The Translator as Communicator

Example 1
Arabic:
[…celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the establishment of the United
Nations as the greatest international organization which set its goal in the very
first words of the Preamble…]
English:
INTERPRETING: A TEXT LINGUISTIC APPROACH 39

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…celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations. Established as
the paramount international organization, its goals were set in the very first
words of the Preamble…
Having disposed of the formulaic expression of ‘honour’, the interpreter
identifies the concept of ‘establishment’ as somehow superfluous in sentence 1.
This item is not discarded, however, but used as the starting point of sentence 2
which cataphorically relates ‘establishment’ to ‘goals’, thus propelling the text
forward. The cataphora is also an ideal way of breaking up a long awkward
sentence. All this is done without altering the sequence of source text elements.
This close monitoring of texture has the advantage of generally upholding
idiomaticity in English and of avoiding the increased pressure which would have
been entailed by reordering the parts.
Example 2
Arabic.
[…enjoyed the fruits of massive progress in science and technology to live in
constant terror…]
English:
…enjoyed the fruits of massive progress in science and technology only to live
in constant terror…
Obviously the Arabic ‘to live’ is not a straightforward infinitive of purpose.
The restriction (only to) is a cohesive device equivalent to an adversative (‘but’,
‘however’). This emphasizes the contrast between ‘progress’ and ‘terror’ and
anticipates what is to follow (a series of similar contrasts).
Example 3
Arabic:
[And distance between states and nations shrank as a result of the
communications revolution. And international terrorism in turn prospered.]
English:
Similarly, the communications revolution has brought states and nations
dramatically closer, but has also enabled international terrorism to prosper.
Faced with two ‘and’ connectors (one genuinely additive, the other in fact an
adversative) the interpreter has responded to the contrast perceived earlier
between ‘progress’ and ‘terror’ by maintaining it here as intended.
Example 4
Arabic:
[The degree of consciousness among peoples of the world regarding their
common concerns rose to be met by the division of the world into a north largely
affluent and pioneering and a south largely impoverished and recipient.]
40 THE TRANSLATOR AS COMMUNICATOR

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English:
The nations of the world have become more conscious of their common
concerns, but at the same time have been forced to face the reality of a world
divided into a largely affluent and pioneering North and a largely impoverished
and recipient South.
Drawing on textural clues, the interpreter has now successfully established the
contrastive pattern and used this as a basic anticipation strategy. In this way, the
initially inaccessible structure and context gradually materialize but only through
the piecing together of a variety of textural devices.