The cultural gaps in the translation of Arabic culture-specific poetry into English : a study of some selected texts

Abstract EN

This study is concerned with investigating the effect of the cultural gaps on Arabic culture-specific poetry when translated into English.

It is an attempt to find out whether the translators translate the poem or they renarrate a new original poem.

Therefore, the study raises the major questions of whether the English translated poems faithfully convey the cultural features of the original Arabic one, and about the main procedures used in reframing the narratives of the poets in a new cultural narrative.

It also raises a question about the role played by the translator in the process of renarration, and about the criteria that should be followed when Arabic culture-specific poetry is rendered into English.

For this study, four poems have been selected, namely, the two odes of Imru'al-Qays and Tarafa translated by O'Grady (1997), Al-Busiri's “Burda” translated byThoraya Allam (1987), Hafez Ibrahim's “Describing a Suit” translated by Tingley (1987).