| The aim of this thesis is to study the changes affecting cultural elements that occur through translation, particularly elements relating to Arabic culture when a text is translated into Arabic.;The object of our analysis is La Nuit sacree, the novel by Tahar Ben Jelloun, published in 1987, and of the two translations into Arabic done in Egypt in 1988 and in 1993. Our classification of cultural elements is based on the five cultural categories identified by Nida: ecological culture, material culture, social culture, religious culture and linguistic culture. This classification will allow us to categorize the difficulties cultural elements pose to translation.;For the comparative analysis of the original text and the two Arabic translations, cultural elements in the original text relating to Arabic culture have been identified and examined to see whether they are transformed in translation. This has allowed us to determine the nature of the transformation that occurs when cultural elements 'return' to the original culture. Translation brings about a modification of form and content from language to language, from society to society, from one centre of reception to another. This modification depends on criteria such as the personal values of translators, their training and education, their approaches to translation, their conception of the role and responsibility of translators, the publishers of translations, the expectations of target readers and of the society, and the coexistence of different tendencies in the target society. In other terms, translation is a rewriting of a text based on the criteria adopted by translators, target readers, languages and societies.;Our theoretical framework consists of approaches that place translation in a social and historical context. It consists of questions raised by authors such as Antoine Berman, Annie Brisset, Paul St-Pierre and Lawrence Venuti. Our study will focus on the relation to the foreign in the context of translation and on translation in its socio-cultural context. |
