Examining Majedeh Anani's Translation of Jalal al-Ahmad's "Nun and Al-Qalam" Based on Baker's Idiomatic Equivalence Theory

Abstract

One of the problems that every translator faces when translating from one language to another is the fixed idioms and expressions of a language, as they form part of the culture of a language. Jalal al-Ahmad's "Nun and Al-Qalam" story is one of the few stories full of idioms and proverbs. The story has been translated into Arabic by Mrs. Majedeh Mohammad Ali Anani, a lecturer at the Faculty of Literature, University of Halavan. In this regard, several approaches have been adopted to translate these terms that can be studied and researched according to Mona Baker's theory. Mona Baker has suggested some strategies to translate idioms such as preserving form and meaning, preserving meaning and changing form, transformation, omission and so on. This study aims to examine the Arabic translation of the original text in the context of this theory. The findings of this study obtained through a descriptive-analytical approach show that the translator of the story "Nun and Al-Qalam" is more interested to use the approach of preserving meaning and changing form. Thus, the translator has translated the idiomatic expressions by understanding the ironic meaning of the idioms and in the meantime a literal translation has been used due not recognizing some expressions, and although it seems logical and transparent, but in fact it is inaccurate regarding the context of expression.

Keywords

• mona baker
• translation
• idiomatic expressions
• nun and al-qalam
• jalal al-ahmad
• majedeh anani