Loss in the Translation of Colour Euphemstic Expressions in the Qur’an: A Pragmatic Analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the English translations of colour euphemistic expressions in the Qur'an by 6 translators, 3 are Muslims and 3 are non-Muslims. More specifically, the problem, in this study, seems to arise basically from the translator’s unawareness of the metaphorical use of colours in the Qur’an. The selected translators have tended to mainly adopt the literal translation strategy, which leads to producing inadequate, if not poor TT versions. Moreover, various problems in the Qur’an translations have been extensively investigated by researchers, yet this topic has long been neglected as an area of study. The significance of this study lies in identifying that the literal translation strategy perplexes the target reader’s understanding of the original text. The current study aims to :(1) identify the extent to which the cited translators have retained the same ST intentions and pragmatic functions in the TT, and (2) propose the English functional-pragmatic equivalences to the ST expressions.

Data on the translation of ST were collected from the Quran and its six English translations. Out of 10, 7 examples, related to colour euphemistic expressions (CEEs), were selected for analysis as they are translated literally. Qualitative content analysis was used to examine the source data by consulting the widely used traditional exegetical and rhetorical books to determine the source text’s intentionality. Additionally, the translated data were analysed according to the pragmatic equivalence framework based on Baker’s (1992; 2011) pragmatic equivalence and cultural substitution strategy.

     The present study concludes that the difficulty of accommodating the functional equivalence of the Qur’anic concepts in English can be overcome when the translators do their best in looking for the areas of common interest and experience in both the SC and TC.