TRANSLATION IN

HUMANITIES
Dr Asma Alqunayir
 ‫‪In the name of Allah‬‬

‫اللهم علمنا ما ينفعنا وانفعنا بما علمتنا وزدنا‬

‫عل ًما‬
 Your instructor
◦ My name: Dr Asma Alqunayir ‫قنيعير‬77‫سماء لا‬7‫ أ‬.‫د‬
◦ Email: A.Alqunayir@qu.edu.sa (I will always reply and ASAP)
◦ Office hours: Wednesday (10:50am-01:25pm). You can email me to book an
appointment in advance if you need an online one-to-one counsel.
 Let us talk ABPCD!
◦ Attendance: attendance will be taken from the first lecture. You should
ALWAYS attend and I will check if you are there or not.
◦ Punctuality: You should ALWAYS be ON TIME. Being late three times
will lead to marking you absent. Check announcements in case I will be late
or absent.
◦ Communication: email, email and only email! (P.S. no emojis please ad
write clear title with your course and group)
◦ Deadlines: ALWAYS submit BY the deadline (date and time). Missing a
deadline will lead to losing marks.
 Working in groups
◦ You have until Monday (25th of January) to put yourselves in groups of 4, 5 or 6, choose your
representative and register on the blackboard BY (BEFORE) 2:00pm.
◦ After that, I will randomly put you in groups. You have to work with the same group until the end of the
term.
◦ When we start working on translations, every Monday I will upload the texts on the blackboard as well
as the names of the groups responsible for the translation. They should translate them and email them
back BY the following Saturday by 2:00pm. So, we can discuss them
Prescribed textbook
◦ The material for this course should consist of a selection of texts from a variety
of Islamic books, including the Holy Qur`an, Sunnah and a selection of various
literary, legal and political texts from different academic resources+ Two
theoretical lectures (power point presentations).
Assessment (refer to outline handout for full
details)
No. Assessment task Week due Proportion of total

assessment
Participation All along 5%
1
Assignment 5/8 5%
2
Quizzes 6/9 10%
3
Midterm Exam 10 20%
4
Final Exam 17 60%
5
What Is the field of Humanities?

◦ The field of humanities includes studies that qualitatively, rather

than quantitatively, investigate the human experience. Some
scholars feel that humanities address the central questions of human
life.
Questions Addressed by Humanities
◦ A field of study in humanities often includes questions that many have
contemplated and attempted to answer. Here are some questions which
humanities might address:

◦ How do human beings behave?

◦ Why do they behave this way?

◦ How do human beings interact with each other?

◦ How do human beings interpret the world around them?

◦ What kind of political, social and cultural institutions do they form?

 Fields of Humanities
◦ The field of humanities includes, but is not limited to, the following subjects:
◦ Modern languages
◦ Classical languages
◦ Linguistics
◦ Literature
◦ History
◦ Philosophy
◦ Archaeology
◦ Comparative religion
◦ Ethics
◦ History, criticism and theory of the arts
Translation in Humanities:

◦ This course aims to enable students to translate specific Islamic texts, literary
texts and legal and political texts, which enables them to build a background
knowledge about these texts for further practice and application in their future.
 1. What do you know about Islamic translation?
What are the peculiarities of Islamic translation ?

◦ Islam (Arabic: ‫ا إلسالم‬, Al-Islam (Submission) is a monotheistic religion that was founded in the 7th
century CE and called for by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). All of its teachings and beliefs are
written out in the Quran, the holy scripture of Islam. Believers of Islam are called Muslims. They believe
that the Quran was spoken to Muhammad by the angel Jibril, and that it is the word of Allah. They view
Muhammad as a messenger. Other beliefs and rules about what Muslims should do come from reports of
what Muhammad taught, or hadith.
Islamic translation (continuation)
◦ Muslims believe that the content of the Quran (written in Arabic) is
protected by Allah as mentioned in the Quran and is the final
message of God for all of mankind until the day of judgment.
Islamic translation (continuation)
◦ Therefore, Islamic texts are commonly the most difficult to translate, both
theologically and culturally. To do their job properly, translators should be
familiar with both the Muslim and non-Muslim theology, practices, and code
of ethics to be able to transfer the exact message in a manner that maintains the
message of the source text and does not contradict the norms of the target
language.
 2. What do you know about Literary translation?
What are the peculiarities of Literary translation ?
◦ Literary translation is often contrasted with technical translation,
and, unlike the latter, literary translation has some peculiarities.
◦ The first and the most obvious is the absence of literality
literary texts allow loose translation, where accuracy may often be
neglected, unlike technical texts, which are all about the accuracy.
 Literary translation (continuation)
◦ The second important characteristic is determined by the peculiarities of the
text itself. Here a translator has to deal with phraseological units, which cannot be
simply translated – they have to be replaced by the equivalents from the target
language. Besides that, there is often a play on words, a specific kind of humour,
which cannot be translated. In this case a translator has to play with words to
deliver the comedy. Play on words is one of the most complicated problems while
working with literary texts.
Literary translation (continuation)
The third peculiarity of literary translation:

◦ is directly linked to the personality of a linguist. Truthfully, mastering

literary translation takes a specialist with literary talent. It's not the
accurate details that count (sometimes they don't matter at all), but the
feeling that the reader gets from the translated text, the images it
provokes.
3. What do you know about Legal translation?
What are the peculiarities of Legal translation?
◦ Legal language refers to the language of the law in addition to the language
related to the law and the legal process. It is a highly specialised and technical
discourse.
◦ Legal English reflects the mixture of languages which have produced the
English language in general. Languages such as French, Latin, and Greek. It is
different from everyday languages (plain language) not only in terminology
but also in syntax.
 Legal Translation (continuation)
◦ The difficulties of legal translation include (1) the technical nature of legal
language; (2) the specific nature of this technical language and (3) the legal
language which is not a universal language but it is tied up with a national legal
system .These constraints are particularly true in the case of translating between
English and Arabic as they are from different language families.
Legal Translation (continuation)
◦ As it is commonly acknowledged, legal translation is complex and difficult.
There are many reasons why this is the case. In general, the complexity and
difficulty of legal translation is attributable to the nature of law and the
language that law uses and the associated differences found in inter-cultural
and inter-lingual communication in translating legal texts. As Cao (2007,
p.142) suggests, “the legal language is identified and linked with the
normative, performative and technical nature of language.”
This Week’s Task and Next Lecture

◦ You have until Monday (25th of January) to put yourselves in groups

of 4, 5 or 6, choose your representative and register on the
blackboard BY (BEFORE) 2:00pm.

Next lecture:
The special characteristics, vocabulary and jargon used in performing
religious rites, legal trails and political speeches.