TranscUlturAl (Sep 2020)
Application of Eugene Nida’s theory of translation to the English translation of surah Ash-Shams
Abstract
The present study aimed to test the applicability of Nida’s theory of translation to an English translation of surah Ash-Shams of the Holy Qur’an. Towards that general aim, the study provided an overview of Nida’s theory of translation and the aspects whose applicability to the English translation of surah Ash-Shams would be tested. In addition, the study examined the Editor’s Preface to the English translation of the Holy Qur’an from which surah Ash-Shams was selected. A contrastive analysis was also devised and provided to help match the source text with the target text and measure the applicability of Nida’s theory of translation to both texts. The study revealed that, in general, Nida’s theory was applicable with the exception of one aspect related to word order. It is, therefore, recommended that large-scale research be conducted on the applicability of Nida’s theory to an English translation of the whole Holy Qur’an to either confirm the findings of this study or challenge them.