DOMESTICATION AND FOREIGNIZATION: AN ANALYSIS OF CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEMS IN TWO ARABIC TRANSLATIONS OF ‘THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA’

Abstract

This study investigates how culture-specific items (CSIs) in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea are translated into Arabic. It conducts a comparative analysis of two widely circulated Arabic translations produced by Samir Ezzat Nassar (2002) and Munir Baalbaki (2012). Drawing on Newmark’s (1988) categorization of CSIs, Vinay and Darbelnet’s (1995) translation procedures, and Venuti’s (1995) domestication and foreignization strategies, the study identifies 105 CSIs in the source text and examines how each translator renders them into Arabic. The quantitative analysis demonstrates that the majority of CSIs belong to the categories of ecology, material culture, and social culture. Both translators predominantly employ equivalence and literal translation, though Baalbaki relies on a wider range of procedures. The two translations show a clear preference for domestication, with Nassar domesticating 69% of CSIs and Baalbaki 74%. A qualitative examination of selected examples illustrates where the translators converge and differ in their management of cultural and linguistic specificity. The study contributes to the growing body of literature on English–Arabic literary translation and highlights how translational choices shape cultural representation in Arabic renditions of Western literary works.