Abstract
This chapter takes a socionarrative approach to examine the recurrent narratives on translation in the Arabic linguistic context to further understand how Arabic translation occurs in public discourse. This study analyzes a corpus of digital texts sourced from leading translation organizations in the Arab world. The corpus also comprises texts written about the organizations themselves. These organizations include Kalima, the Arab Organization for Translation, Taghreedat, and the Translation Challenge. The chapter shows that Arabic discourse about translation occurs under three main narratives: the Golden Era of Translation, the Bridge to Knowledge, and the dearth of Arabic content online. The popularity of these narratives shows the important role they play to motivate volunteers (e.g., to join translation projects) in addition to intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.
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Notes
- 1.
The Translation Challenge was a temporary project and the link to the project’s page has since expired. However, information about the Project can be accessed in the 2017 annual report: https://www.almaktouminitiatives.org/en/years-in-review.
- 2.
A historical institution for translation established during the Golden Era of Translation in Arab-Islamic history (661–1258 ce). For further information see Baker and Hanna 2011.
- 3.
The use of square brackets around inline and displayed quotations henceforth indicates either my own translation of Arabic words and passages that I use in the text, as in this case, or my own translation of the original Arabic quotes.
- 4.
Since the texts are publicly available, I did not need to gain permission for obtaining data for the research. Also, from an ethical point of view, I ensured that my use of the data does not violate any copyrights and/or restrictions.
- 5.
Now in its third edition (2020). The section on translation history and traditions has been dropped from the new edition, as explained in its Introduction. My citation is of the second edition.
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Alonayq, A. (2021). Narrating Arabic Translation Online: Another Perspective on the Motivations Behind Volunteerism in the Translation Sector. In: Desjardins, R., Larsonneur, C., Lacour, P. (eds) When Translation Goes Digital. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51761-8_5
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