Contextual Aspects of Style and Translation: With Particular Reference to English-Arabic Translation

Some activities are easier to practice than to talk about, translation is one of them. This is simply because translation as a practice existed long before translation as a theoretical discipline. Most translators with no doubt wish to see their role in such a positive way: “opening a window” for TT readers, in order to illuminate for them an unfamiliar culture. In today’s translation circles, the translations accepted by mainstream translation norms more often than not share such features as fluency, smoothness and transparency. The target text is free of the slightest trace of translation and reads as if it had been written by the original author in the target language. The differences, including the strangeness, and otherness, are replaced by something familiar to the target reader. This paper, is basically devoted to shedding light on the impact of Abu Deeb’s style, in translating Orientalism, and how Abu Deeb’s style effect his translation.有些实践活动远胜于空谈，翻译便是其中之一。究其本源，翻译作为实践活动的历史，远早于其作为理论学科的诞生。绝大多数译者无疑都期望以积极的视角诠释自身的角色：为目标语文本（Target Text, TT）的读者打开一扇窗，借以展现陌生的异质文化。在当今翻译学界，契合主流翻译规范的译文往往具备流畅、自然与透明化三大特征。这类目标语文本几乎无任何翻译痕迹，读起来仿佛原作即以目标语直接写成。其中的文化差异，包括陌生感与异质性，皆被目标语读者所熟悉的内容所替代。本文旨在探讨阿布·迪布（Abu Deeb）在译介《东方学》（Orientalism）时所形成的翻译风格及其产生的影响，剖析其翻译风格对译文的具体作用。