Applying Foreignization and Domestication in Translating Arabic Dialectical Expressions into English

Abstract

Translating across language and cultural barriers is one of the most complicated tasks translator might face. This is due to the fact that text produced in one language and culture contains information about persons, institutions, habits, customers and traditions which accessible to speakers of the source language text but not understood by the speakers of another language. This article shows procedures and strategies used to overcome such problem and difficulties in translating Arabic dialect expressions into English. A central issue of this discussion is to highlight Venuti;s translation strategies foreignization and domestication that have been used in translating dialecticll expressions and culture-specific elements into English, with special reference to Janet Watson”s translation of Sana’ani Arabic dialect. Relying on the distinction of the two key cultural strategies of Domestication and Foreignization, this study reveals the way in which Arabic culture-specific elements have been portrayed in foreign context. The paper considers the validity of those cultural translation strategies and discusses their applications in different occasions. According to the obtained results, both foreignization and domestication strategies have been used to overcome the language and cultural barriers in translation of Sana'ani Arabic into English. But foreignization has been used more as the most pervasive cultural strategy.