Jul 2026· ALLAIS Journal of Arabic Language and Literature· 0 citations· 22 references
Abstract
This study demonstrates that the primary challenge in translating Indonesian literary works into Arabic lies in the cultural elements embedded in metaphors, proverbs, and local expressions. Employing a qualitative textual analysis of Hamka’s Di Bawah Lindungan Kaʿbah, the research reveals that differences in worldview between Indonesian and Arab societies influence lexical choices and stylistic expressions, making literal translation insufficient. The findings highlight the necessity for translators to grasp the cultural context of the source text to ensure comprehensive meaning transfer. The study contributes to translation studies by formulating strategies that integrate semantic and stylistic approaches, including transliteration with explanatory notes, functional equivalence in the target culture, and the preservation of social metaphors. These strategies prove effective in maintaining cultural authenticity while ensuring readability for Arabic audiences. Overall, the research reinforces the view that literary translation is an act of intercultural mediation, synthesizing linguistic, semantic, and cultural dimensions to preserve meaning, aesthetic nuance, and cultural resonance in the target language.
Translation is considered the fifth dimension of language, a composite of the other four main language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The translation of culturally laden texts found in movies is an asset that connects cultures and communities by breaking down language barriers. This study attempts to identify and analyze the translation procedures applied to culturally-bound sentences in the Arabic subtitles of the animated movie: Hotel Transylvania: Transformania. The research used a descriptive qualitative method to analyze the Arabic subtitles, and thereafter, classified the translation based on Newmark’s taxonomy of translation procedures. Six translation procedures were identified in this movie: literal translation, paraphrase, compensation, cultural equivalent, shifts/transpositions, and descriptive equivalent. The study's findings indicate that one effective way to convey intended meaning, especially for concepts related to cultures that are foreign to the target audience in the case of movies is through frequent use of literal translation of dialogue. This can only be achieved by employing intensive and precise translation procedures. This research underscores the importance of adopting a flexible and procedurally focused approach to translation to preserve the entertainment and narrative value of the film and accommodate cultural diversity. The study’s findings are likely to be useful to all stakeholders in the field of translation.
A. Y. Alharbi· Theory and Practice in Langu...· 0 citations
Literary translation involves more than linguistic conversion; it also entails the reconstruction and re-encoding of cultural meanings. From the perspective of cultural translation theory, this study takes Liu Cixin’s original Chinese novel The Three-Body Problem and its Spanish translation El problema de los tres cuerpos by Javier Altayó as the objects of analysis. Drawing on Nida’s framework of cultural classification, culturally embedded elements in the source text are grouped into five categories: ecological, material, social, religious-philosophical, and linguistic. Through a comparative reading of the Chinese and Spanish versions, the paper examines the translator’s shifting strategies among foreignization, domestication, and cultural negotiation. The analysis suggests that the translation does not rely on a single or fixed strategy. When dealing with culture-specific elements that carry strong historical or regional specificity, the translator is more likely to preserve foreignness through transliteration, literal translation, or brief explanatory additions. In contrast, for expressions that may hinder comprehension or lead to cultural misinterpretation, freer rendering, generalization, or contextual adjustment tend to be adopted in order to reduce the cognitive burden on target readers. Overall, the Spanish translation of The Three-Body Problem reveals a flexible negotiation process, in which cultural difference is retained to varying degrees while comprehension is facilitated and narrative flow is maintained. This case offers a useful reference for the Spanish dissemination of Chinese science fiction and more broadly for the cross-cultural transmission of heterogenous cultural elements.
Yueyang Zhang· Journal of Language, Culture...· 0 citations
Background and Purpose: The translation of Prophetic Hadith involves mediating meaning across linguistic, cultural, and religious boundaries, where lexical choices significantly influence interpretation. A persistent challenge concerns how translators adjust the level of specificity when rendering culturally embedded Arabic expressions into Malay. Despite increasing attention to religious translation, limited research has examined how generalization and specification, as semantic strategies, reshape meaning and affect interpretive accuracy. This study investigates the occurrence and function of these strategies, as proposed by Chesterman (1997), in selected Malay translations of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (TSB) published by the Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia (JPM).
Methodology: Adopting a qualitative approach, the study employs componential and descriptive analyses to examine shifts in conceptual specificity between the source and target texts. Through componential decomposition, it identifies how core semantic features of Arabic cultural items are either generalized or specified within Malay interpretations. The study analysed seven material cultural items extracted from selected hadiths in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, namely burd, al-tharīd, al-qiththāʾ, al-utrujjah, al-raiḥānah, al-ḥanẓalah, and al-bitʿu.
Findings: The findings indicate that generalization enhances accessibility but often reduces culture-specific semantic detail, while specification narrows meaning to dominant Malay conceptualizations, potentially limiting semantic richness. These shifts reflect deliberate translational choices shaped by linguistic, cultural, and pragmatic factors.
Contributions: This study highlights the importance of semantic sensitivity and demonstrates the value of componential analysis in evaluating meaning shifts, advocating balanced strategies that preserve interpretive depth while ensuring clarity.
Keywords: Generalization, specification, cultural items, prophetic hadith, Sahih Bukhari.
Cite as: Abd Rahman, L., A. Bakar, A., Ramli, S., Doll Kawaid, A. I. S., Abu Bakar, A. I., Harun, H., & Mat Zaki, M. A. A. (2026). Generalization and specification in translating prophetic hadith: A componential analysis of cultural items in the Malay translation of Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 11(2), 401-420. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol11iss2pp401-420
Lubna Abd. Rahman, Arnida A. Bakar, Sulhah Ramli et al.· Journal of Nusantara Studies...· 0 citations
This article explores that translation in cross‐language qualitative research is not merely a technical procedure applied to already‐collected data but an interpretive, ethical, relational, and power‐influenced practice that shapes every stage of knowledge production. It establishes how culturally and religiously embedded concepts resist adequate interpreting into English academic prose, and it offers methodological strategies and trustworthiness criteria for preserving meaning.
The analysis draws on a qualitative study of Pakistani immigrant women in the Dallas‐Fort Worth metropolitan area of Texas, examining how they navigate employment decisions, multigenerational household obligations, and cultural expectations within South Asian Muslim communities. Six Urdu and Islamic concepts, including izzat, barakah, tawakkul, qibla, bhai chara, and matawazan, were analyzed in depth. For each, the article specifies the literal translation, the cultural and religious meaning, why literal rendering is insufficient, and the strategies used to preserve meaning.
Literal translation systematically compressed the moral, spiritual, and relational meanings these terms carry. Meaning was treated through strategies, including thick description, reflexive translation memos, bilingual checking, iterative forward/backward translation, participant clarification, field note triangulation, and a living codebook. The article proposes trustworthiness criteria suited to cross‐language work: credibility, authenticity, coherence, reflexive accountability, contextual fidelity, and reciprocity.
Integrating research from qualitative sociology, linguistics, feminist epistemology, and postcolonial theory, the article foregrounds the power relations structuring cross‐language fieldwork and closes with a framework of 10 methodological recommendations.
— This paper compares Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang’s 1953 translation and Julia Lovell’s 2009 translation of The True Story of Ah Q to examine how translators construct Chinese cultural identity in cross-cultural communication. Drawing on the cultural perspective in translation studies and narrative construction theory, this study examines how translators’ identities and historical contexts inform their strategic choices. Findings show that Yangs ’ version employs cultural amplification and foreignization, emphasizing the depth and scholarly value of Chinese culture, in line with the nation’s early cultural diplomacy. Lovell’s version favors reduction and domestication, prioritizing readability and literary appeal within a globalized market. The study demonstrates that translation is not merely linguistic transfer but a vital practice of cultural identity reconstruction.
Yiwen Li· International Journal of Lan...· 0 citations
The aim of this research was to identify the features of translating culture-specific units in literary translation between the Kazakh and Chinese languages, with an emphasis on semantic and pragmatic equivalence. The study applied a linguocultural and comparative methodology, qualitative content analysis, lexical-semantic analysis, pragmatic analysis, and interpretive comparison of annotated parallel fragments. A typology of cultural connotations in Kazakh and Chinese prose was developed, including four main groups: realities, ethnospecific terms, phraseological units, and metaphors. Kazakh texts predominantly contained units related to nomadic culture, social organization, and ceremonial practices, while Chinese texts mainly reflected Confucian values, symbolic imagery, and concepts of family hierarchy. Differences in the frequency and pragmatic functions of culture-specific units were identified. The analysis of translation strategies revealed the predominance of foreignization and descriptive translation when rendering Kazakh units into Chinese, whereas domestication was more common in translations from Chinese into Kazakh. Typical semantic transformations included meaning shifts, splitting, and partial loss of meaning. Pragmatic equivalence was often achieved through cultural explanation, contextual adaptation, and the use of connotative elements. The practical significance of this research lies in the development of a classification model for analyzing cultural connotations. This model may support translation decisions aimed at preserving semantic accuracy and pragmatic relevance when conveying nationally marked units. The novelty of this article lies in its comparative linguistic and cultural analysis of Kazakh and Chinese literary discourse, proposing a typology of cultural connotations and a two-way study of translation strategies that identifies asymmetries, semantic discrepancies, and compensatory mechanisms in translation.
Gulzhanar Haliolla, N. Abdurakyn, Samal Beisenkhan· The International Journal of...· 0 citations