A Translation of and a Commentary on 100 Cooking Recipes from English into Arabic: How Culture and Culinary Translation Intertwine

Ms. Anwar  Doudin; Professor Shehdeh  Fareh

doi:10.36394/jhss/20/2/5

Authors

Anwar Doudin * UOS
u18104491@sharjah.ac.ae
Shehdeh Fareh UOS

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36394/jhss/20/2/5

Keywords:

recipe, culinary linguistics, culture, culture-specific items (CSIs)

Abstract

Not until the beginning of the 20th century did the recipe begin to be the subject of serious research and academic interest. It is even more rarely tackled in the realm of translation studies. The purpose of this work was to examine the recipe as a separate genre. One-hundred recipes were collected from five different sources, translated from English into Arabic, then both texts were analyzed through parallel-text analysis. This paper aims to identify the diﬀiculties that translators may encounter in translating recipes from English into Arabic at the lexical, syntactic, textual and cultural levels. These textual features are divided into macro-textual and micro-textual features. The findings showed that there were no differences between the English and the Arabic recipe on the macro-textual level; however, there were some differences on the micro-textual level, such as the use of indefinite articles for reference, ellipsis, and the use of pronouns. The translation techniques that prevailed in the translation of culture-specific items (CSIs) were delineated. The analysis showed that the most commonly used method to handle CSIs was couplets (41%), while the least used method was free translation (10%). Furthermore, 223 CSIs were identified, classified and translated.

Author Biography

Ms. Anwar Doudin, Masters of Arts in Translation

My name is Anwar Salah El-din Doudin. I am currently on my last semester of Masters of Arts in Translation at the University of Sharjah. The program was an eye opening expirence in the sense that it made me self-learn how to become a better translator in every possible sense. This extended to the topic of my research paper in translating the recipe as a genre and assembling a glossary of culture-specifc items as well as food terminology.

References

Bibliography

Baer, B. J., & Christopher D. M. (2020). Translating Texts: An Introductory Coursebook on Translation and Text Formation. Routledge, an Imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315225609

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315225609

Bower, A., & Colleen, C. (1997). Claiming a Piece of the Pie: How the Language of Recipes Defines Community. Recipes for Reading: Community Cookbooks, Stories, Histories (pp. 51–64). University of Massachusetts Press.

Cavanaugh, J. R., et al. (2014). What Words Bring to the Table: The Linguistic Anthropological Toolkit as Applied to the Study of Food. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 24(1), pp. 84–97. https://doi.org/10.1111/jola.12038.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jola.12038

Collister, L. (2010). The Great British Book of Baking: 120 Best-Loved Recipes, from Teatime Treats to Pies and Pasties. Michael Joseph.

Helou, A. (2018). Feast: Food of the Islamic World. Ecco.

Hill, B. W. (2003). Cooking the English Way. Lerner.

Ireland, L. (1981). The Compiled Cookbook as Foodways Autobiography. Western Folklore, 40(1). https://doi.org/10.2307/1499855

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1499855

Keating, S., & Maingot, S. (2013). A Love for Food: Recipes and Notes for Cooking and Eating Well. Fourth Estate.

Klenová, D. (2010). The Language of Cookbooks and Recipes. Masaryk University.

Lee, C. H. J., & Beisch, L. (2011). Quick & Easy Mexican Cooking: More than 80 Everyday Recipes. Chronicle Books.

Lee, D. Y. W. (2001). Genres, Registers, Text Types, Domains and Styles: Clarifying the Concepts and Nevigating a Path through the BNC Jungle. Language Learning and Technology, University of Wollongong, 5(3), pp. 37–72.

Logsdon, J. (2016). Self Publishing Made Easy: Cookbooks: The Food Bloggers Guide to Writing, Publishing and Marketing a Cookbook.

Mu, C. (2010). English Translation of Chinese Dish Names. Translation Journal, 14(4). https://doi.org/https://translationjournal.net/journal/54dishes.htm.

Mulder, A. (2015). Following the Recipe Translating Instructive Texts and Recipes in How to Avoid a Soggy Bottom. Utrecht University.

Newmark, P. (1988). Approaches to Translation. Prentice-Hall International.

"Recipe." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster. 2011. Web. 18 July 2020.

Saleh, K. A. H. (2011). Translating Restaurants' Menus from English into Arabic: Problems and Strategies. An- Najah National University.

Swales, J. (1990). Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge University Press.

Thick, M. (2010). Using Language to Investigate Ellen Chantrill’s Recipe Book. https://books.google.ae/books?id=3ilvBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT348&lpg=PT348&dq=Using+Language+to+Investigate+Ellen+Chantrill’s+Recipe+Book&source=bl&ots=de4EMc5_2I&sig=ACfU3U3uzxy2o9BWzDnU4TvFiOKhFL6uQA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjCk9r5wvnzAhWN2KQKHdGJCO0Q6AF6BAgMEAM#v=onepage&q=Using%20Language%20to%20Investigate%20Ellen%20Chantrill’s%20Recipe%20Book&f=false.

Alwazna, R. Y. (2013). Is Translation an Art, Science or Both?. University of Sharjah Journal for Humanities and Social Sciences, 10(1), pp. 45–73. https://doi.org/10.12816/0004515.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12816/0004515

Abu-Ssaydeh, A. S. (2014). Equivalence Procedures for Culture - Specific Words and Their Application in the Arabic - English Dictionary. University of Sharjah Journal for Humanities and Social Sciences, 11(1), pp. 15–50. https://doi.org/10.12816/0007445.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12816/0007445