Linguistic and Cultural Transmission in the Translations of the Holy Quran Into European Languages

(Sheikh Omar Young)

---

Abstract

The holy Quran has been translated more than any other Arabic text. The present paper studies the translation of some verses from Al-A la (the Most High) Sura into European languages. Firstly, the paper investigates the linguistic and cultural transmission of Quran translations into European languages. Secondly, the paper studies the nature of interpretation in translation. The results show that interpretation is at work in all translations, and that creativity and conventions in translation are governed by the translator s judgement evident in the processing of the translated text (TT) as a new independent text. The TT has its own communicative functions for the Target Language (TL) audience, and it interacts with the translation culture and audience culture. The results also show that there are central translations in the transmission process such as Marracci s Latin translation (1698), and that linguistic and cultural transmission occurs at the level of the lexicon, while clause and phrase structures are in agreement with the grammar of the TL. Linguistic and cultural transmission through translation is not a case of plagiarism or appropriation. Rather, this transmission is an open debate among translators of the same source text, in which they contribute to its translation in accordance with their aims, environment and vision.
PDF

References