Marriage Invitation Cards in Jordan: A Translational Analysis

Abstract

The present study investigates the socio-cultural problems that translators encounter in translating Jordanian wedding invitation cards from Arabic into English. The study proves that these cards have enough social and cultural details that reflect the Jordanian community. It also shows that the information in the cards differs from one time to another due to economic, social, and religious changes and emerging circumstances. It also uncovers that the contents of the cards are norms-like and have ideologies that are not easy to transfer into a completely different culture. In order to conduct the study, some examples that include social and cultural elements are selected, and these elements are translationally investigated. The paper shows that resolving these translation challenges can only be through providing enough discussion and enclosing sufficient social and cultural backgrounds about the wedding invitation cards.