Objetivos sobre actitudes: saber ser

The second group of the shifts in cultural presupposition arouses from differences in traditions and religious beliefs between the source and the target cultures. The interpretation of the source message, or its appropriateness to the target culture, may

sometimes depend on an understanding of the values, norms, and beliefs of the source culture. Therefore if the source and target cultures differ with respect to these values and beliefs, the intended message of the source text may run the risk of being wrongly interpreted or being inappropriate within the source language context (see Fawcett 1997, 1998, Ping 1999 and Al-Qinai 2008, Section 2.4.3.2). Observe the following three examples.

38. ST: “My amiable lady!” he interrupted, with an almost diabolical sneer on his face.

“Where is she - my amiable lady?” (…)

Perceiving myself in a blunder, I attempted to correct it. I might have seen there was too great a disparity between the ages of the parties … (CH 2: 10)

Naseem TT: wa-adraktu annanī qad irtakabtu khaṭa’an jasīmin, fa-ḥāwaltu iṣlāḥahu, kāna yanbaghī ’an ’udrika dhālika al-farqa al-kabīra fī al-‘umri baynahumā, ... (28)

[Gloss: I realized that I made a big mistake, so I tried to fix it. I should have seen that big difference in the age between them]

39. ST: “For shame, Heathcliff!” said I. “It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.” (CH 7: 55)

Naseem TT: annā allāha waḥdahu kafīlun bi-‘iqābi al-ashrāra, … (71) [Gloss: it is only Allah who is responsible for punishing the wicked people]

Haqi TT: annā allāha waḥdahu huwa alladhī yū‘āqibu al-ashrāri, … [Gloss: it is only Allah who punishes the wicked people] (75)

40. ST: I joined my wail to theirs, loud and bitter; but Joseph asked what we could be thinking of to roar in that way over a saint in heaven. (CH 5: 39)

Murad TT: ghayra anna jūzif sa’alanā ‘ammā naqṣiduhu min za’īri ‘alā hādhā al-naḥwi fawqa qiddīsin rufi‘a ilā al-samā’!

[Gloss: but Joseph asked what we mean by roaring this way over a saint who has been ascended into the sky] (42)

Haqi TT: ammā yūsif; fa-qad ṭalaba minnā al-kaf ‘an al-bukā’i ‘alā hādhā al-naḥwi wa-alṣyāḥi ‘alā qiddīsin fī al-jannah.

[Gloss: but Joseph asked us to stop crying this way over a saint in heaven] (53)

In Example (38), during his visit to Wuthering Heights, Mr. Lockwood thought Mr.

Heathcliff’s daughter-in-law, Cathy, Mr. Heathcliff’s wife and asked if they were happy with each other, which made Mr. Heathcliff get angry. Mr. Lockwood then realized that he should have noticed the big difference in their ages (over 23 years) which did not make them look like a couple, presupposing that in his community there should not be usually a big age disparity between man and wife. However, what is presupposed in the target culture may differ here from this cultural presupposition. In many Arab communities, many old men, to renew their lives, tend to marry a second or third wife, often a young widow or divorced woman, and therefore such a marriage in which the age between the couple is greatly disparate may be quite common and may not thus violate people’s expectations. So this difference in cultural presupposition may make the target reader not understand the misunderstanding that happened between Mr. Lockwood and Mr. Heathcliff or Mr. Lockwood’s point of view and his feelings in the event.

In (39), Heathcliff is angry with Hindley and tells Mrs. Dean that he is plotting revenge against him. She tells him not to do so because God is the one who will punish Hindley. The translation of the word “God” here creates a shift in understanding the concept which the original word refers to. Despite the differences in Christian denominations, Christians very generally believe that God is a trinity (three persons in one being), which is God the father, God the son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit, which is referred to by the word “God” (Eller 2007: 41). But for Muslims, God is only one and who is always referred to by using the word “Allah”. As the two given translations show, the word “God” is translated into Arabic in as “allāh” (Allah, The God), though it has a reference in the target culture that is different from the original, but keeps the message natural to the target reader.

In (40) Mrs. Dean says that when Mr. Earnshaw died, everybody started crying and wailing. Joseph asked then to stop crying over Mr. Earnshaw, because he is now a saint in heaven. The source expression “a saint in heaven” contains some underlying religious assumptions, which can differ from those presupposed in the target culture.

The word “saints” can refer in Christianity to any righteous or pious people who follow

Jesus Christ and his teachings, and the word “heaven” to the abode of those righteous people after death. However, Muslims use the term “mu’min” to refer the pious person who follows the teachings of the religion, and believe that the place which all dead will stay in after death is the grave in earth, which is an intermediate stage before the resurrection of all dead people (see Eller 2007: 36-38). Such differences in religious belief suggest that the literal translation of the expression “a saint in heaven”, as in the two given translations, may be inappropriate to the target reader, and may make the message run the risk of being lost too if the target reader is not familiar with the presupposition of the original.