Translating Emirati Poetry

Abstract

For Arabs, poetry is the first and most important genre of Arabic literature, and in the Gulf region, Nabati poetry is the most frequently used form with a register of spoken Gulf dialect. Translating Nabati poetry can help expose the target text reader to writings rich in cultural characteristics. However, going through commercial translation to translate Nabati poetry presents serious problems on the levels of culture and language. This thesis explores the viability of commercial translation in the translation of Nabati poetry. Six poems by Sheikh Sultan bin Salem Al Qassimi (2002) were chosen for translation into English through the One Hour Translation online agency by a native speaker of English translator. The translations were analyzed and compared to academic translations by Holes and Abu Athera (2011). In the case of the six poems discussed here, the commercial translation leads to mistranslations caused by most likely by misunderstanding the cultural and linguistic context.