Studia Filologiczne UJK

Summary

The purpose of my research is to apply two strategies of translation coined by Venuti (2001): Domestication and Foreignization (that are normally used in textual elements) on the reconstruction of women’s images from source online advert (English) into target online adverts (Arabic). Using Barthes’ model: Connotative and Denotative meanings (in Chandler 1994), the research has attempted to discover whether the connotative meanings of women’s bodies (as iconic signs holding cultural messages) are domesticated/adjusted to fit the Arab norms or whether they are foreignized/preserved in their foreign identity. By comparing 100 English online adverts and their rendered versions into Arabic, the study has revealed that domestication is highly used to adjust or omit elements (e.g. nudity) in women’s images in Arabic versions. Although covering female bodies conforms to the cultural and religious norms of the Arabs, this inevitably disrupts the semiotic patterns of the advertisements and obscures some important messages of the original adverts. It is remarkable; however, that very few translated Arabic advertisements chose replacement as a domesticating strategy to replace English models with Arab one.