TRANLATION OF THE FRENCH TEXT IN THE ARAB WORLD

Abstract

Translation occupies a considerable place in Arab thought and culture. This is justified by the policies pursued in this heritage during the first dynasties of Islam, the millennial theoretical thought on these questions and the function represented by translators in the transfer of knowledge from one culture to another. Nonetheless, if we focus on translation performed in the 19th century, we will find that it is difficult to conceive of translation as a fundamental transfer of knowledge. Translation has occupied a prominent place in Arab thought and culture since the beginning of the Arab-Islamic era, which guarantees the whole era that modern historians, especially the Middle Ages, or about a thousand years. This activity has played a leading role in the conservation of products of ancient culture, especially Greek, and in the transfer of this culture from the East to the West, a culture which will serve as the basis for the "Renaissance" of Europe, or more exactly, to the development of the older modern planetary civilization, practiced naturally and spontaneously to facilitate contacts and communication between peoples and States in times of peace as in times of war. The activity of translation took off exceptionally with the Abbasid dynasty in Baghdad supported by the Persians, especially under the Caliphate of Al Ma'mûn who created Beyt alHikma and hired translators in the philosophical and scientific fields. Translation has thus become an authentic profession practiced individually and collectively. Any translation into a given language requires prior mastery of the source language and the target language on the part of the author. To prevent double duty and even to translate properly and conveniently, it is essential to master at least two foreign languages; and the eminence of a foreign language, is by no means restricted to exclusively linguistic perceptions. Translation is not limited to adjusting equivalences of terms and expressions but of content. Indeed, it will be a question of restoring the message conveyed by the original text, while appreciating the genius of the target language. The right translation is the one that ensures the cognitive outcome of the source text.