (linguistic origin), and the third principle (which is the different translations) should be added to the two principles of communicative and linguistic. For example, The Persian language provides 26 meanings in the Preposition “به” Against the 16 meanings of the Preposition “الباء” -no self-sacrifice- (and in this research, eight new meanings were added to those 16 meanings). Therefore, it is imperative that the translators of the Quran (including the translators mentioned in this study, Ayati, Safavi, Mojtabavi and Makarem) understand Persian and Arabic; undoubtedly, knowing the mother tongue means knowing the potential of other languages. The results showed that the meanings of the prepositions of Surah Al-Imran have a significant effect on the quality of translation from native language to native language and from native language to foreign languages, because these prepositions create different meanings in the Quran context, and they are an influential factor in different translations. This point and the difference between linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge of translators has caused translations of the Quran to be presented in different qualities. The research method is descriptive analytical and statistical analytical. This research is necessary because the meanings of the prepositions have a significant effect on the quality of translations.

Keywords

• quran
• language
• translation
• prepositions
• meanings