A Comparative Study between Proverbs of the Two Plays of Shakespeare and Their Arabic and Persian Translations: "Eight Translations of Hamlet" and "Four Translations of The Taming of the Shrew".

Abstract

The present study, using the "descriptive-analytical" method, aims at identifying the methods of communicating the sense of proverbs through linguistic comparisons in order to provide more practical methods in translation of proverbs. Utilizing the Arabic and Persian translations of two Shakespeare’s plays "Hamlet" and "The Taming of the Shrew", the authors of this study seek to know how and in what ways and to what extent, the translators been able to communicate the sense of English proverbs and when and in what way have they employed literal, free or other types of translation? To answer these questions, they use "A Dictionary of the Proverbs in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries" by Morris Tilley as the main source of research. The words and phrases used in the translations are compared as the main data of the research in a table below them. They are described in two levels of lexical-syntax and semantics.  At the end, the methods and approaches of the translators have been verified by analyzing the characteristics mentioned in the comprehensive definition of the proverb (viz. the chosen definition in this study). While the translation of the proverbs concerning ethnic experiences and anti-proverbs to both Arabic and Persian translators has been challenging, findings of the research did not show any significant difference between the translation of Arabic and Persian translations. Literal translation is the dominant approach among translators. They have also added footnotes to clarify contextual-semantic difficult points. Semantic failure has only been seen in the translation of a few proverbs of the group of ethnic experiences and anti-proverbs.