Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Ministry of Education
Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University

Introduction to Translation
(Tran111)

Grammar and Translation

Part 1
 Introduction

The way words are combined together (i.e. structural behavior) produces meanings
that are not transparent in individual words. e.g. Ahmad needs a hand. So
1- translators should have adequate knowledge of the structure and patterning of
both the SL and TL.
2- Translators should be aware of the differences between the grammatical system
of the SL and TL in order to be able to solve the problems that they may face during
the translation process. e.g. big house vs. ‫منزل كبير‬
3-Moreover, they should be able to use good structure and correct grammar in
order to convey the meaning correctly.
 In English, the following points may cause
translation problems to novice translators:
1- Sentence structure
2- Word Order
3- Order of Adjectives
4- Parts of Speech
5- Nouns
6- Proper Nouns
 1-Sentence Structure
Unlike English, Arabic is a synthetic language; it allows pronouns to
combine with words forming one single word. Such personal pronouns
can be suffixed to nouns, verbs or particles.
e.g. ‫ إليها أو فيه‬،‫ يكتب أو يكتبون‬، ‫كتابها أوكتابه‬
We may form an Arabic word representing a whole sentence.
‫ضربوك‬ They hit you
‫ ترسمها‬،‫ يشربه‬،‫منزله‬...
 Sentence Structure
Also, word order in Arabic is more flexible than in English. The
grammatical functions in English are mainly based on the word order.
For example the verb is often, but not always, preceded by a subject and
followed by an object. In Arabic, on the other hand, you can identify any
grammatical function throughout the sentence by the inflection it carries.
( ‫ ضرب القَط الكلُب )العالمة اإلعرابية‬which one is the subject?
E.g. " ‫ “ َو ِإِذ اْبَتَلىٰ ِإْبَر اِه يَم رَُّبُه ِبَكِلَم اٍت َف َأَتَّم ُهَّن‬the object is fronted. It
precedes the subject.
S. obj. V.
 Sentence structure:
In English, there are seven types of basic clauses:
1- SVA Mary is in the house. A=adverbial phrase

2- SVC Mary is kind. C= complement (refers to S.)

3- SVO Somebody caught the ball. O= object
4- SVOA I put the plate on the table.
5- SVOC We have proved him wrong. (Comp. refers to O.)
6- SVOO She gives me expensive presents.
7- SV The child laughed.
What is an adverbial phrase?
This section is optional. You don't need to know this for the exam!
An adverbial phrase is a group of words that function as an adverb.
Like adverbs, adverbial phrases serve a range of
functions, some of them are: Time & Place
Some adverbial phrases include prepositional phrases. i.e. They
start with prepositions. As in the following examples:
Time: in the afternoon / after lunch break / before bedtime/ in
three hours / after the game
Place: in the park / at school / on the chair / on Saturday
mornings / in the city /on the table …
Exercise 1: (group work)
1. Decide what kind of basic clause each sentence represents.
SVA – SVC – SVO – SVOA – SVOC – SVOO - SV
1. I cooked lunch.
2. Ahmad felt sick.
3. The movie finished at 10 p.m.
4. I left my phone on the shelf.
5. I bought Nora a ticket.
6. They crowned him king.
 Sentence Structure
In Arabic, on the other hand, the canonical structure of a
sentence is VSO ‫يشاهد الولد التلفاز‬
The alternative basic order ( SVO) ‫ الولد يشاهد التلفاز‬is also
acceptable under certain conditions and for reasons.
(‫)إياك نعبد‬ You ( alone) we worship (OVS)
The pronoun that preceded the verb refers to Allah to exclude any
other one from the act of worshipping.
 2. Sentence structure & Word Order
So, in general, the translator should not be restricted to the word
order of the ST unless there is a rationale behind this order.
Examples:
.‫شاهد اللَّص الولدان‬ = . ‫شاهد الولدان اللَّص‬
‫ الولدان‬is the subject and ‫ اللص‬is the object. Look at the
diacritics.
But this is not the case in English. Changing word
.order would result in a change in the meaning
.The two boys saw the thief. = The thief saw the two boys
Exercise 2: (group work)

2. True or False?

a. English allows pronouns to combine with words forming one single

word. ( )
b. In Arabic, you can identify any grammatical function throughout the
sentence by its inflection. ( )
c. The canonical structure of a sentence in English is VSO. ( )
 2-Word Order
In Arabic In English
Sentence structure is mainly In English, on the other hand, every
based on diacritics/inflection, word has a certain position and we
it is a synthetic language. You cannot put any word that separates
can put any word anywhere immediate constituents. We cannot
inside the sentence boundary as separate the S from V or the V from
long as diacritics are O. Other information should be
considered. placed initially or finally. (explained in
the fol. slide)
 In English, we can’t separate immediate constituents
In English, other information should be placed initially or finally.
1. ST: ‫كنت متأخرا لحسن الحظ ذلك اليوم‬. Incorrect TT: I fortunately
was late.
Correct TT: Fortunately, I was late.
2. ST: ‫نال الفريق هذا الموسم ثمانية هزائم متتابعة‬.
Incorrect TT: The team this season had 8 successive defeats.
Correct TT: This season, the team had 8 successive defeats.
Yet, phrases like in my opinion, as far as I am concerned, in my view, luckily,
unfortunately, must be placed initially (at the beginning)
Incorrect: The train luckily was late.
Correct TT: ?
I had in the morning milk. × It’s wrong because we cannot separate immediate constituents.
 Exercise 3: (individual work)

1. True or false?
• The translator should not be restricted to the word order of the ST. ( )
• In English, sentence structure is mainly based on diacritics. ( )

2. Correct the following translation:

• ST: ‫كان القطار متأخرا لحسن لحظ‬.
TT: The train luckily was late.
Correct TT: ………………………………
 3-Order of Adjectives
• In English, if we have more than one adjective, we should follow a
certain pattern, as in:
”a nice old bag “
Not “ an old nice bag”.

• In Arabic, on the other hand, we can put these adjectives in whatever

order we like, as in: ‫حقيبة جميلة قديمة‬
Or ‫حقيبة قديمة جميلة‬.
 The sequence of adjectives in English is:
1- adjectives of opinion or feelings. E.g. I have a lovely car.
nice, beautiful, terrible, awesome, great..
2- adjectives of size. E.g. I have a lovely small car.
big, tiny, huge, vast..
3- adjectives of age. E.g. I have a lovely small old car.
new, recent, old, ancient
4- adjectives of shape. E.g. I have a lovely small old round car.
oval, square, shallow, flat..
 The sequence of adjectives in English is:
5- adjectives of color. E.g. I have a lovely small old round red car.
blue, black, coral, pink..
6- adjectives of nationality. E.g. I have a lovely small old round red German car.
Saudi, Brazilian, British, Egyptian, Cambodian..
7- adjectives of material. E.g. I have a lovely small old round red German iron car.
gold, copper, silver, wooden, stone..
8- adjectives of type. E.g. I have a lovely small old round red German iron sports car.
duffel (bag), tote (bag), hardback (book), personal (computer)..
 The sequence of adjectives in English is:
The more modifying the adjectives to the head (noun) the closer they
are to it.
What is the difference in translating the following sentences:
1- I bought a golden Swiss watch. ‫اشتريت ساعة ذهبية اللون‬
‫سويسرية‬.
2- I bought a Swiss golden watch.
‫اشتريت ساعة سويسرية من الذهب‬
.‫مطلية بالذهب‬/
 Exercise 4: (individual work)

Rewrite the following phrases in the correct order.

• little – nice- newborn cat
• velvet, elegant, new dress
• red, heart-shaped, amazing balloon
 4- Parts of Speech
English phrases and sentences are composed of units that are called
parts of speech. There are ten categories of parts of speech in English:
Nouns (John, room) Demonstratives (that, this)
Adjectives (happy, large) Pronouns (he, they, her)
Adverbs (really, then, very) Prepositions (of, at, in)
Verbs (grow, play) Conjunctions (and, that, when)
Articles (the an, a) Interjections (phew, ugh, oh)

*Refer to the book, page 110 for examples.

 6- Nouns: 5-Nouns
Nouns can be of many kinds:
- Proper & Common
- Abstract & Concrete
- Countable & Uncountable
- Singular & Plural
Concrete nouns modify things that exists in the real world, things you can touch, see
or smell (people, animals, physical objects).
Abstract nouns are concepts that cannot be touched, seen, or smelled (education,
democracy, hope).
 Nouns (Abstract vs. Concrete)
Abstract & Concrete Nouns:
The use of articles with abstract & concrete nouns in English is different from that in
Arabic.
English articles: the, a , an, & zero article.
Arabic articles:‫ والنكرة بال أداة‬+ ‫أل التعريف للمعرفة‬
ST: Democracy in Egypt started in the 21st century. (zero article for democracy)
TT: ‫ (أل التعر يف مع كلمة‬.‫بدأت الديموقراطية في مصر في القرن الواحد والعشرين‬
)‫الديموقراطية‬
In this example, the abstract noun “democracy” in English has no article, whereas the
abstract noun "‫"الديموقراطية‬: in Arabic followed the definite article "‫"أل التعريف‬
 Nouns (Countable vs. Non-countable)
Countable & Uncountable Nouns:
Translators must know that some nouns are countable in Arabic but not in English.
• ‫ واجبات‬- ‫ واجب‬homework
• ‫ أضرار‬- ‫ضرر‬harm
• ‫سلوك – سلوكيات‬behavior

Exercise: True or false?

• The translation of "‫ "سلوكيات‬is behaviors. ( )
 7-Proper Nouns
8- Proper nouns
• There are two major approaches for translating proper names
that are commonly used in English and Arabic literature,
especially in the religious domain.

1. Translation. ‫ دمشق‬Damascus
2. Transcription / Transliteration. ‫ نورة‬Nourah
 Proper nouns: Translation
Religious Proper Nouns:
Some religious terms have counterparts/equivalents in the target language, so
we follow the same pattern.

E.g. ‫ عيسى‬،‫ موسى‬،‫ يعقوب‬،‫إبراهيم‬ Abraham, Jacob, Moses,

Jesus
 Proper nouns: Transcription /Transliteration
• If the translator thinks that translation would affect the
established concepts negatively, he/she would use
transliteration/ transcription.
1. Muslim translators tend to use transliteration to avoid any
distorted stories about prophets, messengers or other religious
figures, and to stress the differences between the two cultures.
E.g. ‫ إبراهيم‬is transliterated into Ibrahim not Abraham.
And ‫ عيسى‬becomes Essa, not Jesus.
 Proper nouns: Transcription /Transliteration
2. However, if the translator needs to bridge the gap between the two
cultures, s/he would resort to translation.
• As in translating ‫ عيسى‬into Jesus, and ‫ يعقوب‬into Jacob…

Exercise: True or false?

a. If the translator needs to bridge the gap between the two cultures, s/he
would use transliteration when translating prophets names. ( )
b. If the translator thinks that translation would affect the established
concepts negatively, he/she would use transliteration/ transcription. (
)
Proper nouns:
Names of cities, seas, and rivers:
1. Use the exact equivalent.
E.g. ‫ الدار البيضاء‬،‫ حلب‬،‫ اإلسكندرية‬،‫ البحر العربي‬،‫الجزائر‬
Algeria, Arabian Sea, Alexandria, Aleppo, Casablanca.
2. Other cities which have no equivalents should be transliterated.
E.g. ‫ ضرما‬،‫ حي السالم‬،‫مدينة نصر‬
Nasr City, Al-Salam Locality/District, Dhurma
Proper nouns: The names of squares, roads,
streets, hospitals, universities, and stores:
Usually, they have two parts: the modifying part is translated and the
second part is transliterated.
1. ‫طريق السالم‬ Al-Salam Road
2. ‫شارع رمسيس‬ Ramses Street
3. ‫مستشفى الهدى‬ Al-Huda Hospital
4. ‫ جامعة األزهر‬Al-Azhar University
5. ‫سوبر ماركت األمانة‬Al-Amanah Supermarket
 Proper nouns:
Names of companies and Organizations:
Names of companies and organizations must be used in translation
without any change. (exact equivalence)
Which translation strategy is this?
United Nations ‫الأمم المتحدة‬
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ‫الوكالة الدولية للطاقة الذرية‬
Middle East Quartet ‫لجنة الشرق األوسط الرباعية‬
 Exercise 5: (group work)

True or false?
1. "‫ "حي الورود‬is translated into “Flowers District”. (
)
2. "‫ "جامعة النور‬is translated into “Alnoor University”. (
)

Correct the following translation:

3. ST: ‫يقع منزلي في حي الورود‬.
4. TT: My house is located in the Flowers District.
 Homework 4 (Unit 3 Part 1)

1. Translate the following sentence:

‫زرت الجزائر والدار البيضاء األسبوع الماضي‬.
……………………………………..
2. Decide whether the following statements are true or
false:
1. Word order in English is more flexible than in Arabic.
( )
2. In Arabic, the most common structure of a sentence
is SVO. ( )
3. Rewrite the following phrase in the correct
order.
 Homework 4 (Unit 3 Part 1)

4. Correct the following translations:

A. ST: ‫ كلمة‬500 ‫يقرأ يوسف كل يوم‬.
Incorrect TT: Joseph reads 500 words everyday.
Correct TT: ………………………………….
B. ST: ‫تناولت أمل في الصباح شطيرة‬.
Incorrect TT: Amal in the morning had a sandwich.
Correct TT: ………………………………….