Translating Taboos: An Analysis of the Arabic Translation of Manson’s ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck’

• Zagood, Mohammed Juma ^[1] ; Almazrouei, Alhanoof Humaid ^[1] ; Alnaqqbi, Mariam Saeed ^[1] ; Almheiri, Fatma Abdullah ^[1]
  1. [1] United Arab Emirates University

     United Arab Emirates University

     Emiratos Árabes Unidos

     
• Localización: Concepts, Discourses, and Translations / Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (ed. lit.), Marcin Trojszczak (ed. lit.), 2022, ISBN 9783030960988, págs. 299-323
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Translating Taboo words/expressions is one of the challenges that translators face during the process of translation due to various reasons whether they are cultural, religious, and/or the functions and types of the taboo words/expressions used. This study aims to analyze Alnabhan’s (2019) Arabic translation ( ) of Manson’s (2016) The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck to identify the translation strategies used for translating taboo words/expressions. Accordingly, data have been collected from both ST (English) and TT (Arabic). Almijrab’s (2020) classification of the appropriate translation strategies that translators are advised to use for translating English taboos into Arabic is adopted in this study. These strategies are omission or censorship, substitution, taboo for taboo and application of euphemism. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are used for data analysis. The purpose of the quantitative analysis was to find out the frequency use and percentage of the translation strategies adopted by the translator. The qualitative analysis aimed to see how those strategies are used. Throughout the analysis, it has been found out that there are 136 taboo words and expressions in the ST to be analyzed. The analysis has shown that the translator used various strategies to transfer English taboo words/expressions into Arabic. The findings agree with Almijrab's (2020) classification that applying euphemism is the widely used strategy in dealing with taboos as the current study has proven that euphemism is the most frequently used strategy in translating English taboo words/expressions into Arabic. The findings have also shown that the second frequently used strategy is translating taboo for taboo, which is attributed to the nature of the ST as using many taboo words/expressions in the ST is intended by the writer. The significance of this study, therefore, lies in the fact that it helps readers identify and understand taboos, their translatability, the challenges they cause for translators, and the strategies used in translating English taboos into Arabic.