The paper titled "Underlying Linguistic Problems Experienced by Translators in Translating the Qurʾānic Arabic l-ḥazana' الْحَزَن Words Into English: A Comparative Study" investigates the linguistic challenges faced by three prominent translators—Abdel Haleem, Khan and Al-Hilali, and Pickthall—when translating the Qurʾānic word l-ḥazana (associated with sorrow and grief) into English. The study explores the types of semantic loss that occur during the translation process and the reasons behind these losses.
The research specifically examines the translation of l-ḥazana words in selected verses from the Qur'an. The study aims to identify the underlying linguistic problems and analyze the translation strategies used by each translator to handle the cultural and linguistic differences between Arabic and English. A descriptive-analytical approach was employed, with data extracted from the Qurʾānic Arabic Corpus and various exegeses. The study involved a close reading and analysis of the translations, comparing them against traditional exegeses and Arabic monolingual dictionaries to evaluate the accuracy and faithfulness of the translations.
The study found that all three translators faced significant linguistic challenges when translating l-ḥazana words due to the cultural and linguistic gap between Arabic and English. The primary issue was the lack of equivalent expressions in English that could fully capture the connotative and cultural meanings of the original Arabic text. This resulted in a loss of meaning and a weakened impact in the translated texts. Pickthall's literal translation approach often failed to convey the full meaning of l-ḥazana words, leading to a loss of the cultural and religious significance inherent in the original Arabic. Khan and Al-Hilali, as well as Abdel Haleem, adopted a more semantic approach, which helped to preserve some of the intended meanings, but still faced difficulties in fully conveying the depth and nuance of the original text.
The paper concludes that translating Qurʾānic l-ḥazana words into English presents significant linguistic challenges due to the inherent cultural differences between the two languages. The study highlights the importance of understanding the cultural and religious context of the Qur'anic text to produce translations that are both accurate and meaningful to the target audience. It also underscores the inevitability of some degree of semantic loss when translating deeply culturally embedded terms like l-ḥazana.