TRANSLATION(3)L E C T U R E [ 2 ]

S T Y L E O F F O R M A L I T Y V S . I N F O R M A L I T Y

E M A N B A G H L A F

Types of style:In 1962, Joos suggested a scale of five styles (or tones) of English

language which is general but proved to be widely accepted by most people.

1.Frozen formal 2.Formal 3.Informal 4.Colloquial 5.Vulgar (or slang)

جدا 1. فصيح

فصيح 2.

فصيح 3. غير

عامي 4.

سوقي5.

Examples:

Frozen Be seated اجلسFormal Have a seat بالجلوس تفضلInformal Sit down, please سمحت لو اجلسColloquial Feel at home ،استريح راحتك، خذ

ارتاحVulgar Sit bloody down ،مكانك في اقعد

قلبك على انضرب

The five styles are sometimes reduced to two main ones only

1. Frozen formal

2. Formal

3. Informal

4. Colloquial

5. Vulgar (slang)

1. Formal

2. Informal

Sometimes it is difficult to draw a clear –cut line between the following pairs:

Frozen formal and formal , formal and informal, informal and colloquial , colloquial and slang .

For example, idioms and phrasal verbs are classified either as formal or informal, or both : grammatical contractions like can’t , don’t , haven't etc. are considered by some as informal, and by others as colloquial.

Although the message of all the statements in the example is the same in the Arabic(i.e.اجلس ), each statement has different effects and, hence, the meaning of the 1st one is so official and impolite said by a harsh person or a man of a high position (i.e. a king, a president, a minister, a manager, a boss, etc.) to strangers and ordinary people: whereas 2nd one is official yet polite and used in similar context to that of the 1st one , but to friends and personal acquaintances.

The 3rd one is not official and more polite than 1st and 2nd ones , but 4th is quite friendly, intimate and so kind . 5th one is strong and rude in both languages.

Students are not advised to use the last two tones (colloquial and slang) in Arabic.

Students, therefore, do not need to imitate all the English styles in Arabic. The main reason is that there are usually four styles only in Arabic:

1. Classical Arabic ( i.e. .the language of the Holy Quran, the Prophet’s traditions and classical literature).

2. Modern Standard Arabic (i.e. the formal written of Arabic today).

3. Colloquial Arabic( i.e. the language of conversation).

4. Vulgar Arabic (i.e. . the very local, unkind and bad language).

The English styles can be translated into these Arabic styles as follows:

English Arabic

Frozen formal Classical Arabic

Formal Informal

Modern Standard Arabic

Colloquial Colloquial Arabic

Vulgar( or slang) Vulgar( or slang)Arabic

The most familiar styles in Arabic are the formal and the colloquial ones

1.Classical Arabic 2.Modern Standard Arabic

1.Formal

3.Colloquial Arabic 4.Vulgar (or slang)

2.Colloquial

There is a considerable problem for the students to distinguish between these styles especially in English and partly in Arabic with regard to the differentiation between classical Arabic and Modern standard Arabic in particular. The good solution for the problem is to minimize the English styles to one general style in Arabic, that is , the modern standard Arabic because it is popular, understandable and available at different levels of English. Thus, they can translate the five statements into اجلس ))

The problem of formality scale appears in certain texts such as spoken English and texts of general nature which are generally informal, whereas scientific , legal and most texts of literary texts , for instance, are formal.

Here are two examples for both types:

Example 1: a general text:

“ you can't paint watercolors without knowing how to lay a wash, though anyone can learn the knack if they are willing to go a bit of trouble. People have their own fads about the drill, but my method seems to work as anyone’s .“

The Arabic informal version:

أي( أن رغم األلوان، تحضر كيف معرفتك دون المائية باأللوان ترسم أن يمكنك الللناس . مشكل في الوقوع يريدون كانوا إذا الشطارة هذه يتعلم يستطيع واحد( اآلخرين مراق هو كما تماما فعاال يبدو مراقي ولكن التمرن في الخاص مراقهم

The informal features of the English text:

A. The use of the second person pronoun style (you).

B. The use of the contraction (can’t )

C. The use of words like (knack )(i.e. special skill), (a bit of ) and (fad) (i.e. whim).

D. The use of simple, common words and simple, easy sentence structure throughout the whole text.

The informal features of the Arabic translation:

A. The use of the second person pronoun style in words like معرفتك - يمكنك– ترسم

B. The use of such words as– - - مشكل- في الوقوع شطارة مراق كيفمعرفتك دون

C. The disregard of the concord between singular واحد and the أيplural of verb يريدون كانوا

D. The ignorance of standard word order.

E. The vowelless stopping at the end of words by omitting vowelization , namely, stopping on سكون

F. The use of singular form of مراقهم instead of the plural form مراقاتهم

Another possible, easier version for the students in particular is the use of modern standard Arabic as follows:

،رغم ) األلوان تحضر كيف معرفتك دون المائية باأللوان ترسم أن يمكنك الفي الوقوع يريد كان إذا الشطارة هذه يتعلم ان يستطيع واحد أي أن

فعاال . يبدو مزاجي ولكن التمرين في الخاصة أمزجتهم للناس مشكلةاآلخرين أمزجة هي (كما

Although this version can be safe and popular among students, the pervious informal one is admittedly more precise and expressive of the important function of the English style informal style which is intimate, direct, clear and simple.

Example 2 : scientific (health) text :

“a great deal of interest has been generated recently in calcium mainly because of the role it plays in the incidence of osteoporosis. At present some 35to 40 per cent of women aged 65 in the UK suffer from fractures of the forearm, femur or vertebrae as a result of osteoporosis”.

Version 1: formal Arabic :

للدور ) نظرا الكالسيوم، في االهتمام من كبير قدر األخيرة اآلونة في تولد . / هذا العظام هشاشة لين مرض حدوث في رئيسي بشكل يلعبه الذي

حوالي اآلن المتحدة 40إلى 35ويعاني المملكة في النساء من بالمئةلهشاشة نتيجة الفقرات أو الفخذ عظم أو الذراع في كسور من

.(العظام

Version 2: informal Arabic:

كبير ( تركيز hالدور حصل ،بسبب مؤخرا الكالسيوم رئيسي الليعلى بشكل يلعبه . / هذا العظام هشاشة لين مرض حدوث حوالي وبيعانيفي إلى 35اآلن

تجاوز / بالمئة 40 اللي الستات الحريم في من العمر من والستين الخامسة واالفقرات أو الفخذ عظم أو الذراع في كسور من المتحدة هذا بسببالمملكة

المرض )

Here are the underlined informal features with their formal equivalents:

.1 == lحصل تركيز hحصل

الذي == 2. اللي

يعاني == 3. بيعاني

النساء == 4. من الحريم من

الالتي == 5. اللي

تجاوزن == 6. تجاوزوا

نتيجة == 7. بسبب