Translating Al-Mutanabbi's Wisdom Poetry into English: A Localization Product

Abstract

This study aimed to translate Al-Mutanabbi's wisdom poetry into English locale poetry. To achieve the objective of the study, two main procedures were performed by the researcher. First, 70 verses, including 87 wisdoms, said by Al-Mutanabbi, were identified from Al-Mutanabbi's Diwan (introduced by Al-Aqbawi, 2007), forming the Arabic corpus of the study. Then, the corpus was introduced to seven experts in the Arabic poetry at Ibb and Taiz universities, Yemen, to ensure the availability of wisdom(s) and their number, themes, and commonness among Arabs. Second, the whole Arabic corpus was translated into English locale poetry by the researcher, producing equivalent English poetry, forming the English corpus of the study. Then, both Arabic and English corpora were introduced to six experts in the English poetry at Ibb and Taiz universities, Yemen, to ensure conveying the intended meaning of all Arabic wisdom verses into English equivalently, and check their localization into English locale verses. Finally, the study introduced a number of conclusions and implications for translators.