A Linguistic Analysis of the Translation of Foregrounding in the Holy Qur'an

Abstract

This study exposes the problems a translator may encounter when translating deviant syntactic structures such as marked word order. It also discusses the strategies that translators of the meanings of the Glorious Qur'an usually opts for to overcome these problems. In this respect, some Ayahs which demonstrate linguistic problems are analyzed. The proposed analysis attempts to arrive at the most accurate translation. On the whole, a translator who takes the challenge of translating a text from Arabic to English finds himself faced with the linguistic differences between these two languages. This problem is aggravated when translating the unique and miraculous structure of the Holy Qur'an. If the translator is not competent in the linguistic mechanism of the source language, the problem may become even worse. Despite this, translating the meanings of the Qur'an is still mandatory to make it understandable to others who cannot read Arabic (Asad, 1980).