Translating English Neologisms into Arabic

Abstract

The present paper explores the translation of English neologisms into Arabic. The paper first highlights the significance of keeping abreast of English neologisms and exerting efforts to translate them into Arabic to give renewed impetus to the language since introducing new, unestablished arcane terminologies and concepts into the language would probably help to bridge the substantial communication and cultural gaps between English culture and Arab culture. The study’s data consists of a sample of regular collection of neologisms New Words and Meanings Added: August 2021 taken from online Oxford Learned Dictionaries. This paper examines how five neologisms are translated into Arabic by ten MA translation students who were enrolled at Al-Quds University in the academic year 2021/2022. Following Al-Najjar (1989), the paper reveals that the translation of neologisms is actively reflected in several procedures: (1) loanword in which exoticism surfaces in Arabic; (2) loanblend consists of a hybrid of two translation parts, one legitimately belongs to the source language whereas another belongs to the target language; (3) translation couplet in which the loanword does not suffice to render the source language item, and thus is replaced for an equivalent in the target language; (4) derivation from a target language already existent root; (5) calque or loan-translation in which a source language term is loan-translated and integrated with target language one; and (6) semantic loan employing semantic extension in which an old Arabic term is used and assigned a new meaning.