Cultures variation in degree of sensitivity to topics

Abstract EN

This research discusses the discrepancies between the Arab and the western societies concerning their sensitivity to certain topics; among which religious and social topics are the most prominent.

first, Arab and western societies have different attitudes towards religion.

criticism of religion and highly-esteemed religious figures is a taboo in the Arab world.

references that give offence to god, messengers, holy figures or a highly-sensitive religious issue are probably omitted or rendered with some kind of euphemism that takes into consideration the anticipated reaction of the Arabic reader to such an offence.

in addition to religious issues, concepts related to sexual intercourses, genitals, women's breasts and gay relationships are still a taboo in the Arab world.

also, the impact of swear words that include sexual references varies among cultures.

they are more a taboo in the Arab world than they are in the western world.

in this research, we shall see through the many given examples how the instances pertaining to all these cultural taboos-religious and social-are either euphemized or emitted when rendered into Arabic.