Translating Jordanian Dysphemizers into English

Abstract

This study examines the cultural and linguistic challenges in translating dysphemisms, used to offend someone, from Jordanian Arabic into English. The main objective is to investigate the cultural and linguistic challenges in translating these dysphemisms. To conduct the study, the researchers use nine examples of Jordanian dysphemisms in specific social contexts to show how they are practically employed to offend others. After the dysphemisms are linguistically, socially, and culturally probed, the study highlights the difficulties of conveying their negative connotations when translating them into English. The study concludes that Jordanian dysphemisms, rooted in religious, literary, and social context, are challenging to translate directly due to cultural specificity. And as such, it is not simple to find equivalents for them with the same negative connotations in a distant language and culture like English.

Highlights

1. Investigation of dysphemisms in Jordanian Arabic as socially and linguistically significant offensive expressions.
2. Identification of the linguistic and cultural complexities involved in translating dysphemisms into English.
3. Analysis of context-specific examples illustrating the practical use of dysphemistic expressions.
4. Demonstration of the cultural specificity of Jordanian dysphemisms rooted in religious, literary, and societal norms.
5. Conclusion regarding the difficulty of producing English equivalents that preserve the original negative connotations.