CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE TRNSLATION OF ECOLOGICAL AND MATERICAL CULTURAL ELEMENT IN NAGUIB MAHFOUZ’S NOVEL “THE THIFE AND THE DOGS”
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Date
2023-03-16
Authors
Aden Rasim Mohammed Nawaja
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the translation techniques employed by the translator when dealing with materially and ecologically culture-specific elements in Naguib Mahfouz's The Thief and the Dogs, and it aims to determine the effectiveness of domestication and foreignization approach that should be used to convey material and ecological elements in the process of translation. To do so, the original novel and its English translations are compared through selected data excerpts.
This thesis also evaluates the translator's success in translating the novel and gauges the level of domestication and foreignization of cultural elements based on Venuti's (1995) model. Another key component of the thesis is that it explores the number of ecological and material culture items that are grouped and calculated under each strategy and the percentage of domestication compared to foreignization. Finally, it discusses cultural losses that may arise from the misapplication of certain strategies, the translator's misunderstanding of context, or the lack of equivalents using the Etic-Emic approach as another theoretical framework.
The thesis shows that the translator used various local translation techniques to covey Egyptian ecological and material culture elements. In addition, the translator has used the foreignization approach more frequently than domestication. However, the study draws attention to the fact that the cultural elements were not accurately conveyed in the target language, especially ecological and material cultural elements, resulting in a lack of comprehension of the intended meaning of the source language, which ,in turn, led to cultural losses such as; explicit, implicit, modified, and complete losses. The thesis concludes that it is important for translators to understand the culture of both languages to achieve a more accurate translation.
Keywords: Ecological and material CE, Domestication, Foreignization, Etic–Emic approach, cultural loss, “The Thief and the Dogs