Challenges in Contextual Translation of Lexical Items From English Into Arabic

Abstract

Translation as a process of rendering the meanings of the source text into the target text requires paying attention to various contexts. The textual contexts are the most evident as they provide a sound understanding of the source text. Lexical items have their primary and secondary meanings the identification of which helps to determine the lexical choices in the target text. Given the standardized nature of language use and the professionalism in the preparation of the source texts and their translations in the target texts in international organizations, problems of ambiguity and other linguistic issues may not surface as major challenges. However, the lexical choices in the target text in translation from English into Arabic poses challenges especially for novice translators. This study was undertaken to examine the challenges in contextual translation of lexical items from English into Arabic and explore the approaches to overcome them. A total of five common lexical items were chosen and the translations of phrases containing them were retrieved from the United Nations corpus of documents called LEO Arabic Documents, Bi-texts and Terminology issued by the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management of the United Nations. The data was analyzed to reveal the challenges and pattern of lexical choices. The study of some common lexical items revealed that the lexical choices in the translation vary depending on the textual and situational contexts of the source text. The lexical decisions are dependent on the accompanying lexical items which confer on the source texts their specific intended meanings which inform the lexical decision in the target text. Identification of collocates and common phrases have been found instrumental in the best lexical choices. Some phrases could be considered as terminologies or common expressions that could be added to terminology database or glossaries for the ease of reference and use by the translators.