Bi-Directionality in English-Arabic-English translation of relativization

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Translation Studies
• Second Language Acquisition

Background:

• Bidirectionality in translation involves L2 to L1 (direct) and L1 to L2 (inverse) transfers.
• Relativization has been studied in individual translation directions, but rarely comparatively.
• Understanding performance differences in bidirectionality is crucial for translation pedagogy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate Arab undergraduates' performance in direct and inverse translation of relativization.
• To compare the difficulty of direct versus inverse translation for language learners.
• To identify differences in performance between English majors and Translation majors.

Main Methods:

• Hypothesis-based observational study design.
• Participants: 36 Arab undergraduates (English majors and Translation majors).
• Analysis: Independent-sample t-test to compare performance between translation directions and student groups.

Main Results:

• Statistically significant differences in performance between direct and inverse translation (p < 0.05).
• Inverse translation was significantly more difficult than direct translation.
• Translation majors outperformed English majors in both direct and inverse translation tasks.

Conclusions:

• Inverse translation presents a greater challenge than direct translation for Arab undergraduates.
• Specialized training in translation programs leads to superior performance in both translation directions.
• Pedagogical interventions focusing on relativization in translation courses are recommended to enhance student proficiency.