Translation of the Meanings of Hyperbolic Patterns in the Holy Qur'an: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the strategies used in translating the Qur'anic hyperbolic lexical items (HLIs) into English by four translators: Yusuf Ali, Pickthall, Irving, and Al-Hilali and Khan, finding out the similarities and differences among the four translators in their use of translation strategies in this respect and investigating the extent to which the selected translations succeeded in conveying the intended meanings of the Qur'anic HLIs. To achieve the objectives of the study, 60 Qur'anic HLIs derived from the five primary patterns ('faʕʕāl' ''فَعَّال'', 'mIfʕāl' ''مِفعال'', 'faʕIl' "فَعِل", 'faʕīl' "فَعيل" and 'faʕūl' "فَعول") were selected. A descriptive, qualitative and quantitative approach was followed and the strategies used by the four translators were identified based on an adaptation made on Chesterman's taxonomy (1997). In addition, a translation strategy confirmation survey form was created to validate the identified strategies and, consequently, to find out the similarities and differences among the four translators in their use of translation strategies. Furthermore, a translation evaluation survey form was developed to figure out the extent to which the four translations succeeded in conveying the intended meanings of the Qur'anic HLIs. The results revealed that literal translation, unit shift, explicitness change, addition, explanatory translation, and transposition were the used strategies. The four translators used these strategies with different frequencies and percentages. They opted more frequently for literal translation and less frequently for transposition. It was also found that Al-Hilali & Khan's and Yusuf Ali's translations were closer to the intended meanings of the selected Qur'anic HLIs due to their use of strategies like explicitness change and addition. Based on the research findings, the researcher recommended the collective work of the Holy Qur'an meanings translation and the use of some interpretive methods and explanatory strategies such as footnotes, addition and explicitness change in order to convey the intended meanings of the Qur'anic HLIs as accurately as possible.