An Annotated Translation of Selected Sections from Tim Marshall’s “The Future of Geography”

Abstract

The project introduces an annotated Arabic translation of Tim Marshall’s “The Future of Geography” (2023), covering the Introduction, Chapter 4, and the Epilogue. Chapter 1 of this project establishes the foundation by profiling the source text (ST) and exploring its external linguistic features and market-related factors. It concludes with a discussion of translation strategic decisions guided by Newmark’s (1981) communicative and semantic translation approaches. Rigorous analysis of the ST's authorial background, genre, text-type, register, and readership informs the target text (TT) pre-production phase, ensuring a contextually grounded translation strategy. Chapter 2 showcases the ST and TT side-by-side, facilitating easier tracking. Chapter 3 concludes the project with a reflective commentary on salient translation issues selected from four linguistic levels: the lexical, structural, textual, and contextual, following Elimam’s (2023) classification of translation issues. Each translation issue is theoretically delineated, exemplified in the ST, and resolved practically, aligning with the translation brief and scholarly literature. This chapter underscores the synthesis of practical translation with theoretical insight. In other words, it is where translation decisions are critically justified by referring to relevant translation theories. Hence, such research is vital in improving one’s ability to tell not only the 'what' and 'how' of a particular process but also the 'why' and 'why not'.