Challenging Issues in Translating Conversational Implicature from English into Arabic

Abstract

Conversational implicature is known as an additional meaning indirectly implicated by saying another thing. In this sense, the aim of this paper is to discuss the problems of translating conversational implicature from English into Arabic. the data is selected from two English literary works; Lord of the Flies and Nineteen Eighty-Four along with their Arabic translation. Two theoretical frameworks are implemented for the descriptive analysis of the selected texts, Skopos approach and Grice’s Implicature. These two theories, along with their rules, provide appropriate standards to measure the accuracy of such translations from English language into Arabic. The analyses reveal that the translators encountered problems and obstacles during the translation into Arabic for several reasons, including linguistic, social and cultural. therefore, the translators followed different approaches and techniques to achieve consistent coherent Arabic text, equivalent to that of the original. In conclusion, the study illustrates that both theories are successful and applicable at varying levels, in translating conversational implicature from English into Arabic. Nevertheless, Grice’s approach is more successful in translating the conversational imlicatures within the framework of this study. Accordingly, this study answers all the designed questions.

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“…To ensure the cross-cultural research translation process had captured “conceptual equivalence” [ 10 ], and maintained rigour [ 11 ], three English transcripts were independently back translated into Arabic by an expert academic whose first language was Arabic. Any differences or disagreements over translation were identified and discussed to achieve the most accurate culturally equivalent meaning [ 12 ]. The final equivalent English transcripts were exported into the software NVIVO 11 for managing the data analysis process.…”