The Cultural Gaps in the Translation of Arabic Culture-Specific Poetry into English: A Study of Some Selected texts

Document Type : Original Article

Abstract

This study is concerned with investigating the effect of the 
cultural gaps on Arabic culture-specific poetry when translated into 
English. It is an attempt to find out whether the translators translate the 
poem or they renarrate a new original poem. Therefore, the study raises 
the major questions of whether the English translated poems faithfully 
convey the cultural features of the original Arabic one, and about the 
main procedures used in reframing the narratives of the poets in a new 
cultural narrative. It also raises a question about the role played by the 
translator in the process of renarration, and about the criteria that should 
be followed when Arabic culture-specific poetry is rendered into English. 
For this study, four poems have been selected, namely, the two odes of 
Imru'al-Qays and Tarafa translated by O'Grady (1997), Al-Busiri‘s 
―Burda‖ translated by Thoraya Allam (1987), Hafez Ibrahim's 
―Describing a Suit‖ translated by Tingley (1987). 
 

Keywords


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