Metaphor Translation Procedures and their Application in Translating Amthāl al-Hadith into Malay with Reference to Newmark’s Theory

Amthāl are loaded with metaphorical and cultural elements. The translation of texts with elements of culture and metaphors requires specific approaches and deep understanding of both the source and target languages. The objectives of this research are to investigate the role of context in explaining the meaning of amthāl and to review the best approaches for translating corpus with elements of culture and metaphors. The corpus of this research consists of selected hadiths by The Prophet (PBUH). In this research, the background events of the amthāl are reconstructed by referring to the context of the speech. Next, the metaphors in the corpus are taken out and the meanings are analyzed through analysis of context and meaning. Based on this analysis of context and meaning, suitable strategies for translating metaphorical elements in the research corpus are determined. Findings from the study show that The Prophet (PBUH) incorporated Arabic metaphors and cultural elements in his speech. Elements such as folklore and features of Arabic sociolinguistics were used effectively to deliver meaning. Thus, specific approaches to retain the essence and hidden elements in hadiths are required for translating amthāl by The Prophet.

Revolutionary Cityscapes: Yūsuf Idrīs and the National Imaginary

This chapter looks back at the transformative moment of 1950s Egypt, examining the representation of Cairo in the work of Yūsuf Idrīs. At the center of this study is Idrīs’ first novel Qiṣṣat ḥubb (A Love Story, 1956). The analysis focuses upon the geographic and linguistic scapes of Cairo, exploring the intersection of the linguistic and the spatial in the conceptionalization of the Egyptian identity. The diverse spaces of the city, that bring together people from across Egypt’s socio-economic and geographic spectrum are presented alongside the linguistic registers spoken by these city-dwellers. While the main text is written in fuṣḥā (standard Arabic), the characters’ dialogue captures the varied registers of ʿāmmiyya (colloquial Arabic) spoken by the diverse inhabitants of Cairo. The literary analysis, framed by spatial theory and Arabic sociolinguistics, is situated in relationship to the canonical literary production of the period, and the debates concerning language and identity in the nahda period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, to assert Idrīs’ innovative gestures towards a more inclusive concept of national identity. In creating a linguistic and geographical map of Cairo, Idrīs presents possibilities for multiple identities and alternative forms of community.

Transcultural Content and Translingual Reflection: Rethinking the Arabic Language Learning Experience

This article, written by Karin C. Ryding, argues that while Arabic has garnered increased attention by the American education system over the past decade, the sociolinguistics of Arabic are being neglected in such educational endeavours. This is despite academic research on this topic, including, notably, Yasir Suleiman’s Arabic Sociolinguistics: Issues and Perspectives (1994). Ryding writes that the complexity of teaching and learning Arabic is related to the transcultural realities of living and working in the Arab world. As she demonstrates, Arabic is particularly challenging as the language must be modified to conform to different types of interaction. Ryding then analyses some of the shortfalls in the fi eld of Arabic language instruction, and argues that because Arabic teaching – due to its distinctive diglossic nature – lacks many traditional models to choose from, it must construct its own, which she refers to as ‘the repertoire model’. Ryding summarises by noting that sociolinguistic analyses, like those studied by Suleiman, must be taken into consideration and should force us to come to terms with the linguistic reality of multiple discourse levels and, accordingly, to develop new models for Arabic pedagogy.