Translating Islamic Media Discourse from Arabic into English: An Analysis of Translation Process

Abstract

This study deals with the translation of Islamic media discourse from Arabic to English. It investigates both the process and product of translating Islamic media texts to determine the problems that translators encounter and the strategies that they employ to provide a communicative, target-reader friendly translation. This study uses an analytical and conceptual framework that stems from various taxonomies of translation strategies and cognitive translation studies. The translation process is investigated through the use of eye-tracking technology, keystroking, and user activity software. A parallel corpus of Islamic media texts is also analyzed to determine the most common strategies that are employed by translators of Islamic media. Analysis of the parallel corpus indicates that the translators have adopted various strategies to render Islamic media texts into English, including transference, functional equivalence, transposition, componential analysis, and foreignization, among others. The behavioral data generated by eye tracking, keystroking, Translog protocols, and user activity software show that the translation process involves a considerable number of fixations, pauses, insertions, deletions, and negotiations that may justify the decisions of the translators of a text.