An Analysis of Six English Translations of Qur’ānic Proper Nouns in Ligh of Chesterman’s Translation Strategies

Document Type : Original Research

Author

Department of English, Marvdasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the strategies employed in translating Qur’ānic proper names, using Chesterman’s (1997) model as the theoretical framework. To achieve this, 100 Arabic proper nouns were purposively sampled to analyze the frequency and distribution of translation strategies across six English translations of the Holy Qur’ān. The translations considered were those by Yusuf Ali (1934), Pickthall (1930), Saffarzadeh (2001), Arberry (1973), Qarai (2003), and Shakir (1993). After identifying all proper names, the translation strategies utilized by each translator were coded and compared. The findings revealed that all translators relied on three primary strategies: loan translation, paraphrase, and synonymy, though their usage varied in frequency. Loan translation emerged as the most frequently used strategy among all translators, whereas paraphrase was the least used, except in the cases of Saffarzadeh and Shakir. Specifically, Saffarzadeh applied paraphrase and synonymy with equal frequency, while Shakir favored paraphrase over synonymy. In conclusion, the analysis showed that all six translators employed only three of the strategies outlined in Chesterman’s (1997) model. Loan translation was the predominant strategy, followed by synonymy and paraphrase, with the latter two varying slightly in their order of frequency among Saffarzadeh and Shakir.

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©2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.

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International Journal of Textual and Translation Analysis in Islamic Studies
Volume 2, Issue 2 - Serial Number 6
April 2024
Pages 188-202

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History

  • Receive Date: 09 December 2023
  • Revise Date: 01 January 2024
  • Accept Date: 11 March 2024
  • Publish Date: 01 April 2024

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