A Newly Proposed Model for Assessing the Quality of English Translated Literary Texts into Arabic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53286/arts.v7i4.2853Keywords:
Translation Quality Assessment, micro-macro criteria, English-Arabic, literary translation, accuracy of meaningAbstract
This study aimed to propose a model for assessing the quality of English-to-Arabic literary translations, addressing significant limitations in existing translation quality assessment (TQA) models (e.g. House, 1997, 2015; Nord, 2001; Reiss, 2000). In response to limitations reported in the literature, the proposed model attempts to fill this gap in that it is more comprehensive as it covers 4 micro and 4 macro criteria, and an overall criterion “meaning accuracy”, which can be assessed by a 5-point scale to produce objective translation assessment. It was subjected to validity and practicality verification by a panel of 12 experts in translation studies, and was applied to some selected translated excerpts from The Bluest Eye (1970) and Beloved (1987). The study results revealed that there was a consensus of 88.8% among the validators, which is considered high as reported in the literature related to the Delphi method. Further, the application of the model to the selected excerpts revealed that the model can advance TQA by providing subtilty criteria that ensure both linguistic fidelity and literary integrity to assess translation quality. The inclusion of quantitative assessment to the model by involving inter-rater reliability and reader response might also yield objective translation assessment.
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