The Effect of Structural Changes on Ideological Meaning in the Translation of English News into Arabic: With Reference to BBC News Discourse

Abstract

The study examines context (field, tenor and mode) in electronic media political discourse in BBC News texts. The study looks at how translators use their social roles to relate with their audiences in such media discourses as the Internet. It aims to answer the research question: What is the extent of the sustenance of the messages in the Arabic translation in terms of field, tenor and mode as well as in terms of the communicative and societal functions as compared to the same terms in the original messages of the ST? Hence, the main objective is to examine the content and form of the Arabic translation as compared to the English source text in terms of field, tenor and mode. The article has taken cognizance of Halliday and Hasan’s (1985) ideas on functionality and Hatim’s (1997) ideas on translating across different nations. The findings have shown that the field, tenor and mode are useful in the examination of the data from the perspective of events, participants and language; but they are less useful in the examination of the message in terms of the hidden cultural elements and ideology that may exist in a text. In addition, we found that translators show preference for those language forms which can be understood by different types of social classes.