Arab World English Journal
AWEJ Volume. 3 Number. 1 March,2012 pp.128-146
Use of Culture-laden Texts to Enhance Culture-specific Translation
Skills from English into Arabic
Mohamed Amin Mekheimer
Faculty of Languages & Translation
King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
Hamad Al-Dosari
Faculty of Languages & Translation
King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
This study explores the possibility of rendering culture-laden texts from English into Arabic, relying on a corpus of literary texts representing the local cultures of 16th and 18th century England. Therefore, this study taps into the applicability of using SL cultural texts to help students appropriately render culture-specific lexicon. The study made use of an experimental research method in order to identify the possibility of using literary texts to help learners of the Translation III course enhance their culture-specific translation skills and the traditional method of teaching translation in the College of Languages and Translation. Findings of the study suggest that the use of culture-laden literary texts is efficient in introducing the culturally loaded lexicon of the English language.
Keywords: gloss translation, Arabic, English, literature, cultural texts