Mustansiriyah university

College of arts
Department of translation
MA program

An analysis of Translation strategies of the English translation of the

constitution of Iraq (UNAMI translation version)

Prepared by: Mohammed Ali Ayad Rshlh

Course tutor: Asst. Prof. Muhammad Kadhim Ghafil (PhD)
2021

I
 Abstract
Translation strategies carries a lot of definitions and has been defined in many ways by
researchers and scholars, as the term strategies is synonymous with terms as
“procedure,” “technique,” “method,” “tactic,” “approach,” and so forth, Furthermore,
the discussion on translation strategies dates back to antiquity since Cicero and Horace’s
distinction between sense-for-sense and word-for-word translation (Almanna, 2013:8).
The present paper shed the light on the most common strategies offered by great
scholars in translation studies; in addition, it provides an analysis of those strategies in
the translation of the constitution of Iraq (UNAMI translation version).
Keywords: Translation, Translation Strategies

1 .Theoretical background
1.1. Translation: The definition of translation has been a long-lasting debate that each
translation theorist defined it in his/her own way and that there is no unanimity
regarding the definition of translation (Ilyas, 1989: 27)

Translation, by dictionary definition is “the process of changing something that is

written or spoken into another language” (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at
OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com). Here, one would not hesitate to conclude that
translation is the action of conveying meaning in one language (source language) into
another meaning in another language. In fact, some of the theorists agreed with this
definition such as Savory (1969) and Buzelli (1969) in which they almost all concluded
that translation is the process of conveying and/or transferring meaning, thoughts and
ideas from one language into another.

Nevertheless, some of translation theorist rejected the idea of translation being merely a
process of transferring or conveying meaning from source language into target
language. Nida (1974) holds that translation is the reproduction of the closest equivalent
of the source language text in the target language text, so he is of a view that translation
is not based on transferring, but rather it is based on equivalence.

In a similar vein, Catford (1965) rejects the definition of translation as the transferring
of meaning, since Catford is of a view that meaning is a property of language.
One of the most prominent definitions of translation is stated by Newmark (1988: 5)
who defines translation as “rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the
way that the author intended the text”. This definition emphasizing at preserving the

1
author intention and to convey that intention in the target language, so it is author-
oriented.
To conclude from what was stated above, translation is the process of transferring
meaning from one language to another, while focusing on reproducing a close
equivalent in the target language that sound natural to the target language readers and
has the merits of readability and accessibility.
1.2. Translation strategies:
Translation strategies is similar to the translation itself as it has a lot of definition by
different scholars, and as mentioned before it is often used synonymously with other
terms. Moreover, the notion of strategies have been discussed by a great number of
scholars, theorists and translators. The word strategy itself means employing plans and
methods toward achieving a goal or an adaptation of a behavior to achieve an
evolutionary success.

Strategies can be defined as the procedures followed by the translators for handling a
problem they face in the process of rendering form source language into target language
(Loescher 1991: 81 cited in Almanna, 2013:74)
Depending on the above definition one can conclude that translation strategies is a
manner of solving a problems that exist due to a gap between source language and target
language, and to rip that gap translation strategies are resorted to. Therefore, translators
have to decide which strategy is the most suitable to follow, and this decision depending
on certain factors such as, the purpose of the translation and the intended reader
(Almanna, 2013: 75). So it is vital for translators “to know why a text is translated and
what function of the translated text is” (Xiao-jiang 2007 : 64).

Now let us examine the most common and important translation strategies offered by
(Vinay and Darbelnet 1958/1995)

1.2.1 J.P. Vinay & J.Darbelnet strategies & procedures

In their book “The Comparative Stylistic of French and English”, which is probably the
most important book on translation strategies/ procedures (Almanna, 2013: 75), the
French Canadian linguists J. P. Vinay and J. Darbelnet conducted a comparative
stylistic analysis between English and Arabic, and they identified strategies and
procedures by observing the differences between the two languages (Munday, 2016:
88). According to Fawcett (1997: 34) Vinay and Darbelnet’s classification is based on;
a) “the apparatus of Saussurean linguistics: langue/parole, signifier/signified; and b) the

2
notion that each language has its own ‘spirit’ which systematically compels it to express
itself in one way rather than another”.
Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/1995) classify strategies or procedures into two main types,
namely ‘direct translation’ and ‘oblique translation’ the former contains three types of
strategies or procedures while the latter contains four (ibid: pp. 84-91)
1- Borrowing: means direct transference of a source language lexical item into the
target language. The purpose of borrowing is to fill a gap in the target language lexicon.
Sometimes borrowing is used “to add local colour” (Munday, 2016: 89). Furthermore,
borrowing is used in the technical field when there is no direct equivalent of a technical
term (ibid), for instance, between Arabic and English as the former lacking specialized
technical vocabulary and scientific norms. (e.g. internet, bitcoin, cryptocurrency…etc.)
2- Claque: indicates a type of borrowing which implies literal translation of a phrase or
a compound from another language. It is ‘a special kind of borrowing’ (Vinay and
Darbelnet 1995: 32–3; 2004: 129–30). For example, the expression "‫ "لعب دورا‬for “play
a role” (Dickins, Hervey & Higgins, 2002).
3- Literal translation: it is a “word- for- word” translation (ibid 1995: 33–5; 2004:
130–2) so it involves transferring any source text expression, phrase or sentence into
target text literally without any change. As Vinay and Darbelnet describes this strategy
is beaing workable and most common “between languages of the same family and
culture” between English and French for example (Munday, 2016: 89).
Vinay and Darbelnet holds that, when literal translation is unacceptable, then oblique
translation must be resorted to, which covers the other four strategies or procedures
(ibid)
4- Transposition: refers to a change of one part of speech for another (e.g. noun for a
verb) without changing the meaning. For example, according to Hassan (2014), in the
following sentence “I want to meet him”, the verb “meet” can be translated into a noun
“‫“ مقابلته‬in Arabic) "‫ "اريد مقابلته‬as cited in Alhamed, 2016)
5- Modulation: this term, according to Vinay and Darbelnet (1995:36), refers to “a
variation of the form of the message by changing point of view”. This change could
occur for stylistic reasons, to avoid repetition or for other reasons. For example, the
following sentence could be rendered in two different ways:
It is not difficult to show …. (ibid: 89)
‫ليس من الصعب ان تبين‬
)as cited in Almanna, 2013: 77( ‫من السهل ان تبين‬

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 6- Equivalence or idiomatic translation: Vinay and Darbelnet (1995), holds that
equivalence refers to a cases in which two languages conceptualize the world
experience in a similar way and describe the same situation, but in different stylistic
or structural means. For example, according to Almanna (2013) the Arabic idiomatic
expression "‫ "على احر من الجمر‬can be rendered into English as “to be on pins and
needles”.
7- Adaptation: this term is the opposite of equivalence, as this strategy is used when
there is no similar situation in the target text as the source text. As Vinay and
Darbelnet (1995) stated that, the translator have to create a new situation in the target
text that can be seen as an equivalent .Adaptation, according to them “can be
described as a special kind of equivalence, a situational equivalence.” (ibid p.39).
According to Almanna (2013:79) a good example of adaptation is:
“He is as rich as Croesus” could be rendered into Arabic as
"‫"يملك مال قارون‬
Here a creation of a new situation has occurred due to the lack of this situation in the
target language; hence, the name of the vehicle was changed into a proper name.

2. The analysis of the strategies in translation

2.1. The source text

‫الديباجة‬
‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬1
)) ‫ولقد كرمنا بني آدم‬2 ((
u‫ة ورواد‬uu‫ الكتاب‬u‫ناع‬uu‫ارة وص‬uu‫د الحض‬uu‫ار ومه‬uu‫ة األطه‬uu‫ نحنُ ابناء وادي الرافدين موطن الرسل واألنبياء ومثوى االئم‬3
‫ة‬uu‫ادل لسياس‬uu‫د ع‬uu‫ق عه‬ ُ ‫ر‬uu‫طَّ أع‬uu‫ا ُخ‬uu‫ وطنن‬u‫ وفي‬،‫ان‬uu‫قانون وضعه االنس‬
ٍ َّ ‫ على أرضنا‬.‫ الترقيم‬u‫الزراعة ووضاع‬
‫سن أو ُل‬
4
.u‫ وأبد َع األدباء والشعراء‬،‫ر الفالسفةُ والعلماء‬uَ َّ‫ ونظ‬،‫ق ترابنا صلى الصحابةُ واألولياء‬ َ ‫ وفو‬،‫األوطان‬
uِ u‫ة واص‬uu‫ا الوطني‬uu‫ة وقوان‬uu‫ا الديني‬uu‫دعو ِة قياداتن‬uu‫ واستجابةً ل‬،‫ ومواطنينا‬u‫ وتلبيةً لنداء وطننا‬،‫بحق هللا علينا‬
‫رار‬u ِ ‫عرفانا ً منّا‬
5 َ ‫ ووس‬،‫مراجعنا العظام وزعمائنا وسياسيينا‬
u‫ا‬u‫ر ٍة في تاريخن‬uu‫ا ألول م‬uu‫ زحفن‬،‫ا‬uu‫دقائنا ومحبين‬uu‫ة من اص‬uu‫ط مؤازر ٍة عالمي‬
‫ة‬uu‫نة الفين وخمس‬uu‫اني من س‬uu‫انون الث‬uu‫هر ك‬uu‫بانا ً في الثالثين من ش‬uu‫ رجاالً ونسا ًء وشيبا ً وش‬،‫ بالماليين‬u‫لصناديق االقتراع‬
،ً‫نة‬uu‫يعةً وس‬uu‫راق ش‬uu‫هدا ِء الع‬uu‫ائ َع ش‬uu‫ فج‬u‫ مواجع القمع الطائفي من قبل الطغمة المستبدة ومستلهمين‬u‫مستذكرين‬6 ،‫ميالدية‬
‫وب في‬uu‫ة والجن‬uu‫دن المقدس‬uu‫تباحة الم‬uu‫ةَ اس‬u‫ ظُالم‬u‫توحيين‬uu‫ ومس‬،‫ا‬uu‫عب جميعه‬uu‫ ومن مكونات الش‬u،ً‫ وتركمانا‬uً‫عربا ً وكوردا‬
‫ع‬uu‫ذابات القم‬uu‫تنطقين ع‬uu‫ ومس‬،‫ا‬uu‫دجيل وغيره‬uu‫ة واالهواروال‬uu‫االنتفاضة الشعبانية ومكتوين بلظى شجن المقابر الجماعي‬
‫ ومعانات اهالي‬،‫ ومسترجعين مآسي التركمان في بشير‬،‫مجازر حلبجةَ وبرزانَ واالنفال والكورد الفيليين‬ uِ ‫القومي في‬
‫ا‬uu‫ منابعه‬u‫ف‬u‫ا وتجفي‬uu‫ريد كفاءاته‬uu‫ وتش‬u‫يوخها‬uu‫ا وش‬uu‫ ورموزه‬u‫ا‬u‫فية قياداته‬uu‫راق من تص‬uu‫ الع‬u‫اطق‬uu‫المنطقة الغربية كبقية من‬
4
 ‫الفكرية والثقافية‪ ،‬فسعينا‪ u‬يداً بيد‪ ،‬وكتفا ً بكتف‪ ،‬لنص‪u‬نع عراقن‪u‬ا الجدي‪u‬د‪ ،‬ع‪u‬راق المس‪u‬تقبل‪ ،‬من دون نع‪u‬رة طائفي‪u‬ة‪ ،‬وال‬
‫نزعة عنصرية وال عقدة مناطقية والتمييز‪ ،‬وال إقصاء‬
‫‪7‬لم يثننا التكفي ُر واالرهابُ من أن نمضي قُدما ً لبناء دولة القانون‪ ،‬ولم توقفن‪u‬ا‪ u‬الطائفي‪uu‬ة والعنص‪uu‬رية من ان نس‪uu‬ير مع‪u‬ا ً‬
‫لتعزيز الوحدة الوطنية‪ ،‬وانتهاج ُسبُ ِل التداول الس‪uu‬لمي للس‪uu‬لطة‪ ،‬وتب‪uu‬ني اس‪uu‬لوب التوزي‪uu‬ع الع‪uu‬ادل لل‪uu‬ثروة‪ ،‬ومنح تك‪uu‬افؤ‪u‬‬
‫الفرص للجميع‪.‬‬
‫نظام جمه‪uu‬وري اتح‪uu‬ادي ديمق‪uu‬راطي‪u‬‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫العراق الناهض ت ّواً من كبوته‪ ،‬والمتطلع بثقة إلى مستقبله من خالل‬‫ِ‬ ‫نحنُ شعبُ‬
‫تعددي‪َ ،‬عقَدَنا العزم برجالنا‪ u‬ونسائنا‪ ،‬وشيوخنا وشبابنا‪ ،‬على احترام قواعد الق‪uu‬انون وتحقي‪u‬ق‪ u‬الع‪uu‬دل والمس‪uu‬اواة‪ ،‬ونب‪uu‬ذ‬
‫سياسة العدوان‪ ،‬واالهتمام‪ u‬بالمرأ ِة وحقوقها‪ ،‬والشيخ وهمومه‪ ،‬والطفل وشؤونه‪ ،‬واش‪uu‬اعة ثقاف‪uu‬ة التن‪uu‬وع‪ ،‬ون‪uu‬زع‪ u‬فتي‪uu‬ل‬
‫اإلرهاب‪.‬‬
‫بكل مكوناته وأطيافه ان يقرر بحريته واختياره االتحاد بنفسه‪ ،‬وأن يتعظ لغده‬ ‫نحنُ شعبُ العراق الذي آلى على نفسه ِ‬
‫االنسان هذا الدس‪uu‬تور‬
‫ِ‬ ‫علم وحضار ِة‬ ‫بأمسه‪ ،‬وأن يس َُّن من منظومة القيم وال ُمثُل العليا لرساالت السماء ومن مستجدات ِ‬
‫إن االلتزام بهذا الدستور يحفظُ للعراق اتحاده الحر شعبا وأرضا ً وسيادةً ‪.‬‬ ‫الدائم‪ّ /‬‬
‫الباب األول‪ :‬المبادئ األساسية‬
‫المادة ‪1‬‬
‫جمهوري‪uu‬ة الع‪uu‬راق دول‪uu‬ة اتحادي‪uu‬ة واح‪uu‬دة مس‪uu‬تقلة ذات س‪uu‬يادة كامل‪uu‬ة‪ ،‬نظ‪uu‬ام الحكم فيه‪uu‬ا جمه‪uu‬وري ني‪uu‬ابي (برلم‪uu‬اني)‬
‫ديمقراطي‪ .‬وهذا الدستور‪ u‬ضامن لوحدة العراق‪.‬‬
‫أوالً‬
‫االسـالم دين الدولــة الرسمي‪ ،‬وهـو مصدر أســاس للتشريع‬
‫أ‪ .‬ال يجوز سن قانون يتعارض مع ثوابت احكام االسالم‬
‫ب‪ .‬ال يجوز سن قانون يتعارض مع مبادئ الديمقراطية‬
‫ج‪ .‬ال يجوز سن قانون يتعارض مع الحقوق والحريات االساسية الواردة في هذا الدستور‪.‬‬
‫‪2.2 The target text‬‬
‫‪The Preamble‬‬
‫‪1‬‬
‫‪In the name of God, the Most merciful, the Most compassionate‬‬
‫}‪{2We have honored the sons of Adam‬‬
‫‪3‬‬
‫‪We, the people of Mesopotamia, the homeland of the apostles and prophets , resting‬‬
‫‪place of the virtuous imams, cradle of civilization, crafters of writing, and home of‬‬
‫‪numeration. Upon our land the first law made by man was passed, and the oldest pact‬‬
‫‪of just governance was inscribed, and upon our soil the saints and 4companions of the‬‬
‫;‪Prophet prayed, philosophers and scientists theorized, and writers and poets excelled‬‬
‫‪Acknowledging God’s right over us, and in fulfillment of the call of our homeland and‬‬
‫‪citizens, and in a response to the call of our religious and national leaderships and the‬‬
‫‪determination of our great authorities and of our leaders and politicians, and in the midst‬‬
‫‪of international support from our friends and those who love us. 5marched for the first‬‬
‫‪5‬‬
time in our history towards the ballot boxes by the millions, men and women, young and
old, on the thirtieth of January 2005, invoking the pains of sectarian oppression inflicted
by the autocratic clique and 6inspired by the tragedies of Iraq’s martyrs, Shiite and
Sunni, Arabs and Kurds and Turkmen and from all other components of the people, and
recollecting the darkness of the ravage of the holy cities and the South in the
Sha’abaniyya uprising and burnt by the flames of grief of the mass graves, the marshes,
Al-Dujail and others and articulating the sufferings of racial oppression in the massacres
of Halabcha, Barzan, Anfal and the Fayli Kurds and inspired by the ordeals of the
Turkmen in Bashir and the sufferings of the people of the western region, as is the case
in the remaining areas of Iraq where the people suffered from the liquidation of their
leaders, symbols, and Sheiks and from the displacement of their skilled individuals and
from drying out of its cultural and intellectual wells, so we sought hand in hand and
shoulder to shoulder to create our new Iraq, the Iraq of the future, free from
sectarianism, racism, complex of regional attachment, discrimination, and exclusion.
7
Accusations of being infidels, and terrorism did not stop us from marching forward to
build a nation of law. Sectarianism and racism have not stopped us from marching
together to strengthen our national unity, following the path of peaceful transfer of
power, adopting the course of just distribution of resources, and providing equal
opportunity for all.
We, the people of Iraq, who have just risen from our stumble, and who are looking with
confidence to the future through a republican, federal, democratic, pluralistic system,
have resolved with the determination of our men, women, elderly, and youth to respect
the rule of law, to establish justice and equality, to cast aside the politics of aggression,
to pay attention to women and their rights, the elderly and their concerns, and children
and their affairs, to spread the culture of diversity, and to defuse terrorism.
We, the people of Iraq, of all components and across the spectrum, have taken upon
ourselves to decide freely and by choice to unite our future, to take lessons from
yesterday for tomorrow, and to enact this permanent Constitution, through the values
and ideals of the heavenly messages and the findings of science and man’s civilization.
The adherence to this Constitution preserves for Iraq its free union of people, of land,
and of sovereignty.

3. Findings and discussion

In these excerpts taken from the original constitution of Iraq and UNAMI translation
version, the translator has employed number of strategies and/or procedures mentioned
in this paper. Of course, due to the huge gap between Arabic and English including

6
cultural, semantic, stylistic and syntactic fields, then, the translator have to use some of
the strategies to rip that gap.
Let us examine and analyze these strategies from these excerpts.
- Excerpt 1: here that translator employed the “literal translation” strategy in
translating the religious-bound expression "u‫ "بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬, which as described
by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) involves rendering from source text into target text
without any change “except that required by target language grammar”. The
translator here has conveyed the meaning successfully.
- Excerpt 2: again, the translator here used the “literal translation” strategy to render
another religious expression of the holy verse of Al-Qur’an.
-Excerpt 3: here the strategy of “equivalence” was used by the translator in
translating another religious term "‫ "الرسل‬into the term “apostles” which means
according to (Merriam-Webster online dictionary) “the first prominent Christian
missionary to a region or group”. Therefore, the conveyed meaning has given an
approximate equivalence to the target text term, since there is no two identical terms
between two languages. As House (1997:26) holds that equivalence should not be
seen as “virtually the same thing”. Also, in this excerpt the translator employed the
strategy of “borrowing” in order to compensate for the gap between Arabic and
English, since the term "‫ "االئمة‬is religiously and culturally bound to Arabic,
therefore, rendering it into “imams” would convey the meaning, but the translator
needed to add some footnotes to better illustrate the meaning.
- Excerpt 4: Again, with a religious-bound term "‫ "الصحابة‬the translator used “literal
translation” strategy, in which he conveyed the intended meaning successfully.
- Excerpt 5: here the translator adopted the strategy of “modulation”, as he changed
the term “‫ ”زحفنا‬which literally means to crawl into “marched”
- Excerpt 6: in this excerpt the translator used the strategy of “equivalent” as he
rendered the term "‫هداء‬uu‫ "ش‬into “martyrs” which means according to (Cambridge
Online Dictionary) “a person who suffers very much or is killed because of their
religious beliefs, and is often admired because of it”. Also, within the same excerpt
the translator employed the strategy of “borrowing” in rendering the terms "‫"شيعة وسنة‬
into “Shiite and Sunni”.
- Excerpt 7: In this excerpt, the translator used “adaptation” by changing verb of one
word into a phrase in rendering the single word functioning as a verb phrase "‫"تكفيرنا‬
into a phrase “accusation of being infidels”.

7
 Conclusions

After examining translation strategies in general and after taken a deep insight into
the strategies offered by Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/1995), and applying those
strategies to the English translation of the constitution of Iraq. We could come up
with the following conclusions:

 The gap between two languages exist when the translation process is carried
between languages that are not of the same family and culture.
 To rip the gap between languages in terms of lexicon, style, culture. The
translator needs to resort to translation strategies.
 Arabic and English are completely different languages in terms of culture,
style, linguistic, syntax…etc. therefore, a huge gap exist between both
languages.
 The translator needs to carefully read any text before carrying out the
translation process, and analyze the differences in order to decide the proper
strategies to employ.
 The translator needs to be bicultural besides being bilingual, since culture is an
important merit of language. Delisle (1988) mentions that one of the merits of
translation is that it relates two cultures to each other, in terms of thought and
perception.

8
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