Assessing English Cultural Authenticity: Translation Strategies for Al-Mutanabbi's &lsquo;Braces&rsquo;

Essa, Iman Ahmad; Bida’, Rudaynah M.

doi:10.25130/Lang.9.4.P1.9

	Assessing English Cultural Authenticity: Translation Strategies for Al-Mutanabbi's ‘Braces’
Journal of Language Studies
Volume 9, Issue 4, Part 1, December 2025, Pages 157-180 PDF (676.33 K)
Document Type: Original Article
DOI: 10.25130/Lang.9.4.P1.9
Authors
Iman Ahmad Essa¹; Rudaynah M. Bida’²
¹The Department of Translation, College of Arts, Tikrit University
²The Department of English language, College of Arts, Tikrit University
Abstract
This study examines the challenge of preserving cultural authenticity when translating Al-Mutanabbi’s classical Arabic poem "Braces" into English. The research aims to identify key cultural references, evaluate translation strategies (literal, adaptive, domestication, foreignization), analyze distortions in meaning, and propose balanced solutions. Grounded in Newmark’s Adaptation Theory and Venuti’s domestication/foreignization framework, the study employs mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) by analyzed 15 English translations of 3 culturally dense verses from seminal works by scholars like Arberry, Nicholson, and Montgomery (1907–2016). Findings reveals that the analysis of 15 translations reveals 67% successfully preserved cultural essence, primarily through adaptive strategies (47%) rather than strict literalism (27%). Social references (50%) proved most distortion-prone, while historical terms (50%) demanded careful handling. Foreignization and domestication were equally used (13% each), but neither dominated.
Keywords
Cultural; Translation; and Arabic poem

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