ترجمة النصوص العامة TRANSLATING GENERAL TEXTS A TEXTBOOK

(Volume 9 of a Series of Translation Textbooks by the same author)

Translating General Texts: A Textbook introduces to the translation of general texts being essential in any translation course and recurrent in the daily practice of professional translators. They are TL reader-oriented in the sense that translators observe the target readers' needs and requirements to respond to them appropriately in terms of purpose, language and style. A general text is defined as a text that is about a general topic, has no technical or structural complications and is intended to address a non-specialist readership in the first place. It is a non-technical, non-specialist text, addressing non-specialist readership and its contents are of general nature. It is simple in style, grammar, words and other components of language and meaning. On the other hand, any specialized text can be changed into general, or reconsidered as fully general, if it is made to meet these conditions approximately.

There are many types of general texts. However, due to compactness, generalization, eclecticism, comprehensiveness, concentration and other reasons required to be met at writing a textbook, the most important and recurrent representative types are picked up to investigate. The sample texts translated in each chapter are discussed in terms of (1) Purpose of the Translation; (2) Type of TL Readership, (3) Translation Problems and (4) Translation Strategies employed to fix the problems of translating the huge number of texts discussed later on in this book.

The ultimate objective of this book is to contribute to the translation theory and practice by introducing the translation of general texts to readers in comprehensive and lucid practical terms on the basis of a simplified framework of four criteria of purpose, TL readership, problems and strategies.

Finally, Translating General Texts: A Textbook is intended to be the penultimate volume (the NINTH) in a Series of 10-Volume Textbooks on Translation (English-Arabic-English) (the previous eight are: (1) Translation as Problems and Solutions: A Textbook (2008); (2) Cognitive Stylistics and the Translator (2011); (3) Translating the Media and Political Idiom: A Textbook (2012a), (4) Arabization from A to Z: A Textbook (2012b); (5) A Textbook of Literary Translation (2013); (6) Translating Islamic Texts: A Textbook (2014); (7) Translation Skills: A Textbook (2015a) and (8) Translating Culture: A Textbook (2015b)).

HASAN SAID GHAZALA is currently a Professor of Stylistics and Translation at College of Social Sciences, English Department, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia. So far he has published (23) Books and (50) Papers in the two areas of his specialism including three English-Arabic-English Dictionaries.