Translating Saddam : ideology, intertextuality and communicative equivalence in Arabic-English translation
This thesis is concerned with a particularly problematic area of Arabic-English translation, an activity likely to expand considerably as this century continues, and especially in non-literary domains. The past decade has seen increasing attention being paid by translation and other scholars to such issues as ideology, intervention, the role of narratives and the involvement of translation in global news dissemination. Not surprisingly, translation from Arabic looms large in all these areas. Political speeches and statements, often containing a disconcertingly unfamiliar blend of political and religious discourse, invite or require translation (or summary) into English by various agencies with their own particular ideological stances and agenda. Even with accurate and competent linguistic transfer there are many forms of possible manipulation. Equally, poor quality translation between two such incongruent languages can easily produce material that appears at least partly incomprehensible and may tend to make the source text and its producer(s) seem ridiculous to the target reader. Examples of this abound in the available translations of two of Saddam Hussein's speeches in the months leading up to the 2003
Moreton, John Evelyn
Translating Saddam : ideology, intertextuality and communicative equivalence in Arabic-English translation. This thesis is concerned with a particularly problematic area of Arabic-English translation, an activity likely to expand considerably as this century continues, and especially in non-literary domains. The past decade has seen increasing attention being paid by translation and other scholars to such issues as ideology, intervention, the role of narratives and the involvement of translation in global news dissemination. Not surprisingly, translation from Arabic looms large in all these areas. Political speeches and statements, often containing a disconcertingly unfamiliar blend of political and religious discourse, invite or require translation (or summary) into English by various agencies with their own particular ideological stances and agenda. Even with accurate and competent linguistic transfer there are many forms of possible manipulation. Equally, poor quality translation between two such incongruent languages can easily produce material that appears at least partly incomprehensible and may tend to make the source text and its producer(s) seem ridiculous to the target reader. Examples of this abound in the available translations of two of Saddam Hussein's speeches in the months leading up to the 2003
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