Translating body language expressions in the glorious Qur'an into English : a semiotic study

Abstract EN

Body language is a form of non-verbal communication which is culture-bound.

So, this form of communication, undoubtedly, constitutes an area of cultural difficulty for translators.

Being used in the Glorious Quran, its importance and difficulty are doubled.

This study tries to apply Peirce's semiotic approach to investigate translating body language expressions in the Glorious Quran into English.

Six ayahs, underlying body language expressions, have been analyzed and compared in six translations to identify the semiotic and translational features necessary to render them effectively.

In this study, it has been proved that translating such ayahs requires semiotic analysis and different translation techniques to render them appropriately and the translators have shown considerable variation in dealing with such ayahs.