Proper names in the Arabic translation of "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire"

Abstract

This paper examines how a set of the most common translation procedures used in transferring proper names in children’s fantasy literature is being applied in the Arabic translation of J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”. The study adopts Fernandes’s classification of ten procedures to discuss the ways of rendering proper names from English to Arabic. The focus of the study is three - fold: (1) To shed light on the shortcomings of the Arabic translation when applying a translation procedure to transfer proper names. (2) To describethe effects of the adopted procedures on the textual and stylistic features of the target text as when compared to the English original. (3) To carry outanin-depth linguistic and contextual analysis to suggest solutions towards a more effective child-friendly transfer that takes into consideration the readability factor. The paper argues that the foreignization strategy adopted in this translation is so extreme and makes the translator too visible for the translation’ sown sake. Although a translator’s role is essential to the writing process and foreignization is a means to make this role visible, it should not be at the expense of the author’s intention and the ST’s meaning. The researcher calls for adoption of a more flexible yet consistent approach that effectively balances foreignization against domestication when translating proper names used in fantasy fiction into Arabic.