Challenges that Novice Translators Encounter in Translating Contracts and Agreements in Jordan (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6) (cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:2)(cid:10) (cid:11)(cid:7)(cid:12)(cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:15)(cid:12)(cid:5)(cid:6) (cid:16)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:13)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:9) (cid:17)(cid:15)(cid:5)(cid:6) (cid:18)(cid:16)(cid:9)(cid:2)(cid:10)(cid:15)(cid:5)(cid:6) (cid:11)(cid:2)(cid:14)(cid:26)(cid:25) (cid:6) (cid:17)(cid:24) (cid:18)(cid:16)(cid:9)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:15)(cid:21)(cid:6)(cid:7) (cid:2)(cid:7)(cid:22)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6) (cid:23)(cid:12)(cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:15) (cid:17)(cid:24) Prepared by Alaa Deen Mohammad Al Najjar Supervised by Professor Bader S. Dweik M.A. Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in English Language and Literature Middle East University (MEU) Faculty of Arts and Sciences Department of English Language and Literature Second Semester, May 2010/2011 ii iii iv Acknowledgment First of all, praise is due to Almighty ALLAH for giving me strength and ability to complete this study. There is a number of people without whom this thesis might not have been written, and to whom I am greatly indebted. With a deep sense of gratitude, I wish to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Professor Bader S. Dweik who shepherded me through the bulk of the work. His kindly but rigorous oversight of this thesis constantly gave me the motivation to perform to my maximum ability. His detailed and constructive comments were vital to the development of this thesis. His office door was open whenever I needed help and guidance, even during weekends and off-hours. I owe him lots of gratitude for having me shown the correct way of research. Sincere thanks are offered to my examination committee members, Dr. Sabbar Sultan and Dr. Suleiman Al-Abbas for their interest in this study, valuable comments, suggestions and encouragement throughout the thesis work. My deepest special appreciation is extended to members of the panel of experts, Dr. Suleiman Al-Abbas, Mr. Abdul Muti Abu Sammour, Dr. Ahmed v T. Ali and Dr. Adel Azzam Saqf Al Hait for their valuable guidance, incredible support, advice and particularly their constructive comments in the present study. Thanks are extended to the novice translators who participated in the endeavor from the Leadership Bureau for Authorized Translation and Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization. Loving thanks are extended to my dear brother, Abdullatif Al Najjar, for his kind and generous support and help. Thanks are aslo extended to my friends, Mohammad Zeidan, Hussam Habash, Hussam Dabash and Ali Melhem, who played such important role along the journey, as we mutually engaged in making sense of the various challenges we faced and in providing encouragement to each other at those times when it seemed impossible to continue. vi Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Mohammad and Shifaa, for thier love, endless support and encouragment to introduce me to the joy of reading from my birth, enabling such a study to take place today. I would like aslo to dedicate my thesis to my father and mother-in-law for their never-ending moral support. I would like to dedicate my thesis to my beloved wife and son who have always stood by me and dealt with all of my absence from many family occasions with a smile. Without their loving support and understanding I would never have completed my present work. Finally, this thesis is dedicated to all those who believe in the richness of learning. vii Table of Contents Title Page......................................................................................................i Authorization...................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Thesis committee decision................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Acknowledgment .......................................................................................iii Dedication..................................................................................................vi Table of Contents......................................................................................vii List of tables................................................................................................x List of appendices......................................................................................xii Abstract - English......................................................................................xiii Abstract - Arabic ...................................................................................... xvi Chapter One: Introduction...........................................................................1 1.1 Background of the study .....................................................................1 1.2 Statement of the problem....................................................................4 1.3 Objectives of the study........................................................................5 1.4 Questions of the study.........................................................................5 1.5 Significance of the study.....................................................................5 1.6 Limitations of the study ......................................................................6 1.7 Definitions of terms ............................................................................6 Chapter Two: Review of related literature...................................................9 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................9 2.2 Review of theoretical literature...........................................................9 2.2.1 Methods and strategies used in legal translation...............................9 2.2.2 Translational problems and challenges in legal language...............12 viii 2.2.3 Characteristics and features of legal discourse...............................14 2.3 Review of empirical literature...........................................................19 2.3.1 International studies.......................................................................19 2.3.2 Regional Arab studies....................................................................25 2.3.3 Conclusion.....................................................................................30 Chapter Three: Methods and procedures ..................................................32 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................32 3.2 Population and sample of the study...................................................32 3.3 Instruments of the study....................................................................33 3.3.1 Translation test...............................................................................33 3.3.2 Semi-structured interviews.............................................................34 3.4 Validity and reliability of the test......................................................35 3.4.1 Validity of the test..........................................................................35 3.4.2 Reliability of the test......................................................................36 3.5 Procedures of the study.....................................................................36 3.6 Scoring the test and analyzing the data..............................................39 Chapter Four: Results and discussion.........................................................40 4.1 Introduction: .....................................................................................40 4.2 Results related to the questions of the test.........................................41 4.2.1 Results related to the first part of the test - Part I............................41 4.2.2 Results related to the second part of the test - Part II......................68 Chapter Five: Conclusions and recommendations....................................100 5.1 Introduction: ...................................................................................100 5.2 Summary of results related to the two tests.....................................100 5.2.1 Summary of results related to Part I test (Arabic – English)..........100 5.2.2 Summary of results related to Part II test (English – Arabic).........104 5.3 Results of interviewing novice translators and professors:..............107 ix 5.3.1 Summary of the results related to the first question in the interviews ..............................................................................................................108 5.3.2 Summary of the results related to the second question in the interviews..............................................................................................113 5.3.3 Summary of the results related to the third question in the interviews ..............................................................................................................116 5.4 Conclusions ....................................................................................119 5.5 Recommendations...........................................................................120 5.6 Suggestions for future research.......................................................122 References...............................................................................................124 .............................................................................................128 (cid:23)(cid:9)(cid:28)(cid:14)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6) (cid:27)(cid:13)(cid:6)(cid:14)(cid:12)(cid:5)(cid:6) Appendices ..................................................................................(129 - 142) x List of tables No Title Page 33 1 Demographic characteristics of the sample 2 Novice translator’ performance in the Arabic - English test 43 3 Sample of wrong translations of item # 1 along with justifications thereto 44 “ل(cid:3)َ(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7) (cid:8)َ(cid:6)ِ(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12) (cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:15) (cid:8)(cid:16)(cid:17)(cid:11)(cid:18) (cid:8)(cid:7)(cid:11)آو” 4 Sample of wrong translations of the phrase along with justifications thereto 46 “(cid:21)(cid:11)(cid:22)دأ (cid:25)(cid:12)(cid:26)(cid:27)(cid:7)ا (cid:11)(cid:22)أ” 5 Sample of wrong translations of the phrase along with justifications thereto 47 “(cid:29)(cid:30)(cid:31) ب(cid:26)(cid:30)!و (cid:29)"#(cid:22) م(cid:11)%& م(cid:26)%(cid:14)(cid:7)” 6 Sample of wrong translations of the phrase along with justifications thereto 48 “(cid:11)ً()(cid:11)(cid:30)& (cid:21)ا(cid:13)! ي+(cid:7)ا ,(cid:27)-(cid:7)او ل.((cid:7)(cid:11)(cid:10) ء(cid:11)0! ,(cid:27)(cid:7)” 50 7 Sample of wrong translations of item # 3 along with justifications thereto “ (cid:11)1ّ(cid:27)3و (cid:11)14(cid:5)(cid:10) وأ (cid:11)1(cid:6)آ (cid:29)556 (cid:29)7 (cid:8)(cid:7)د(cid:11)((cid:27)(cid:7)او زا(cid:13)79او ,ه(cid:13)(cid:7)ا ;7و ,ه(cid:13)(cid:7)او (cid:8)(1(cid:7)او (cid:25)(cid:14)((cid:7)ا (cid:29)7 <3(cid:26)7أو .(cid:8)()(cid:11)(cid:30)& (cid:11)ها(cid:13)! ى(cid:13)(cid:18)أ (cid:8)(cid:5)>(cid:12) يأ (cid:25)& (cid:11)ه.(cid:14)6(cid:26)?و” 8 Sample of wrong translations of item # 4 along with justifications thereto 52 “.(cid:8)(cid:5)>%(cid:7)ا (cid:21)+1(cid:10) (cid:8)(cid:17)(cid:11)A(cid:7)ا B(cid:14)C"D(cid:7)ا تا.(cid:30))و ت(cid:11)>>A(cid:27)(cid:7)ا مFD)(cid:11)(cid:10) <3(cid:26)7أو” 9 Sample of wrong translations of item # 5 along with justifications thereto 53 “تار(cid:11)C!9ا H((cid:12)و ةراد9او ة(cid:13)J(cid:11)(cid:30)(cid:27)(cid:7)او فا(cid:13)L9ا M6 <(cid:7)و” 10 Sample of wrong translations of item # 6 along with justifications thereto 54 “(cid:11)1(cid:31)ا(cid:26)(cid:22)N(cid:10) (cid:21)(cid:11)(cid:14)(cid:27)(cid:7)ا ر(cid:11)(cid:10)O (cid:13)#6و (cid:11)1D(cid:31)ارزو ،;(cid:7)+(cid:7) (cid:8)&زF(cid:7)ا Q(cid:14)(cid:18)ا(cid:13)D(cid:7)ا را.5D)او ،(cid:11)1(cid:14)(cid:6)(cid:31) (cid:8)(cid:14)(cid:30)(cid:10)Rا ء(cid:11)0(cid:22)إ (cid:29)7و” 11 Sample of wrong translations of item # 7 along with justifications thereto` 55 “.زا(cid:13)79ا وأ ,ه(cid:13)(cid:7)ا ت(cid:11)!(cid:11)V(cid:7) ل.(cid:5)(cid:7)ا T?(cid:11)آ م(cid:11)&أ ،تا.1(cid:5)D(cid:7)او (cid:8)(cid:14)(cid:7).(cid:5)(cid:7)ا تارا(cid:13)(cid:12)9ا U(cid:6)(cid:31) (cid:25)(cid:14)(cid:12)(cid:26)D(cid:7)او” 12 Sample of wrong translations of item # 8 along with justifications thereto 57 “ِ(cid:8)(cid:14)(cid:7).(cid:5)(cid:7)ا تِارا+(cid:22)9ا ِ<(cid:14)W(cid:26)? (cid:29)7 MXY(cid:7)ا ُ<(cid:7)و” 13 Sample of wrong translations of item # 9 along with justifications thereto 58