Translatability of English Puns into Arabic: Lewis Carroll's Alice Adventures in Wonderland, George Orwell's Animal Farm and Charles Dickens's Great Expectations as Case Studies
Researcher Name
Mohammad Mehawesh
Name Of Journal
Mu'tah Lil-Buhuth wad-Dirasat, Humanities and Soci
Volume No.
Vol. 35 No.5 , 2020.
Date Of Publication
2020.10
Abstract
This study investigates the problems that a translator may encounter when
translating English puns into Arabic in three selected novels: Lewis Carroll's Alice
Adventures in Wonderland, George Orwell's Animal Farm and Charles Dickens's
Great Expectations. Two main problems and interrelated issues are discussed: How
puns were translated? and how they should or (can be) translated?. It is observed
that, in some cases, the translators of the three selected novels failed to convey the
intended meaning of certain puns; therefore, some strategies were suggested by the
researcher.
The study indicates that a translator might face the problem of not being able
to translate puns and/or convey their intended meaning(s). This problem comes as a
result of various reasons. For example, English puns, if sound-based, do not have
the same phonetic representations in Arabic. In addition, English puns sometimes
evoke shades of meanings that the TL text cannot show. Therefore, this leads to a
serious loss