Preface

A Handbook of Media Translation deals with the skills that are

needed to be learnt in media translation, through raising questions
and answering them, in order to lay a groundwork for the 4th. year
students of translation. The media translator’s task is to dive deep
and digest the information given by the news writer, being a media
translator means being someone who can understand, identify,
evaluate and organize that information to reproduce it in the target
language for its target readers. So the media translator must pay
close attention to the nuances of language used by skilled writers.
Media translator must live the author’s ideas and his psychological
state when writing the text that he is translating, and identify with
him, in every sense of the word, by putting himself in his place,
and not only translating the words but translating what is behind
them. We must remember that media translation is a creative
process, which is a process of recreating the original text in another
language, and not a transfer, because what the news writer wrote
was a creative process, and the translation of his work must be done
creatively.
 A Handbook of Media Translation aims at increasing the
knowledge of the basics of media translation of the 4th. year
students of translation. It falls into two parts: a theoretical part and
a practical part. The first part is devoted to the basics of media
translation. The second part includes practical examples from the
media.
Part 1:
The Basics
Of
Media Translation
 Question One
What is Media and what are the types of media
communication?

Answer:
Media are the storage and transmission channels or tools used
to store and deliver information or data. No one can deny the
influential role the media has in our modern societies. Media is the
greater shaper of public opinion that can affect our world either
positively or negatively.
Communication is essential nowadays. We can communicate
with friends, relatives, family, colleagues, etc. We know that
there are few types of general communication: there is the verbal
communication and the non-verbal communication that includes
body language. We also have formal and informal communication.
Besides the verbal and non-verbal-communication, there are
some types of media communication: TV, radio, shows, news,
newspapers, magazines, movies, series, social media, etc. Some

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other types of media communication are through the wire, optical,
wireless, etc. the internet is one of the most accessed and used
communication around the world.
Some more media communication ways are books, CD rooms,
memory sticks, and newspaper.
https://cloviscenter.libguides.com/Communication/
VerbalVSNonverba
https://leverageedu.com/blog/types-of-mass-media/

2
 Question Two
What does media translation refer to and what
should media translators be required to do?

Answer:
Media translation refers to translating that takes place at TV and
radio programs, press, conferences, interviews, and other similar
events. Media translation is unlimited, so the media translators
must be fully aware of the media terms and expressions in both the
source language and the target language.
To draw the reader’s attention, the media professionals and
media translators rely very heavily on the news headlines which
incorporate several features: though similar in some respect
to standard language, yet they also show many differences and
peculiarities which may sometimes render the news headlines
ambiguous and misleading.
Media translators face the problem of finding a suitable
equivalence. They should choose the most common expressions
in order to make the target text understandable. They must use

3
common words and common contractions. They have to focus
on content words as nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs. They ought
to transfer the whole text except in some cases when it requires
a summery translation. Media translators should have special
dictionaries to find the right meaning and use it. They should be
adequate/natural in translating so that the translated texts become
acceptable.
https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/jspui/bitstream/10539/2044/4/
MarusL_Chapter%203.pdf

4
 Question Three
What are the general principles of media
translation?

Answer:
(1) If the sentence has an ambiguous meaning in the source
language (which means it has multiple meanings for a grammatical
or a lexical reason). Then the media translator has to remove its
ambiguity in the target language if possible.
(2) The media translator better transmit the effect that was
meant by the author of the source language, he has knowledge
about it. Was the author mad, sarcastic or vivid? This comes with
practice and experience with both languages.
(3) The media translator has to fully understand the text before
translating. There is no benefit of a translation that is based on a
weird understanding of the text.

5
 (4) The media translator has to commit to the used terms in
the target language. The importance of this principle grows larger
in the specific texts in science, law or others. Making new terms
won’t work, you must commit to the common terms in the target
language to achieve lingual understanding.
(5) The origin of translation is to commit to the source text and
this is called literal translation, If not the media translator has to
translate meaning.
(6) The translator has to stick to a permanent translation to a
certain term if the translator translates X to Y in a sentence then he
has to use X instead of Y every time in the source text to achieve
consistency.
(7) Digit numbers (like 300) must be translated into a digit
number (300) and written numbers to written numbers like three
hundred to ‫ثالث مئة‬.
(8) In some cases the term stays the same like phoneme (‫)فونيم‬,
fax stays (‫)فاكس‬.
(9) The noticeable phrase or word in the source language must
be kept in the target language. Like words in bold or italic can be
made with the same way or underline it in the target language. A
book’s title that is written in italic can be translated into Arabic by
underlining it.

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 (10) Before translating the first sentence in a text, the media
translator must read the whole text to have a general idea about the
subject which makes it easier to translate.
(11)Text words are of two types: content words and function
words. The translator has to render the content words (nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs), but he doesn’t have to translate the function
words (to, a, an, the..) directly because they’re different.
(12).If the translator wanted to add a word of his own to the
original text, he has to put it between brackets like: there is a lot of
(Bacteria) in the human body.
(13) If the translator wanted to explain the text by a long
addition or commenting, then he has to put a footnote instead of
putting it in the original text.
(14) If the target language has a lot of equivalents for a certain
term, an advantage is given to the most common or the most precise.
(15) After the first translation, the media translator has to review
the text to ensure its integrity in terms of grammar, spelling and
punctuation, and to solve any stylistic inconveniences.
(16) The translator has to avoid making acronyms on his own
which are considered unusual because this ruins the connection
between the translator and the reader. However, the media translator
may, in limited cases, create an abbreviation after clarifying the

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economy of expression if the term re-appears several times, for
example ALC (Arab League Charter).
(17) If acronyms occurred in source language, the translator has
to transform it to whole words in the target language like: VIP (very
important person). But common acronyms like (AIDS) do not have
to be translated, it can remain as it is in the source language (AIDS).
In some cases it is permissible to combine the abbreviation with its
translation, such as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
(18) The translator keeps the borders of the text which means
one paragraph begins in the source language just like the target
language. And by doing so, the paragraphs of the source language
are matched with those on target language from start to finish.
(19) In external punctuating (using punctuation marks at the
end of sentence), the two texts have to match from start to finish.
Dots, question marks, exclamation marks, quotation marks and
commas do stay with small difference in shape.
(20) In internal punctuating (using punctuation marks in the
middle and not at the end), languages may differ in the provisions
of this punctuating. Like using commas in Arabic is different from
its usage in English.
(21) In punctuating direct talk we use quotation marks in
English, like, he said, « .» ‫قال‬: « .» and by that, It is proven
that they are indeed different.

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 (22) Normally, proper noun cannot be translated. So, ‫محمد‬
remains Muhammad and cannot be translated to «the praised»,
Peter is translated into(‫ )بيتر‬or (‫ )بطرس‬not to (‫)الصخرة‬. However, if
it was a geographical compound proper noun, then it is better to
be translated. Such as «the Pacific Ocean» is translated into (‫المحيط‬
‫)الهادي‬, and «the Red Sea» translated into (‫)البحر األحمر‬.
(23) If the translator was translating a specialized text, he has
to use specialized dictionaries like medical, geometric or legal
text, because regular dictionaries will not help him in a specialized
translation. Regular dictionary is helpful in translating general text.
(24) Translator has to seek accuracy in translation. Especially in
translating the approximated terms that have close meanings, but
not the same forms.
(25) Translator should not guess the meaning of a word before
checking the dictionary, except if he was interpreting simultaneously
or consecutively. In this case, he has no other choice but guessing.
However if he was translating, then he has no excuse if he did not
use the dictionary to make sure the meaning.
(26) We rarely find a word with one meaning because meanings
are much more than words in all languages. Words are polysemous,
Translator’s duty is to understand the intended meanings in the
source language to chose an equivalent in the target language. And

9
this is the hard challenge in translation: to understanding the text of
the source language and make an equivalent in the target language.
(27) Sometimes it is impossible to produce a perfect translation,
but satisfactory translation is always possible. It requires precision,
knowledge and experience.
(28) Prose is translated into prose. Poetry is either translated
into poetry if it was possible or to prose, if it was not possible.
(29) Translator should have a good command on both languages:
source and target language. Mastering the source language to
understand the text and mastering the target language to write
using it. Obviously, not mastering the first one would make the
second unclear, and not mastering, the second one would make
the writing full of mistakes. Things would be terribly bad if the
translator was bad in the two languages: here many mistakes would
emerge in understanding the source language, and a lot of mistakes
in expressing it in the target language.
(30) In specialized translation, like medical and geometric
translation, it is better for the translator, beside mastering the two
languages, he has to have a knowledge in the field he is translating
from and into. We can call the knowledge in the field as the
specialized knowledge and the knowledge of the two languages as
the linguistic knowledge, for example, medical knowledge does not

10
make the doctor a translator. However linguistic knowledge may
take the place of specialized knowledge. Therefore, the translator
can translate a medical text without being specialized in medicine.
Best translators are these who have the specialized and linguistic
knowledge, certainly, but such translators are rare.
(31) Translation process is a process of making decisions in
every moment, so translator has to make a decision every time he
translates a word. Of course, good decision making depends on
translator’s linguistic ability and his knowledge in translation. In
many situations, the process of translating recalls a retry, which
means translating forward then back ward then forward, until the
translator feels that his product is settled and became satisfactory
semantically and syntactically.
(32) For the Arab student, translating from English into Arabic
is much more easier than translation from Arabic into English,
because translating from English requires an English, understanding
and an Arabic expressing, however translating from Arabic requires
an Arabic understanding and an English expressing. The difficulty
of the first one is the English understanding. And difficulty of the
second is more difficult than understanding, in most of the cases.
http://un.uobasrah.edu.iq/lectures/12719.pdf
http://qutranslation.weebly.com/principles-of-translation.html

11
 Question Four

What are the Types and Causes of Translation

Errors?

Answer:
Translation is a process of changing an original text from one
language into another. Nowadays its role is important in almost
every single aspect of human’s life. Since its role becomes more vital,
the quality of the result of translation must be qualified as well.
Doing translation is not an easy task; it is a combination of skill
and art. The translators should have enough knowledge about the
important aspects from both source language and target language.
However there are still many difficulties appear while doing
translation. Those difficulties lead the translators make errors while
translating. After reviewing some research conducted, the lecturer
gives figures to the types of translation errors and the causes, which
lead the errors done by many translators.

12
 The most dominant types of errors in translation experienced by
the translators lie in surface structure such as
1. semantic, lexical, morphology, and grammar errors.
However another type of errors in translation lies in deep structure
which is connected with
2. culture differences between both source and target language.
The second figure is about the causes of errors in translation. The
most common causes is
1. lack of knowledge about linguistic aspect of the target language
can cause the errors.
Another primary factor is
2. the anxiety of the translators themselves causes the errors in
translation.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347653569_An_
Analysis_of_Types_And_Causes_of_Translation_Errors

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 Question Five

What are the unique features of news headlines?

Answer:
News headlines have some unique features that characterize
them from other forms. These techniques are intended to make
such an impact on readers, so they will be interested in reading
the body of the news articles. The news headlines can reveal much
about the aims of an individual paper. They are closely related to
their purpose.
With a minimum of words, news headlines aim at getting the
courtesy of readers. The news headlines’ shape, structure, and
choice of words play a central role in attracting the readers and
thus manipulating the choice of articles because the aim is to win
potential customers. The idea that a writer wants to express is
governed by the words and expressions he/she uses for the news
headlines and by the audience, he/she is targeting.

14
 It becomes clear that the language of the news headlines
is not innocent; because it violates a great deal of the linguistic
standard rules in order to achieve a special effect. That is to say, it
is manipulated, reconstructed and loaded with several concepts and
stances. This control is achieved by editors or translators.
https://talpykla.elaba.lt/elaba-fedora/objects/elaba:8740579/
datastreams/MAIN/content
https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/
headlines-change-way-think
https://www.iasj.net/iasj/download/8ff73ccdf34cb359

15
 Question Six
How could «ellipses» feature raise the curiosity
of the reader in the news headlines?

Answer:
As started previously, news headlines have a distinct type of
register that incorporates several features on the top of which is
ellipsis. This feature is intended to raise the curiosity of the reader
in identifying what is missing and finalizing his interest to the very
end of the article.
Usually, the words omitted from the news headlines include
function words (grammatical words that don’t carry content
meaning and their purpose is to add to the syntax rather than the
sense of a sentence), such as determiners (some, this, that, the, a,
more, much, either, neither), pronouns (he, they, it), auxiliary verbs
(be, is, am, are), punctuation marks and titles (Mrs., sir, lord).

16
 For example:
«Bangladesh arrests 900 crackdown on Islamic militants».
If this news headline converted into a proper sentence, then the
sentence would read:
«Bangladesh police say they have arrested 900 people as part of a
crackdown on militants following a series of deadly attacks».
https://www.iasj.net/iasj/download/8ff73ccdf34cb359
https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/2865810672818/1/.pdf

17
 Question Seven
Why is a «play on words» or pun feature
considered as a substantial part of other news
headlines’ ones?

Answer:
A substantial part of news headlines language is word play
or pun. For example, morphological features are used in order to
save space which is limited in news headlines. Syntactical as well
as lexical and compositional features call the attention to words or
word phrases. All of these features are combined together in order
to make the article as interesting as possible, to shock or surprise
the reader by the unusual, vivid and colorful language. Words that
refer to different meanings in English can be used in a comical and
entertaining way.
An example would be:
Police found drunk in street

18
 This headline plays with the word «drunk».
It can have two different meanings:
One is that,
The Police were found drunk in the street.
The other is that,
The police found a drunk man in the street.
Another example,
Mom watches as cruise sail away with kids on board
When reading it, one would have the impression that:
The ship takes the children away on purpose.
But when the reader reads the rest of the article, he will know
that:
It was the mother’s fault because she didn’t get on board before
the deadline the cruise ship has made clear for every passenger on
board.
http://rapodar.ac.in/pdf/elearn/
JournalismSem4Notesforstudents.pdf

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 Question Eight
Why is a «Noun Strings» feature regarded as an
important part of news headlines’ language?

Answer:
A noun string is a term for a series of nouns or other words, all
of which modify the final noun. For example, in the noun string
«U.S. energy consumption» the nouns «U.S.» and «energy» modify
the final noun «consumption.»
Another common headline form is a string of three, four or
more nouns together (i.e. Country Leader Question Time). These
can be difficult because the words don’t appear related by verbs or
adjectives.
In the case of noun strings, it’s helpful to try to connect the
ideas by reading backward. For example:
Mustang Referral Customer Complaint

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 By reading backward, one can guess that: There is a complaint
made by a customer about a referral program for Mustang cars. Of
course, you need to use your imagination for this!
Since connecting elements such as prepositions or apostrophes
are omitted from noun strings, translators/readers must infer the
relationship between the words. If the string is fairly short and the
reader is already familiar with the field, he or she will probably be
able to interpret a noun string without too much difficulty. When
strings become longer than three words, they can make readers
labor. This is particularly true when the reader is not already
familiar with the subject or technical domain.
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Some+typical+linguistic+featur
es+of+English+newspaper+headlines.-a0370320723

21
 Question Nine

Why are «Alliteration and Assonance» considered

as a primary framework of the headline writing
techniques?
Answer:
It is very important for the readers to study and to understand
the headlines. Word choice often results in an exaggeration of the
meaning; short and rhyming words are preferred.
Alliteration is the repeated occurrence of a consonant sound
at the beginning of several words such as in the headline, «Two
rangers shot, beheaded, burned. Beheaded and burned repeat and
emphasize the consonant sound /b/ in the headline. Alliteration
takes place when preliminary consonants sound in two or more
adjacent words or syllables are repeated.
Similarly, assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds to create
internal rhyming. For example, the headline, Tony’s phoney- war
cabinet, employs assonance of the vowel sounds of /o/ and /ɪ/ to
create a memorable headline.

22
 This type of gimmicks is often used in poetry as well as
newspapers. Newspapers use it to draw reader’s attention and make
it more outstanding.
http://thesis.swu.ac.th/swuthesis/Eng(M.A.)/Nita_P.pdf
https://w w w.ac ademi a.e du/3389375/
Focus_on_form_Foregrounding_devices_in_football_reporting

23
 Question Ten

Why is vagueness regarded as the most prominent

technique in News headline writing?

Answer:
News headlines do not only present summarized information,
but also attract readers by giving a sense of excitement and
entertainment while reading. Headline writing techniques include
the use of words with emotional charge to enhance the attractiveness
of headlines. For example, headlines become more interesting and
memorable with the use of repeating consonant or vowel sounds
within phrases or sentences. The use of idioms is also interesting for
readers. For example, using phrases such as being in hot water adds
more color and depth to the literal meaning of being in trouble.
Vagueness may be the most prominent technique in headline
writing. If the news headline has an ambiguous meaning in the
source language (which means it has multiple meanings for a
grammatical or a lexical reason). In being ambiguous, thus, making

24
the reader wondering if there is more information to reveal. For
example, in the Arabic version, we read:
‫بغداد وطهران في يوم القدس…مواقف ورموز متشابهه‬..‫بالصور‬
Any reader would wonder what those «‫ »مواقف‬are. When we
read the article it refers to:
‫الرموز التي رفعت أو احترقت أو أهينت من قبل المحتفلين‬
Another common news headline form causes vagueness/ lexical
ambiguity (i.e. Ex- minister slams govt priorities). In this headline,
slams has two closely related meanings: One means to criticize and
the second means to shut something forcefully. In this case, the first
meaning implies that the government priorities were criticized by
the ex- minister.
The difficulty of news headline translating is interpreting the
main point of the entire article in just a few words that fit the
limited space of the page. Then the media translator has to make
the reader wonder about the information to reveal in the target
language if possible.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331876605_
Ambiguity_in_News_Headlines_A_Psycholinguistic_Study
https://meu.edu.jo/libraryTheses/5a15590a3e248_1.pdf

25
 Question Eleven

Why is verb changes and lexical density regarded

as one of the important features in news headline
writing?

Answer:
Verb changes and lexical density is one of the important features
used by news writers to draw the reader’s attention. The lexical
density is a measure of the density of information in any news
headline, according to how tightly the lexical items (content words)
have been packed into the grammatical structure. Verbs are often
changed in news headlines. For example, the simple tense is used
instead of the continuous or perfect tense and the infinitive is used
for the future.
Loaded (content) words are often used in news headlines to carry
specific strong implication. That is to say, they carry an emotional
load beyond their literal meaning. They attempt to influence
readers by appealing to emotion. They have strong emotional

26
overtones or connotations, which evoke strong positive or negative
reactions beyond their literal meaning. In the headline, «Genius
rev butchered at church», butchered means to slaughter and cut up
an animal. When it is applied to a human being, it carries both the
meaning of cruel violence and also implies that the killer must have
seen the victim as having the same status as an animal.
Having listed the most recognizable characteristics of the
headlines, it becomes clear that the language of the news discourse
is not innocent. For example, in the Arabic version, we read:
‫ مدينه مفخخة بالموت وتحذيرات من عودة النازحين‬..‫الرمادي‬
In this headline, the original headline appears to be a very
strong warning sign giving the impression that (AL Ramadi is a
death trap for anyone who wants to enter it).
http://repository.umsu.ac.id/bitstream/1234567891/98//
Lexical%20Density%20Analysis%20And%20Its%20Function%20
In%20Bbc%20News.pdf
https://www.iasj.net/iasj/download/52c06237da0a51ee
https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijhsse/v2-i12/.pdf

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