Problems and Procedures of Translating Metaphor in Arabic Poetry into English: A Case Study of Al-Maqaleh’s Poem ‘To My Mother’

Abstract

This study aims to identify problems (losses) in the English translation of metaphors in the Arabic poem 'To My Mother' composed by Al-Maqaleh (1980) and translated by Ghanem (1999), explore procedures followed in translating those metaphors, and show the extent to which the translator has succeeded in using those procedures to translate the metaphors. The study employed a mixed-methods approach to analyse a corpus of 31 Arabic metaphors and their English translations from the target poem. The qualitative content analysis method was utilized to identify translation problems and procedures and the quantitative method to evaluate the translator's success in employing the procedures for metaphor translation through frequencies and percentages. The findings revealed three types of problems in the translation of metaphors: explicit, implicit and modified. The findings also showed that two translation procedures were employed: literal translation and modulation. Most of metaphors in the poem (51.5%) were translated literally (45.1% successful and 6.4% problematic), while following modulation consistently resulted in losses (48.5%), affecting meaning and/or aesthetic values. Findings indicate that translation success depends on both proper procedure implementation and thorough understanding of Arabic poetic metaphors, particularly modern poetry's symbolic language and unity of the poem.