The Criticism and Analysis of the Structural Adjustments in Tesuji’s and Eqlidi’s Translation of “One Thousand and One Nights”

مطالعات زبان و ترجمه

Article 3, Volume 48, Issue 3, October 2015, Pages 55-81   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/lts.v48i3.54764

Authors

Seyyed Mahdi Masboogh^* ; Shahram Delshad

Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

Abstract

1. Introduction
According to the source language and target language differences in the nature and structure and other cultural and style factors, the translator sometimes has no way other than making changes in the source text; therefore, some target-oriented scholars such as Ladmiral calls translators for exerting changes and modifications in carious structural areas for the fluency and legibility of the translated text to be enhanced, which can set the grounds for the feature of recreation to be taken place in the rendered text. The current study is an attempt to criticize and analyze the structural modifications carried out by Tesuji and Eghlidi in the translation of one thousand and a night from the four perspectives of adjustment in the verbal syntactic constructs, in addressing the style, in eloquence, and in phonetics. The results of the study indicate that Tesuji and Eghlidi have adopted a target-oriented approach to the translocation and adjustment of the sentence structure.  In rendering by Tesuji, there can be found numerous specimens in which appropriate structural adjustments and modifications have taken place; however, in the majority of the cases the book style has also suffered from such adaptations, where as Eghlidi has tackled the structural adjustments to a smaller extent. In addition, it is worth mentioning that his translation enjoys less legibility.

2. Theoretical framework
If we are wishing to handle the Ladmiral theory through making use of a simple scientific language, we have to declare that Ladmiral believes that the semantic should be conveyed at any cost and the solutions to such a problem can only be actualized in practice. The title chosen by him for his book is clearly reflective of such an idea, “translation, theorems for translation (practice, solution, theory).In this way, in his book and in other articles he presents issues and components for translations which are so diverse.
The first issue posited by Ladmiral deals with the structural differences. Such an issue is related to the language structure or grammar, the structure of every language, which is different according to the spirits, and to the attitudes intrinsic in every nation. In this sense ,Ladmiral believes that the translator should not only be necessarily bound to the source language sentence structure, but also to the processes such as rationalization that the translator arranges for the verbal constructs in a manner that they look proportionate to the target language context while they are found fluent and legible by the target language users. Structural adjustments in translation are among the most important components of the Ladmiral theory. The recognition and the survey of such components cannot be fulfilled regardless of the other indicators and issues common to a translation text, because legibility is created subsequent to the structural modifications and it is one of the other components of the theories proposed by Ladmiral. Another component which has been dealt with in the present study is the subject of translational epistemology. That is, paying attention to the stylistic features of books and trying to keep them as intact as possible because by means of such features the author has a point and probably intends to convey a certain idea. Generally speaking, what is of the greatest importance in translating narrative books such as the fiction of one thousand and one nights is to increase the legibility and the attractiveness of the book and also not to damage the book’s narrative stylistic features. Undoubtedly, such a thematic point can only be accomplished through the adoption of opportunities and systematic structural adjustments.

3 . Methodology
The current study is based on a descriptive-analytical method and the authors are seeking to deal with the structural adjustments in the translations by Tesuji and Eghlidi in four different areas (syntax, speech, eloquency, and phonetic). The current study has been laid upon the foundations of Ladmiral theory. He believes that structural modifications can contribute to the recreation and legibility of the translation while the translator should also try to avoid using the items that disturb the book's stylistic features according to the translational epistemologies.

4. Results and Discussions
A great fraction of the structural adjustments pertains to the verbal syntactic constructs. One thousand and one nights, which has been written in Arabic, employs the Arabic language constructs in transferring the stories contents and incidents while the Persian language translators are compelled to cast them into Persian language format. The second part is related to the adjustments in addressing which indicates that the translator is to modify the sentence addressing styles or the author’s point of view in order for the rendered context to be fluent and eloquent. As it is observed in the context of one thousand and one nights, the speech in a narrative work is connected to the way the narrator narrates the contents of the story and that what mechanisms are used by the narrator to advance the events and create coherence among them. The third part which deals with the eloquence adjustments concerns with the efforts paid to loyally recreate the main text in the target language through the use of various literary devices to be able to create the same effects on readers of the translated works as the original text. In this way, when it comes to the eloquence structural adjustments in one thousand and one nights in Persian translations by Tesuji and Eghlidi, we mean the very few cases that the storywriter has favorably and unboundedly used. The last part of the modifications pertains to the phonetic structures of the one thousand and one nights context; it is found to have a slow and flowing rhyme except in some few cases. One of the other factors causing a rhythmic structure to be appeared in a text is related to the methods of storytelling, which is influenced by the oral originality of the book. One such method is the presence of the poems in the original context of the book and both of the translations have been found to convey this phonetic style; however, the translation rendered by Eghlidi seems to be more loyal to the type of the phonology, its quality and quantity.

5. Conclusion
One thousand and one nights includes two different aspects. Occasionally, a cliché structure, disproportionate, and arrhythmic rules are seen in the book while some times it is of a consistent and stable style. Being loyal to the source text, Eghlidi has created a book structurally more similar to the original book; however ,Tesuji has ended in a structure different from the original book through disloyal and unduly interactions he has made. Tesuji, who has adopted an unduly free approach toward translating the book, has made use of structural adjustment insofar as it can be helpful in completing and legibility of the book; thus, his rendering of the book displays more beauty and attraction and it has a more fluent and more legible structure and arrangements. Of course, his structural modifications have been exaggerated in some parts as he has ignored the book’s stylistic features such as eloquence and phonetic functions of the descriptions.

Keywords

Tesuji; Eghlidi; Structural Modifications; One Thousand and One Nights

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