AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume 10. Number 2. May 2026 Pp.59-73
Department of English Studies
Faculty of Arts and Humanities-Dhar El Mehraz, Fes
Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco
The translation of sociolinguistic concepts from English into Modern Standard Arabic has recently engendered both prospects and impediments for academicians enthralled by this field of inquiry. The rendered target text terms have constantly posed intricate issues due to the convoluted intricacies of inherently linguistic-cultural nuances, culminating in a plethora of target text terminologies. This study seeks to investigate prêt-à-porter Modern Standard Arabic translations of English sociolinguistic terms, identifying common strategies used in the rendering process and evaluating aggregate perspicuity of the target text items. The primary research query asked whether Arab professional-academic translators do render English sociolinguistic terms differently into Modern Standard Arabic. This study is of fundamental value to scholars and practitioners, raising concerns on consistency, quality, and standardization. Embracing a Qualitative Comparative Analysis design initially developed by Ragin (1987), this study employed a comparative model to examine the translation of English sociolinguistic terms rendered into Modern Standard Arabic based on existing research databases. Through a content analysis of twenty-seven source products decrypted by professional-academic translators, the study explored the degrees of variance among these interpretations, conveying unsubstantially different shades of meaning and equally underlining common English concepts that are challenging to convert. The study findings, which revealed that the translation of sociolinguistic terms from English into Modern Standard Arabic in the Arab world is still plagued by the glitches of unsystematic non-standardization and inconsistency, shall contribute to unremittingly improved translation quality in this research area and institutionally advanced unification of target text sociolinguistic terminology.
Farahi, M. (2026). A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of English-MSA Sociolinguistic Concepts: Towards a Standardized Target Text Terminology. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies 10. (2):59-73
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Merzouk Farahi is an EFL instructor at the Moroccan Ministry of National Education, dedicated to educating and inspiring students for nearly two decades. He is also an adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, SMS University. Holding an MA in Languages Computing and Translation, Merzouk has constantly strived for excellence. With an extensive background in intercultural relations, he served as a Teaching Assistant at the University of Rochester, USA. He is a dedicated PhD scholar, delving into critical translation studies and applied linguistics. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0189-363X