The Linguist

Chartered Institute of Linguists AUTUMN 2025 The Linguist 19 FEATURES weight in constructing character, setting and social context. While footnotes or paratextual explanations may be acceptable in longer texts, they often disrupt the flow and immersive quality of short fiction. Translators must often rely on subtle in-text strategies, such as brief contextualisation or near-equivalence with cultural hints. Keeping the term wasta with a brief explanation might preserve authenticity, while translating it as 'he got the job through connections' would communicate meaning but lose cultural nuance. Mashalla might also be kept, with 'touch wood' given in brackets. Literary tone and voice Emotional restraint is another hallmark of many Arabic short stories, which often convey emotion through understatement, indirectness or poetic imagery. In English, where clarity and directness are more typical, this can result in a tonal mismatch. For example, Zakaria Tamer's 'My Lord is Great' ر G ﻛ ﺒ M ( ) is about a young boy in a poor neighbourhood who faces hardships yet holds on to his faith and hope. He repeatedly says ر G ﻛ ﺒ M as an expression of his trust in God. Translating this literally may lose its emotional weight, as the underlying firm faith emerges from the fact that God is greater than sorrow. This can be explained in a footnote as 'God would never abandon me' or 'There's a higher power watching over me'. Intense feelings such as grief, longing and joy may be implied through silence, gesture or sparse description, reflecting a literary tradition that values subtlety over dramatic disclosure. Such restraint is not incidental; it aligns with a broader cultural tendency to convey emotion with dignity and inwardness. Thus, preserving the economy of expression is essential. The translator must resist the urge to over-explain or dramatise a line like ﺳ ﻜ ﺘ ﺖ ، و د ﻣ ﻌ ﺔ ﻋ ﲆ ﺧ ﺪ ﻫ ﺎ ('She fell silent, a tear on her cheek'), or expand it ('She broke down in tears, unable to speak from the pain'), as doing so would risk flattening the emotional nuance. Gender and social dynamics Short stories in Arabic often contain subtle linguistic cues reflecting class, social dynamics and gender. Translating these markers into English, which lacks Arabic's gendered structure and social honorifics, is complex. Diglossic shifts between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and regional dialects mark character, mood or setting, often reflecting a shift in the emotional, spiritual or narrative tone. A colloquial dialect may indicate regional identity or lower social class, which can be hard to render in English without stereotyping. Dialects also carry connotations of intimacy, informality or marginality, while MSA is formal. In Naguib Mahfouz's stories, a character may speak in Egyptian dialect to show familiarity then switch to MSA in moments of solemnity. One strategy is to use more casual or fragmented English for dialects and more polished, structured English for MSA. For example, ﻋ ﺎ و ز أ ر و ح د ﻟ ﻮ ﻗ ﺘ ﻲ could be rendered as 'I wanna go now', while أ ر ﻏ ﺐ ﰲ ا ﻟ ﺬ ﻫ ﺎ ب ﺣ ﺎ might become 'I wish to leave immediately'. In some Palestinian short stories, characters shift from colloquial Arabic to Quranic expressions signalling a move from everyday banter to spiritual reflection. Capturing this in English might involve changes in rhythm, vocabulary or tone to mimic the formal elevation. In addition, Arabic often encodes gender through verb forms and adjectives. The description ﻫ ﻲ ﻣ ﺠ ﺘ ﻬ ﺪ ة ('she is diligent') uses a gendered adjective that subtly emphasises her role as a hardworking woman. In translation, this nuance might be lost unless it is contextually emphasised, for example by adding 'despite expectations, she proved to be exceptionally diligent'. Translating Arabic short stories into English is never a straightforward linguistic exercise – it is a subtle, deeply intuitive craft that calls upon the translator to become both cultural mediator and literary artist. We are tasked with reshaping the narrative to speak meaningfully in a new tongue, and in doing so, the translator steps into a creative space that is neither wholly Arabic nor entirely English. Yet within these complexities lies a rare and rewarding opportunity: to produce a version of the story that does not merely replicate the original, but reawakens it for a new audience. In an age that often prizes speed over subtlety, the translator of short stories quietly defends the value of nuance. Their work reminds us that stories are not bound by language alone – and that when carried with care, a voice can cross borders not as a stranger, but as a guest, fully seen and heard. BUILDING WORLDS (Clockwise from left) Short stories bring joy and wisdom; cover image for Zakaria Tamer's Tigers on the Tenth Day (1978); illustration by Maxfield Parrish for Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1906); and illustration by Willy Pogany for More Tales from the Arabian Nights (1915)

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