Translation

  On October 1, 2019, the English Club and Engineering Club hosted Dr. Eyhab Bader Eddin, MITI, MCIL, CL, for a workshop entitled 'Translation: A Broad Overview Weaving Its Threads Together'. More than 140 students attended the event at 11 am in Auditorium 4, and another 100 watched it on Twitter as it was broadcast live. The purpose of the event was to discuss the history, uses, importance, the distinction between translation and interpreting, sub-divisions of interpreting, characteristics of them, and the development of translation as an interdisciplinary science. The workshop introduced students to real examples of simultaneous and consecutive interpreting, highlighting their difficulties. He also explained how 'ear-voice span', technically known as decalage is one of the most spectacular and mysterious aspects of the profession of simultaneous interpreting. He touched upon House's 2009 terms of 'forwards' and 'backwards' orientation of translation. The Deanship of Student Affairs sponsored the event in conjunction with the aforementioned student clubs.   Dr. Bader Eddin began with a brief history of translation. His overview described how translation has become increasingly important due to the development of modern transportation and communication systems, noting that a communicative event takes place once, but with translation it takes place twice as the communicative event is reduplicated. "Over the millennia, the world has become much smaller and this trend has only accelerated in present times,” he said. Today's businesses and commercial agreements would not be made without translation. He pointed out that the Translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek at the request of Ptolemy II is seen as the earliest extant traces of Translation. The fruit of that work yielded 'The Septuagint', a work of 70 translators who, according to the legend, were commissioned to translate the Hebrew Bible, each in solitary confinement in a cell, to come up with an identical translation. On the other hand, Dr. Bader Eddin showed that the need for specialized translation skills has greatly increased with technological advancements, showing a list of recommended dictionaries to be possessed by students. Specialized translators are in high demand in many fields, especially in engineering.   Increased globalization, coupled with technological advancements, has greatly affected the field of translation. As the speed of communications and commerce have increased, the need for highly skilled translators has increased as well. "Modern translators must be able to weave both technical jargon and language that is not directly translatable into ideas that the receiving party understands completely. Moreover, this must be done quickly, often in real-time if interpreted," he concluded. A few examples were translated with the attendees as practice, giving some techniques on how to translate headlines of newspapers.   The Faculty of Languages and Translation is dedicated to graduating elite translators and interpreters who can skillfully satisfy the increasing demands of multi-lingual economies. We congratulate both the English and Engineering Clubs for their initiative under the supervision of the Deanship of Student Affairs.   Please click here to browse the powerpoint used in the workshop. Date: 10/1/2019 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation

  On October 1, 2019, the English Club and Engineering Club hosted Dr. Eyhab Bader Eddin, MITI, MCIL, CL, for a workshop entitled 'Translation: A Broad Overview Weaving Its Threads Together'. More than 140 students attended the event at 11 am in Auditorium 4, and another 100 watched it on Twitter as it was broadcast live. The purpose of the event was to discuss the history, uses, importance, the distinction between translation and interpreting, sub-divisions of interpreting, characteristics of them, and the development of translation as an interdisciplinary science. The workshop introduced students to real examples of simultaneous and consecutive interpreting, highlighting their difficulties. He also explained how 'ear-voice span', technically known as decalage is one of the most spectacular and mysterious aspects of the profession of simultaneous interpreting. He touched upon House's 2009 terms of 'forwards' and 'backwards' orientation of translation. The Deanship of Student Affairs sponsored the event in conjunction with the aforementioned student clubs.   Dr. Bader Eddin began with a brief history of translation. His overview described how translation has become increasingly important due to the development of modern transportation and communication systems, noting that a communicative event takes place once, but with translation it takes place twice as the communicative event is reduplicated. "Over the millennia, the world has become much smaller and this trend has only accelerated in present times,” he said. Today's businesses and commercial agreements would not be made without translation. He pointed out that the Translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek at the request of Ptolemy II is seen as the earliest extant traces of Translation. The fruit of that work yielded 'The Septuagint', a work of 70 translators who, according to the legend, were commissioned to translate the Hebrew Bible, each in solitary confinement in a cell, to come up with an identical translation. On the other hand, Dr. Bader Eddin showed that the need for specialized translation skills has greatly increased with technological advancements, showing a list of recommended dictionaries to be possessed by students. Specialized translators are in high demand in many fields, especially in engineering.   Increased globalization, coupled with technological advancements, has greatly affected the field of translation. As the speed of communications and commerce have increased, the need for highly skilled translators has increased as well. "Modern translators must be able to weave both technical jargon and language that is not directly translatable into ideas that the receiving party understands completely. Moreover, this must be done quickly, often in real-time if interpreted," he concluded. A few examples were translated with the attendees as practice, giving some techniques on how to translate headlines of newspapers.   The Faculty of Languages and Translation is dedicated to graduating elite translators and interpreters who can skillfully satisfy the increasing demands of multi-lingual economies. We congratulate both the English and Engineering Clubs for their initiative under the supervision of the Deanship of Student Affairs.   Please click here to browse the powerpoint used in the workshop. Date: 10/1/2019 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation

  On February 19, 2019, the Faculty of Languages and Translation held a seminar titled 'Translator's Message'. The seminar was organized by the Language Research Center, and the presenters were Hanan Saeed Al-Shahrani and Maryam Faisal Al-Shamrani. The presenters are MA students and volunteers for a program also named 'Translator's Message'. The purpose of the seminar was to raise awareness of the group's goals and objectives within the FLT community.   Translator's Message is an initiative organized by Master degree students in Translation at the FLT female campus. It is an all-volunteer group, which is dedicated to providing in-demand translation services to the community. The participants' motivation is based on their deep passion for translation and commitment to civic improvement.  'Translator's Message is primarily a community service volunteer effort. We are an all-volunteer group of specialized translators who have a message to deliver to non-specialists. In short, we are messengers of translation. The objective is to educate communities about the importance of translation services in daily life. In addition, this translation initiative helps the volunteers improve and sharpen their translation skills. Our initiative supports national objectives as set forth in Vision 2030', said Maryam Faisal Al-Shamrani. In addition, the translation initiative serves as a conduit between various communities and King Khalid University. This is important as there are many other initiatives involving the university and the public stakeholders in the region.   'Our volunteers visit a variety of different people both within and among different communities. Volunteers often visit secondary schools and high schools. In these settings, the volunteers can encourage young people in their international language studies, and convey both the importance and potential career opportunities involving language', said Hanan Saeed Al-Shahrani.   The 'Translator's Message' seminar also focused on the program outcomes they have experienced to date. The presenters expressed that their group is passionate about the benefits of real-world translation. Also, they find that constructive experiences from their volunteer work have made them more confident in practicing their craft. They also expressed their satisfaction in serving members of the public. The presenters made a call to action for additional volunteers in the program. As part of this request, Hanan Saeed Al-Shahrani and Maryam Faisal Al-Shamrani shared the group's current work plan with the attendees.   Please note that this is a follow-up regarding the 'Translator's Message' initiative. For more information, please click here. Volunteers are very much needed, and any contribution would be greatly appreciated. Please contact 'Translator's Message' on their Twitter handle @translatorsKKU. Date: 2/25/2019 Source:  Amal Metwally & Tanzina Halim, Scientific Research Committee – Female Campus

  On February 19, 2019, the Faculty of Languages and Translation held a seminar titled 'Translator's Message'. The seminar was organized by the Language Research Center, and the presenters were Hanan Saeed Al-Shahrani and Maryam Faisal Al-Shamrani. The presenters are MA students and volunteers for a program also named 'Translator's Message'. The purpose of the seminar was to raise awareness of the group's goals and objectives within the FLT community.   Translator's Message is an initiative organized by Master degree students in Translation at the FLT female campus. It is an all-volunteer group, which is dedicated to providing in-demand translation services to the community. The participants' motivation is based on their deep passion for translation and commitment to civic improvement.  'Translator's Message is primarily a community service volunteer effort. We are an all-volunteer group of specialized translators who have a message to deliver to non-specialists. In short, we are messengers of translation. The objective is to educate communities about the importance of translation services in daily life. In addition, this translation initiative helps the volunteers improve and sharpen their translation skills. Our initiative supports national objectives as set forth in Vision 2030', said Maryam Faisal Al-Shamrani. In addition, the translation initiative serves as a conduit between various communities and King Khalid University. This is important as there are many other initiatives involving the university and the public stakeholders in the region.   'Our volunteers visit a variety of different people both within and among different communities. Volunteers often visit secondary schools and high schools. In these settings, the volunteers can encourage young people in their international language studies, and convey both the importance and potential career opportunities involving language', said Hanan Saeed Al-Shahrani.   The 'Translator's Message' seminar also focused on the program outcomes they have experienced to date. The presenters expressed that their group is passionate about the benefits of real-world translation. Also, they find that constructive experiences from their volunteer work have made them more confident in practicing their craft. They also expressed their satisfaction in serving members of the public. The presenters made a call to action for additional volunteers in the program. As part of this request, Hanan Saeed Al-Shahrani and Maryam Faisal Al-Shamrani shared the group's current work plan with the attendees.   Please note that this is a follow-up regarding the 'Translator's Message' initiative. For more information, please click here. Volunteers are very much needed, and any contribution would be greatly appreciated. Please contact 'Translator's Message' on their Twitter handle @translatorsKKU. Date: 2/25/2019 Source:  Amal Metwally & Tanzina Halim, Scientific Research Committee – Female Campus

Translator's Message is an initiative organized by Master degree students in Translation at the FLT female campus. It is an all-volunteer group, which is dedicated to providing in-demand translation services to the community. The participants' motivation is based on their deep passion for translation and commitment to civic improvement. They utilized this program to raise awareness of the importance of translation while simultaneously sharpening their translation skills in furtherance of their career aspirations. This program began under the tutelage of Dean Abdullah Al-Melhi, the first supporter and advocate for the initiative. The volunteer translators go to both public and private schools to support education and language translation. They are also planning to provide services to a variety of civic organizations such as public ministries, and those projects are currently in the planning stages. The team is working on standardization procedures. This will allow the volunteers to deliver translation services in a highly efficient manner. The aim is to utilize increased efficiency to expand into advanced assistive techniques such as videos, podcasts, electronic Q&A competitions, spelling bees, and bilingual referendums. The team is currently comprised of 11 valued members and growing as follows: Hanan Al-Shahrani (Founding Member); Afnan Yahya (Founding Member); Afrah Al-Jaber; Fayza Al-Ahmari; Ghada Asiri; Maryam Al-Shomrani; Noura Al-Hajla; Noura Al-Shehri; Rahma Al-Ahmari; Shyma'a Hassan; Wasayf Al-Qahtani. Since its founding, Translator's Message has engaged with the public in a variety of events and capacities such as the community service activity on October 18, 2018. Hanan Al- Shahrani, Maryam Al-Shomrani, and Fayza Al-Ahmari delivered a presentation on languages and translation at the Eltamiz Alebday Private School in Khamis Mushait. Al-Shahrani started the presentation by identifying the objectives and the vision of Translator's Message. Then, Al-Shomrani explained why the English language is both relevant and important in Saudi society. Al-Ahmari discussed common mistakes and misconceptions in translation. The team has engaged with the community on other occasions including: On the 30th of October, Noura Al-Shehri and Afrah Al-Jaber visited Zoabaan School for girls in Mohayil; On the 14th November, Rahma Al-Ahmari, Noura Al-Shehri, and Fayza Al-Ahmari visited Al-Abna School at King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait; On the 15th of November, Hanan Al-Shahrani, Maryam Al-Shomrani, and Wasayf Al-Qahtani visited Al-Oula High School in Khamis Mushait; On the 15th of November, Afnan Yahya, Shyma'a Hassan, and Ghada Asiri visited Al-Thamna High School; On the 22nd of November, Shayma'a Hasan visited Al-Thanya High School in Abha. Date: 11-27-2018 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation

Saja Al Ahmari and Jawaher Al Enzi, two MA students, delivered a presentation titled Translation and Culture at the seminar organized by the Language Research Center of King Khalid University held on November 28, 2018. The seminar was held on the King Abdullah Road campus. In their presentation, they focused on the cultural awareness required for proper translation. They introduced some such specialized terms relevant to the translation theory as ‘dynamic equivalence’, etc. They showed some strategies for the knotty problem of finding equivalence for culture-specific terms. Such strategies included, but were not limited to, naturalization, neutralization, and compensation. Naturalization, they said, is a method of translating target cultural concepts by encoding them in their original target language forms. Compensation, on the other hand, they added, is a standard lexical transfer in which the meaning of the source language text is somehow lost in the process of translation. Compensation often results in ‘over-translation’ as opposed to ‘under translation’. They tried to focus on the close relation between successful translation and understanding the culture of both the source language and the target language. They introduced some interesting examples from different cultures, and how ‘literalism’ does not work out the culture-related problems. One example was taken from German which uses a phrase meaning literally ‘to have tomatoes on one’s eyes’. This is rendered into Arabic as على عينيه غشاوة, obliterating any sense related to literal ‘tomatoes’. More interestingly, they drew the audience’s attention to the fact that some target texts excelled their source counterparts in quality. One example is Fitzgerald’s translation of Omar Al Khayyam’s Persian quadruplets into English in 1859. Despite the desperate attempt by other successors like Robert Graves and Omar Ali Shah in 1967, they failed to produce a translation that would replace Fitzgerald’s. The seminar was an overall success. Date: 11-29-18 Source: Mohammad Adil Siddique

Saja Al Ahmari and Jawaher Al Enzi, two MA students, delivered a presentation titled Translation and Culture at the seminar organized by the Language Research Center of King Khalid University held on November 28, 2018. The seminar was held on the King Abdullah Road campus. In their presentation, they focused on the cultural awareness required for proper translation. They introduced some such specialized terms relevant to the translation theory as ‘dynamic equivalence’, etc. They showed some strategies for the knotty problem of finding equivalence for culture-specific terms. Such strategies included, but were not limited to, naturalization, neutralization, and compensation. Naturalization, they said, is a method of translating target cultural concepts by encoding them in their original target language forms. Compensation, on the other hand, they added, is a standard lexical transfer in which the meaning of the source language text is somehow lost in the process of translation. Compensation often results in ‘over-translation’ as opposed to ‘under translation’. They tried to focus on the close relation between successful translation and understanding the culture of both the source language and the target language. They introduced some interesting examples from different cultures, and how ‘literalism’ does not work out the culture-related problems. One example was taken from German which uses a phrase meaning literally ‘to have tomatoes on one’s eyes’. This is rendered into Arabic as على عينيه غشاوة, obliterating any sense related to literal ‘tomatoes’. More interestingly, they drew the audience’s attention to the fact that some target texts excelled their source counterparts in quality. One example is Fitzgerald’s translation of Omar Al Khayyam’s Persian quadruplets into English in 1859. Despite the desperate attempt by other successors like Robert Graves and Omar Ali Shah in 1967, they failed to produce a translation that would replace Fitzgerald’s. The seminar was an overall success. Date: 11-29-18 Source: Mohammad Adil Siddique

Dr. Eyhab Bader Eddin delivered a presentation titled 'Multiplicity of Different English Functional Semantic Realizations of the Translation of the Arabic Preposition ب' at a seminar organized by the Language Research Center of King Khalid University held on October 10, 2018. His presentation was about his research on a particular Arabic preposition, namely ب and its diversity of meaning when translated into English. The seminar, originally a published paper in a refereed specialized journal, throws a spotlight at an uncharted territory in the field of translation and grammatical analysis, taking the fact that the semantic functions of the preposition ب in Arabic have been the cynosure of all linguists’ and translators’ eyes for decades as the point of departure. The different realizations in English of the same preposition in Arabic are meant to enrich translators’ and linguists’ appreciation and critical understanding of the different semantic functions of the preposition ب. Failure to correctly understand the semantic functions inherent in the preposition ب in different contexts definitely washes away meaning, and causes translators to bog down in unanswered questions pertaining to the exact meaning intended. Dr. Bader Eddin first compared Arabic parts of speech with English ones. The English word class of ‘nouns’ covers in Arabic the word classes of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs, he exemplified. Particles in Arabic, referred to as حروف, can be further divided into two types of particles, namely حروف مبنى (alphabetical letters) and حروف معنى (prepositions), he added. He went further to say that the tri-classification of Arabic parts of speech does not mean that English has more parts of speech than Arabic does. It is noticed that the semantic behavior, expressed by بـ in Arabic is richer than that in English, and thus cannot always be transferred through a one-to-one correspondence into English. The seemingly same ب in Arabic can be said to be an overloaded preposition in Arabic that no one particular preposition can be predicted in English. This linguistic phenomenon is context-bound in that the same preposition ب behaves semantically different, and thus cannot be dealt with according to watertight criteria predictably. In Arabic, particles are divided into ‘effective or operative’ and ‘passive’ عامل وعاطل. By the former, we mean that their occurrence before the noun it accompanies brings about what is grammatically known as ‘declension’ الإعراب. This means the last morpheme or inflection of the word carries a marker (diacritic mark) showing its grammatical case and category. Such particles, depending on what particles are used, may make the word they precede in the nominative, accusative, dative or apocope case, that is حالة الرفع أو النصب أو الجر أو الجزم respectively. Prepositions are considered one type of ‘effective or operative particles’ as they transform the noun following them into the dative case. Dr. Bader Eddin also explained in detail the various types of Arabic preposition ب their semantic functions and possible English realization. He particularly adduced evidence from the Holy Qur'an for this research out of the firm belief that the Holy Qur'an is the model of linguistic excellence whose style is described as ‘sui generis’. He highlighted the fact that one preposition in Arabic can be realized differently in English. His research, he believed, would enrich translators’ and linguists’ critical understanding of different semantic functions of the preposition. Some of the semantic functions carried by the preposition ب are ‘physical contact, instrument, transitivity, causal, substitution, oath administering, etc. A volley of questions were posed at the end, and answers were provided. You may have a look at the PowerPoint presentation by clicking here. It is worth mentioning that the King Abdullah Road campus attended the seminar online. The seminar was very informative and overall successful. Date: 10/10/2018 Source: Mohammad Adil Siddique Multimedia Source: Mohammed Jabir

Dr. Eyhab Bader Eddin delivered a presentation titled 'Multiplicity of Different English Functional Semantic Realizations of the Translation of the Arabic Preposition ب' at a seminar organized by the Language Research Center of King Khalid University held on October 10, 2018. His presentation was about his research on a particular Arabic preposition, namely ب and its diversity of meaning when translated into English. The seminar, originally a published paper in a refereed specialized journal, throws a spotlight at an uncharted territory in the field of translation and grammatical analysis, taking the fact that the semantic functions of the preposition ب in Arabic have been the cynosure of all linguists’ and translators’ eyes for decades as the point of departure. The different realizations in English of the same preposition in Arabic are meant to enrich translators’ and linguists’ appreciation and critical understanding of the different semantic functions of the preposition ب. Failure to correctly understand the semantic functions inherent in the preposition ب in different contexts definitely washes away meaning, and causes translators to bog down in unanswered questions pertaining to the exact meaning intended. Dr. Bader Eddin first compared Arabic parts of speech with English ones. The English word class of ‘nouns’ covers in Arabic the word classes of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs, he exemplified. Particles in Arabic, referred to as حروف, can be further divided into two types of particles, namely حروف مبنى (alphabetical letters) and حروف معنى (prepositions), he added. He went further to say that the tri-classification of Arabic parts of speech does not mean that English has more parts of speech than Arabic does. It is noticed that the semantic behavior, expressed by بـ in Arabic is richer than that in English, and thus cannot always be transferred through a one-to-one correspondence into English. The seemingly same ب in Arabic can be said to be an overloaded preposition in Arabic that no one particular preposition can be predicted in English. This linguistic phenomenon is context-bound in that the same preposition ب behaves semantically different, and thus cannot be dealt with according to watertight criteria predictably. In Arabic, particles are divided into ‘effective or operative’ and ‘passive’ عامل وعاطل. By the former, we mean that their occurrence before the noun it accompanies brings about what is grammatically known as ‘declension’ الإعراب. This means the last morpheme or inflection of the word carries a marker (diacritic mark) showing its grammatical case and category. Such particles, depending on what particles are used, may make the word they precede in the nominative, accusative, dative or apocope case, that is حالة الرفع أو النصب أو الجر أو الجزم respectively. Prepositions are considered one type of ‘effective or operative particles’ as they transform the noun following them into the dative case. Dr. Bader Eddin also explained in detail the various types of Arabic preposition ب their semantic functions and possible English realization. He particularly adduced evidence from the Holy Qur'an for this research out of the firm belief that the Holy Qur'an is the model of linguistic excellence whose style is described as ‘sui generis’. He highlighted the fact that one preposition in Arabic can be realized differently in English. His research, he believed, would enrich translators’ and linguists’ critical understanding of different semantic functions of the preposition. Some of the semantic functions carried by the preposition ب are ‘physical contact, instrument, transitivity, causal, substitution, oath administering, etc. A volley of questions were posed at the end, and answers were provided. You may have a look at the PowerPoint presentation by clicking here. It is worth mentioning that the King Abdullah Road campus attended the seminar online. The seminar was very informative and overall successful. Date: 10/10/2018 Source: Mohammad Adil Siddique Multimedia Source: Mohammed Jabir