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Khosravi savadjani N, Rostampour maleki R. Strategies to Compensate for the Loss of Meaning in Translating the Contemporary Arabic Poetry into Persian
(Case study of Shafi'i Kadkani translation(. LRR 2021; 12 (4) :373-404
URL: http://lrr.modares.ac.ir/article-14-45686-en.html
URL: http://lrr.modares.ac.ir/article-14-45686-en.html
1- PhD Candidate in Arabic Language & Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
2- Associate Professor of Arabic Language & Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran ,r.rostampour@alzahra.ac.ir
2- Associate Professor of Arabic Language & Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran ,
Abstract: (4377 Views)
Poetry is beyond ordinary speech due to its implicit language, weight, rhyme and the combination of its constituent elements with poetic feelings, and therefore, its translation is difficult and sometimes impossible. The main concern of the translator of the poem is to explain the special features of the original text as much as possible and to create an effectiveness poetic text in the target language. Since the words and elements of both languages are not exactly the same, there is a loss of meaning in translating the poem, and the translator can compensate this loss in some way. In an analytical-descriptive approach, the present article studies the strategies of meaning loss compensation in translation of Arabic poetry and tries to present the guidelines so that translator can create a text having the same effect on the readers while sustaining the features of Arabic poetry. For this purpose, by examining the opinions of a group of experts in the field of translation about Meaning loss compensation deals with positions of meaning loss and its compensation strategies in translation of Arabic poetry into Persian at the phonetic, lexical, imaginative, stylistic and cultural levels. The present research has been done based on translation samples of some contemporary Arabic poets derived from Shafií Kadkani Arabic contemporary poetry book (2008). The findings showed that in the translation of Arabic contemporary poetry into Persian, meaning loss is occurred at the phonetic, lexical, imaginative, stylistic and cultural levels and by using compensation strategy, translator can sustain the general tone of the main text and use in place- compensation and Kind- compensation.
1. Introduction
Translation experts believe that poetry translation is considered as difficult and valuable. The content and the form are inseparably intertwined in the poetry. The language of poetry is usually implicit not explicit. Poetry is distinguished by its musical style or rhythm, and this is a basic and unattainable feature the translator is required to translate (Baker and Saldina, 2009; Kashanian translation, 2017, p. 253). Poetry also has imagination and emotion and its purpose is to influence the feelings and emotions of the audience. Then, the constituent elements of poetry and what is presented in the image form are beyond ordinary speech, and this makes the poetry translation difficult, complex and in some cases impossible (Al-Buyeh Langroudi, 2013, p. 14).
In poetry, sounds are effective in conveying the poet's content and feelings. The poet uses his imagination to express his feelings and also pays attention to the implicit meanings of the word and uses a special style and method to express his emotions and feelings that distinguish his poetry from other poems. Poetry also expresses the cultural and linguistic issues to which it is composed. Therefore, in translating the poetry, it is important to pay attention to sounds, words, images, style of poetry and cultural issues. The main concern of the poet translator is to explain the special features of the original text as much as possible and to create a poetic text in the target language that has a similar effect on the readers (Baker and Saldina, 2017, p. 259). The imbalance of different phonetic, lexical, visual, stylistic and cultural levels of the original poem with its translation results in a loss of meaning in translation.
2. Questions and Hypotheses
Researchers try to answer these two questions: a) in translating Arabic poetry into Persian, at what levels may a loss of meaning occur? B) In the translation of Arabic poems into Persian, what mechanisms are used to compensate for the loss of meaning at various levels?
It is assumed that in translating Arabic poetry into Persian, there is a loss of meaning at the phonetic, lexical, visual, stylistic and cultural levels, and the translator compensates the meaning using other language tools of the target text or the same language tools elsewhere in the target text.
3. Research method
Given that there is a loss of meaning in the translation of literary texts especially poetry and the translator can compensate for it in some way, the positions of meaning loss and its compensation strategies in the translation of contemporary Arabic poetry into Persian have been discussed by examining the opinions of a group of translation experts including Echo, Vienna, Darblane, Hinges, Newmark, etc. about the positions of meaning loss in poetry translation and its compensation mechanisms and providing evidence of the translation of Arabic poems into Persian. Examples are selected from the book of contemporary Arabic poetry by Mohammad Reza Shafiei Kadkani, who is one of the contemporary Iranian critics and poets.
4. Results
Studying the opinions of some translation experts about the loss of meaning in translation and its compensation strategies, it was found that in translation and especially the translation of poetry, there is a loss of meaning and the translator can compensate for this loss. Through compensation, what is expressed in one mode in the source language is changed to another mode in the target language so that the target text can have the same effect as the original text on the audience. In translating Arabic poetry into Persian, the difference between the phonetic, lexical, visual and cultural elements of Persian and Arabic and the difference between the style of the poet and the translator can cause meaning loss at the phonetic, lexical, visual, stylistic and cultural levels. The present study offers the following solutions to compensate for this loss:
At the phonetic level, there may be a loss of meaning in the translation of puns, weight and rhyme, phonation and repetition. When the Persian equivalent of pun words in the source language is not related to each other in the target language, the translator can transfer the general tone of Arabic poetry to the Persian text by creating puns in another part of the text or by using other language industries such as phonology. In translating weight and rhyme, given the importance of these two elements in poetry, the translator should try to transfer the effect of weight and rhyme of contemporary Arabic poetry to the Persian text. The difference in words and weights of Arabic and Persian poetry prevents the translator from using the rhyme and weight of the original poem, and to compensate for the loss due to the untranslatability of the weight and rhyme, he can use different sections of the lines in translating the poem. Differences in the vocabulary of two languages may cause the transliteration to be untranslatable, and it is possible for the translator to create a phonogram in another part of the destination text by repeating another letter that has the semantic characteristics of the repeated letter in the source language and to deal with compensation of untranslatability of this linguistic feature. Considering the purpose of repeating a word or phrase in the original poem, the translator can also repeat another word or phrase in the translation that is not in the original text, but the translator creates an effect similar to Arabic poetry on the audience using it.
At the lexical level, the translator can compensate for the loss of meaning in one word and in another word of the target text, which includes the semantic burden of the untranslatable word in the original text.
- Using compensation in type: by using other linguistic tools of the target text, to create the same effect as Arabic poetry on the reader of the translation.
Using compensation in place: Compensate for the intended effect elsewhere in the target destination text, thereby compensating for the limitation of the target language in one part of the text
1. Introduction
Translation experts believe that poetry translation is considered as difficult and valuable. The content and the form are inseparably intertwined in the poetry. The language of poetry is usually implicit not explicit. Poetry is distinguished by its musical style or rhythm, and this is a basic and unattainable feature the translator is required to translate (Baker and Saldina, 2009; Kashanian translation, 2017, p. 253). Poetry also has imagination and emotion and its purpose is to influence the feelings and emotions of the audience. Then, the constituent elements of poetry and what is presented in the image form are beyond ordinary speech, and this makes the poetry translation difficult, complex and in some cases impossible (Al-Buyeh Langroudi, 2013, p. 14).
In poetry, sounds are effective in conveying the poet's content and feelings. The poet uses his imagination to express his feelings and also pays attention to the implicit meanings of the word and uses a special style and method to express his emotions and feelings that distinguish his poetry from other poems. Poetry also expresses the cultural and linguistic issues to which it is composed. Therefore, in translating the poetry, it is important to pay attention to sounds, words, images, style of poetry and cultural issues. The main concern of the poet translator is to explain the special features of the original text as much as possible and to create a poetic text in the target language that has a similar effect on the readers (Baker and Saldina, 2017, p. 259). The imbalance of different phonetic, lexical, visual, stylistic and cultural levels of the original poem with its translation results in a loss of meaning in translation.
2. Questions and Hypotheses
Researchers try to answer these two questions: a) in translating Arabic poetry into Persian, at what levels may a loss of meaning occur? B) In the translation of Arabic poems into Persian, what mechanisms are used to compensate for the loss of meaning at various levels?
It is assumed that in translating Arabic poetry into Persian, there is a loss of meaning at the phonetic, lexical, visual, stylistic and cultural levels, and the translator compensates the meaning using other language tools of the target text or the same language tools elsewhere in the target text.
3. Research method
Given that there is a loss of meaning in the translation of literary texts especially poetry and the translator can compensate for it in some way, the positions of meaning loss and its compensation strategies in the translation of contemporary Arabic poetry into Persian have been discussed by examining the opinions of a group of translation experts including Echo, Vienna, Darblane, Hinges, Newmark, etc. about the positions of meaning loss in poetry translation and its compensation mechanisms and providing evidence of the translation of Arabic poems into Persian. Examples are selected from the book of contemporary Arabic poetry by Mohammad Reza Shafiei Kadkani, who is one of the contemporary Iranian critics and poets.
4. Results
Studying the opinions of some translation experts about the loss of meaning in translation and its compensation strategies, it was found that in translation and especially the translation of poetry, there is a loss of meaning and the translator can compensate for this loss. Through compensation, what is expressed in one mode in the source language is changed to another mode in the target language so that the target text can have the same effect as the original text on the audience. In translating Arabic poetry into Persian, the difference between the phonetic, lexical, visual and cultural elements of Persian and Arabic and the difference between the style of the poet and the translator can cause meaning loss at the phonetic, lexical, visual, stylistic and cultural levels. The present study offers the following solutions to compensate for this loss:
At the phonetic level, there may be a loss of meaning in the translation of puns, weight and rhyme, phonation and repetition. When the Persian equivalent of pun words in the source language is not related to each other in the target language, the translator can transfer the general tone of Arabic poetry to the Persian text by creating puns in another part of the text or by using other language industries such as phonology. In translating weight and rhyme, given the importance of these two elements in poetry, the translator should try to transfer the effect of weight and rhyme of contemporary Arabic poetry to the Persian text. The difference in words and weights of Arabic and Persian poetry prevents the translator from using the rhyme and weight of the original poem, and to compensate for the loss due to the untranslatability of the weight and rhyme, he can use different sections of the lines in translating the poem. Differences in the vocabulary of two languages may cause the transliteration to be untranslatable, and it is possible for the translator to create a phonogram in another part of the destination text by repeating another letter that has the semantic characteristics of the repeated letter in the source language and to deal with compensation of untranslatability of this linguistic feature. Considering the purpose of repeating a word or phrase in the original poem, the translator can also repeat another word or phrase in the translation that is not in the original text, but the translator creates an effect similar to Arabic poetry on the audience using it.
At the lexical level, the translator can compensate for the loss of meaning in one word and in another word of the target text, which includes the semantic burden of the untranslatable word in the original text.
- Restrictions such as the difference in the weight of the poem and its translation, and the difference in the words of the source and target languages, etc., may prevent the image in the original poem from being transferred in the translation; In this case, the translator can transfer the images intended by the poet in another part of the translation.
- The difference between the style of the poet and the translator causes the words and their arrangement way in the original poem to be different from its translation, and this leads to loss in meaning. Literary re-creation and creation are suggested solutions to compensate for the loss of meaning at the style level.
- Since the audience of the target text is not familiar with the cultural issues of Arabic poetry like the audience of the source text, cultural negligence in translating poetry can be compensated by bringing a cultural equivalent and further explanation and compensational increase at the cultural level.
- Using compensation in type: by using other linguistic tools of the target text, to create the same effect as Arabic poetry on the reader of the translation.
Using compensation in place: Compensate for the intended effect elsewhere in the target destination text, thereby compensating for the limitation of the target language in one part of the text
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