GALE Program: Arabic to English Translation Guidelines
Version 2.7 9/7/2010
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โข The English translation must be faithful to the original Arabic text in terms of
both meaning and style. If the Arabic source text is a news story, the
translation should also be journalistic. If the Arabic source text is transcript of
a talk show, the translation should be conversational. The translation should
mirror the original meaning as much as possible while preserving
grammaticality, fluency, and naturalness.
โข Try to maintain the same speaking style or register as the source. For
example, if the source is polite, the translation should maintain the same level
of politeness. If the source is rude, excited or angry, the translation should
convey the same tone.
โข In the case of speech sources like broadcast news and talk shows, the source
text is an unedited transcription of spoken conversations. In some cases this
means the transcript is hard to read, and may make more sense if you read it
aloud. You will see that the source text sometimes reflects the kinds of
"mistakesโ people make when they're speaking aloud, like hesitation sounds
(um, uh), restarted sentences and partial words. Your translations should
retain the flavor of this โspontaneous speechโ style, which will be quite
different from what you produce when you translate prose.
โข The translation should contain the exact meaning conveyed in the source
text, and should neither add nor delete information. For instance, if the
original text uses Bush to refer to the current US President, the translation
should not be rendered as President Bush, George W. Bush, etc. No
bracketed words, phrases or other annotation should be added to the
translation as an explanation or aid to understanding.
โข The translation should also respect the cultural assumptions of the original.
For example, if the Arabic text uses the phrase Comrade Jalal Talabani, the
translation should not be rendered as Mr. Jalal Talabani โ instead, it should
keep the term used in the original source.
โข All files should be spell checked and reviewed for typographical or formatting
errors before submission.
5.2 Proper Names
Proper names should be translated using conventional practices.
Whenever an Arabic proper name has an existing conventional translation in English,
that translation should be used. For example, Gamal Abdel Nasser ๎ค๎ฒ๎๎ก๎ุง ๎ฎ๎ฉ๎ ู๎๎ฅ๎ฝ( ), the
late former president of Egypt, should be translated as Gamal Abdel Nasser, not Jamal
Abdel Nasser as Modern Arabic would have suggested.