Impact of Covid-19 Language, Terminology and Translation Decision on Recipients' Perception

Abstract

This thesis aims at investigating the perception of Covid-19 translated terms. Ten Saudi male and female participants were recruited to complete test-based questionnaires. The questionnaires comprised two sections: the first one included five English Covid-19 terms and their Arabic translations. The role of the participants here is to select the most appropriate translation and to justify their selection according to their perception. The second part included five Arabic translations and the role of the participant was to find out whether the Arabic text was perceivable or not, providing their rationale. The results of the current study show that there is a perceptional gap between the Arabic translation and the audience. Most of the Covid-19 translations which were tested in the current study were ambiguous and hard to perceive correctly. Moreover, it was found that literal translation was dominant and did not help to make the message perceivable. Some suggestions and implications were provided in the last chapter.