Keywords: Book of Al-Ayyam, Taha Hossein, Khadiv Jam, Al-Ayyam Translating, Referential Meaning, Slippage in theReferential Meaning.IntroductionWhether we consider the translation unit as a word, a sentence, a text, or even a concept, the quest for finding the appropriate equivalent for vocabulary remains essential and effective. Understanding the meaning of sentences or texts does not occur in isolation; it is inherently connected to the vocabulary used. Therefore, when translating a text from one language to another, the translator’s initial task should be to assess the meaning of individual words.Peter Newmark contends that translators who dismiss the translation of individual words in favor of focusing solely on sentences and messages deceive themselves. After all, every sentence or text comprises words, each of which independently carries a meaning that reflects a tangible or abstract reality from the external world. Consequently, many experts prioritize the referential meaning—the genuine and concrete sense of words—over other potential meanings. As long as a translator can convey a word’s referential meaning accurately in the target language, there is no need to resort to alternative interpretations.Nevertheless, it is observed that translators occasionally falter when translating the referential meaning. In this essay, the authors aim to analyze and evaluate the translation of the second volume of Hossein Khadiojam’s book Al-Ayyam, specifically addressing the factors that led to deviations from the intended referential meaning.Literature ReviewNumerous studies have explored various aspects of meaning and the quest for equivalence in translation. Among these, the following noteworthy works can be highlighted:“Pragmatics of Referential Meanings of Words in the Translation Process of Nahj al-Balaghah” (1396-2016)by Seyyed Mehdi Masbooq: In this article, Masbooq and colleagues meticulously examine one hundred and twelve words from Nahj al-Balaghah across translations by Mr. Jafari, Dashti, Faqihi, and Faiz al-Islam. The study sheds light on challenges faced by translators, including issues related to vocabulary structure, as well as formal and spiritual nuances of the words.“Research on Translation from Arabic to Persian Based on the Process of ‘Spiritual Equivalence’ (Case Study of the Novel Al-Sakriye)” (1393-2013)by Adnan Tahmasabi and Siddiqa Jafari: This article delves into the translation process, exploring lexical equivalence and language structures across different lexical and semantic layers, with a focus on Al-Sukariyyeh’s novel.“Types of Meaning in Translation” (1393-2013)by Alireza Khan Jan: Khan Jan addresses the critical issue of distinguishing between various types of meaning, emphasizing its significance from Halliday’s perspective.“Criticism on the Translation of ‘Al-Ibarat’: A Testimony to the Necessity of Proficiency in Source and Target Languages” (2012)by Shahriar Gitti and colleagues: Through a critical examination of the translation of the textbook Al-Ibrate, the authors discuss common errors and their underlying causes, emphasizing the challenges faced by translators due to insufficient fluency in both the source and target languages.“Etymology of Words in Nahj al-Balagha: An Emphasis on Ibn-Faris’s Method” (1391-2013): Hossein Mu-yadi’s thesis delves into the etymology process of words found in Nahj al-Balagha. By analyzing the semantics and roots of the vocabulary, the study explores Ibn-Faris’s approach and its impact on vocabulary comprehension.“Pragmatics of ‘Translation Equivalence’ for Words in Quran Translation” (2011)by Hamidreza Mirhaji and colleagues: This article emphasizes the necessity of considering different semantic layers to achieve translation equivalence. The authors examine the process of equivalence and equality at the word level, highlighting that translations from the Quran often lack sufficient attention to the principle of “translation equivalence.” Translators tend to focus primarily on transferring the referential meaning, often overlooking other semantic layers.“Text, Metatext, and Analysis of Basic and Relative Meaning: A Comparative Study with Interpretation” (1386-2006)by Dr. Mohammad Baqer Saeedi Roshan: In this article, the author compares the perspectives of Muslim scholars and contemporary semantic approaches regarding situational meaning and pragmatics as the primary meaning of words, both within and outside the context. The study also explores the relative meaning of words, as understood from the context and text.Although referential meaning—one of the types of meaning—has been analyzed and evaluated in various books and research, there appears to be a gap in independent research regarding its importance, impact on understanding other meanings, and the factors contributing to translator errors in handling referential meaning during translation.On the contrary, the focus of this research lies on the referential meaning within the context of equivalence-seeking during the translation of the second volume of Al-Ayam. The authors aim to address the following questions:What factors contributed to Khadiojam’s errors in translating the referential meaning of certain words?Which factor occurred most frequently?To achieve this, the authors have extracted 69 examples from the second volume of Al-Ayam, where they believe Khadiojam deviated from the intended referential meaning. Due to space constraints, the article provides a select few examples for each factor, followed by an evaluation and analysis using a comparative approach.Conclusion
The novel "Kiss the Lovely Face of God" is one of the successful fiction works of recent years in Persian literature, which attracted the attention of Iranian readers and translators of other languages. Due to entering various social and cultural situations in the modern and urban areas of Iran, this novel contains many cultural components that challenge translators. Going through these cultural components requires exact interaction and familiarity with contemporary Iranian culture. This work was translated into Arabic twice in 2014. "Ivir" offers seven strategies for translating cultural elements, including borrowing, defining, literal translating, replacing, word-building, and deleting and adding. In this study, the performance of two translators of the novel "Kiss the Lovely Face of God" in the transfer of cultural elements based on "Ivir" approaches has been investigated. By analyzing and comparing the two translations, it is clear that the most used method is the replacing strategy, which is sometimes accompanied by defining and adding.
A lacuna in interpreting studies pertains to what constitutes an interpreter’s identities in social and sociopsychological contexts and how they operate, influencing the interpreter’s decision-making and behaviours at interpreting-facilitated events. In this research, two key symbolic interactionism frameworks, structural symbolic interactionism (SSI) and perceptual control theory, are drawn on to formulate a symbolic interactionist model of interpreter’s identity management (SIMIIM) with a view to investigating higher socio-structural and individual psychological influence on an interpreter’s identity management. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of a professional public service interpreter’s perceptions of her lived experience of interpreting and the sense of self is undertaken to illustrate the key elements of the model. Issues regarding moral identity, professional identity, social and communicative factors challenging the interpreter’s identity management, and impacts of identity nonverification on the interpreter’s wellbeing are discussed. Introducing symbolic interactionism to interpreting studies for the first time, it is hoped that this research will encourage further efforts to explore an interpreter’s identity management at social and individual levels, which is key to an informed understanding of the interpreter’s behaviour and of the issues of interpreting ethics in public service interpreting.
Translating and interpreting, Social sciences (General)
In the history of human creativity, the act of imagining the impossible has always been at the core of the physical and metaphysical perception of the unknown. The scholarly debate regarding the nature of the impossible gained particular relevance in the context of British Enlightenment when the expanding sciences, along with literature, attempted to provide empirical validation to inexplicable and supernatural phenomena. In this way, the discrepancies between the overlapping ontologies of the Age of Faith and the Age of Reason became apparent as the ancestral literary practice of the fantastic merged with the rising genre of the novel. The assimilation of the conventional tropes of supernatural literature within the narrative frame of formal realism led to the development of two fortunate sub-genres: the Gothic and Science Fiction. The former evolved around the mutual disruption of the empirically-based conception of reality and the transgression of the moral code implied in the construction of civic order. The latter derived from the relocation of specific gothic features into a larger dimension of social anxiety concerning the abuses of reason concealed as a path towards common good and future progress.
By exploring the evolution of the gothic imagery and its dissolution into the narrative horizon of Science Fiction, this article will trace the early modern roots of the dialogue between science and literature in the human quest for the impossible. The thesis that Gothic and Science Fiction are historically interdependent will be reviewed in light of the common matrix of fear and desire which characterises their ideological function.
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation, Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar
Jemina Napier, Katherine Lloyd, Robert Skinner
et al.
For many deaf signers, a signed language is their first or preferred language; spoken or written languages are often second languages and literacy levels among deaf signers vary. Historically, surveys carried out with deaf signers have been in written form, which means that findings of such studies may be problematic in terms of whether participants are a representative sample (as only those with higher levels of literacy may respond) and in terms of the integrity of the responses (if respondents did not fully understand questions). This paper therefore discusses issues faced in conducting survey research with deaf signers, given that they may face challenges in accessing questionnaires in written form. The paper also discusses how to conduct a multi-country study with deaf signers when they do not have a common sign language by designing a questionnaire using International Sign. We present a case study of the Insign project, which employed an online survey methodology that allowed 84 deaf respondents from 22 different countries to view questions in International Sign about their experiences with existing communication technologies and their expectations of service provision to access European Institutions. We explore the advantages and disadvantages of such an approach in relation to the use of International Sign, challenges in recruiting enough respondents, the time needed to create a signed questionnaire instrument, and how to enable deaf participants to respond in sign language. We conclude with recommendations for social science researchers to consider when administering surveys with deaf signing communities.