Arabic Translation Research Articles

Psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the external and internal shame scale (EISS)

BackgroundThe concept of shame in Arab societies displays multiple differences when compared to Western societies in terms of nature, sources, types, and correlates. Surprisingly, we could not find any study investigating this increasingly important construct in Arab countries or the broad Arabic-speaking communities. This may likely be due to the lack of valid instruments assessing shame in the Arabic language. To address this major gap and contribute to the international literature, we sought to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the External and Internal Shame Scale (EISS) among a community sample of Arabic-speaking adults from Lebanon.MethodsAn online survey was conducted among Lebanese adults between July and August 2022. A total of 570 Lebanese adults completed the EISS, as well as Depression Anxiety Stress Scales, Other as shamer scale, and the Standardized Stigmatization Questionnaire. Exploratory-to-confirmatory (EFA-CFA) factor analyses were conducted.ResultsExploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a unidimensional model of EISS scores, with all eight items retained. Scores achieved scalar invariance across gender, with no significant difference reported between females and males. EISS scores were found to have adequate composite reliability (McDonald’s ω = 0.88 for the total score); as well as adequate patterns of correlations with depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, as well as stigmatization scores. Finally, our analyses provide support to the concurrent validity of the Arabic version of the scale, by showing that the EISS total scores strongly correlated with the external shame measure “other as shamer”.ConclusionAlthough further validations are necessary before our findings could be generalized, we preliminarily suggest that this is a short, easy-to-use, self-report scale that enables a reliable and valid measure of the shame construct among Arabic-speaking people.

Building the Leeds Monolingual and Parallel Legal Corpora of Arabic and English Countries’ Constitutions: Methods, Challenges and Solutions

Arabic corpora have existed since the last decade of the past century. Although they are constantly increasing, more advanced tools and morpho-syntactically annotated Arabic corpora are still needed for research and teaching. Likewise, parallel and specialised corpora are rare despite the growing need to use them in empirical linguistic investigations of authentic Arabic texts and for language and translation teaching. Therefore, building legal corpora will pave the way for more research in Arabic legal translation, an area which is under-researched worldwide. This paper aims to discuss the building of a collection of specialised parallel and monolingual legal corpora. In particular, it will discuss the building of diachronic corpora, which include all available constitutions of 22 Arabic countries. The aim of building all available versions of these constitutions is two-fold: (1) interdisciplinary corpus-based and socio-cultural investigations and (2) research-led and blended-learning pedagogical approaches to translation teaching and learning. Thus, these corpora are of great value to translation trainers and researchers, law academics and professionals, and governmental, non-governmental and international organisations. The paper will demonstrate the process of building these specialised complex corpora and the challenges encountered throughout this process. Among the challenges faced during the data collection and processing phases are (1) limitations of finding the original constitutions for each Arabic country since some of them date back to 1922; (2) file conversion and the difficulty of choosing one Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tool to rely on for the Arabic language since many lack accuracy, efficiency as well as encoding issues in Arabic.

210 Preliminary Validation of the Arabic Global Neuropsychological Assessment

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Language is the main barrier to equitable access of neuropsychological resources. In our preliminary study, using an Arabic translation of the Global Neuropsychological Assessment (GNA), we assessed 27 Arabic-speaking participants and compared them to English-speaking controls. Our goal was to assess the Arabic GNA’s validity and feasibility. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The Global Neuropsychological Assessment (GNA) is a brief 15-minute assessment of cognition. 27 Arabic-speaking participants were recruited and assessed with the GNA and an Arabic translation of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) by community health workers (CHWs). 17 English-speaking participants GNA data were gleaned from a previous validation study and compared to the Arabic sample via independent samples t-tests. Correlations between the GNA sub-tests and Arabic-translated MoCA are reported in the Arabic-speaking sample. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: ): Independent samples t-tests revealed that Arabic and English-speaking groups significantly differed on education (Arabic: M = 10.3, SD = 3.4, English: M = 15.4, SD = 2.43 t(41) = 6.2, p < .05) but not age (p > .05). A one-way ANCOVA model controlling for education revealed that Arabic and English-speaking groups were not significantly different in any GNA subtest (all p’s > .05) except for the perceptual comparison task (Arabic: M = 22.4, SD = 6.9, English: M = 38.4, SD = 9.9, p < .05). Arabic GNA subtests correlated with each other as expected. Logical memory delayed recall was modestly correlated with the MoCA total score (r = .386, p < .05). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our preliminary results suggest that the Arabic translation of the GNA is suitable for assessment of Arabic-speaking individuals. Brief educable assessments like the Arabic GNA are essential to meet the needs of these English new language populations and reduce the need for live translations that reduce the reliability of assessment.

The Image of the Jew in Arabic Translations of Titus Andronicus

The Image of the Jew in Arabic Translations of Titus Andronicus

Psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) in a sample of community adults

BackgroundThere is a growing attention on intuitive eating (IE) styles in the Western world that has not yet reached Arab countries, which is likely due to the lack of psychometrically sound measures of the IE construct for Arabic-speaking people. The current study aims to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the most widely used measure of IE—the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2), in an Arabic-speaking community population from Lebanon.MethodsTwo samples of Arabic-speaking community adults from Lebanon (sample 1: n = 359, 59.9% females, age 22.75 ± 7.04 years; sample 2: n = 444, 72.7% females, age 27.25 ± 9.53 years) were recruited through online convenience sampling. The translation and back-translation method was applied to the IES-2 for linguistic validation. Factorial validity was investigated using an Exploratory Factor Analysis & Confirmatory Factor Analysis strategy. Composite reliability and sex invariance were examined. We also tested convergent and criterion-related validity through correlations with other theoretically plausible constructs.ResultsNine out of the original 23 items were removed because they either loaded below 0.40 and/or cross-loaded too highly on multiple factors. This resulted in four domains (Unconditional Permission to Eat, Eating for Physical Rather than Emotional Reasons, Reliance on Hunger and Satiety Cues, and Body-Food Choice Congruence) and 14 items retained. Internal reliability estimates were excellent, with McDonald’s ω values ranging from 0.828 to 0.923 for the four factors. Multigroup analysis established configural, thresholds, metric, scalar, strict invariance across gender. Finally, higher IES-2 total scores were significantly correlated with lower body dissatisfaction scores and more positive eating attitudes, thus attesting to convergent and criterion-related validity of the scale.ConclusionsThe current findings provide preliminary evidence for the appropriate psychometric qualities of the Arabic 14-item, four-factor structure IES-2; thereby supporting its use at least among Arabic-speaking community adults.

ANALYSIS OF NASSAR’S ARABIC TRANSLATION OF FRENCH CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEMS IN HEMINGWAY'S NOVEL "THE SUN ALSO RISES"

Translating the cultural aspects of any source language is not easy. Translation problems may vary depending on both the cultural and linguistic gap between the two concerned languages. This study examines the translation of French Culture Specific Items henceforth (FCSIs) into Arabic. It aims to identify the strategies used by the Arabic translator Sameer Ezzat Nassar (2015) in transferring the meaning of the FCSIs in Hemingway's novel "The Sun Also Rises" (1926). This descriptive corpus-based research analyzes the Arabic translation of the FCSIs to examine the strategies followed in translating them. The study has found that conservation strategies (SL-oriented strategies) and substitution strategies (TL-oriented strategies) were used in translation of the FCSIs in the novel. The naturalization strategy was the most frequently followed in Nassar’s translation. This indicates a tendency to create the TL culture in the Arabic translation.

Hybrid Pipeline for Building Arabic Tunisian Dialect-standard Arabic Neural Machine Translation Model from Scratch

Deep Learning is one of the most promising technologies compared to other methods in the context of machine translation. It has been proven to achieve impressive results on large amounts of parallel data for well-endowed languages. Nevertheless, for low-resource languages such as the Arabic Dialects, Deep Learning models failed due to the lack of available parallel corpora. In this article, we present a method to create a parallel corpus to build an effective NMT model able to translate into MSA, Tunisian Dialect texts present in social networks. For this, we propose a set of data augmentation methods aiming to increase the size of the state-of-the-art parallel corpus. By evaluating the impact of this step, we noticed that it has effectively boosted both the size and the quality of the corpus. Then, using the resulted corpus, we compare the effectiveness of CNN, RNN and transformers models to translate Tunisian Dialect into MSA. Experiments show that a better translation is achieved by the transformer model with a BLEU score of 60 vs., respectively, 33.36 and 53.98 with RNN and CNN models.

An Overview of Arabic Translation and Interpreting Programs in Turkish Higher Education

Although the history of translation is almost as old as the history of humankind, it was not until the second half of the twentieth century that translation studies were recognized as an independent discipline. Perhaps due to this fact, translation and interpreting programs at the higher education level started to be introduced in Turkey in the 1980s. These programs were English translation and interpreting programs. The first program to train Arabic translators and interpreters was opened at Kırıkkale University in 2011 and remained the only program in its field until 2017. Between 2017 and 2023, nine more Arabic translation and interpreting programs, six at public universities and three at private universities, started actively admitting students. In this study, Arabic translation and interpreting programs in Turkey are examined from various angles. At the end of the study, it was concluded that the demand for the departments at state universities was higher, the students with the highest scores preferred Istanbul University. Interpreter and translator students scored an average of forty-two points in the eighty-question foreign language exam and there were an average of 3.8 faculty members in these programs. Eight faculty members work in these programs and the students who are admitted to them are mostly placed in universities in their home cities. The total capacity of the programs is sufficient and, although there is no unity in the curriculum of the programs, similar courses are offered in different classes. The programs focus on language skills for the first two years and, subsequently, focus on translation-oriented courses. At the end of the study, we make some suggestions for translation and interpreting programs by making associations with the findings of the related literature.

Fibromyalgia Rapid Screening Tool (FiRST): Arabic Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation

Background: Fibromyalgia (FM), a complex neurological disorder, has multiple consequences for the patient. To diagnose patients, healthcare practitioners use multiple diagnostic questionnaires. However, Arabic translated or validated tools are lacking. This study aimed to translate and validate the Fibromyalgia Rapid Screening Tool (FiRST) into the Arabic language. Methods: Forward and backward translations of the FiRST were conducted by two Arabic translators and two English-certified translators. The survey was piloted (n = 5) and subjected to cognitive interviews and psychometric analysis. Patients were recruited from a university hospital in Riyadh and an FM support group in Saudi Arabia. The internal consistency, factor analysis, and test-retest correlations were evaluated. Results: This study included 46 patients. The stepwise translation process resulted in minor edits related to the use of synonyms to the survey items. The translated survey had a good internal consistency and test-retest correlation, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.7 and Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.79 (p-value < 0.001), respectively. The survey was factorable into two themes: generalized symptoms and more specific sensations. Conclusions: The Arabic FiRST is a simple, valid, and reliable tool to diagnose patients with FM in different settings.

Strategi Pembelajaran Bahasa Arab Yang Mudah Dipahami

Arabic is becoming a very important language in a global context, as an official language in many countries and as an international language. However, the use of Arabic still often faces obstacles in communication effectiveness due to language misuse. Therefore, this study aims to identify acceptable and easy-to-understand Arabic translation strategies. The research method used is a qualitative research method with document review techniques through old manuscripts or previous research results related to this research. The results showed that an acceptable and easy-to-understand Arabic translation strategy involves several steps, such as understanding context, choosing the right words, using simple sentences, using synonyms, and understanding Arabic grammar well. In translation, the principles of self-instruction are also applied, including the use of dictionaries, practice by speaking, reading, and writing in Arabic.

Psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the brief version of the difficulty in emotion regulation scale (DERS-16)

BackgroundThe current study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the short form of the Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16) in an Arabic-speaking population-based adult sample in Lebanon. In particular, the factorial structure, composite reliability, convergent validity and gender invariance were investigated.MethodsA total of 411 Lebanese adult participants (mean age of 32.86 ± 11.98 years, 75.4% females) took part of this cross-sectional web-based study. The forward and backward translation method was applied.ResultsFindings revealed good internal consistency of the Arabic DERS-16 total scale and five subscales (McDonald’s ω ranging from 0.81 to 0.95). Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the five-factor solution of the scale and demonstrated strong measurement invariance across gender at the configural, metric, and scalar levels. No significant differences were found in all DERS-16 domains between men and women participants. Finally, the DERS-16 scores and sub-scores showed strong correlations with the Borderline Personality Questionnaire (r > .40), thus indicating its convergent validity.ConclusionOverall, the present findings suggest that the Arabic version of the DERS-16 may be a reliable and valid self-report measure that assesses ER difficulties as a multidimensional construct. Making the Arabic version of the DERS-16 available will hopefully strengthen its utilization for clinical and research purposes to benefit the millions of Arabic-speaking people worldwide.

THE DOCTRINE OF THE SOUL OF AL-KINDI

In this article, the authors outlines the historical role of the great Arab thinker Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi for the entire world civilization, not only as a versatile scientist, philosopher, but primarily as the founder of the Arabic translation movement. Al-Kindi stood at the origins of another intellectual trend - "falsafa". Falsafa is a doctrine based on the ancient tradition with its boundless faith in the cognitive abilities of the mind. But can al-Kindi be considered a true falasifa? To understand the versatility of his teaching, one must have an idea of the intellectual atmosphere in which the thinker lived and worked. The contradictions between reason and faith, philosophy and religion at that time were born by themselves. The translation movement only exacerbated these contradictions. Al-Kindi made a brilliant attempt to eliminate the differences and intellectual controversies surrounding the question: "Will the evidence of reason or the revelation of the prophets point the right way to the truth?" Despite the fact that the attempt was unsuccessful, it inspired al-Kindi to create his doctrine of the soul. The authors analyzes how the original teaching about the soul of al-Kindi absorbed a lot of ancient philosophical thought, but learned no less from the Holy Quran. The purpose of the authors was to show that the versatile genius of al-Kindi cannot be assessed within the framework of any teaching, even such an influential one in Arab-Muslim philosophy as falsafa.

Delays in cancer care for children in low-income and middle-income countries: development of a composite vulnerability index

Early access to diagnosis and care is essential to improve rates of survival from childhood cancer, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Composite indices are increasingly used to compare country performance in many health fields. We aimed to develop a composite vulnerability index of risk of mortality associated with delays in care for childhood cancer in LMICs, and to compare the vulnerability index scores across countries. The composite vulnerability index was built in ten steps. A previous systematic review of determinants of delays in cancer care for children guided data selection. We collected exposure variables (determinants of delays in care) and outcome variables (childhood cancer-related mortality) from several large datasets. Data were analysed with regression models to identify determinants of delays in care that contribute to childhood cancer mortality. Significant indicators were aggregated into domains according to the socio-ecological model. We used geospatial tools to summarise and compare the composite vulnerability index scores across countries. We found that life expectancy, maternal education, fertility rate, availability of pathology services, bone marrow transplantation capacity, availability of treatment services (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or surgery), number of pharmacists per 10 000 population, country income level, and out-of-pocket health expenditure were significantly associated with cancer mortality for children in LMICs. The highest levels of vulnerability were found in sub-Saharan Africa. Our composite vulnerability index can potentially serve as a valuable policy decision tool to help monitor country performance and guide interventions to reduce delays in care for children with cancer in LMICs. None. For the Chinese, Portuguese, Arabic, Spanish and Swahili translations of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

Translating and Relativity within Cognitive Stylistics Perspective

This paper intends to investigate the process of translating through shedding light on the relative thinking within cognitive stylistics perspective. In a method of seeing how to understand the world and that by a process of mental representation the language is conceived. Mental representations through which people communicate is established on the language they employ, the mental representations of people involve their knowledge, and their previous experience. Having analyzed translations of Hawking’s book “a brief history of time” 1988, relying on two Arabic translations. The paper concludes that translators differ in their manifestations of language in terms of the linguistic capacities, non-linguistic cognitive abilities, and of the communicative functions.

الأناركيَّة في التصور الإسلامي

This study deals with one of the most famous modern political theories, Anarchism. This theory denies the necessity of political authority in society, based on the notion that the existence of political authority would rob the independence and freedom of individuals, which are more important than political authority itself. The theory was advocated by prominent philosophers of different ideologies, such as William Godwin, Piper Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin, and Peter Kropotkin. The research paper begins by analysing the concept of Anarchism and then discusses the term chosen by the Arab translators of Anarchism and Philosophy on which the Anarchists depend to reject the idea of political authority and base their argument. Finally, the study ends with a discussion of the Islamic position on the issue of dealing with power, to clarify the difference between the Islamic and Anarchist conceptions. The research relied on the analytical method of discussing and analysing the texts of Anarchist theorists, as well as analysing the Islamic context related to the issue.

Stranger Fictions: A History of the Novel in Arabic Translation

Stranger Fictions: A History of the Novel in Arabic Translation

Arab Journalistic Translators’ Familiarity with the Arabic Language Academy’s Terminology Work of Arabicization

This paper aims to investigate the stances and perceptions of Arab journalistic translators about the terminology work of Arabicization and to what extent they are familiar with the Arabicized terms, which are proposed by the Arabic Language Academy (ALA) in the Arab region. The Arabicization task has been concertedly shouldered by language academies in several Arab countries, such as Cairo, Iraq, and Jordan. In this study, Arab journalistic translators’ attitudes, familiarity, and employment of the proposed Arabicized terms in journalistic translation have been investigated. In this study, the adopted methodology follows the quantitative approach to collect and analyse the data of a small-scale survey among Arab journalists and translators in various media outlets in the Arab region. The respondents of the conducted survey included Arab journalists, journalistic translators, script editors, and interpreters at Arab press agencies in several Arab countries, including Jordan, Qatar, and Egypt. According to the survey findings, the proposed Arabicized terms by the Arabic Language Academy are not broadly circulated among Arab journalists and translators in the Arab press. Moreover, the results confirmed that Arab journalistic translators are not completely familiar with the academy’s Arabicized terminologies. Therefore, they do not use them in English-Arabic journalistic translation. To enhance the ALA’s terminology work of Arabicization, more effective endeavours should be directed towards circulating the academy’s Arabicized terminology among journalistic translators in the media sector in the Arab region through establishing cooperation and coordination channels between the academy and the Arab press agencies.

Contrastive Analysis of English and Arabic Versions of Coelho’s Novel Eleven Minutes

This exploratory research investigates linguistic and cultural challenges in English and Arabic translations of Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho’s novel, Eleven Minutes, which was originally written in Portuguese. This study raises the following questions: (1) How does the functional-pragmatic model of House prove to be advantageous to the contrastive analysis of translations of Eleven Minutes? (2) To what extent are the translators whose work is examined in the current research faithful to the ST? (3) How intensely are linguistic-textual elements prioritized over cultural aspects in the conveyance of the ST message in either translation? This work employs Juliane House’s model of translation quality assessment to make a comparative analysis of the source text with both translations and to highlight the relationship of linguistic components with the relevant communication process. Furthermore, the techniques adopted in both translations are examined through excerpts taken from each of the three versions of the book. The registers of the source text and those of the target texts are analyzed and compared based on the register analysis of House’s model. Consequently, the study demonstrates how the conceptual and interpersonal functions of language are affected in the target texts. The outcome of this qualitative analysis leads to the identification of the methods adopted by the translators, mainly referring to overt and covert translation methods. Overall, it is concluded that the English translation is significantly linked to the source text by pragmatic equivalence, in contrast, the Arabic translation is connected to the source text by significant functional equivalence that highlights the cultural filter used in the text.

Translation and validation of the mindful eating behaviour scale in the Arabic language

BackgroundThere has been a drastic increase in the prevalence of obesity and its related diseases in the Arabic-speaking countries during the last decades along with a lack of public awareness about this awareness about this public health problem. This calls for the development of novel prevention and intervention strategies that are based on new approaches, including mindful eating. In this context, we aimed through this study to explore the factor structure, composite reliability, measurement invariance across sex, convergent and divergent validity of an Arabic translation of the Mindful Eating Behaviour Scale (MEBS).MethodsA cross-sectional study carried out between September and November 2022, and enrolled 359 participants, all aged above 18 years old and recruited from all Lebanon governorates. The questionnaire used included socio-demographic questions, and the following scales: The Mindful Eating Behavior Scale (MEBS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Intuitive Eating Scale-2, and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-8).ResultsMcDonald’s ω values ranged from .82 to .95 or the four mindful eating domains, indicating the excellent internal consistency reliability of the scale. Our study also showed that fit indices from the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the original four-factor structure model of the MEBS. Furthermore, our analyses suggested that configural, metric, and scalar invariance was supported across sex. Our results found no sex difference in all MEBS subscales scores. Finally, we found positive correlations between Focused eating, Hunger and satiety cues on one hand, and intuitive eating on the other hand. Moreover, greater Hunger and satiety cues scores were correlated with higher self-esteem and lower body mass index.ConclusionOur findings support the psychometric reliability and validity of the Arabic MEBS. We suggest, accordingly, that the scale will be of high clinical and research utility, and will help in the development of information-based interventions focused on mindful eating that are aimed to combat eating disorders and obesity in the Arab world.

Kahoot! as a modern tool for learning the Arabic language: from the experience of developing grammatical competence of the prospective Arabic language translators

The development of the system of teaching foreign languages and cultures in institutions of higher education requires regular updating of the components of this system, in particular, modern means of teaching foreign languages and cultures. Among such tools, Kahoot! platform stands out as a means of edutainment technology for the professional competences development, in particular prospective translators, where the grammatical competence occupies a leading place as general foreign language speech competence’s component. The purpose of this article is to substantiate theoretically the effectiveness (feasibility) of using the Kahoot! educational and gaming platform as a means of edutainment technology for the grammatical competencedevelopment of the students – the prospective Arabic language translators. Results. On the basis of the application mentioned above, the teachers of the KNLU Oriental Studies Department created two games on the topic “Numerals in Arabic” and “What time is it?”, which are aimed at developing educational and cognitive, grammatical and orthographic competences. The game is designed for the 1st-year students studying Arabic, majoring in “the Arabic language”. Test tasks, even with low results achieved by those who study, mostly do not cause such negative emotions in them, which can significantly reduce positive motivation to study foreign languages. This is due to the complete objectivity of the test control and its transparency. This can help to solveseveral issues such as, the reading speed of numbers used in Arab countries increases, multiple repetition of certain grammatical clichés increases speed of their construction in the further process of speech activity and also increase student’s motivation to be involved in the studying grammar. Conclusion. Using Kahoot! as a means of modern teaching technology, edutainment in classes on the practice of oral and written speech in the Arabic language contributes to the effective educational, cognitive and grammatical linguistic competence development of the students – the prospective Arabic language translators.