A sentence is made up of two essential constituent phrases: the subject and the predicate. But we can augment this basic structure with optional modifiers, such as prepositional phrases, adverbial phrases, and embedded clauses. The rules that determine the order of these phrases vary across languages, resulting in sentence- level structural gaps. For example, Arabic allows a sentence to start with the verb rather than the subject, but English does not. This kind of structural mismatch is not problematic for transla-tion because we can easily switch the order of the subject and the verb in the same way we switch the order of nouns and their modifying adjectives.
However, there are many cases in which a simple switch is not an option because the result is either ungrammatical or functionally inadequate, as in (2). The subject of this sentence is the clause starting with
لحي نأ
that they arrive, whereas the predicate is the sentence- initial prepositional phraseنم رظتنملا
lit. from what is expected. Obviously, we cannot start the translation with a clausal subject because this is ungrammatical in English, and we cannot maintain the structure of the source sentence either. We have seen in earlier discussions that a prepositional phrase of this type can be translated using an it- cleft construction followed by an adjectival passive or an adjec-tive. Applying this translation strategy yields it is expected that, as in the close translation in (2a), which is still a work in progress..19067 ددعلا ،2008 وينوي 9 ،)سنوت( حابصلا ةديرج )
2( يناملأ حئاس 7500 ةمداقلا ةليلقلا مايلأا يف اننيب لحي نأ رظتنملا نم اوزاتجا نمم ةنس نيرشعلا مهنس زواجتي لا نيذلا بابشلا نيب نم يواسمنو .ايرولاكبلا ةرظانم مهنادلب يف مايأ ذنم
(2a) It is expected that 7,500 German and Austrian tourists among the youths whose age does not exceed twenty years among those who passed a few days ago the high school examinations in their home countries will arrive among us in the next few days.
Let us turn now to the subject clause, which starts with
لحي نأ
that they arrive and extends to the end of the sentence. The subject of this clause is the noun phraseيواسمنو يناملأ حئاس 7,500
7,500 German and Austrian tour-ists with its modifiers, whereas the predicate is the verb phrase starting withلحي
arrive. The complementizerنأ
that/to requires the verb–first word order, which we can switch, but the problem is that the subject is modified by the prepositional phraseبابشلا نيب نم
from among the youth, which is in turn modified by the relative clauseةنس نيرشعلا مهنس زواجتي لا نيذلا
whose age does not exceed twenty years and yet another modifier, namely,اوزاتجا نمم ايرولاكبلا ةرظانم مهنادلب يف مايأ ذنم
lit. from among those who passed a few days ago in their home countries the high school exams. Although reversing the order of the subject and the predicate is grammatical, the translation is still far from sounding natural because of the stacked modifiers that separate the subject and the predicate. Besides, English does not allow modifier phrases to intervene between verbs and their direct objects, as in who passed a few days ago in their home countries the high school exams. We need to further reconstruct the translation in ways that help avoid these problems. One way of doing so is to split the sentence into two, while using the relative clause whose age does not exceed twenty years as a modifier for the main noun tourists in the first sentence. In order to maintain the cohesion of the text, we can add a demonstrative phrase, such as those tourists, at the beginning of the second sentence, in which we include the rest of the modifiers in the revised order, as in (2b).(2b) It is expected that 7,500 German and Austrian tourists, whose age does not exceed twenty years, will arrive among us in the next few days. These tourists are among the youths who passed the high school exams in their home countries a few days ago.
The translation in (2b) is grammatical, but it still needs work. For one thing, we used the it- cleft in the first sentence to avoid a sentence ini-tial clausal subject, but this solution creates a new problem. The discourse function of the it- cleft conflicts with the discourse function of the source text. An it- cleft construction selects the constituent that represents the most salient information item, whereas the rest of the sentence presents presupposed information—that is, information that our readers are as-sumed to already know. Accordingly, the translation in (2b) assumes that the readers already know about the German and Austrian tourists, whereas
the fact that their visit is expected is particularly informative or new. The source text is about these tourists who are the focus of attention. Therefore, we need to reconstruct our translation yet again to avoid the it- cleft while profiling the tourists as the topic of the sentence. One way to do this is to use the passive voice, as in (2c).
(2c) A total of 7,500 German and Austrian tourists, whose age does not exceed twenty years, are expected to arrive among us in the next few days. These tourists are among the youths who passed the high school exams in their home countries a few days ago.
Having resolved the main structural issues in this sentence, we can now use some word- and phrase- level strategies to improve the quality of the final translation. For example, it is not clear who is meant by us in the first sentence. Because this sentence is taken from a Tunisian newspaper, in which a Tunisian writer is addressing a Tunisian audience, we can safely conclude that these youths are traveling to Tunisia and can rephrase the sentence accordingly, as in (2d). We can also substitute arrive with visit and a few days ago with just or recently. Other changes are possible, but they are optional, and it is up to the individual translator to decide what the final translation will look like, as long as it accurately transfers all the informa-tion encoded in the source text.
(2d) A total of 7,500 German and Austrian tourists are expected to visit Tunisia in the next few days. They are all under the age of twenty, as they just finished high school in their home countries.
Although our goal is to convey the information encoded in the source text, we need to maintain its discourse functions as well. For example, the main problem in (3) is that the sentence- initial topic noun phrase, starting with
ةياور
novel, corresponds to a pronoun embedded in a possessive noun phrase.In other words, the original position of the entire topic noun phrase, along with its modifier and the embedded relative clause, is that of the pronoun
اه
inاهتءارق
reading it. This is fine in Arabic, but not in English. Because the prob-lem is the topic noun phrase, we can consider restoring the original structure by representing that phrase in its nontopicalized position while making the necessary changes to make the translation grammatical, as in (3a)..43781 ددعلا ،2006 ربوتكأ 19 ،)رصم( مارهلأا ةديرج )
3( ةزئاج ىلع لصاحلا كوماب ناهروأ يكرتلا بتاكلل ”ءاضيبلا ةعلقلا“ ةياور تهتنا ثيح ةمجرتم اهتءارق ةيبرعلا ءارقل حاتملا نم حبصأ بادلآل لبون ةلسلس نمض ةياورلا ةمجرت رادصإ نم باتكلل ةماعلا ةيرصملا ةئيهلا .ةئيهلا سيئر يراصنلأا رصان .د اهثدحتسا يتلا زئاوجلا
(3a) It has become possible for readers of Arabic to read the novel The White Castle by the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in translation, because the General Egyptian Book Organization has finished publishing a translation of the novel in the Awards Series that was introduced by Nasser Al- Ansary, chairman of the organization.
We can improve this first candidate by splitting the sentence into two: one about the availability of the novel in Arabic, and one about how the transla-tion became available. There are a few candidate topics with which to start the first sentence; we can choose a phrase referring to the novel, the author, or the publisher, as in (3b) and (3c). Word- and phrase- level translation strategies will help improve the quality of the translation. For example, we can substitute who received the Nobel Prize with Nobel Prize laureate, delete the phrase the novel and use italics to represent the title, and rephrase it has become possible for readers of Arabic to read it in translation as the Arabic translation is now available.
(3b) The Nobel Prize laureate Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk’s novel The White Castle has become available in Arabic
translation. The General Egyptian Book Organization has just published its translation in the Awards Series, introduced by Nasser Al- Ansary, chairman of the organization.
(3c) The General Egyptian Book Organization has just published the Arabic translation of The White Castle by the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, who was recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The translation is published in the Awards Series, introduced by Nasser Al- Ansary, chairman of the organization.
Both candidates are grammatical, and they convey the same information as the original sentence. The problem, however, is that they fail to maintain the discourse functions of the source sentence, in which topicalization is
intentionally used to emphasize the novel, not its author or publisher. We need to discard these candidates and use a translation that starts with the novel, as in (3d).
(3d) The White Castle, by the Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, is now available in an Arabic translation. It is published by the General Egyptian Book Organization in its Awards Series, introduced by Chairman Nasser Al- Ansary.
Reconstruction is by no means restricted to cases in which a close transla-tion of an Arabic sentence yields an ungrammatical structure. In fact, recon-struction is most commonly used when a close translation is grammatical but does not comply with the standards of English rhetoric. Arabic discourse patterns can sometimes be so different from English writing conventions that reconstruction is necessary, especially when the source sentence has several clauses. For example, if we take a close look at the text in (4), we will find that this whole paragraph is actually one sentence comprising several conjoined and embedded clauses, which is common in Arabic. Needless to say, the close translation in (4a) is unacceptable, but it is a good place to start.
.3 ص ،2006 ربوتكأ 26 ،)رصم( رابخلأا ةديرج )
4( اهءاضعأو ةقدرغلاب ةينامللأا ةيلاجلا نإ لوقي اربخ ”دفولا“ ةفيحص يف تأرق ةطشنلأاو تاعورشملاب نولمعي ثيح كانه ةعيبطلا رحسب نيروهبملا ةيرصملا ةنيدملا هذه يف رمعلا ةياهن ىتح ءاقبلا اوررق ةفلتخملا ةيحايسلا يلحملا سلجملا ىلإ بلطب اومدقت كلذلو ةافولا دعب كانه مهنفد متي نأو يلحم سلجم نكلو ،كانه مهل نفادم صيصختب هيف نوبلاطي ةنيدملل نأ سلجملا وضع ةزمح ملاسلا دبع ديسلا دكأو بلطلا اذه ضفر ررق ةنيدملا ىلع نامللأا لصح ول هنأو نييرصملا يفكت لا رباقملل ةصصخملا يضارلأا
!مهديلقت ىلإ سورلاو زيلجنلإا أجلي فوسف مهرباقمب ةصاخ ضارأ
(4a) I read in Al- Wafd newspaper a news article saying that the German community in Hurgada and its members, who are infatuated with nature there, where they work in various tourism projects and activities, decided to stay in this Egyptian town until the end of their lives, and to be buried there after death, and this is why they submitted a request to City Hall asking for designating a cemetery for them there, but City Hall decided to reject this request, and Abd Al- Salaam Hamza, City Hall member, stressed that the land designated for cemeteries is not enough for Egyptians, and that if the Germans got a piece of land
that is designated as their cemetery, the British and the Russians will resort to imitating them.
We can try to improve the translation by applying various word- and phrase- level strategies. For example, the reduced relative clause in
لوقي اربخ
a news article that says and the prepositional phrase
ةافولا دعب
after death can be deleted because they would sound redundant if incorporated into the translation. We can also reduce the translation ofةقدرغلاب ةينامللأا ةيلاجلا اهءاضعأو
lit. the German community in Hurgada and its members to the Germans living in Hurgada. There is some room for phrasal reconstruction, such as translating the participial phraseنيروهبملا
who are infatuated as a predicate rather than an embedded structure. Adding background informa-tion, such as the resort town, makes the context easier to understand. These strategies give us the translation candidate in (4b).(4b) I read in Al- Wafd newspaper that the Germans living in Hurgada, where they work in the tourism industry, are so infatuated with nature in this Egyptian resort town that they decided to spend the rest of their lives there, and for this reason they applied for a permit to build a German cemetery, but surprisingly, City Hall turned down their request, and City Hall official Abd Al- Salaam Hamza stressed that the land designated for cemeteries in Hurgada is not enough for Egyptians, and that City Hall is concerned that if the German community got this permit, the British and Russian communities might follow suit.
However, the improved translation in (4b) falls short of the standards of English writing because it is still a run- on sentence. We need to reconstruct this sentence by splitting it into shorter sentences, provided that the transla-tion constitutes a cohesive text, as in (4c). Splitting sentences is sometimes done by incorporating relative clauses as adjectival phrases or simply by ending sentences and starting new ones.
(4c) I read in Al- Wafd newspaper that the Germans living in Hurgada, where they work in the tourism industry, are so much in love with nature in this Egyptian resort town that they decided to spend the rest of their lives there. They even applied for a permit to build a German cemetery, but surprisingly, City Hall denied their application. City Hall official Abd Al- Salaam
Hamza explained that the land designated for cemeteries in Hurgada is not enough for Egyptians. He added that City Hall is concerned that if the German community got this permit, the British and Russian communities might follow suit.
These reconstruction attempts do not give us a final translation; the can-didate in (4c) can be further improved by applying additional word- and phrase- level strategies. The purpose of reconstructing sentences is to avoid ungrammatical and stylistically unacceptable structures in the translation output, thus helping readers reconstruct the context.