Translation and the Development of the Arabic Language: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Volume 2|Issue 6| Autumn 2013 |Articles

Abstract

​In this paper, Hamzé provides a thorough investigation into the intrinsic challenges to the field of translation. This analysis draws on linguistic diversity as a means for motivating interconnection, and demonstrates how when two languages are brought into contact, each of them leaves its imprint on the other through borrowing and developing new terms. In this regard, translation has a positive impact on the linguistic renewal and development of a language, though the excessive lexical borrowing, the anarchic creation of technical terms, semantic overload, and the overlapping use of terms remain problematic. Hamzé notes how, contrary to modern trends in translation, translation into Arabic has historically restricted the borrowing of terminology to the natural sciences, medicine and chemistry in particular, but rarely did so in the field of humanities. Today, the Arab language is loaded with borrowed concepts and terminology in both fields. Thus, Hamzé stresses how Arabic must once again enrich its lexicon and supplement it with the means to absorb developments taking place in other languages. This means that the pitfalls and faults in modern translation, in addition to its poor record in language and discourse, must be avoided. The author exemplifies this by pointing out how translations simply swap a technical term in the source language for a technical term in the target language. To the author, this mechanism risks providing incorrect translations since this approach concentrates on the lexical, rather than discourse, level. Such an approach fails to make the transmission of the sense of the text its main task, with the focus placed, instead, on making words in the native language correspond to words in a foreign language.

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Professor in Arabic studies at the Lumière University Lyon 2 , and Director of the Research Center for Arabic Linguistics. His work focuses on Arabic linguistics, the Arabic grammatical tradition, and terminological and translation theory. He was born in Lebanon.

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