Translating Culture-bound Terms in "The Season of Migration to the North", A Novel by Eltyab Saleh from Arabic to English

Abstract

This research paper aims to investigate the strategies applied in translating cultural bound expression in "The Season of Immigration to the North" by the novelist Eltyab Saleh. The strategies used in this study are based on the models developed by Newmark (1988) and Baker (2018). The researcher adopted the descriptive quadrative method. Cultural bound expressions are classified into five cultural categories. The study reveals that there are (80) cultural bound expressions that fall under the following categories: 1) ecology, 2) material culture, 3) social culture, 4) organizations, customs, activities, procedures, concept and 5) gesture and habits. According to the study, the translator of the novel "The Season of Immigration to the North" employed the following seven strategies to translate the cultural terms: 1) applying a more general word (superordinate), 2) cultural substitution, 3) transference, 4) paraphrase using a related word, 5) translation by omission, 6) translation by naturalization, and finally literal translation. The most frequently used strategy is literal translation, followed by transference