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Moroccan Short Stories: a Translation

A term paper submitted to the department of English in partial fulfilment of the

requirements for the degree of licence in English

Prepared by: Supervised by:

Achelh Hicham Dr. Malika Elouali Alami

Academic Year

2013-2014

Cadi Ayyad University

Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences

Marrakesh

Department of English

Filière of English Studies

Research Project Module

2

Marrakesh 2014

Cadi Ayyad University Academic year: 2013-2014

Faculty of letters and Human Sciences

English Department

English Studies filière

Marrakesh

Semester 6 Term Paper Module

Marking sheet

Student‟s Name:

……………………….

Registration Number: …………………………

Read and Approved by

Supervisor:

Dr. …………………….

Second reader: …………………………

Written paper evaluation

Supervisor : ………………. / 10 Student Presentation Evaluation

Supervisor…. ………/ 05

Second reader………. / 05

Final mark ……………….../ 20

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Dedication

This paper is dedicated to my wonderful parents who have raised

me to be the person I am today. Thank you for your unconditional and

never-ending love, for your support that you have always given me.

Thank you for everything. I do love you!

It is also dedicated to all who I love and cherish.

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Acknowledgements:

I would like to formally thank Dr. Malika Elouali Alami who has been the

ideal term paper supervisor to whom I am greatly indebted. Thank you for your

advice, continuous guidance, insightful criticism and patient encouragement aided

the writing of this paper in innumerable ways.

I would like also to offer my gratitude and appreciation to my friend

Mahmoud Sayyed Muhammad, an Egyptian translator, for his invaluable advice

and other people for their help and support.

Endless millions of thanks to you all!

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Table of contents

Introduction ................................................................................................... 6

Part One: translation as a theory………………………………………...………..8

What is translation………………………………………..………………...…..…9

History of translation………………………………………………………...…..11

Translation strategies……………………………………………………...……..15

Part Two: Translation as practice……………………………...…………...……22

"A Moroccan Love Story" by Nabil Hawasli (the Original text)…… ...……..... 23

"A Moroccan Love Story" by Nabil Hawasli (the English translation)…. ……..27

"Blood and Smoke" by Rabii Mubarak (the Original text)… ………… ……… 31

"Blood and Smoke" by Rabii Mubarak (the English translation)………….. …..34

Part Three: Problems encountered in the translation of the two short stories…...38

Conclusion…………………………………………………….………..………..44

Works cited………………………………….……………………..…………….45

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Introduction

Literary translation is a branch of translation which is specialized in the

translation of literary works (novels, short stories, poems…). It has become one

of the most widespread types of translation nowadays. Many literary works have

been translated into international languages like English. For example, some

famous Arabic novels have been translated into English by famous translators.

E.g. “The Yacoubian Building” by Alaa Al-Aswany which was translated by

Humphrey Davies and “The thief and the Dogs” by Naguib Mahfouz which was

translated by Trevor Le Guassik.

As its title indicates, this paper is classified into the category of literary

translation. It is a practical paper on translating Moroccan short stories. I have

chosen and translated two short stories, which by virtue of their topics, seem

interesting to read and translate. The first short story is titled “A Moroccan Love

Story” by Nabil Hawasli while the second “Blood and Smoke” is written by the

famous Moroccan short story writer Rabii Mubarak.

The paper has one main objective: translating Moroccan short stories by

implementing the various translation strategies that can preserve in the best

possible way the spirit of the original text through maintaining the smoothness of

style and preserving the meaning.

This paper is divided into three major parts: the first part is the theoretical

introductory section. It consists of three chapters; each chapter tackles one subject

related with the field of translation. For instance, in the first chapter, I discuss the

issue of defining the term “translation”. I compare the various existing definitions

and form a definition out of these definitions. The second chapter revolves around

the history of translation in both of Western and Arab world since translation has

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witnessed eras of prosperity during the course of history in these two areas.

Unlike the two first chapters, the third chapter discusses the main strategies of

translation commonly employed by translators like word-for-word translation,

literal translation, transliteration… Each strategy is defined and illustrated with

examples.

The second part is the field work where the reader will find the two short

stories together with their English translation.

The third part, unlike the other parts, is the analytical section which deals

with the problems I, as a novice translator, encountered in the translation of the

two short stories. I discussed these problems providing examples from either or

both of the two short stories.

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Part One:

Translation as a theory

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What is translation?

Translation is present in all aspects of everyday life. For instance, we have

read famous wonders in our mother tongue though they were originally written in

different languages .Everyday we watch documentaries, TV programs, news

reports subtitled or dubbed in our language. At school, students study texts

containing philosophies and ideas of thinkers and philosophers translated into

their language. These examples and others prove to us that translation is a need

rather than a luxury. Therefore, the question that may arise in our mind is: What

is translation after all?

Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines translation as “1-a rendering

from one language into another.2-the product of such rendering”1.Obviously, the

dictionary provides only a basic definition of the term that anyone with no formal

education can give. However, the term “Translation” has been exhausted by many

linguists, translators, and scholars. Here are four different definitions by four

famous scholars:

Peter Newmark defines translation as “the skill of replacing a textual

material in the source language (SL) by another textual material in the target

language (TL)”2. For John Catford translation is “the process of replacing a text

written in the source language by a text written in the target language”3.

According to Halliday, “the textual equivalent between the SL text and the TL

text doesn‟t necessarily require producing the formal equivalent to these texts on

the level of the entire text”4. In addition to these definitions, Pinchuch maintains

that “if translation were only the replacement of words, we should only consult a

bilingual dictionary”5

The above definitions agree that translation is the replacement of a text in SL

by another text in TL. Unlike the definition of Merriam Webster Online

Dictionary, the definitions emphasize the idea that translation is not merely the

1 -http//:www.merriam-webster.com/translation. 2 Yusuf, Muhammed Hassan. Kayfa tutarjim? [How to translate?].The company of coaching

and national learning institutes.Kuweit, 1997.P 24-25. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid.

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translation of the lexical items or rules of the grammar of a text but it is also the

translation of the meaning of the text i.e. the content.

Taking these definitions into consideration we can say that translation is the

replacement of a text (form+meaning) in the source language by another text

(form+meaning) in the target language.

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History of translation

It is definitely true that the emergence of translation was due to the need of

people from diverse nations and races with different languages to communicate

with each other for several reasons. Allah Says in His Holy Koran: “O mankind!

We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into

nations and tribes, that you may know each other”6.In this verse, we read that the

reason why the Almighty God created mankind and made them into nations and

peoples with different languages is to know each other, to communicate, and live

together in peace and harmony. Since this is Allah‟s way in dealing with HIS

servants, people started looking for ways to understand each other‟s speech hence

the invention of translation.

For the purposes of this paper, we will track the historical development of

translation in the Arab World and in the Western World since it has flourished

mainly in these two areas of the world.

1. Translation in the Western World:

Most scholars and researchers maintain that writings on translation date back

to the time of Romans. Eric Jacobson claims that translating is a Roman

invention. Cicero and Horace (1BC) were the first theorists who distinguished

between word-for-word translation and sense-for-sense translation.

The second period in the history of translation witnessed a development that

was marked by St. Jerome whose translations of the Greek Bible into Latin would

influence the translation of the scriptures.

6 Yusuf Ali, Abdullah. The Meaning of the Holy Koran. Surah Al-Hujurat [the Inner

Apartments], verses 12-13.Alaalami Library. Beirut, 2007.p 763.

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The invention of printing in the 15th

century developed the field of

translation and helped in the appearance of early theorists such as Etienne Dolet.

The 17th

century knew the emergence of many influential theorists like Sir

John Denhom (1615-69), Abraham Conley (1618-67), and John Dryden (1688-

1744).

In the 18th

century, the translator was compared to an artist with a moral duty

toward the work of the original author and the receiver. Since then, the study of

translation started to be systematic. The publication of Alexander Frayer‟s

Principles of translation in 1791 exemplifies this period7

The 19th

century knew the emergence of two conflicting tendencies: the first

tendency considered translation as a category of thoughts and viewed the

translator as a creative genius while the second tendency saw the translator

through the mechanical function of making a text.

In the 20th

century, studies on translation became an important course in

language teaching and learning at schools. This of course led to the foundation of

Grammar Translation Method which studies the grammatical rules and structure

of foreign languages. This period also witnessed the appearance of text-based

translation model which focuses on texts rather than on words or sentences in the

translation process. Moreover, new pragmatic and systematic approaches to the

study of translation saw light. Some famous writings and figures that marked this

period are: George Mounin (1963), John C.Catford (1965), Eugene Nida (1964),

De Beaugrand…

Nowadays, the invention of the Internet and the new technologies has

increased cultural exchange and facilitated the unlimited access to information.

Within this situation, translators were obliged to cope with these changes and to

look for new practical techniques that enable them to improve their performance.

7 Zakhir, Marouane, „The history of translation „at: http://www.translationdirectory.com

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Translators also embarked on the cinematographic translation which includes

dubbing and subtitling of documentaries, movies, TV programs and so forth.8

2. Translation in the Arab World:

Most historians agree that the early translations used in Arabic date back to

the era of Syrians (first half of the second century AD).The Syrians translated into

Arabic a heritage of the era of paganism. What characterized these translations is

the fact that they were more literal and faithful to the original. Jarjas was one of

the famous Syrian translators. He was famous for his translation of Aristotle‟s In

the world.

The time of the prophet Muhammed (PBUH) was a turning point in the

history of translation. Islam had spread in many regions outside the Arab

Peninsula where other non-Arab nations like Jews, Romans, and Abyssinians

lived. This situation made the prophet (PBUH) look for translators so as to send

the message of Allah to these nations. Zaid Ibn Tabit, one of the prophet‟s

companions‟ was one of the famous translators who translated letters sent by the

prophet (PBUH) to foreign kings of Syria, Abyssinia, Rome…

The third period knew the flourishing of Koran translation. The early

translations of the Holy Koran focused on its meaning. Some of these translations

are: the Greek translation of the Koran by philosopher Naktis, the Persian

translation by Mohamed Al-Hafid Al-Bukhari, and the Turkish translation by Al-

Fadl Mohamed Ibn Idriss.9

During the Abbasid era and precisely in the epoch of the caliph Al-Mansour,

translation witnessed an enhancement. It also developed during the era of caliph

Al-Mamoun who built “Bait Al-Hikma (The House of Wisdom) which was the

8 Ibid. 9 Ibid.

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greatest institute of translation of the time. During this period, translators focused

on translating books of Greek philosophy, Indian sciences, and Persian literature.

Nowadays, Arab translations have known many changes, and the wide range

of studies in the field has helped in the development of translation and the birth of

new theorists. Translation in the Arab World has also benefited from the use of

computers, digital materials and the spread of databases of terminologies that

offer translators a considerable number of dictionaries. All these factors have led

to the creation of many associations of translation such as ATIDA (Arabic

Translation and Intercultural Dialogue Association). However, the gap is still

wide between the Arab translator and the Western translator in terms of the

translated books.10

10 Ibid.

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Translation strategy

In order for a translator to succeed in his job, he should follow some

methods to help him do so. Methods are necessary for a translator to use so as to

guarantee a good translation of the materials he translates. These methods are

known in translation studies as “translation strategies”. Without a good strategy,

the translator will not be able to translate or he will fall in the trap of

mistranslation.

In general, translators distinguish between two types of strategies: Global

Translation Strategy and Local Translation Strategy. Global translation strategy is

applied to the text as a whole. In this strategy, translators attempt to see how close

to the source text they want their target text to be. Local translation strategy is the

set of procedures adopted in the translation of individual expressions in the source

text such as words, grammatical expressions, idioms…11

I. Global translation strategy:

In this type of strategy, distinction should be made between two kinds of

translation: imitative translation which tries to retain the purely formal aspects of

the source text and, functional translation which seeks to get the message of the

source text across, even if this takes drastic changes in the form of the text.

In his study of translation strategies, P. Newmark classifies the above two

methods of translation in terms of their focus: one method focuses on the source

text and other method focuses mainly on the target text.12

1. ST/SL Focus (imitative translation):

11 Dr.Banjar, Shadia Yousef.‟Translation Strategies, a practicum‟ at. http://SBANJAR.Kau.edu.sa, http//:www.drshadiabanjar.blogspot.com 12 Ibíd.

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Imitative translation includes:

a) Word-for-word translation: refers to the preservation of word as literal

translation as possible of individual words. For example:

Boy = Bread = House =

Here, each word in English (SL) is given an equivalent in Arabic (TL) regardless

of their content or function.

b) Literal translation: in addition to literal translation of individual words

(word-for-word translation), grammatical structures are converted into the

nearest target language equivalent. For example:

From Arabic into English:

رجزذ رجخإ If you work hard,

you succeed

From English into Arabic:

The student went to school رت انزهز إنى انذسسخ

c) Faithful translation: stays within the constraints of the grammatical

structures of the target text, but draws on certain contextual factors. E.g.:

The sentence “the boy went to school” must not be translated into Arabic as “ د ـانل

"رت إنى انذسسخ simply because the structure of the Arabic sentence (TL here) is

VSO (verb+ subject+ object) whereas in English is SVO. The English sentence

starts with a subject followed by a verb and ends with an object. So, the sentence

should be translated as د إنى انذسسخـرت انل .

In order for a translation to be faithful to the original text, it must abide by the

grammatical structures of the target text.

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d) Semantic translation: focuses more on naturalness than faithful translation,

and translation of certain cultural words into neutral equivalents in the

target language.13

2. TL/TT focus (functional translation):

This type of translation is made up of four methods:

a. Adaptation: is known as the freest form of translation and more of a target

language/culture based interpretation of the source text than a translation as

such. A good example of adaptation can be the interpretation of the Holy

Quran.

b. Free translation: this kind of translation focuses on the content of the target

text rather than on the form i.e. the same content in the target language but

with different grammatical structures if necessary .E.g.:

This sentence “English is spoken all over the world” is translated into Arabic

as " انعبنىأذبءزذذس انبط ثبنعشثخ ف كم " . The difference between the two sentences is

clear. The sentence in the target language is in the passive form which was

translated into Arabic in the active form. It could have been translated in the

passive form as "زذذس ثبنعشثخ ف كم أذبء انعبنى "but translation would be judged as

weak or even mistaken since Arabic tends to use active form more than passive

form.

c. Idiomatic translation: this method employs idioms and colloquialisms that

are not present in the source text. In their translation of idioms and

colloquialisms translators usually replace idiomatic expressions and

colloquialisms of the source text by other idioms and colloquialisms

existing in the target language. Let us consider this example:

13 Ibid. (examples are mine)

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“To rain cats and dogs”. It will be absurd to translate it literally into Arabic as إب "

"رطش لططب كالثب because it is nonsensical. Therefore, the best translation of this

idiomatic expression can be ." " إب رطش كأفا انمشة

d. Communicative translation: is the reproduction of the exact message of the

source text content-wise and context-wise but with emphasis on naturalness

and comprehensiveness to the target text reader. E.g.: an article in a

newspaper rewritten in the target language (Arabic for example) with a

consideration to the content and the context.14

II. Local translation strategy:

Lundquist and Newmark list three types of translation procedures within this

strategy. These types are: 1-direct procedures 2-indirect procedures, and 3-others.

1. Direct procedures: include

a. Literal translation: word-for-word translation

b. Transference/loan: transferring a word or an expression from the source

language/text directly into the target text without translating at all. E.g.:

"The Economist كب سد ف يجهخ "

"عهى انذذس Le Monde "عهمذ جشذح

The two words “The Economist” and “Le Monde” are left as they are in the

source language i.e. they were not translated.

c. Translation loan: retention of the syntactic construction but translation of

the work in it. E.g.:

Suppose we want to translate this sentence” the teacher beat his student” and we

want to preserve the syntactic construction of the English sentence SVO without

14 Ibid. (examples are mine)

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using the Arabic structure VSO. The translation of course will run as the

following:

"انعهى ضشة انزهز"

Through translation: literal translation of collocations and combinations. Let us

consider these collocations:

To do business مو ثبنزجبسح

To fulfill a promise ف ثبنعذ

Conspicuous poverty فمش يذلع

All these collocations are literally translated.

d. Transliteration: a transference in which target language spelling and

morphology are applied in the expression of word in question. For

example:

The word “democracy” is translated into Arabic as انذمشاطخ" " . The word

undergoes the morphological rules as well as the spelling of the target language in

the translation into Arabic.15

2. Indirect procedures: consist of two components: equivalence and shifts

a. Equivalence: the focus is in meaning in the perspective of the reader of the

target text. There are three types of equivalence: cultural equivalence:

cultural equivalence, functional equivalence, and descriptive equivalence.

Cultural equivalence: refers to translating a culturally rooted word in the

source text with a roughly equivalent culturally rooted word in the target

language.

15 Ibid. (examples are mine)

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Functional equivalence: is the translation of a word in the source language

with a functionally equivalent target language word. E.g.: verb (SL)-----

translation------verb (SL)

Descriptive equivalence: the translation of a source text word using a

description of the concept it refers to in the target language. For instance:

The word “انششعخ” in Arabic is translated as “Sharia” with explanation of the term

in English:

جت رطجك انششعخ اإلساليخ ف ثالدب

Sharia (Islamic law) must be applied in our country.16

b. Shifts: there are three types of shift: transposition, modulation, and

componential analysis.

Transposition: translation of source language /text expression which

involves change in grammatical structure or in word class. E.g.: the

replacement of a sentence in the passive form in the source language by a

sentence in the active form in the target language as:

“English is spoken all over the world” is translated into Arabic as: زذذس انبط "

"ذبء انعبنى أثبإلجهضخ ف كم

Modulation: change of viewpoint or substantial conceptual concept in

translation. E.g.: the name of a category for a specific member of the

category, using a part to whole (and vice versa), active for passive…

Componential analysis: splitting up a lexical unit into meaning atoms and

translating these.

16 Ibid. (examples are mine)

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For example: a translator wants to translate this sentence into Arabic.” I move the

adoption of the following resolution”. The first thing this translator should do is

to break down the sentence into small lexical items to know the meaning of each

word according to the context hence translating the sentence correctly.

To move: means here to suggest. In Arabic مزشح

Adoption: means the decision to start doing something. In Arabic اعزبد

The following: the next. In Arabic انزبن

Resolution: decision. In Arabic لشاس

Therefore, the translation will be like:

"أقترح اعتماد القرار التالي "17

c. Other procedures:

Recognized translation: using a well-known accepted target language

translation for a specific institutional term.

Translation label: a provisional target language of a source language that

does not have any conventional translation in the target language.18

17 Ibid. (examples are mine) 18 Ibid.

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Part two:

Translation as practice

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1. The original text:

قصة حب من المغرب

نبيل حواصلي

24

25

26

.

مقتطفة مه موقع الحوار المتمدن

http :// www.hewar.org

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2. The translation:

A Moroccan Love Story

By Nabil Hawasli

“Hasna! Hasna! Go and fetch me 200 grammes of yeast from the grocery”.

The soft voice reached my heart before reaching my ears. I looked up at the

balcony of the flat in the second floor; I saw her tying back her hair. Her sister

Hasna, a very beautiful girl like her, was playing with her friends. I was dazzled

by her beauty. She had a graceful stature; she had a white rounded face and had

swelling breasts. Her way of looking tells a lot about her chastity. My heart was

beating at her voice and thumping at her beauty and tenderness. I stood in the

corner of the alley so as to enjoy looking at her slim body but I failed to catch

sight of her. Afterwards, I moved to another corner in order to make the

neighbors believe that I was just a passer-by in an attempt to see her again.

I was perplexed to fall suddenly in love with this sweet-voiced pleasant girl.

Hasnaa brought the yeast to her sister who was at home and returned to her

friends to resume playing hopscotch with them. In the meantime, I was looking at

the balcony waiting for the beauty to appear again; I wished she needed

something for the kitchen so as to call her sister so as to see her again; I had been

overtaken many times by porters and hawkers for I was absent-minded while

looking at the balcony. Time passed fast and the Muezzin was calling for the

noon prayer; the alley was becoming gradually deserted; I thought that the dough

was ready for cooking.

I rushed to the nearest café in the neighborhood. It was packed to capacity

and various kinds of smell were coming out through its narrow door; I took a seat

close to the customers who were wholly engaged in playing cards and sipping

their cups of tea. I ordered a cup of coffee and lit my poor-quality cigarette; its

smoke raised and joined the cigarette smoke-polluted air. I started thinking of a

way which could bring me close to the girl: shall I write a letter to her or ask for

her hand from her parents? Many questions were in my mind; a state of absent-

mindedness seized me and put me in the world of imagination; I imagined her

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naked; her body was bright and the locks of her hair extended to her breast

supported with a red brassiere. A strong shudder seized me; my penis hardened

and I felt a pain in my chest. I was trying to dismiss this erotic image from my

mind but in vain. I got in the bathroom and hold my penis with my hand so as to

shrivel and relieve myself from the pain; it took me a lot of time to do so.

Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door and quickly masturbated to satisfy my lust

in such way. «What a bad morning! I wouldn‟t have been in such situation if I

had been lying on bed: I woke up to look for a job but I came across a beautiful

and shy girl who made me crazy”. Since then, I vowed to see that girl again even

if took me to visit her in her home, see her family and talk openly to her about my

suffering caused by falling in her love.

I crossed the winding alleys towards my place and the bright summer

sunshine was reflected on the passers-by eyes. Courters were passing in these

alleys carrying their copper vessel on the backs of their packed animals. They

kept asking passers-by to be careful and open the way for their animals to pass.

They also warned in different languages elder tourists who were taking pictures

of the exquisite architecture of the traditional houses in the city.

Hassan went his way home without caring about anything around him. He

was trying to remember the features of that charming girl so as to stick to his

memory. He indulged in questions: “what if she belongs to a rich family and

accepts me as a husband?”Then he said “how can she come from a rich family

when she lives in this poor neighborhood and buys 200 grammes of yeast?” “She

may be on a vacation and may be working in her father‟s house” Hassan added.

All these speculations were motivating him to meet the girl and talk openly to her

about marriage but these speculations were soon transformed into this realistic

question: “how can she accept me as a husband while I am jobless and dependent

on my family?”

His dream smashed and all his speculations faded away at the voice of the

Muezzin who was calling to the dawn prayer saying: “prayer is better than sleep”.

As soon as the call was over, many questions of metaphysical and religious nature

arose in his mind. These questions were about the existence of man, his fate and

his misfortune. Hassan said: “Sure, prayer is better than sleep but sleep is also

necessary”. Hassan lied on his bed again trying to sleep so as to spend another

day in his hard life which he wished to be the best in his life; he had tried to get

his mother to involve in his suffering but it seemed that he was not convinced

with this idea because his mother wouldn‟t accept to marry him with the girl since

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his social status didn‟t allow him to do so. It would be absurd to think of marriage

without him being settled. “What injustice is this? I don‟t even possess a penny in

this life!” he added.

It is indeed a crisis of love and longing. What should he do? Do the jobless

people like him not have the right to marry and establish families? Is this not the

real sexual, psychological and political repression? They say that Mohamed

Choukri lived in a state of repression and consequently expressed this repression

in his writings. What should he have done? Should he have written about the life

of luxury and filthy richness?

Hassan was fascinated by the writings of this writer especially his two

autobiographical novels entitled “For Bread Alone” and “The Era of Mistakes”.

Hassan saw Choukri‟s writings as a bridge that links him with the noisy bars,

brothels and the years of drought in the mid 40‟s. Choukri‟s worlds were similar

to Hassan‟s. Hassan loved Choukri for no reason except that he was the

spokesman of the marginalized, the oppressed and the homeless. He said about

him: “Choukri is not only a writer but also a social and psychological

phenomenon. He was worth studying not judging. He is the expression of a hard

era and a crisis whose consequences we still bear. He is the symbol of the

unequalled adherence to life”. However, Hassan difference between Choukri lies

in the fact that the latter was not politically engaged meaning that he was not

interested in politics.

While Hassan was thinking about Choukri, the image of the charming girl

came back again to his mind; he took a pen and a sheet of paper and started

writing a letter to her:

“Dear lady, I am writing to you this letter to tell you that you impressed me and I

want to talk to you and know more about you. One day, I had a chance to see you

when you were calling your sister from the balcony of your house. From that day

on, I got captivated by your beauty and became desirous to see you again.

Unfortunately I failed to see you twice as if it were ordained that I would see you

once and be tortured forever. Here is my personal data: I am at the end of my

thirties; I have a BA; I belong to a poor family. Once, my dad died and I was

responsible for my family which comprises mom, my brother Yasser, and my

sister Fatima. I am a day-worker; I work a day and stop for days. Although my

situation seems difficult, I dream of sharing my life with you, establishing a

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family and having offspring. Please do reply to my letter as soon as possible. The

tortured man: Hassan Erraji.”

Hassan sprayed some perfume on the letter, put it in an envelope and went to the

neighborhood where the girl lived. Once he arrived, he waited for Hasnaa, the

girl‟s sister. As soon as she appeared he called her “Hasna! Hasna!”

She came without reservation; Hassan kissed her and gave her a candy. At

first, she refused to take the candy but she accepted it when Hassan persuaded

her. Before she went home, Hassan gave her the envelope and asked her to give it

to her sister. The girl accepted the letter too, took the envelope with her left hand,

the candy with her right hand and ran to the house. Hassan stood around watching

the girl; he was happy inside because he knew for sure that the girl would

understand him. This initiative has refreshed his dreams and psyche.

The next day, Hassan woke up early to look for a job after a happy night. He

headed to the big square near his neighborhood where day-workers who practice

different crafts expose their tools which tell about their jobs. Hassan joined that

gathering knowing for sure that most of them didn‟t get a workday.

The letter reached the girl. It took her a lot of time to read and consider it. Its

sweet expressions reminded her of the words of love her comrade at university

used to send her when they parted for the holidays; she burst into tears; the letter

took her back to the period of her university life when she learnt the principles of

political commitment and the real meaning of the true intellectual in the midst of

a bitter society. She burst into tears because she is also jobless; she didn‟t forget

her first love whom she preferred to live in his memory challenging her family

who advised her to forget the past and open a new page in her life.

She copied the address from the envelope of Hassan‟s letter and started writing a

reply that fits Hassan‟s feelings. She wrote:

“Dear Hassan. Your letter reached me in a special way just as you sent it. I thank

you for the expressions of appreciation. I appreciate your sentimental expressions

which undoubtedly came from the heart of a respectful man. I invite you to

understand my situation. Please be sure that I didn’t turn you down because of

your social status; I also belong to the same social class and my situation is so

special: I am jobless; I lead a special life; I had a boyfriend at the university; I

accepted him as a close friend due to my strong conviction of his character and

the principles I shared with him. Principles which once claimed his life when he

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lay dead in the campus in vague conditions. From that day on, I have lived in his

memory because of his commitment and true patriotism. I wish you the best of

luck. Please do understand my position and my special conditions. Sincerely,

Zoubida”

The letter arrived at Hassan‟s house; his mother kept it with her. Once

Hassan got home, his mother gave him the envelope; he tore it quickly and read

eagerly the letter. When he finished reading the letter he realized that his dream,

though was a project, couldn‟t change his situation.

1. The original text:

م و دخاند

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33

34

19805

1. The translation:

Blood and Smoke

By Rabii Mubarak

As soon as Dahmane stood at the outdoor of Master Ali s butchery, the

latter took pieces of cow‟s stomach and fat knowing already what his client

wanted. He asked him: “how much do you want?”

Dahmane turned his head tiredly and gave the 10 DH banknote to the

butcher and said: “sheep‟s…liver please”

Master Ali was amazed as he was taking the banknote from Dahmane

who added: “A kilogram of liver, please?”

“With fat?” asked the butcher.

Dahmane nodded with his head in agreement and added in a tired voice: “thin

fat…”

He would have liked to chat with Master Dahmane and answer all his

questions had he not been tired. Then Dahmane took the liver with the change

and left.

At home, his children surrounded him for a while, and then they left him

and moved to surround their mother when the brazier started emitting grey and

pleasant smoke. Dahmane watched the movements of his wife while his

children were clowning and muttered to himself: “They sound happy and my

wife is tasting the liver. She must be conceiving!”

The smoke raised throughout the house until sight was impossible.

Dahmane leaned against the wall, his arm was so numb that this numbing

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extended to his entire body; he felt that he was unable to move or he was not

willing to move. Why should he move? He can‟t see, sleep nor refuse

anything. The numbing of his arm was as pleasant as his sitting in that

majestic comfortable sofa when he felt he was losing his weight.

This happened when the door opened and the nurse appeared. Dahmane

stepped in while a bright-faced man in a djellaba was patting him on his

shoulders and whispering into his ears “a true man is he who keeps his

promise”

Dahmane didn‟t look back; he followed the nurse towards a complicated

room where he found himself before a young doctor with a stethoscope

dangling on his chest. The doctor asked him: “your blood card please!”

Dahmane took out the card from his pocket; it had become dirty because

of the long period of time he had kept it with him and negligence or perhaps

the frequent usage. Nobody knew what feeling seized Dahmane whenever he

stared at that card; whenever he sensed it. He felt proud in the first days of his

relationship with the card but he gradually lost this feeling. But, he glanced at

it from time to time contemplating its illegible handwriting that suggests

vague things to him.

“You haven‟t donated your blood for a long time. Right?”

“Since Agadir… It was the only time I donated my blood” said Dahmane

grudgingly.

The doctor turned the card trying to find out something on the back of it as if

what is written on its face were not convincing then asked Dahmane again:

“What is your relationship with the female patient?”

“She is my mother,” replied Dahmane.

He pursed his lips lest he should say something stupid.

“Have you eaten something this morning?” asked the doctor

He ate some bread, drank some tea but he had to lie and shouldn‟t be seen as a

liar. He said quietly: “I am fasting sir”

The doctor muttered in agreement and led Dahmane to a comfortable sofa.

Once on it, Dahmane felt as light as a feather or that he had lost his weight; he

36

felt sleepy; the doctor was calmly adjusting his position. Afterwards, Dahmane

had anesthetic and a syringe was injected in his hand. The doctor asked him

politely: “please look at the wall”

Although Dahmane looked at the wall, he couldn‟t escape seeing drops of

blood pouring into the bottle at the beats of his heart as if he had been staring

at it.

“Do close your eyes” asked the doctor.

Yet, Dahmane couldn‟t avoid looking at the bottle. So, he preferred to

stare at everything as if the doctor had been despaired of him and left him

alone. The dark red blotch was increasing at the bottom of the bottle while the

doctor was raising it gently and shaking it from time to time. Decades past

before the syringe was removed from Dahmane‟s arms and a plaster was put

on its place. Dahmane rose to his feet with eyes following the bottle on its way

to another place; he started walking and looking around him until he was

about to collide with the doctor who was carrying a cup of coffee for him.

“A cup of coffee?” asked the doctor

Dahmane took the cup of coffee, sipped it and got out of the hospital.

Once at the door, the bright-faced man patted him on shoulder and took him

by the hand together with three or four relatives of the female patient. A few

meters away from the hospital, Dahmane gazed at the 10 DH banknote and the

bright-faced man repeated: “remember your word! Remember your word!”

Dahmane tried to protest but his voice failed him. He said in a low but weak

tone: “but we agreed on 50 Dhs”

“We said ten” the man replied.

“A true man is the one who keeps his words” said Dahmane.

“I told you we agreed on ten” the man maintained

Soon, people gathered around them but the opponent‟s voice was stronger and

clearer: “O people! We agreed on 10 DHs!”

Then came the strongest and the clearest voice: “He is selling his life cheap!”

Dahmane felt that he was disgusting and the people around them were

against him and he was against himself; he felt guilty, unfair and ignoble. His

37

voice was failing him. He was sure that his situation was not the result of a

sickness but simply his voice was failing him. He should have used his hands,

he grabbed the banknote to tear it but a hand quickly prevented him from

doing so. Actually, he did not tear the banknote. So, he was grateful to the

person who saved the banknote. Afterwards, voices and faces jumbled before

his eyes and he felt the banknote in his pocket.

His wife dismissed him from his meditations patting on his shoulder and

saying: “Dahmane, have you slept?”

He was just half asleep and quickly moved nervously. His wife said to him:

“take this!”

He took the skewer from her after having missed it many times because of

the thick smoke or the numbing of his arm. The pieces of the fat-covered liver

which were crammed in the skewer seemed to him to be thick wisps of smoke.

He chewed one; it was difficult for him to chew because of its stickiness; then

he moved it in his jaw and the image of a hand shaking a bottle filled with his

dark red blood occupied his mind.

38

Third part:

Problems encountered during the translation

of the two short stories

39

Translation is seen as one of the most difficult tasks people can undertake.

This means that the field of translation is a field of problems. No translator can

translate a text without facing problems in his job.

In general, the problems of translation are due to the fact that the semantic

equivalent in the TL may not convey the same meaning of the text in SL. It may

also be the result of the difference between the linguistic structures of both SL

and TL, especially between Arabic and English which have completely different

structures.19

As far as the two short stories “A Moroccan Love Story” and “Blood and

Smoke” are concerned, I have come across many problems and difficulties of

different kinds when translating them; It took me a lot of time to translate and

revise them so as to come up with a somehow good translation.

Here, we shall expound these problems using some examples from the two

short stories.

I. Selecting the proper meaning:

The most common problem that exists in the translation from Arabic into

English is the problem of choosing the most appropriate meaning of words that

can fit a certain context /or contexts. Here are two examples that illustrate this

fact:

In “A Moroccan Love Story”, we read in the Arabic text “ ثذأد ركزت سدا ذزشو

"يشبعش رنك اإلسب انزي كزت إنب . Let us consider the word “ذزشو ." ذزشو" means « to

respect » in Arabic. But, translating the sentence as *“…and she started writing a

reply that respects Hassan‟s feelings” would be illogical since “to respect” is a

verb which describes a human act. Moreover, “ذزشو” does not mean “to respect”

in this context. So, I discovered that the real meaning would not be other than “to

fit”. So, the sentence can be translated as “…and she started writing a reply that

fits Hassan‟s feelings”

In “Blood and Smoke”, we have this sentence “صو شفز ك ال رزشدا فزضفب شئب"

which literally translated as: *“then he pursed his lips lest they should rebel and

add something “

19

Yusuf, Muhammed Hassan. Kayfa tutarjim? [How to translate?].The company of coaching

and national learning institutes.Kuweit, 1997. P 91.

40

A simple reading of the translation can tell us that the sentence lacks logic.

This leads us to say that translating literally the expression cannot convey its real

meaning. So, I read the sentence carefully and found out that it means that

Dahmane pursed his lips so as not to lie and miss a chance of getting some

money. Then I translated the sentence as “then he pursed his lips lest they should

fail him”.

II. Literal translation:

As we mentioned in the first part of this paper, literal translation is the

preservation of word together with grammatical structures. However, lexical

items, sentences, texts or even books cannot be translated depending solely on

this type of translation simply because translation is not merely rendering lexical

items or the retention grammatical structures. Rather, the focus, in most cases, is

on meaning. As a novice translator, I have fallen in the trap of literal translation

when dealing with the two short stories:

In “A Moroccan Love Story” we have this sentence that sounds as follows:

“ At the beginning, I translated the sentence. ”ثى رصم ث دشر رخبر إنى سؤال الع

as “…his dilemma and speculations pushed him to ask this realistic question”.

Obviously, the target reader will surely see this translation as weak and may

judge the translator to be incompetent. So the best translation of this sentence can

be:

“Then his speculations would turn into this realistic question”

III. Collocation:

Collocation is “the habitual co-occurrence of individual lexical items”20

.

Translation seems sometimes difficult due to the existence of collocations. The

translator, in turn, should make a great effort in looking for the exact adjectives,

verbs, prepositions… that collocate with nouns.

As a matter of fact, if grammatical rules constitute the backbone of a text,

collocation is its mainstay.21

While reading the two short stories I translated these collocations as follows:

20

Ibid. 21 Ibid.

41

"ثذأ انجش شسم دخبب" « the brazier started emitting pleasant smoke »

instead of *« sending pleasant smoke »

"ألسززع ثبنظش إنى لايب انشق" « to enjoy looking at her graceful stature »

instead of *« looking in »

"األصلخ انهزخ" « the winding alleys » instead of * « the zigzagging alleys »

"خبل جبيخ" « fertile imagination » instead of *« strong imagination »

IV. Cultural and environmental difference:

In addition to the problems of meaning selection, literal translation, and

collocation, another major problem is represented by cultural and environmental

differences. Cultural and environmental differences refer to the existence of some

concepts in a certain culture that do not exist in the other culture/or cultures. For

instance, in the Western culture, the concept of “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” are

not part of the Muslim and Arab culture. On the other hand, we find some terms

which are intrinsic to the Muslim and Arabic culture like Aggal (headcord),

Mulukhya (a kind of vegetables), Zakat (Islamic system of charity)… and do not

exist in the Western culture at all

Concerning the two short stories, there are cases of this cultural difference.

For example:

The first sentence in the original text of “A Moroccan Love Story” runs as

follows:

" رعبن بن دس ي انخشح ي ثمبل انذ " دسبء! دسبء!

This is primarily translated as: “Hasnaa! Hsnaa! Go fetch me 2 DHs of yeast from

the neighborhood‟s grocery!”

In the Moroccan society, people usually quantify goods (especially small

quantities of goods like food, liquids…) by price. For instance, a father may ask

his son: “go fetch me 5 DHs of coffee!” However, this quantification is not part

of the Anglo-Saxon culture. There, in the US or in the UK for example, goods are

quantified using special measures for weight (Kg or Yard) or volume (Liter or

Gallon). Therefore, translating literally the above measure (2DHs of yeast) will

not make sense to the target reader. To remedy this problem, I converted the

quantity to Kg: 2DHs of yeast equals roughly 200 grammes. So, the sentence can

be rendered as:

“Hasnaa! Hasnaa! Go fetch me 200 grammes of yeast from the neighborhood‟s

grocery!”

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The other sentence that embody this cultural difference can be found in the

other short story “Blood and Smoke” when it says in the original text: " ذ سجم

"يجهجت ثشش رشثذ عهى كزف which I translated as: “…and a bright-faced man in

djellaba was patting his shoulders”. Obviously, the word djellaba, which I

deliberately italicized, doesn‟t exist in the Anglo-Saxon culture. In other words, it

has no equivalent word in English. Djellaba is a kind of dress which resembles to

some extent a gown and it is worn in Arab countries. The seemingly best solution

to this problem is transliteration plus an explanation of the term.

V. Figurative expressions:

Translating figures of speech or figurative expressions constitutes also a

problem for translators. It goes without saying that the words that have more than

one connotation in a certain language/culture may not have the same meanings in

the other language/culture. Let us consider this example from Nabil Hawasli‟s “A

Moroccan Love Story”:

"أزظش إطالنخ انمش ي جذذ"

First, I translated this sentence as follows:

“…waiting for the moon to appear again”. The word “moon” in Arabic "لش" is

used figuratively to mean « a fair woman » or « a dazzlingly beautiful girl ».

However, the word has completely different connotations in the English culture.

It can refer to childhood or even stupidity.

After an exhausting search for the best imagery that can convey the meaning

of the sentence, I substituted the word “beauty” for “moon” because beauty also

means “a beautiful and attractive person” in English, hence conveying the exact

meaning of the sentence. So, the translation will run as follows: “…waiting for

the beautiful lady to appear again”

VI. Idioms:

Idioms translation is also one of the problems that exemplify the cultural

difference. In “A Moroccan Love Story” I translated this sentence " نمذ أدت شكشي ال

"انز فزشش األسض هزذف انسبءنشء نك أل صد انش انمس as « he

loved Chokri for no reason except that he was the spokesman of the neglected and

subjugated who lie on the floor and cover themselves with sky »

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It turned out to me afterwards that the expression فزشش األسض هزذف "

"انسبء is an idiom because it can‟t be logical if it is literally translated “*those

who lie on the floor and cover themselves with sky”. So, I should look for its TL

equivalent or translate its meaning. Since I didn‟t find any equivalent for this

idiom in English, I translated its meaning. The expression means “homeless

people”. Then the translation will look like: “He loved Chokri for no reason

except that he was the spokesman of the neglected and the homeless”.

VII. Punctuation:

I faced the problem of punctuation only in the translation of “A Moroccan

Love Story”. A single glance at the structure of the Arabic text can tell that

punctuation is used at random i.e. the writer does not respect the rules of

punctuation. For example, commas are used more often instead of full stops.

Sometimes commas are unnecessarily used in some sentences. Within this

situation, I punctuated the translated text in isolation from its original text taking

into account the great importance of punctuation in making the English text

smooth and easy to read and understand.

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Conclusion

So far, we have seen how the field of literary translation is a problematic

field of study. The translation of the two Moroccan short stories has proved this

fact to us; we have encountered several problems connected with style, imagery,

word choice…which are the result of many factors like the cultural and

environmental difference between Moroccan culture and its English counterpart

as well as the syntactic differences that exist between Arabic and English.

Moreover, the lack of comprehensive and specialized Arabic to English

dictionaries makes it difficult for the literary translator to improve the quality of

his translations. What is even more disheartening is the bitter reality of the

translation of Moroccan literature into English. Since independence, much of

Moroccan literature was translated into French and rarely into English. Only very

limited number of works have undergone translation into English. Among these

works we find “Heirs to the Past” by Driss Chraibi, “For Bread Alone” by

Mohamed Choukri, “The Year of Elephant” by Leila Abouzeid….

Since English is the most spoken language in the world, it seems that it is

shameful not to translate our works into English and introduce our literature to the

English reader whereas international wonders have been translated into Arabic. It

is up to the ministry of culture to make a great effort to encourage literary

translation in the same way it supports literary writing.

45

Works cited

I. Books:

Yousef, Mohammed Hassan. Kayfa Tutarjim [How to translate?]. The

company of coaching and national learning institutes.Kuweit, 1997

Mubarak, Rabii. Damun Wa Dukhan [Blood and Smoke]. Al-Maaref

Library. Rabat, 1980

Yusuf Ali, Abdullah. The Meaning of the Holy Koran. Surah Al-Hujurat

[the Inner Apartments]. Beirut, 2007

II. Dictionaries: Dr. Rohi Baalabaki. Al-Mawrid: A Modern Arabic-English Dictionary. Dar

El-Ilm Lilmalayin. Beirut, 2009

A S Hornby. Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary of Current English.

Oxford University Press, 2005.

III. Websites:

http//:www.merriam-webster.com

http://www.translationdirectory.com

http://SBANJAR.Kau.edu.sa, http//:www.drshadiabanjar.blogspot.com

http :// www.hewar.org

IV. Softwares:

OXFORD Collocations | dictionary for students of English, an

electronic version.