Doā or Namāz? Analysis of Overt and Covert Translations in Two Renditions of ‘The Prophet’ by Jibran Khalil Jibran

Abstract

This study focuses on 108 culture-specific items (CSIs) in the Prophet written by Jibran Khalil Jibran (1923) and its two Persian renditions done by Maghsoudi (1992) and Elahi Ghomshei (1999). It primarily identified the classifications of English CSIs evident in the original work and their percentages. It also discovered the translation strategies used in translating CSIs by the two translators. Applying House (1997) dichotomy of overt and covert translation, the two translated versions were investigated and compared. Finally, the more successful translated version was discovered based on the usage covert translation. Results revealed that six categories of CSIs in the English coups and that eight translation strategies were used to translate English CSIs into Persian. The results also revealed that ‘cultural equivalent’ was the most frequent translation strategies used by the two translators. Finally based on the data analysis, results confirmed that Elahi Ghomshei used more covert translation strategy in his framework and consequently was more successful in translating the CSIs.