Dr. Adel Bahameed spoke on the subject of Translating Songs and Poems at a seminar organized by the Language Research Center for the Bachelor of Arts in English program on January 29, 2020. The presentation centered on the challenges involved in translating songs and poems.
The main objective of his research, Dr. Bahameed says, was to refresh translation studies with regard to the possibility of translating songs and poems.
Dr. Bahameed, based on his research, describes 'translating songs and poems' as a challenging task. "There has been a long controversy over whether songs and poems can be really translated or not", states Dr. Bahameed. He mentions a famous Arab singer Abu Bakr Salem and a famous Arab poet Hussein Al-Mihdar and how their works have been translated. While translating a song, he adds, the translator must pay attention to rhythm, rhyme, prosody, music and the culture. Some translators, while translating, only focus on forms, and some, on the other hand, give priority to content over form. He states that the translator should preferably be a poet so that he/she can appreciate the poetic text in hand.
Dr. Adel Bahameed concluded that Arabic poems are translatable, but the translation process is complicated. However, Arabic songs are untranslatable because of the extra dimension of music, which is beyond the translator's control.
The seminar was very interactive, engaging, and a great success. It is worth mentioning that King Abdullah Road Campus also attended the seminar.
Date: 1/30/2020
Source: Mohammad Adil Siddique