Mutahar Qassem is an Assistant Professor of English at Najran University. He has PhD in Linguistics and Translation Studies. His research interests are translation, and culture and translation of the Qur'an. Address: Saudi Arabia
International Journal of Linguistics and Translation Studies, 2021
Translation of tourist texts engenders textual, linguistic and cultural hurdles before achieving ... more Translation of tourist texts engenders textual, linguistic and cultural hurdles before achieving translation quality, which has not been given due account in translation studies. To bridge this gap, this study aimed to assess postgraduates' performance in translation of tourist texts from English to Arabic and vice versa, using a translation task (Arabic and English tourist texts) and a questionnaire. The questionnaire took a form of a 5-point Likert scale in which the students rated the texts they translated. Further, it retrieved information about translation time and postgraduates' translation experience. Findings revealed low translation quality and inappropriate use of translation procedures in rendering the tourist texts into English and Arabic. The postgraduates encountered hindrances in formulating the main ideas of the source text (ST), composing the target text (TT) and communicating the TT to the target language (TL) readers. Based on the findings, pedagogical imp...
Purpose The spread of Covid-19 has led to the closure of educational institutions worldwide, forc... more Purpose The spread of Covid-19 has led to the closure of educational institutions worldwide, forcing academic institutions to find online platforms. The purpose of this paper is to accelerate the development of the online learning (OL) environments within those institutions. The Covid-19 pandemic has unfolded the extent of the academic institutions' readiness to deal with such a crisis. Design/methodology/approach In this vein, the study aimed to identify the perception of translation instructors in teaching translation courses online during Covid-19, using a questionnaire to explore the strategies and challenges of teaching and assessing students' performance. The analysis revealed instructors' reliance on Zoom and Microsoft Teams in offering virtual classes and WhatsApp in communication with students outside the class. Findings The findings revealed the relative effectiveness of online education, but its efficacy is less than face-to-face learning according to the resp...
Babel. Revue internationale de la traduction / International Journal of Translation, 2022
Translating collocations is one of the problematic areas in translation studies, which becomes ev... more Translating collocations is one of the problematic areas in translation studies, which becomes even more complicated when translating Qur’anic text is involved. The uniqueness of linguistic features, special context of the Qur’anic text, and stylistic differences between English and Arabic are barriers to accurate and natural rendition. Along these veins, this study attempts to investigate seven translations of the Qur’anic noun-noun collocations (Sarwar 1981; Al-Hilali and Khan 1996; Arberry 1996; Pickthall 1997; Sahih International 1997; Shakir 1999; Ali 2001) to unfold the degree of accuracy and naturalness of their translations. The present article follows the approach of corpus-based research to study seven prominent translations of the Noble Qur’an taken from The Qur’anic Arabic Corpus , using lexical, exegetical, and frequency-based analyses, which reveal that integrated lexical and exegetical analyses are perquisites for adequate rendition and prevent deviation in meaning an...
Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2020
This research aims to study segmentation (i.e., translation unit (TU)) in students’ translations ... more This research aims to study segmentation (i.e., translation unit (TU)) in students’ translations of cultural references and assess the translation quality, using Translog software and a translation task. This product and process-oriented research examines the same independent variable, that is, segmentation, from two angles, namely, student production and translation output. Ten female postgraduate students aged between 28 and 30 performed a computer-based translation task on cultural references. Their translations of English cultural references into Arabic revealed process and production problems (i.e., unsystematic management of translation stages, high mean TUs and time, low mean scores, and deviant translations). The study recommended student training in translation process and product management by employing innovation technological tools (e.g., Translog software and eye-tracking device). Moreover, presenting the cultural dimension should go beyond written translation materials...
Purpose This paper aims to investigate seven prominent translations of the Qur'anic verb-noun... more Purpose This paper aims to investigate seven prominent translations of the Qur'anic verb-noun collocations into English (Pickthall, 1930; AL-Hilali and Khan, 1977; Ali, 1934; Arberry, 1955; Shakir, 1999; Sarwar, 1981; Saheeh International, 1997) to unfold their renditions of the style and meaning of such Qur'anic verb-noun collocation into English. Design/methodology/approach The study follows a corpus-based research in a sense that the study is conducted on seven translations of the Noble Qur'an that have been taken form The Qur'anic Arabic Corpus, using linguistic and exegetical analyses. Based on Reiss’ model of text analysis (2000), the author analyses the intralinguistic and extralinguistic features of the Qur'anic verb-noun collocations. Findings Findings reveal that linguistic and exegetical analyses are perquisites for adequate rendition, which prevent deviation in meaning and translation loss. It is also found that Qur'anic collocations use unique li...
Applied linguists have different viewpoints on the relationship between teaching literature and l... more Applied linguists have different viewpoints on the relationship between teaching literature and language. Language through a literature approach theoretically corroborates the role of literature in developing language skills because it exposes students to different styles of writing and authentic materials. Language-structure-based syllabuses might not be sufficient for developing students' language skills. By contrast, an authentic-based syllabus such as novels and short stories motivates language learning and fosters the development of thinking and language skills. In this vein, this study attempts to investigate undergraduates' attitude towards the role of teaching novels in enhancing writing skills, using a survey in which students provided their opinions on the areas that teaching novels helped improve their writing skills. The students’ responses were analysed, and a one-sample t-test revealed the students’ agreement of the positive role of teaching novels in developin...
Second language writing researchers have examined the affordances of Automated Writing Evaluation... more Second language writing researchers have examined the affordances of Automated Writing Evaluation programs in providing immediate feedback that helps improve students’ writing outputs. However, a little is known about tracking learners’ process during writing essays and whether much/less pauses made by learners could predict good/poor quality of students’ writing output. This article aims to address this issue by recording a case study of 8 postgraduate students’ pauses during writing two types of text genre; descriptive and argumentative essays. Their pauses have been recorded using Keystroke logging program—Input Log 7.0 (Leijten and Van Waes in Writ Commun 30:358–392, 2013 . https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088313491692 ) and their screen activities were captured by Active Presenter program. Findings revealed that the students’ pauses were significantly higher in word boundary than in sentence and/or paragraph boundaries. Moreover, on word boundary, pauses before words were significantly higher than that after words for both types of text genre. Concerning pauses across text genre, students’ pauses were significantly higher in the argumentative essay than that of the descriptive essay. Multiple regression revealed negative correlation between much pauses and poor quality of students’ product in the descriptive essay while there was no correlation found in the argumentative essay.
Comprehension can be described as the ability to construct the meaning of a text, spoken or writt... more Comprehension can be described as the ability to construct the meaning of a text, spoken or written. Such ability requires a complex mix of linguistic and world knowledge acquired through interactions with the global environment, transcending language, and cultural translation barriers. In addition, translation schools propose various models to address the difficulties inherent in comprehending the source text (ST) by using analysis from the linguistic, sociolinguistic, or cognitive perspectives. On the basis of translation schools’ models of text analysis, this study similarly attempts to provide a corpus-based analysis of culture-based texts from authentic sources (i. e. British online news). Results corroborate that the comprehension of culture- based texts can be attained through textual and lexical analyses. Further, the cultural, linguistic, sociolinguistic, and cognitive perspectives of translation can be employed to create a positive interaction between the internal and exte...
Applied linguists have different viewpoints on the relationship between teaching literature and l... more Applied linguists have different viewpoints on the relationship between teaching literature and language. Language through a literature approach theoretically corroborates the role of literature in developing language skills because it exposes students to different styles of writing and authentic materials. Language-structure-based syllabuses might not be sufficient for developing students' language skills. By contrast, an authentic-based syllabus such as novels and short stories motivates language learning and fosters the development of thinking and language skills. In this vein, this study attempts to investigate undergraduates' attitude towards the role of teaching novels in enhancing writing skills, using a survey in which students provided their opinions on the areas that teaching novels helped improve their writing skills. The students’ responses were analysed, and a one-sample t-test revealed the students’ agreement of the positive role of teaching novels in developin...
International Journal of Linguistics and Translation Studies, 2021
Translation of tourist texts engenders textual, linguistic and cultural hurdles before achieving ... more Translation of tourist texts engenders textual, linguistic and cultural hurdles before achieving translation quality, which has not been given due account in translation studies. To bridge this gap, this study aimed to assess postgraduates' performance in translation of tourist texts from English to Arabic and vice versa, using a translation task (Arabic and English tourist texts) and a questionnaire. The questionnaire took a form of a 5-point Likert scale in which the students rated the texts they translated. Further, it retrieved information about translation time and postgraduates' translation experience. Findings revealed low translation quality and inappropriate use of translation procedures in rendering the tourist texts into English and Arabic. The postgraduates encountered hindrances in formulating the main ideas of the source text (ST), composing the target text (TT) and communicating the TT to the target language (TL) readers. Based on the findings, pedagogical imp...
Purpose The spread of Covid-19 has led to the closure of educational institutions worldwide, forc... more Purpose The spread of Covid-19 has led to the closure of educational institutions worldwide, forcing academic institutions to find online platforms. The purpose of this paper is to accelerate the development of the online learning (OL) environments within those institutions. The Covid-19 pandemic has unfolded the extent of the academic institutions' readiness to deal with such a crisis. Design/methodology/approach In this vein, the study aimed to identify the perception of translation instructors in teaching translation courses online during Covid-19, using a questionnaire to explore the strategies and challenges of teaching and assessing students' performance. The analysis revealed instructors' reliance on Zoom and Microsoft Teams in offering virtual classes and WhatsApp in communication with students outside the class. Findings The findings revealed the relative effectiveness of online education, but its efficacy is less than face-to-face learning according to the resp...
Babel. Revue internationale de la traduction / International Journal of Translation, 2022
Translating collocations is one of the problematic areas in translation studies, which becomes ev... more Translating collocations is one of the problematic areas in translation studies, which becomes even more complicated when translating Qur’anic text is involved. The uniqueness of linguistic features, special context of the Qur’anic text, and stylistic differences between English and Arabic are barriers to accurate and natural rendition. Along these veins, this study attempts to investigate seven translations of the Qur’anic noun-noun collocations (Sarwar 1981; Al-Hilali and Khan 1996; Arberry 1996; Pickthall 1997; Sahih International 1997; Shakir 1999; Ali 2001) to unfold the degree of accuracy and naturalness of their translations. The present article follows the approach of corpus-based research to study seven prominent translations of the Noble Qur’an taken from The Qur’anic Arabic Corpus , using lexical, exegetical, and frequency-based analyses, which reveal that integrated lexical and exegetical analyses are perquisites for adequate rendition and prevent deviation in meaning an...
Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2020
This research aims to study segmentation (i.e., translation unit (TU)) in students’ translations ... more This research aims to study segmentation (i.e., translation unit (TU)) in students’ translations of cultural references and assess the translation quality, using Translog software and a translation task. This product and process-oriented research examines the same independent variable, that is, segmentation, from two angles, namely, student production and translation output. Ten female postgraduate students aged between 28 and 30 performed a computer-based translation task on cultural references. Their translations of English cultural references into Arabic revealed process and production problems (i.e., unsystematic management of translation stages, high mean TUs and time, low mean scores, and deviant translations). The study recommended student training in translation process and product management by employing innovation technological tools (e.g., Translog software and eye-tracking device). Moreover, presenting the cultural dimension should go beyond written translation materials...
Purpose This paper aims to investigate seven prominent translations of the Qur'anic verb-noun... more Purpose This paper aims to investigate seven prominent translations of the Qur'anic verb-noun collocations into English (Pickthall, 1930; AL-Hilali and Khan, 1977; Ali, 1934; Arberry, 1955; Shakir, 1999; Sarwar, 1981; Saheeh International, 1997) to unfold their renditions of the style and meaning of such Qur'anic verb-noun collocation into English. Design/methodology/approach The study follows a corpus-based research in a sense that the study is conducted on seven translations of the Noble Qur'an that have been taken form The Qur'anic Arabic Corpus, using linguistic and exegetical analyses. Based on Reiss’ model of text analysis (2000), the author analyses the intralinguistic and extralinguistic features of the Qur'anic verb-noun collocations. Findings Findings reveal that linguistic and exegetical analyses are perquisites for adequate rendition, which prevent deviation in meaning and translation loss. It is also found that Qur'anic collocations use unique li...
Applied linguists have different viewpoints on the relationship between teaching literature and l... more Applied linguists have different viewpoints on the relationship between teaching literature and language. Language through a literature approach theoretically corroborates the role of literature in developing language skills because it exposes students to different styles of writing and authentic materials. Language-structure-based syllabuses might not be sufficient for developing students' language skills. By contrast, an authentic-based syllabus such as novels and short stories motivates language learning and fosters the development of thinking and language skills. In this vein, this study attempts to investigate undergraduates' attitude towards the role of teaching novels in enhancing writing skills, using a survey in which students provided their opinions on the areas that teaching novels helped improve their writing skills. The students’ responses were analysed, and a one-sample t-test revealed the students’ agreement of the positive role of teaching novels in developin...
Second language writing researchers have examined the affordances of Automated Writing Evaluation... more Second language writing researchers have examined the affordances of Automated Writing Evaluation programs in providing immediate feedback that helps improve students’ writing outputs. However, a little is known about tracking learners’ process during writing essays and whether much/less pauses made by learners could predict good/poor quality of students’ writing output. This article aims to address this issue by recording a case study of 8 postgraduate students’ pauses during writing two types of text genre; descriptive and argumentative essays. Their pauses have been recorded using Keystroke logging program—Input Log 7.0 (Leijten and Van Waes in Writ Commun 30:358–392, 2013 . https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088313491692 ) and their screen activities were captured by Active Presenter program. Findings revealed that the students’ pauses were significantly higher in word boundary than in sentence and/or paragraph boundaries. Moreover, on word boundary, pauses before words were significantly higher than that after words for both types of text genre. Concerning pauses across text genre, students’ pauses were significantly higher in the argumentative essay than that of the descriptive essay. Multiple regression revealed negative correlation between much pauses and poor quality of students’ product in the descriptive essay while there was no correlation found in the argumentative essay.
Comprehension can be described as the ability to construct the meaning of a text, spoken or writt... more Comprehension can be described as the ability to construct the meaning of a text, spoken or written. Such ability requires a complex mix of linguistic and world knowledge acquired through interactions with the global environment, transcending language, and cultural translation barriers. In addition, translation schools propose various models to address the difficulties inherent in comprehending the source text (ST) by using analysis from the linguistic, sociolinguistic, or cognitive perspectives. On the basis of translation schools’ models of text analysis, this study similarly attempts to provide a corpus-based analysis of culture-based texts from authentic sources (i. e. British online news). Results corroborate that the comprehension of culture- based texts can be attained through textual and lexical analyses. Further, the cultural, linguistic, sociolinguistic, and cognitive perspectives of translation can be employed to create a positive interaction between the internal and exte...
Applied linguists have different viewpoints on the relationship between teaching literature and l... more Applied linguists have different viewpoints on the relationship between teaching literature and language. Language through a literature approach theoretically corroborates the role of literature in developing language skills because it exposes students to different styles of writing and authentic materials. Language-structure-based syllabuses might not be sufficient for developing students' language skills. By contrast, an authentic-based syllabus such as novels and short stories motivates language learning and fosters the development of thinking and language skills. In this vein, this study attempts to investigate undergraduates' attitude towards the role of teaching novels in enhancing writing skills, using a survey in which students provided their opinions on the areas that teaching novels helped improve their writing skills. The students’ responses were analysed, and a one-sample t-test revealed the students’ agreement of the positive role of teaching novels in developin...
Uploads