V. Foreign Terminology 2

If your text contains a lot of foreign terminology, you should make sure that it is not cluttered with too many inverted commas. Also, the flow will be affected if your readers have to constantly switch from one script to another. 

Best practice is to

a) use uppercase only for proper names; otherwise use lowercase 

b) highlight foreign words in italics (not "...")

c) transliterate foreign script (e.g., Arabic)

The example below both contain a lot of Arabic and Indonesian terminology and cited text. As you can see, the use of Arabic script does not aid the flow and is indeed completely unnecessary.

 [Original copy]

In addition, they also translate words that have no equivalent words and or words that have similar meanings in Banyumasan Javanese language –such as “Taqwa” and “Kafir”, which are translated in one sentence; the word "تتقون" (Q.2:21) is translated as "semarah maring gusti Allah" and the word "كفروا" (Q.2:6) translated by "wong-wong Kapir" using "P" typical of Banyumasan Javanese Language added with the word "mbangkang". Some other examples of translation on cultural terms is carried out on a fragment of verses which read "أزواaج مطهرة" (Q.2:25) translated "bojo-bojo sek thing-thing", "الصلاة" translated "sembahyang" and "الخاشعين" translated "wong-wong sing gentur" (Q.2:45).

Beside the sentence structure, which needs some rephrasing, I focused on removing the inverted commas, highlighting all foreign words in italics, and transliterating those terms presented in foreign Arabic script. 

[Edited copy]

For example, taqwa (piety) and kafir (disbeliever) is described in one sentence rather than translated verbatim; the verb form tattaqūn (in Q.2:21) is translated as semarah maring gusti Allah, and the verb form kafarū (in Q.2:6) is translated as wong-wong kapir (the use of the letter ‘P’ here is instead of ‘F’ is typical in Banyumasan) with the addition of mbangkang. Other examples of translated cultural terms carried out on certain verse fragments are azwāj muṭahhara (in Q.2:25) rendered as bojo-bojo sek thing-thing, al-ṣalāt translated as sembahyang, and al-khāshiʿūn as wong-wong sing gentur (in Q.2:45).

The edited text has a much better flow, and the foreign words or phrases appear more integrated and do no longer disrupt the reading. 

IV. Foreign Terminology 1

 

Arabic transliteration? You may not be familiar with it, but there is a way of writing Arabic script in Roman letters ("Arabic Romanization"). 

Those of you who have studied Islamic sciences at western universities are naturally familiar with the main transliteration types. And for those who don't, well, there are people like myself who can help you out...

Those submitting their papers for publication in academic journals will be aware of the publisher's stringent style guides which always include a section on how to transcribe certain Arabic names and terminology. 

The following link is to the transliteration guidelines of the publisher E.J. Brill (Encyclopaedia of Islam, EI): 

https://brill.com/fileasset/downloads_static/static_fonts_simple_arabic_transliteration.pdf

When editing articles in Islamic Studies and Islamic History & Civilization, I frequently come across Arabic terminology and usually highlight the following:

a) Consistency (in applying one system of transliteration throughout)

b) Accuracy (in applying transliteration rules)

c) Conformity (in accordance with publisher's style guide)

Another common practice in incorporating foreign terminology in a text is to offer the English translation. This is something that Muslim authors tend to forget or overlook, assuming that their readers will be familiar with them. 

Since the primary language of the published text is English, the English term should be followed by the corresponding Arabic term (transliterated). In cases where the explicit focus is on particular foreign terms that have no ready equivalent in English (e.g., zakat), they can be used, followed by the English meaning in brackets. Here, I also check for consistency. 

Below are a few examples, together with my comments. 

[Original copy]

In his book Manahilul Irfan, Az-Zarqani argues that there are two styles of translations: the translations of harfiyya and tafsiriyya.

[Edited copy]

In his Manāhil al-ʿIrfān (Stages of Illumination) al-Zarqani argues that there are two different styles of translation: ḥarfīya (literal) and tafsīrīya (idiomatic).

You can notice in the original text that the author has transliterated the book title but failed to follow proper transliteration guidelines. I first corrected the transliteration and then added the title in English. This should always be done to give the reader an idea what the original is all about. Interested readers are also be able to search and locate copies of the same work translated into English, which is helpful. 

Although there are certain consonants in Arabic that are assimilated (so-called 'Sun letters') when pronounced, this does not usually apply in transliteration (name). 

The adjectives in the last part of the sentence are not correctly transliterated. There are standard variations of how the -iyyah endings can be transliterated. If there is no publisher's style guide to follow, the main criterium is consistency.       

[Original copy]

According to him, as long as there are hints, determining whether a word means majaz or hakikat, is not a difficult thing.

[Edited copy]

… and he immediately went on to decide whether an image was used as a trope (majāz) or in its true meaning (ḥaqīqa).

In this sentence I decided to focus on the English terminology, since the Arabic terminology was of secondary importance. Thus, the equivalent English term is followed by the Arabic term added in brackets. As you can see, I rephrased most of the sentence to achieve more clarity, and added it to the previous sentence to preserve the flow. Also, the foreign terms need to be put in italics to highlight them accordingly and set them apart from the main text. 

[Original copy]

In relation to Al-Quran translation, Mansyur and Setiawan note that harfiyya translation is forbidden for certain verses, essentially if it creates context changes.

[Edited copy]

In relation to Qurʾan translation, Mansyur and Setiawan note that ḥarfīya translation for certain verses is prohibited because it does not take the semantic context of a phrase into account.

The use of the definite article "al" is a common error. It is "al-Qur'an" in Arabic, and "the Qur'an" in English (and not "the al-Qur'an"). Since there is no need for a definite article in English, the correct form is simply "Qur'an translation".

Mansyur and Setiawan are (Indonesian) names, and therefore need no transliteration (stet).

I decided to rephrase the last part of the sentence in order to avoid ambiguity.