Translation of Culture-Specific Items from English into Arabic in

Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea

Samia Aljabri, Umm Al-Qura University

Abstract
This paper examines the translation of culture-specific items (CSIs) from English into
Arabic. It aims to identify the strategies used by Arab translators in rendering CSIs in
Hemingway's novella The Old Man and the Sea (1952). This descriptive corpus-based
research compares three Arabic translations with their English original to examine the
strategies followed in translating the CSIs. The study found that source language (SL)-
oriented strategies outnumber target language (TL)-oriented strategies in the
translations of the CSIs in the novella, with conservation strategies used most
frequently by the Arab translators. This indicates a tendency to recreate the SL culture
in the Arabic translations.
Keywords: culture-specific items, strategies, The Old Man and the Sea, proper
nouns, common expressions, culture

Introduction
Culture, Language, and Translation
Culture has been variously defined in many disciplines, including anthropology, sociology
and ethnography. Katan (1999: 16) indicates that even though people know to which
culture they belong, defining the word culture "has been notoriously difficult". He quotes
the well-known definition formulated by the anthropologist Edward Taylor that "culture is
that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and any
other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society" (quoted in Katan
1999: 16). Katan defines culture as "a shared mental model or map of the world"; and
explains that this model is "a system of congruent and interrelated beliefs, values,
strategies and cognitive environments which guide the shared basis of behaviour" (Katan
1999: 17). He adds that most definitions of culture relate to these aspects. Similarly,
Larson defines culture as "a complex of beliefs, attitudes, values, and rules which a group
of people share" (Larson 1998: 431).
In this paper, I am interested in definitions of culture that come from a linguistic
perspective. Newmark (1988: 94), for instance, defines culture as "a way of life and its
manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of
expression". However, he does not consider language as a component of culture. He states, "if
it were so, translation would be impossible" (Newmark 1988: 95). However, he believes that
language contains all kinds of "cultural deposits" (Newmark 1988: 95). Other translation
scholars, however, assert that "language is a part of a culture" (Vermeer 1989: 222).
Regardless of these opposing points of view concerning the relationship between language
and culture, the two are undoubtedly inextricably intertwined.

1
 Cultural gaps constitute a primary challenge facing translators. Newmark (2010: 173)
states that "culture, whether it is religious, national, occupational, regional—and its reflection
in language—is the main barrier to effective and accurate translation". Vermeer (1992: 40)
adds that "translation is to be understood as a 'cultural' phenomenon dealing with specific
cultures: translation is a culture transcending process." Moreover, Aixela (1996: 53) states
that "cultures create a variability factor the translator will have to take into account".
Newmark (2010: 172-173) considers culture to be "the greatest obstacle to translation, at least
to the achievement of an accurate and decent translation".
Thus, several translation scholars consider differences between the cultures of the
source language (SL) and the target language (TL) to be one of the major problems facing
translators. These obstacles may be more noticeable when translating between languages that
are culturally distant from each other. Nida (2000: 130) states that "when the linguistic and
cultural distances between source and receptor codes are least, one should expect to encounter
the least number of serious problems". The English and Arabic languages are linguistically
and culturally incongruent. In translating between English and Arabic, one might face more
difficulties because not only are English and Arabic from two diverse language families, but
their cultures are remote from each other. Larson (1998: 138) asserts that "when the cultures
are very different, it is often very difficult to find equivalent lexical items". Nida (1964: 130)
also notes that "differences between cultures may cause more severe complications for the
translator than do differences in language structure". The more distant the cultures are, the
harder it is to find an appropriate word. A translator may find many words in a text that
express concepts that are unknown in the TL. Thus, cultural differences constitute the focus of
translation theorists who give special emphasis to the translation of culture-specific items
(CSIs).

Culture-Specific Items
Various terminologies have been proposed for this concept: Newmark speaks of cultural
words (1988), Baker of culture-specific concepts (2011), Aixela of culture-specific items
(1993) and Pedersen of culture-bound references (2005). There is no agreement with regards
to the terminology, the definition or the categorization of the term. The difficulty in defining
CSIs occurs because "in a language everything is culturally produced, beginning with
language itself" (Aixela 1997: 57). Therefore, it is not easy to draw boundaries between what
is considered a CSI and what is not.
Baker (2011: 18) defines a CSI as a word that expresses "a concept which is totally
unknown in the target culture". Persson (2015) states that "[c]ulture-specific items are
concepts that are specific for a certain culture". Aixela (1996: 85) defines CSIs as:
[t]hose textually actualised items whose function and connotations in a source text involve a
translation problem in their transference to a target text, whenever this problem is a product of
the non-existence of the referred item or of its different intertextual status in the cultural system
of the readers of the target text. (italicized in original)
Thus, according to Aixela (1996), CSIs are identified with reference to a particular SL
and a particular TL: what may be considered a CSI between English and Arabic may not be
considered a CSI between English and another language. He states that "in translation, a CSI

2
does not exist of itself, but as the result of a conflict arising from any linguistically
represented reference in a source text which, when transferred to a target language, poses a
translation problem due to the nonexistence or to the different value" (Aixela 1996: 57). In
short, a CSI is a reference in the SL that does not exist in the TL and reflects a cultural gap.
Translation scholars have not only provided various definitions for the term CSIs but
have suggested various taxonomies for CSIs. Aixela (1996: 59) states that there are two basic
categories of CSIs: proper nouns and common expressions. Baker (1992: 21) divides them
into abstract and concrete items. She lists many reasons for non-equivalence between
languages and suggests strategies for solving these problems. Newmark (1988: 124)
distinguishes cultural words from universal and personal language and mentions that, while
there is no problem in translating universal words, there will be a problem in translating
cultural words unless there is a cultural overlap between the SL and the TL. Moreover, he
suggests six categories of CSIs under the following headings: ecology, public life, social life,
personal life, customs and pursuits, and private passions (Newmark 2010: 173-177). Another
classification was proposed by Pedersen (2005). He divides culture-bound terms into two
categories: intralinguistic references, such as idioms, proverbs, slang and dialects, and
extralinguistic references, such as cultural items that are not part of a language system.
Additionally, Espindola (2006: 49-50) proposes another categorization of CSIs, which
includes toponyms, anthroponyms, forms of entertainment, means of transportation, fictional
characters, local institutions, measuring systems, food and drink, scholastic references and
religious celebrations. Translation scholars have thus not only offered various definitions and
taxonomies for CSIs but have also suggested various strategies for solving the problem of
non-equivalence in rendering CSIs.

Culture-Specific Items in Literature

Cultural diversity may be more visible in literary translation: fiction originates in a certain
culture and is largely expressed through the use of CSIs. Culture reflects thoughts, traditions
and ideas and the literature that expresses them. You can understand a people’s culture by
reading their literature. The relationship between culture and literature is bilateral. Literary
texts, by and large, have more CSIs, which might make them more enigmatic to target text
(TT) readers than other types of text. Works of literature reflect cultures more than other
genres, and their translation may cause problems that can be attributed to cultural differences.
In addition, some literary works are more heavily loaded with CSIs than others, which makes
them harder to translate. Literary translation can be considered communication between two
cultures (Jones 2009: 156). Hesaraki (2014: 23) believes that "cultures consist of people's
beliefs, traditions in any society, and the literature, on the other hand, discloses these elements
in terms of different literature". Thus, when we translate literature, we are translating culture.
İşi (2017: xii) indicates that literary pieces reflect the social and cultural aspects of a society.
CSIs, in particular, play an important role in conveying the social and cultural setting of a
novel, which may be loaded with cultural knowledge unknown to the TL readers. Therefore,
literary translation is "a way of cross-cultural communication as it introduces all or part of a
particular culture to readers from different cultures" (İşi 2017: xii). Thus, CSIs are more
prominent in literature than in other types of texts.

3
The Study
The present paper aims to examine the translation of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea
into Arabic to identify the strategies adopted by its Arab translators in rendering the CSIs. The
study will locate the CSIs in Hemingway’s classic work, examine the strategies implemented
by Arab translators in rendering the CSIs into Arabic, identify the strategies used more
frequently by the translators, and decide whether the translators adopted TL-oriented
strategies or SL-oriented strategies in rendering the CSIs in the novella. In order to achieve
these goals, certain methodologies have been employed. However, before describing the
methodology and analysis, I will first discuss the findings of relevant studies on the
translation of CSIs in literary works.

Review of Related Literature

The translation of CSIs has been addressed by many translation scholars. Among studies that
have analysed the translation of CSIs in literary works, İşi (2017: xii) examines the English
translation of CSIs from a Turkish novel. The results indicate that foreignized items
significantly outnumber domesticated items; thus, foreignizing as a translation strategy was
predominantly used in the transfer of CSIs into English. This means that the "otherness" of
the Turkish culture is recreated, to some extent, in the English translation.
Brasienė (2013) analyses the translation of CSIs from English into Lithuanian in
Orwell’s novel Down and Out in Paris and London. The study shows that foreignization was
the prevailing strategy used in rendering the CSIs. The study also finds that the dominant
translation strategies used for transference of CSIs in this novel were preservation,
localization and addition. Persson (2015) investigates the translation problems encountered
when translating CSIs in a text about Australian and New Zealand colonial and post-colonial
children’s literature into Swedish. The study shows that the translation method used depended
on the type of CSI. For instance, for the translation of proper nouns, transference was the
most commonly used procedure. For social culture CSIs, neutralization was used most
frequently.
Sulaibi (2014) discusses the translation of names in Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone into Arabic. The study finds that limited creativity was used: the
translation was very strict, and wordplays or other methods of linguistic manipulation were
rarely attempted. Sasaninejad and Delpazir (2015) investigate the translation of CSIs from
English into Persian. Their analysis reveals that the translator of the novel Spartacus adopted
a target-oriented approach in translating: the substitution strategy was mostly used by the
translator. They assume that the target-oriented approach improved the readability and
acceptance among Persian readers (2015: 44).
There are also studies that focus specifically on the translation of Hemingway’s
novella The Old Man and the Sea into various languages. One of them was by Zare-Behtash
and Firoozkoohi (2009), who conducted a diachronic study of domestication and
foreignization strategies for CSIs in English–Persian translations of six of Hemingway's
works, among them The Old Man and the Sea. Their study finds that domestication was the
most pervasive cultural translation strategy from the 1950s to the 2000s. Another study on the
strategies used in the translation of CSIs in The Old Man and the Sea into Persian was

4
conducted by Shahabi and Shams Abad (2016). Their study shows that preservation was the
most frequently used strategy in the translation of CSIs.
Alwafai (2015: 320) analyses two translations of The Old Man and the Sea into Arabic
and concludes that the best translation would consider the contextual and cultural factors in
both the SL and the TL. In addition, she maintains that readability and naturalness should be a
priority in the translation of literary texts. Alshammari (2016) investigates the translation
strategies used by Arab translators in rendering English similes in literary texts and uses the
novella The Old Man and the Sea as a case study. He concludes that literal translation is the
strategy used most in translating similes into Arabic. El-Haddad (1999) investigates the
literary aspects of two Arabic translations of The Old Man and the Sea. His thesis explores
the problems of literary translation from English into Arabic. The present study differs from
the above-mentioned studies because it aims to investigate the translation of CSIs in three
separate Arabic translations, based on the taxonomy of Aixela.

Methodology
One of Hemingway’s masterpieces, The Old Man and the Sea, was selected for analysis.
Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 for this novella. The work
contains many CSIs, including proper nouns and many references to Cuban society, culture
and ecology. Valenti (2002: 4) describes the setting of the plot as a fishing village that
represents the working class in Cuba. To portray the Cuban ambiance, Hemingway laces the
dialogue between Santiago (the old man) and Manolin (the boy), and also the dialogue of
Santiago when he is at sea, with Spanish words. It is a story of an old Cuban fisherman named
Santiago who refuses to give up and surrender to his bad luck, despite having gone for eighty-
four days without catching a fish. On the eighty-fifth day, he catches a marlin, but
unfortunately, the fish is destroyed by sharks. He is alone in his shack again, without having
brought any fish to sell at the market.
The Old Man and the Sea is considered a novella or a novelette—longer than a short
story but shorter than a novel. It is fifty to one hundred pages long. The novella contains
many CSIs related to the sea, fishing, sports and food, some of which are Spanish loan words
used by the novelist to add local flavour to the novella. The story has been translated many
times into Arabic. Three Arabic translations were selected for analysis: those by Fadhil
Habeeb Muhsen (2000; T1), Sameer Ezzat Nassar (2002; T2) and Abdulhameed Zaheed
(2007; T3). Other translations of the novella are available, but these particular translations
were selected because there is not a significant time gap between their dates of publication,
which decreases the number of variables to consider. This is a synchronic study that aims to
examine the translations published within a certain period, not to trace changes in translation
over time.

Method of Analysis
This is a comparative-descriptive study that seeks to compare the translations with the English
original and to investigate the strategies followed in translating the CSIs. To conduct the
analysis, a taxonomy of CSIs was adopted from Aixela (1996), Howard (2009) and Newmark
(1988). Aixela (1996) suggests two categories of CSIs: proper nouns and common
expressions. Proper nouns include both conventional nouns—nouns that do not have any

5
meaning in and of themselves — and those that are loaded with certain historical and cultural
associations. Common expressions include the world of objects, institutions, habits and
opinions that are restricted to a culture and cannot be included in the field of proper nouns
(Aixela 1996: 59). According to Howard (2009: 1), "proper nouns refer to a specific person,
place, or thing, and are usually capitalized". He divides proper nouns into the following
categories: each part of a person's name; given or pet names of animals; geographical and
celestial names; monuments, buildings and meeting rooms; historical events, documents, laws
and periods; months, days of the week and holidays; groups and languages; religions, deities
and scriptures; and awards, vehicles, vehicle models and brand names. The categorization
proposed by Newmark (1988: 95) was used for the specification of common expressions. He
categorizes CSIs into five areas: ecology; material culture; social culture; organizations,
customs, activities, procedures and concepts; and gestures and habits.
The identification of CSIs is usually followed by a discussion of the various
translation procedures and strategies used in translating them. The diversity of the
terminology given to CSIs and their definitions is also reflected in the various classifications
and categorizations, and consequently in the translation strategies proposed for rendering
CSIs (Newmark 1988, Katan 1999, Aixela 1996, Pedersen 2005, and Baker 2011). Moreover,
there is an overlap among the translation strategies used by the various translation scholars.
Davies (2003:70) asserts that there is correspondence between Newmark's componential
analysis and Katan's chunking down. There is also correspondence between Baker's cultural
substitution and Newmark's cultural equivalence.

This study adopts the translation procedures proposed by Aixela (1996) for its
practical implementation. In addition, his taxonomy of translation strategies, along the
continuum between SL-oriented strategies and TL-oriented strategies, is related to the
objectives of the study. Aixela (1996) classifies the strategies into two main types:
conservation and substitution. The former implies acceptance of the differences by "means of
the reproduction of the cultural signs in the source text", while the latter refers to
naturalization, or "transformation of the other into a cultural replica" (Aixela 1996: 54). The
choice between the two shows "the degree of tolerance of the receiving society" (Aixela 1996:
54). The strategies are ordered according to their degree of "intercultural manipulation"
(Aixela 1996: 60).

Procedure
The novella was meticulously read, and the three translations were examined. The CSIs were
located, categorized, classified and grouped according to Aixela's (1996) classification of
translation strategies. For each CSI found, a comparison was drawn between the English CSI
and its Arabic translations. The CSIs were listed with their Arabic translations. The type of
translation procedure was determined according to the method of analysis used. The data were
analysed qualitatively and quantitatively.

Analysis and Results

The corpus of the study revealed 115 instances of CSIs: 48 of them were common expressions
and 67 were proper nouns (see Table 1).

6
 Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea
CSIs Number of CSIs Percentage
Common expressions 48 37%
Proper nouns 67 63%
Total number of CSIs 115 100%

Table 1: Number of CSIs in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea

The researcher examined the strategies implemented by the three translators in

translating the two types of CSI and found that the strategies most frequently used were
conservation strategies—that is, SL-oriented strategies. This indicates, as shown in Figure 1,
that the translators were consistent in their application of translation strategies, regardless of
the type of CSI.

Figure 1: Strategies used in translating the two types of CSI in the novella

The strategies used in translating the CSIs in the novella were similar among all three
Arab translators: they followed conservation strategies more than substitution strategies and
the frequency of these strategies was similar among them (see Figure 2).

7
 FREQ UENCY Z AHEED
Repetition orthographic adaptation linguistic translation extratextual gloss
intratextuality gloss absolute universalization Naturalization Deletion

Deletion
4%
Naturalization
7%
Repetition
17%

absolute universalization
11%

intratextuality gloss
7%
extratextual gloss
1% orthographic adaptation
36%
linguistic translation
17%

8
 Figure 2: Frequency of translation strategies used by each of the three translators

In the following section, the strategies will be discussed and supported by examples from the
data, giving one example from each translation. They will be explained according to their
frequency, starting with the strategy found most frequently.

Conservation
According to the analysis, 81.2% of the strategies utilized by the three Arab translators fall
into the category of SL-oriented strategies. According to Aixela's taxonomy, a number of
strategies are included under this heading.
1. Orthographic adaptation
This was the strategy most frequently used by the three translators. This strategy is referred to
variously by translators as transference (Newmark 1988: 81), transcription (Harvey 2000: 5),
transliteration (Aixela 1997: 61) and loan words (Baker 2011: 33). Orthographic adaptation
means expressing the CSI in the alphabet of the TL—in this case, Arabic letters—to convey
the sound of the CSI. In the present study, 41.9% of the strategies followed by the three
translators in rendering CSIs fell into this category. The results indicate that this strategy was
mostly used when translating proper nouns and Spanish words rather than common
expressions.

9
 Orthographic Adaptation
No. Name of Source language text (SLT) Target language text (TLT)
translator
1. Muhsen (2000: "Perico gave it to me at the ‫ (لقد اعطاني بريكو إياها‬:‫وأوضح له وقال‬
20) (T1) bodega", he explained. "‘I'll )‫ونحن في البوديغا‬
be back when I have the ‫سوف أعود عندما احصل على السردين‬
sardines. I'll keep yours and ‫وسأحفظ حصتي وحصتك في الثلج‬
mine together on ice and we ‫ونتقاسمها عند الصباح وعندما ارجع‬
can share them in the )‫تستطيع اخباري عن مباريات البيسبول‬
morning. When I come back
you can tell me about the
baseball." ‫ولكن اليانكيز لن يهزم‬
"The Yankees cannot lose."
"But I fear the Indians of .‫لكنني أخاف من هنود فريق كليفالند‬
Cleveland." (4)
2. Nassar (2002: 19) But after forty days without ‫في األربعين يوما األولى وهو بال سمك‬
(T2) a fish, the boy’s parents had ‫أخبره والدا الولد بأن الرجل العجوز أصبح‬
told him that the old man ‫ االن ساالو‬salo ‫ وهي‬،‫بالتمام والكمال‬
was now definitely and .‫أسوأ صيغة لسيء الحظ‬
finally salao, which is the
worst form of unlucky. (1)
3. Zaheed (2007: As the sun set, he ‫ وليقوي الشيخ من‬،‫مع غروب الشمس‬
93) T3 remembered, to give himself ‫ تذكر تلك الليلة‬،‫ تذكر أيام الشباب‬،‫عزيمته‬
more confidence, the time in ‫التي قضاها في حانة من حانات الدار‬
the tavern at Casablanca ‫البيضاء يلعب لعبة اليد الحديدية مع خصم‬
when he had played the ‫ وكان أقوى رجل‬،"‫له من "سينفوكوس‬
hand game with the great ،‫في المرفإ‬
negro from Cienfuegos who
was the strongest man on
the docks. (25)
Table 2: Examples of orthographic adaptation strategy

When orthographic strategy is used on its own, with no other following strategy, the
meaning of the CSI may not be clearly conveyed to the TT readers: sometimes the context
helps the reader to work out the meaning but not always. In the first example, the translator
has transliterated all the CSIs in the extract: some of them were English words that related to
sports, ecology and material culture, such as baseball, Yankees, Cleveland and sardines;
others were Spanish words, such as bodega, which refers to a warehouse or grocery store. The
second example was taken from the first page of the novella. The CSI salao comes from the
Spanish word salado, which means the worst kind of luck. The translator has only
transliterated the CSI into Arabic and added nothing about its meaning. The use of Spanish
words is a very prominent stylistic feature employed by Hemingway in this novella to show
his familiarity with the people of Cuba where he lived for more than fourteen years. Some of

10
the characters also have Spanish names, such as Santiago and Manolin (Karavin 2016: 133).
Thus, Hemingway has intentionally used Spanish words in his novella to imply the nationality
of the boy, for instance, when he says salao, he shows his Spanish origin (Karavin 2106:
133). In the third example, the name of the city Cienfuegos was only transliterated; nothing
was communicated about its meaning as a seaport in Cuba. It depended on the reader inferring
the meaning from the context or having some prior knowledge of it.

2. Linguistic (non-cultural) translation

Aixela (1997:61) states that in this strategy, the translator chooses to convey the denotation of
the CSI. It is the second most frequently used strategy after orthographic adaptation. The
translation here makes the CSI comprehensible so that it makes sense to the TL reader; 20.7%
of the strategies followed in the three translations fell into this category, particularly in the
translation of common expressions. Table 3 provides examples of the strategy.
Linguistic (non-cultural) translation
No. Name of translator SLT TLT
1. Muhsen (T1) He always thought of the "‫كان الشيخ يسمي البحر "البحرة‬La
(2000: 43) sea as la mar which is mar ‫وهذا ما يسميه الناس في اللغة‬
what people call her in .‫االسبانية عندما يعشقونه‬
Spanish when they love
her. (10)

2. Nassar (T2) (2002: I fear both the Tigers of ‫"أخاف من كل من نمور ديترويت‬-
26) Detroit and the Indians of ".‫وهنود كليفالند‬
Cleveland. Have faith in ‫"احذر واال ستخاف حتى من حمر‬-
the Yankees my son. Be ‫سينسياتي والجوارب البيضاء‬
careful or you will fear ."‫لتشيكاغو‬
even the Reds of
Cincinnati and the White
Sox of Chicago.
3. Zaheed T3 (2007: He was an old man who ‫كان هناك رجل عجوز يصيد السمك‬
34) fished alone in a skiff in ...‫وحيدا في مركبه بخليج ستريم‬
the Gulf Stream...

Table 3: Examples of linguistic translation strategy

In these examples, the translators have used the strategy of linguistic translation either
alone or in addition to orthographic adaptation. In fact, these two strategies, employed 62.6%
of the time, were the primary strategies used in all three Arabic translations. In the first
example, Hemingway has used the Spanish word mar, which refers to the sea, and used la as
the feminine definite article. The translator has translated the meaning of the word into
Arabic. However, the translation sounds awkward in Arabic since "the sea" is always
masculine and cannot be used with the feminine article. The second example indicates a
number of CSIs related to baseball teams. The translator has translated their meanings into
Arabic, which results in odd-sounding names for the teams. In the third example, the CSI
"Gulf Stream" is a proper noun, rendered as ‫ خليج ستريم‬, where the translator translated the
meaning of the first word and transliterated the second. This translation does not convey the

11
meaning of the CSI, which refers to a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean current. "Gulf Stream"
is defined in the Collins English dictionary as "a relatively warm ocean current flowing north-
eastward off the Atlantic coast of the US from the Gulf of Mexico". A possible and more
acceptable translation would be ‫مجرى الخليج‬.

3. Repetition

In the repetition strategy, the translator does not change the CSI but transfers it as it is to the
TL. Aixela (1996: 61) points out that this strategy increases "the exotic or archaic character of
the CSI". The CSI still remains alien and foreign to the TL reader. Nothing is translated, and
the CSI is transferred as it is with no further clarification. When languages are as remote from
each other as English and Arabic, this strategy is rarely used by translators. Translation
scholars refer to this strategy as retention (Pedersen 2005), preservation (Davies 2003), loan
words (Baker 2011) and transference (Newmark 1988). Baker states that sometimes loan
words are followed immediately by an explanation and then subsequently, used with no
explanation in the translated text.
In the current study, 9.3% of examples (n = 35) fell into this category, where the
translator repeated the CSI and transferred it using English letters. Zaheed (2007) used this
strategy more than the other translators. Most of the examples found under this category were
extracted from his translation.
Repetition
No. Name of translator SLT TLT
1. Muhsen (T1) "Agua mala", the man ‫ اغواماال‬:‫قال الشيخ‬Agua mala
(2000: 52) said (12)

2. Nassar (T2) (2002: The shack was made of the ‫كان الكوخ مصنوعا من سعف نخل ملكي‬
25) tough budshields of the /‫خشن يدعى جوانو‬guano.
royal palm which are
called guano. (4)
3. Zaheed (T3) (2007: "Galanos", he said aloud. "‫ "غاالنوس‬:‫ثم صاح الشيخ‬
128) (40) "Galanos."

Table 4: Examples of the repetition strategy

Hemingway uses Spanish words to imply that the characters are of a Spanish-speaking
nationality, and also to show his familiarity with the Spanish language and the people of
Spanish origin living in Cuba. Lefevere (1992: 29) refers to the use of foreign words in a text
to be translated as "double translation". In the current data, the repetition strategy was mainly
used in the translation of these Spanish words and proper nouns. Whenever the translators
used this strategy, they usually followed it with the strategy of orthographic adaptation. The
repetition strategy does not convey any meaning to Arab readers, since they are unfamiliar
with the Spanish language. The translators transferred some Spanish CSIs as they were,
without any further explanation or reference, including words such as guano, agua mala, and
Galanos. The exotic features of the novella, created by the use of Spanish words, were

12
preserved through the use of this strategy. Transferring the CSIs as they are in the SLT
represents an extreme form of alienation.

4. Intratextual gloss
Intratextual gloss can be considered "a strategy of explicitness" of something partly revealed
in the SL text (Aixela 1996: 62). Newmark (1988) refers to it as a "classifier". Of the
strategies utilized, 8.8% fell into this category.
Intratextual gloss
No. Name of translator SLT TLT
1. Muhsen (T1)(2000: The odds would change ‫والفريق يتغير مرة في صالح الزنجي‬
114) back and forth all night ‫وأخرى في صالح الشيخ وقد قدموا‬
and they fed the negro "‫للزنجي شيئا من شراب "الرم‬
rum and lighted cigarettes .‫واشعلوا له السجائر‬
for him. (26)

2. Nassar (T2) (2002: You can make the blade ‫يمكنك صنع النصل من طرف نابض‬
114) from a spring leaf from an ‫ يمكننا شحذها‬.‫من سيارة فورد قديمة‬
old Ford. We can grind it .‫في بلدة جواناباكوا‬
in Guanabacoa. (47)
3. Zaheed (T3) (2007: I don't know what that fish ‫ال أدري ما نوع هذه السمكة التي‬
76) was that took the bait just ‫ أهي سمكة المرلين‬.‫قضمت الطعم اآلن‬
now. It could have been a ‫ أم القرش؟‬،‫أم عريض المنقار‬
marlin or a broadbill or
a shark. (18)

Table 5: Examples of intratextual gloss strategy

In the intratextual gloss strategy, the translators use qualifiers to make the CSIs clearer
to the TT readers. For instance, according to Newmark's typology (1988), the CSI "rum" is an
example of material culture, referring to an alcoholic beverage. The three translators
transcribed the word into Arabic and used a qualifier to identify its meaning: one of the
translators used the word "a drink of" and another used "a glass of". In the second example,
the translator used the qualifier ‫"( سيارة‬car") and the word ‫"( بلدة‬city") to clarify the CSIs
‘Ford’ and ‘Guanabacoa". Similarly, the translator in the third example used the qualifier
‫سمكة‬, which means "fish", to clarify the meaning of the CSI "marlin". This strategy made
makes the meaning of these CSIs clearer to the readers.

5. Extratextual gloss
This strategy refers to the use of footnotes, endnotes, glossaries or commentaries outside the
text. This strategy was rarely used by the three translators. Only two examples were detected
in the data—one by Zaheeed and the other by Nassar—where the translators had written
further explanation in the footnotes, as shown in Table 6 below.

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 Extratextual gloss
No. Name of translator SLT TLT
2. Nassar (T2) Just before it was dark, as ‫ وبينما كان قارب الشيخ يمر‬،‫قبيل الظالم‬
(2002: 96) they passed a great island .‫بجزيرة من أعشاب السرجس‬
of Sargasso weed. (27) ‫طحالب بحرية‬-1
3. Zaheed (T3) There were high ،‫وكانت هناك طخارير وقزع في السماء‬
(2007: 122) cumulus clouds and .‫فعلم الشيخ أن الريح ستهب طوال الليل‬
enough cirrus above them .‫ قطع من السحاب رقيقة مستدقة‬-
1
so that the old man knew 1.‫ قطع من السحاب متفرقة‬-
the breeze would last all
night. (37)

Table 6: Examples of extratextual gloss strategy

Substitution
Substitution strategies are TL oriented. Of the strategies detected in the data, 18.8% fell
within this major category. This means that fewer than one quarter of all strategies were
identified as being in this category. Substitution includes the following strategies.

6. Absolute universalization

In this strategy, the translator chooses a neutral reference, not related to the SL culture, and
thus with no foreign connotations (Aixela 1993: 63). Baker (2011: 23) refers to this strategy
as translation by a more general or neutral word. This procedure is considered to involve
deculturalization of the CSI or a neutralization process (Persson 2015: 9). This was the
strategy most frequently found in this category and it constituted 8.8% of all strategies used in
the data.

Absolute universalization
No. Name of translator SLT TLT
1. Muhsen (T1) (8) "Can I offer you a beer on ‫(هل اجلب لك شرابا ثم نحمل حاجياتنا الى‬
(2000: 172) the terrace and then we'll )‫البيت‬
take the stuff home?" (2)

2. Nassar (T2) (2002: Just then he saw a man- ‫ رأى طائر بارجة‬،‫في تلك اللحظة تماما‬
39) of-war bird with his long ‫جارحا بجناحيه الطويلين السوداوين يحوم‬
black wings circling in the .‫في السماء امامه‬
sky ahead of him. (11)

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3. Zaheed (T3) (2007: "I know. But this is in ،‫ ولكنها جعة في قارورتين‬،‫أعرف ذلك‬
47) bottles, Hatuey beer, and ."‫وسأعيدهما إليه عند شربهما‬
I take back the bottles." (6)

Table 7: Examples of absolute universalization strategy

In this strategy, the translator renders the CSI into a word that is more general, or uses
superordinate words to create a hyponym that does not exist in the SL. In the first example,
translated by Muhsen (2000), the translator avoids transliterating the word "beer" and refers to
it more generally by using the word ‫شراب‬, which means "a drink" in Arabic. Similarly, in the
second example, the CSI identifies particular kind of bird. The translator renders it into a
general lexical item in Arabic, ‫طائر بارجة‬. In the third example, the translator renders the
proper noun "Hatuey beer" into ‫الجعة‬, which means simply "beer", instead of mentioning a CSI
that is very close to the SL culture. The translations are neutral and general and do not have
any cultural connotation.

7. Naturalization

When using this strategy, the translator replaces the CSI with another item from the TL
culture (Aixela 1996: 63). Baker refers to this strategy as "translation as cultural substitution"
(2011:29). Naturalization gives the reader a concept that is familiar in their TL culture and
loses the exotic features of the CSI. Newmark (1988: 82) refers to this strategy as "cultural
equivalent". In the current data, only 5.6% of the strategies fell into this category.
Naturalization
No. Name of translator SLT TLT
1. Muhsen (T1) (26) I know. But this is in ‫"انا اعرف لكن هذا العصير في قنان‬
bottles, Hatuey beer, and ‫ وعلي ان اعيد‬،‫ عصير هومي‬،‫زجاجية‬
I take back the bottles. (6) .‫القناني‬
2. Nassar (T2) (61) I wish I could feed the .‫ انها اختي‬.‫ ليتني أطعم السمكة‬:‫فكر‬
(49) fish, he thought. He is my
brother. (22)

3. Zaheed (T3) (68) "He can't have gone", he ،‫ "ال يمكن أن تكون السمكة ذهبت‬:‫ثم قال‬
(123) said. "Christ knows he ‫ ربما تكون في جولة‬،‫هللا وحده يعلم مكانها‬
can't have gone. He’s ‫لتعود بعدها‬
making a turn." (15)

Dentuso, he thought. Bad ‫ "ثكلتك أمك أيها القرش‬:‫ثم دعا عليه قائال‬
luck to your mother. (38) ."‫اللعين‬

Table 8: Examples of the naturalization strategy

15
 In the first example, Muhsen (2000) replaces the CSI "Hatuey beer" with the word
‫عصير هومي‬, which means "juice". The translator has avoided mentioning the CSI, since it
refers to an alcoholic drink, which is forbidden for Muslims. In the second example, Nassar
(2002) replaces the word "brother" with the word "sister", because fish is feminine in Arabic
and cannot be used as masculine according to Arabic grammar. In the third example, the
translator replaces the curse "bad luck to your mother" with the expression "‫ "ثكلتك أمك‬, which
means "may your mom lose you", a very common expression in Arabic. Similarly, the
translator replaces the word "Christ" with the word ‫( هللا‬meaning God) to avoid using a word
that is sensitive in Muslim cultures.

8. Deletion

When using a deletion strategy, the translator replaces the CSI with nothing. Baker (2011)
refers to it as omission, noting that if the CSI is not important, there is no harm in deleting it.
Dickens (2012: 56) states that omission can be considered as a domesticating procedure, since
the translator is avoiding mentioning the CSI. In the current study, 4.5% of the data fell into
this category.

Deletion
No. Name of translator SLT TLT
1. Muhsen (T1) "Hail Mary full of Grace
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among
women and blessed is the
fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of
God, pray for us sinners
now and at the hour of
our death. Amen." Then -----------------------
he added, "Blessed
Virgin, pray for the
death of this fish." (24)

2. Zaheed (T3) What is a bone spur? He ------------------------------

asked himself. Un espuela
de hueso. (25)
Table 9: Examples of deletion strategy

This strategy was rarely used by the translators in the current study. No such example
was detected in Nassar's translation. In the first example in the above table, the translator
deletes the Christian prayers completely from his translation. In the second example, extracted
from Zaheed, a CSI is used that is a Spanish expression. The translator deletes the expression
and makes no reference to it in the translation.

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Finally, the strategies adopted by the three translators were grouped into Table 10 and
clarified in Figure 3, below.

Strategies Type of procedure Zaheed Mohsen Nassa Total Percentage

r
Conservation Repetition 22 3 10 35 9.3%
Orthographic 48 56 54 158 41.9%
adaptation
Linguistic 22 22 34 78 20.7%
translation
Extratextual 1 0 1 2 0.5%
gloss
Intratextual 10 5 18 33 8.8%
gloss
Total 103 86 117 306 81.2%
Substitution Synonyms 0 0 0 0 0
Limited 0 0 0 0 0
universalization
Absolute 15 14 4 33 8.8%
universalization
Naturalization 9 5 7 21 5.6%
Deletion 6 11 0 17 4.5%
Autonomous 0 0 0 0 0
creation
Total 30 30 11 71 18.8%

Total 377 100%

Table 10: Percentage of translation strategies used by the three Arab translators

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 Figure 3: Percentage of strategies used by the three translators combined

Conclusion

The study examined the translation of CSIs in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. The
most frequently used strategies in the three translations examined were SL-oriented
strategies—that is, according to Aixela's theoretical framework, conservation strategies.
Under this category, orthographic adaptation and linguistic translation were the primary
strategies used in the three Arabic translations. The translators have used the strategy of
linguistic translation either alone or in addition to orthographic adaptation. The third strategy
which was mainly utilized in the translation of Spanish words and proper nouns in the novella
is repetition. The exotic features of the novella were preserved through the use of this
strategy. The data has also shown that fewer than one quarter of all strategies were identified
under TL-oriented strategies. Absolute universalization was the strategy most frequently
found in this category and constituted 8.8% of all strategies used in the data followed by
naturalization and deletion. The three translators rarely replaced a CSI with another item from
the TL culture or a neutral word or resorted to deletion. Some strategies, such as synonymy,
limited universalization and autonomous recreation, were not detected in the analysis and
were thus excluded from the discussion. In addition, upon examination of the type of CSI and
the translation strategies used, the researcher found that preservation strategies were the most
frequently used, regardless of the type of CSI. This indicates a consistency among the three
translators in using the conservation strategies. The results imply that the Arabic translations
accept and tolerate the differences between the two cultures: the SL culture is preserved and
reproduced in the Arabic translations.

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Samia Aljabri,
Assistant Professor at the Department of English, College of Social Sciences,
Umm Al-Qura University,
Makkah, Saudi Arabia, [email protected]

In SKASE Journal of Translation and Interpretation [online]. 2020, vol. 13, no. 2 [cit. 2020- 07-11].
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