Abstracts Language, Literature, and Linguistic

TRANSLATING INDIA: TRANSLATION OF CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEMS IN SELECTED ARTICLES FROM KHUSHWANT SINGH’S NOTES ON THE GREAT INDIAN CIRCUS

by Amal Abdulla Al Sada

My translation and commentary thesis of Khushwant Singh’s articles primarily focuses on the non-equivalence problem at and above word levels which a translator faces in translating an English work from India. It addresses the difficulties in translating certain items specific for the Indian culture into Arab culture, which requires exploring, evaluating and justifying the most appropriate strategies chosen for translating social institutions, ideas and customs (i.e. political, religious and social terms) and material culture (i.e. food and clothes), as well as figurative language (i.e. idioms and common expressions) and intertextual figures (i.e. intertexual reference and allusions). The thesis also shows the possibility of combining Lawrence Venuti’s principles of “Foreignization” and “Domestication” in the same work depending on the purposes for translating the text. This study also aims to show that translation is not only about the acquired knowledge of the “other”, but it can also help to criticize and comment on similar social and political issues raised in Arab society. Therefore, I used different translation techniques that are appropriate for these particular purposes, such as beginning my translation with a translator’s preface to provide the Arab reader with a general background on some events and characters mentioned in Singh’s articles. I also used Transliteration, Explanation, additions, and footnotes for translating political, religious and social terms, as well as paraphrasing for translating idioms, common expressions, intertextual figures and allusions. This was done in order to facilitate the understanding of the translated text for the Arab reader.