Expressions of Interpersonal Relationships in Translated Business Annual Reports (English-Arabic)

Abstract

Business annual reports are financial statements that contain significant information about a company’s activities. The reports are distributed to interested parties (e.g. stockholders, creditors, financial analysts and customers) in order to satisfy their information requirements (Friedlob & Welton 2008). In Oman, annual business reports are produced in English and translated into Arabic in order to provide Arab readers with vital information about the companies' operations and their financial positions. This article analyzes five titles and/or names, i.e. my lord, royal rank, presence, majesty, and glorified; these titles indicate interpersonal relationships in English and then are compared to Arabic in order to identify translation strategies and potential consequences for interpersonal relationships as expressed in the texts. In addition, this article attempts to answer the following question, are there any differences between English and Arabic versions, and whether these differences reveal aspects of sociocultural and ideological practices in Oman. Qualitative methods are applied, in this article, to compare, describe, and analyze the textual profiles of the two versions of the reports. This article contributes to the discipline of Translation Studies (TS) by investigating titles and/or names within sociocultural and ideological context in Oman, has not been given enough attention in TS. It concludes that the patterns of address (sukr form), which are followed by religious names in the Arabic translations enhance the status of Sulṭān Qābūs Ibn Sa’īd, thus reflecting power relationships. Finally, this article recommends to integrate textual analysis with sociological analysis to have more insight into translation agents and institutions.