Aspects Of Translating Through Intermediate Languages

Studies in Translation, Vol. 5, No.1 , 2019
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Aspects of Translating through Intermediate Languages
Amal Al Shunnaq
Petra University
Amal_shunnaq@yahoo.com
Abstract
This study sets out to contribute to the literature written on
intermediate translation, a mode of translation that has not been
seriously investigated. The study aims at examining the main
syntactic, semantic and stylistic deviations a translator may
commit while translating from intermediate language(s).
Examples illustrating syntactic, semantic and stylistic deviations
or differences from the original texts are presented and
discussed. The significance of the study stems from the fact that
this topic has been sadly neglected by translation scholars and
theorists alike in spite of its importance. In this study the issue of
Intermediate Translation is introduced and previous research on
this kind of translation will be discussed. The translated texts
from intermediate languages which were translated from
English into Arabic, into French and finally into English will be
analysed at the levels of syntax, semantics and style in order to
establish the main aspects for translating from intermediate
languages. Finally, the conclusions of the study will be
provided. The main conclusion, in contrast to what most
theorists of translation and translators expect, shows that
intermediate translation is adequate and meaningful in many
cases. Furthermore, there are shifts in many other cases. The
deviations mostly occur in literary texts because of involving
figures of speech and emotive expressions that cannot be
translated into the target language and which cannot be found
in any other text-type.
Keywords: Translation, Normal Translation, Intermediate
Translation, Interlingual Translation1
, Intermediate Language,
Back Translation, Reverse Translation.

Aspects of Translating through Intermediate…. Al Shunnaq
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1. Introduction:
Translation from an intermediate language is the case in which
translation is not made directly from the original source
language. Rather, it is from a translation that was a target
language and now used as a source language. So, it is translation
made through an intermediate language. It might be worthy to
mention that there are, at least, three languages in the case of
translating from an intermediate language. For example, a
Russian text is translated into English, and then the English text
is translated into Arabic. We might have in some cases two
languages or more depending upon the number of languages
involved in the process of translation. For more information on
intermediate translation, refer to Al-Shunnaq, 2014; Abulwi,
1997; and Al-Choufi, 1997. Defining intermediate translation
paves the way to define intermediate language which could be
defined as a language that mediates between two different
languages. In the above-mentioned example, the Russian
language is an original language, but the English language is an
intermediate language that is between Russian and Arabic.
It could be safely argued that the more languages involved in the
process of translation the more deviations that might occur in the
translated product, since translation is not made directly from an
original text rather it is being made from a translation that is
being used as a source text. This would definitely result in
doubled deviations. Thus, there is a need to discuss the deviations
that occurred as a result of intermediate translation. In order to
attain this, a literary text will be translated from English into
Arabic into French, and finally into English in order to establish
the main aspects of translating from intermediate languages. In
other words, what were the syntactic, semantic and stylistic
deviations that could be traced in the translated text from
intermediate languages.

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2. Rationale of the Study:
The problem stems from the scarcity of works carried out on
intermediate translation and its effects on the translated product.
Translation theorists and researchers alike do not give this type of
translation much concern. In other words, it has not been
problematised before in the field of translation studies even
though it is being used in translation practice particularly when
the original text is not available andor when the translator does
not know the original language, rather he knows the translated
language (the intermediate language). Moreover, one could
assume that translating from an intermediate language leads to
adverse effects such as message distortion and deviations from
the original text in terms of syntax, semantics and style, simply
because the translation was carried out from a translation and not
from the original text which is the main reason behind
conducting the current study.
We could safely argue that producing natural translation could
not be achieved without hard work on equivalence and style.
Loss of meaning could be worse when we do not translate
directly from the source language text, because we are twice far
away from the facts and concepts of the original text which will
in turn distort the meaning intended in the original text. In brief,
the deviations would be more serious in intermediate translation
as a result of not translating directly from the original text.
In fact, translating from an intermediate language is sometimes
inevitable because as has been mentioned earlier the original text
is no longer available andor because the translator does not
know the language of the original text and rather he knows the
language of the intermediate text. Consequently, we need to
know the risks and problems that might face the translator in such
cases.

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3. The purpose of the study
The purpose of this study is to highlight some of the problematic
areas resulting from translating from an intermediate language. It
is hoped that the present study will contribute to the field of
translation studies and benefit translators and students of
translation alike in respect to the impact of the process of
intermediate translation on the translated product in many aspects
and terms such as syntax, semantics and style. To illustrate this
further, it aims at showing how translating from an intermediate
language affects the content and the form of the original text
syntactically, semantically and stylistically speaking and to what
extent the loss and gain of meaning have taken place as a result
of such shifts. It could be argued in this respect that it is
important to the use the strategy of adaptation2
when translating
from intermediate language(s) in order to produce an acceptable
and natural text to the “receptor language” 3
audience.
4. Hypotheses of the Study
A number of hypotheses regarding the result of the process of
intermediate translation have motivated this research. This study
is designed to test the following hypotheses:
1) There are syntactic, semantic, and stylistic deviations due to
translating from an intermediate language.
2) There is loss and gain of meaning as a result of translating
from an intermediate language.
3) Deviations are a result of not preserving the style of the
SLT and not finding appropriate equivalents.
5. Theoretical Background
The aim of this section is to evaluate other works in the field of
translation studies that are relevant to this study. This consists of
a number of issues discussed by different translation theorists

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and linguists concerning intermediate translation and back
translation. Consequently, this section will serve as a literature
review to both intermediate translation and back translation. The
former will be seen in the context of how it has been considered
in translation studies and with reference to previous literature
regarding the concept. The latter, in contrast, is discussed by
defining it, and by differentiating it from the process of
translation, through a review of earlier research in the field of
Translation Studies. The aim of discussing the two kinds of
translation in this study is to show how back translation is used
in translation theory and practice and to show the contexts in
which it appears in the translated product and translation
practice. In brief, the discussion below is composed of different
points, each of which is designed to focus on these two modes of
translation.
5.1. Intermediate Translation
From reviewing the related literature in this area of knowledge, it
can be noted that no one definition of intermediate translation has
been suggested, but here is a modest attempt to define it. It could
be defined as the case in which translation is not made directly
from the original source language. Rather, it is made from a
translation that was actually a target language and now is used as
a source language. So, it is translation made through an
intermediate language. There are at least three languages in the
case of translating from an intermediate language which are the
source language, the intermediate language, and the target
language. It could be three languages or more. For example, a
Russian text is translated into Japanese then into Chinese then
into English. In other words, it depends upon the number of
languages involved in the process of translation in the case of
translating from an intermediate language.
Abulwi (1997, 13) points out that much of the world literature
(Russian, German and Spanish) has been translated into Arabic
through intermediate languages without any reference to the

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original. For example, much of Russian literature was rendered
into Arabic from French and English (i.e. not from Russian). The
use of this type of translation in such a context could be justified
by arguing that translators who are able to render texts from
Arabic into French or English are more numerous than those who
are able to do so directly from Russian into Arabic.
He (ibid., 15) points out that during the last fifty years, the
publishing company: Dar Al-Yaqaza Al- c
Arabiyya in Damascus
has translated some Russian masterpieces from intermediate
languages such as French or English. It has translated the Russian
novel War and Peace from the intermediate language, French,
into Arabic as al-harb wa al-salam. However, comparison
between the Russian version and the Arabic one showed much
incongruence. Nida (1964, 17) adds that, in the direct translation,
the text loses much of its distinctive characteristics especially if it
is a poetry or a play. As a result, the losses are greater when we
translate from an intermediate language. It can be argued here
that the more languages involved in the process of translation, the
more losses occur. Logically, if there are losses in each version of
the translation, the greater the number of attempts the greater the
losses.
Al-Choufi (1997, 51-52) notes that among the numerous
problems of specialised translation is the need to resort to
translating from intermediate languages. However, the closer the
adherence to the source text, the less natural the target text
appears. Therefore, in all cases, the translator should adhere to
the content of the text. Only the style is left up to the translator.
However, if the text being translated has been translated from an
intermediate language (for example translating a French text,
which was earlier translated from Serbo-Croatian), then
adaptation would also be done twice. The first is done by the one
who translated from Serbo-Croatian into French, and the other is
done by the translator who translated from French into Arabic.
Different languages have different syntactic structures, and

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sometimes there are grammatical gaps. In consequence, form
cannot be maintained. Again, according to Al-Choufi (ibid., 56),
translation, for example, from Serbo-Croatian into Arabic has
two features: (i) it involves much adaptation, and (ii) a number of
translated books have not been faithful to their source language
texts. He attributes this unfaithfulness to two causes: either the
translator had no command of Serbo-Croatian or the translation
was from an intermediate language. He (ibid, 57) mentions that a
number of books have been translated into Arabic from an
intermediate language through Serbo-Croatian:
1. Djisr c
ala nahr aldreen (A Bridge on Aldreena River: my
translation) by Andrich, translated by Sami AL-Droobi.
2. al-c
aysh shayī raaī c
ya-c
azeezi (Living is a Wonderful
Thing my Dear: my translation) by Nazim Hikemet,
translated by Nazih AL-Choufi.
3. fy al-tanzeem al-thawri (On the Revolutionary System: my
translation) by Fadil Alexandar Ranckovich, translated by
George Tarabeeshi.
And a number of books translated into Arabic through Serbo-
Croation as an intermediate language:
1. nazariyat al-rywayah (The Novel Theory: my translation)
by George Lukach, translated by Nazih AL-Choufi. And
2. al-sayf (The Summer: my translation) by Albert Camus,
translated by Nazih AL-Choufi.
According to Adusmilli (2007), translation sometimes requires
translators who master more than a language and who are
proficient in more than one language. This can be justified by the
increasing need to translate a text into many other languages and
vice versa. Thus, there is a call to develop to & fro of translation.
However, this task takes two to three years and it needs a lot of
effort and money. As a result of this, intermediate language plays
a significant role in machine translation packages. To illustrate
this further, natural languages translation refers to normal
translation (i.e., the translation of one language into another), but,
sometimes, there is a need to translate a text into a number of

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languages and vice versa. In fact, this would take time in case the
translation is carried out manually, and it would at the same time
make it legitimate to improve “a translator package for both to &
fro translation”. The aim of improving the package is to save
time and money. However, the main obstacle in building it is that
it needs a lot of effort, money and time and it takes at least two to
three years. Thus, developing such a package is not easy, and this
why intermediate language has been introduced in machine
translation. It could be argued that the use of an intermediate
language in machine translation saves time and reduces the
effort. Sometimes, two intermediate languages can be used.
Therefore, we can conclude that intermediate languages play a
big role in machine translation.
Kim (1993) discussed the relationship between three languages
of Bible translation: the source language, the target language, and
the intermediate language which is the native language of the
Bible translator). It touches upon the influence of intermediate
language on Bible translation. The source language is Koine
Greek, the intermediate language is Korean and the target
languages are Moskona, Edopi, and Mekeo. The aim of the study
is to trace the influence of intermediate language on the process
of Bible translation. The criteria that were used to evaluate the
translated product from an intermediate language were at the
linguistic structural, cultural contextual and the logical
background levels. In the study, the influence of intermediate
translation was taken into consideration in the process of Bible
translation through an intermediate language.
According to Li et al. (2017), translation from an intermediate
language has its impact on culture and literature as well. To
justify this, most of the Russian national literature has been
translated into other languages through an intermediate language.
This is why the works of literature has been read by people all
over the world. However, in order to establish interliterary
dialogue, interlinear translation is looked for not word for word

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translation. In their study, through such sort of translation of
foreign literary works, “dialogical relations” can be traced in the
translation of a foreign literary work. Thus, the translator tries to
get the meaning of the work that he translates and communicates
it to the target language. In this case, there is no differences in
dialogue literature when it comes to works of literature translated
through an intermediate language.
Having provided an overview on intermediate translation paves
the way to discuss back translation. It is legitimate to point out
that intermediate translation is relevant to back translation and
this why there is a need to introduce the mode of translation
named back translation in the forthcoming section in order to
make the distinction between them clearer.
5.2. Back Translation
Back translation can be considered as the translation of a
translated text back into the language of the original text without
any sort reference to the source language text either to compare it
with its original in terms of quality, accuracy, etc or to provide a
window on to the translation when its language is unknown to the
readers or assumed to be unfamiliar with. It can be argued that
back translation is more challenging than translation from an
original text as shifts are more numerous because the rendering
results from a translated text. In spite of the fact that back
translation is not widely used in translation practice, but one can
trace its use as a research tool and as a procedure to assess the
quality of translation.
Several definitions have been suggested for the translational term
"back translation". Each definition entails a different perspective
and use, but they all revolve around re-transforming the
translated text into its original language. Below are definitions of
the term provided by scholars who have discussed back
translation in their research such as Baker (1992), Larson (1998),
and Gamborino (2007).

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Back translation is defined by Baker (1992, 8) as "taking a text
(original or translated) which is written in a language with which
the reader is assumed to be unfamiliar and translating it as
literally as possible into English." This definition of back
translation represents how the method of back translation is used
in Baker's textbook: In Other Words. In back translation, the
translator depends on the morphological, syntactic or lexical
features of the text. Based on this definition, it is obvious that
Baker views back translation as a research tool4
. Larson (1998,
534-535) views back translation as a quality assurance measure
used to check the validity of the translation. She (ibid.) defines
back translation as "a literal rendering of the translation to be
used for checking purposes" in which each lexical item is
rendered literally using the natural form of the SL and this could
be regarded as a main difference between translation and back
translation since, in the normal process of translation, they are
not done literally, but rather they are carried out using natural and
clear forms of the target language unlike back translation as
"literal forms are used in order to show up the structure of the
translation being back-translated." Another definition of back
translation was proposed by Gamborino (2007, 1) in which back
translation was defined as "a process of translating a document
that has already been translated into a foreign language back to
the original language."
The time is ripe now to differentiate between the process of
translation and the process of back translation. In both processes,
there is a rendering made from a text. But the difference is that in
"normal translation", the translation is made from the original
text directly. In contrast, in back translation, the translation is
made from a translated text.
Grunwald & Goldfarb (2006, 3) differentiate between "normal
translation"5
and back translation. For them, "normal translation"
is the case in which the text is translated and then reviewed by an
editor who "makes corrections". This procedure is considered by

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them more complicated and difficult in the process of back
translation than that of "normal translation" as the back translator
should have an excellent command of both the SL and the TL
and translate literally.
Abu Nasser (1995) writes about back translation as a
measurement of functional equivalence. In his study, he uses the
method of back translation "[t]o assure integrity of the message
and to determine any improbably translated idioms or
expressions." He considers this use as a technique "to give more
insight into aspects of the structure" and the SLT meaning that is
not identical to the SL one.
Klaudy (1996) uses the method of back translation to detect
explicitation strategies in translation. In her experiment, the
analysis was carried out on "a speech made by the president of
the Republic of Hungary on the occasion of the 50th anniversary
of the Holocaust." The translation of the speech into English was
carried out by professional translator, and the back translation
into Hungarian was carried out by translation trainees. In relation
to this, the present study is similar to Klaudy's but its aims are
more extensive and methods of analysis used are different. An
illustration of this is that the aim of this study is to detect
explicitation and implicitation shifts and their types in a corpus of
translated literary texts and to trace whether they are retained by
the two back translations provided to show the reliability of using
the method of back translation as a tool in retaining the
explicitation and implicitation shifts and whether these shifts
retain the meaning of their originals or not.
It is with a different function of back translation that Jones (2009)
is concerned when he discusses the problem of plagiarism and
one of its forms, termed back translation, which "utilizes the
intercultural technique". This form of plagiarism, which has not
been discussed before, is done by translating the plagiarised text
into a language, for instance, French and then back translated it
into English by "using the same technique". It is important for

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teachers to comprehend back translation in students' papers in
order "to manage or avoid" such use.
Salama-Carr (2013) shows how the method of back translation is
used as a research tool in which the researcher does not
problematise the use of back translation and has taken the
validity of her own back translation as for granted and that is why
Salama-Carr finds the methodology to some extent
"contradictory". To show this, Salama-Carr (ibid., 286) says: "the
author's engagement with postmodernist approaches" to
investigate her data is based on her own back translation and the
Arabic translation was not referred to at all. Two examples were
given to show such contradiction. The first is of page 180 in
which "the reader is expected to take Tageldin's English back
translation of an extract from Siba'I's Arabic version as a
transparent reference: "al Siba'I renders the above passage from
Carlyle as follows:". The other example is in "her use and
discussion of Rifā a Rāfi' al-TahTāwī's travel account".
From reviewing the related literature on back translation, it was
concluded that there is insufficient material written about this
under-researched topic, although it is frequently used to illustrate
TS based discussions, particularly from a contrastive perspective.
In brief, what the two modes of translation, intermediate
translation and back translation have in common is that they both
start from a translation rather than an original text. The difference
resides in the fact that in back translation the original source
language text and the target language one are one and the same,
whereas in intermediate translation a third language is included.
For example, in back translation, text A is translated into text B
then retranslated into text A, while in intermediate translation
text A is translated into text B and then into text C and possibly
into further renditions in other target languages. What we refer to
as intermediate translation is what is resorted to when the original
text is no longer available, or the translator does not know the
language of the original text but knows the language of the

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translated one. On the other hand, back translation can be a
research tool for those who have no access to the target language
to enable them to know the target translation if for instance they
have access to the source language. In addition, back translation
can be used as a measure to determine the quality of the
translation of the original text.
6. Methodology
6.1. Data Collection
A literary text of about 250 words each is used in this study. The
literary text is a short story entitled The Black Madonna by Doris
Lessing taken from The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. The
text was given to professional translators to translate it from
English into Arabic into French, and finally into English.
Professional translators were asked to carry out the translation,
because the more professional the translator of intermediate
language(s) is, the less deviations are in the Translated Text from
Intermediate Languages. The professional translators were told
that their translations were for the purpose of research in
translation. The aim of that is to show that although the
translators are professionals and have known that their
translations would be studied, there would be deviations in the
translation product.
6.2. Methods of Data Analysis
Five examples of the original English text (OT: Original Text)
were compared with its translation in the translated English
version (TTFILs: the Translated Text from Intermediate
Languages) in order to establish the main aspects of translating
from intermediate languages. The comparison was carried out at
the levels of syntax, semantics, and style. The aim of such
analysis is to establish the extent of deviations from the original
text, and to establish the main aspects of translating from
intermediate languages.

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In terms of syntax, the deviations were categorised into word
order, tense, sentence type, among others. In terms of semantics,
the semantic deviations were categorised into differences in the
lexical choice of words, discrepancy in meaning, gain of
meaning, loss of meaning, addition, omission, paraphrasing,
flouting the maxim of quality, collocation, among others. In
terms of style, the stylistic deviations were categorised into
layout, abbreviation, maintaining the style of the OT (Original
Text) literary and journalistic complexity, idiomaticity and
simplicity of the OT (Original Text).
7. Data Analysis
Analysis of the Literary Text.
In this part of the study, the original literary text was compared
with its intermediate translated version. The text analysis was
executed at different levels (i) syntax (ii) semantics and (iii) style,
and it depends on the type of deviation from the original text.
For further illustration, consider table (1) and its analysis below.
Table (1) shows the discussed examples with the numbers of
deviations deducted.
Example
Number
OT TTFILS Deviation Levels
Syntax Semantics Style
1 There are
some
countries in
which the
arts, let alone
the art,
cannot be
said to
flourish. Why
this should be
so it is hard
to say,
although of
course we all
have our
theories
about it.
Some countries
cannot qualify
as a welcoming
host to arts.
One may
venture scores
of theories on
the matter
without
nevertheless
reaching a
conclusive
explanation.
3 3 2
2 Zambesia is,
to put it
mildly,
unsympatheti
Zambia cannot
be identified
with ideals
such as
1 3 1

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c to those
ideas so long
taken for
granted in
other parts of
the world, to
do with
liberty,
fraternity and
the rest
freedom,
fraternity, etc.,
3 Consider, for
instance, the
case of
Michele.
He came out
of the
internment
camp at the
time when
Italy was
made a sort
of honorary
ally, during
the Second
World War.
Let us take for
instance
Michel's case:
Michel came
from a prison
camp at the
time where
Italy had
become an
honorary ally
during the
Second War.
3 2 1
4 Yet there are
those, and
some of the
finest souls
among them,
who maintain
that art is
impossible
without a
minority
whose leisure
is guaranteed
by a hard-
working
majority.
And
whatever
Zambesia's
comfortable
minority may
lack, it is not
leisure.
…,
notwithstandin
g the attitude of
Zambian elites
who
organically link
the weakness of
artistic creation
to the absence
of a gifted
minority,
blessed with
spare time, and
supported by
labour classes,
representing a
hard working
majority.
1 2 2
5 Some of the
thousands
stayed where
they were in
the camps;
they were fed
and housed
there at least.
Others went
as farm
labourers,
though not
Some of these
thousands of
arms comrades
remained in the
camps where
they were fed
and sheltered
while others
worked in the
farms. But they
were not
numerous,
1 2 1

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many; for
while the
farmers were
as always
short of
labour, they
did not know
how to
handle farm
labourers
who were
also whit
men:
because
although
needing a
labour force,
the peasants did
not know how
to act with
white
workmen.
Example One
1. OT: There are some countries in which the arts, let alone the
art, cannot be said to flourish. Why this should be so it is hard to
say, although of course we all have our theories about it.
TTFILs: Some countries cannot qualify as a welcoming host to
arts. One may venture scores of theories on the matter without
nevertheless reaching a conclusive explanation.
The differences between the OT and the TTFILs are illustrated
below:
1.1. OT: There are some countries in which the arts, let alone
the art, cannot be said to flourish.
TTFILs: Some countries cannot qualify as a welcoming host to
arts.
The OT is different from the TTFILs at the syntactic, semantic
and stylistic levels. At the level of syntax, one can easily observe
in example one above the difference in the structures between
the OT and the TTFILs versions. The first begins with “There
are some countries…”, while the latter started directly with
“some countries cannot qualify…”. In the OT, the passive voice
structure “the arts cannot be said to flourish” which is translated
into “a welcoming host” in the TTFILs. At the semantic level,
one can observe the use of more emotive expressions in the OT
than in the TTFILs. For example, “cannot be said to flourish” is
more emotive than a welcoming host to arts. The meaning of the

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OT is similar to that of the TTFILs. The author (Lessing) of OT
says that there are countries in which the art cannot thrive.
Meanwhile, it was interpreted in the TTFILs as a welcoming
source of arts. Furthermore, there are differences in the lexical
choice of words such as “cannot qualify instead of cannot be
said; as a welcoming host” instead of “to flourish”. In the OT,
“said” collocates with to, and “qualify” collocates with “as”.
Though the style of the OT is more literary, one can observe that
both are almost congruent in being of literary style.
1.2. OT: Why this should be so it is hard to say, although of
course we all have our theories about it.
TTFILs: One may venture scores of theories on the matter
without nevertheless reaching a conclusive explanation.
This translation differs from its origin syntactically, semantically
and stylistically. At the level of syntax, the indirect question in
the OT has been translated into a statement in the TTFILs. At
the level of semantics, the TTFILs is a paraphrase of the OT.
The translator from intermediate languages chose words that are
different from the writer’s choice of words. For example, “it is
hard to say” is translated into “without nevertheless reaching a
conclusive explanation”. This translation differs from its origin
syntactically. The other part of the compound sentence is
translated into a pp. At the level of meaning, what the OT means
is translated in the TTFILs. The style of the OT is more literary
than that of the TTFILs, and it is more figurative than that of the
TTFILs.
Example Two
2. OT: Zambesia is, to put it mildly, unsympathetic to those ideas
so long taken for granted in other parts of the world, to do with
liberty, fraternity and the rest.
TTFILs: Zambia cannot be identified with ideals such as
freedom, fraternity, etc.,

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The structure of the OT is different from that of the TTFILs. In
the OT, we have a parenthetical expression, “to put it mildly”,
which is not maintained in the TTFILs’ structure. The sentence
structure of the OT is complex, but the sentence structure of the
TTFILs is simple. At the level of semantics, one can observe the
use of emotive expressions such as (mildly, liberty,
unsympathetic), while the expressions of the TTFILs are less
emotive. There is a difference in the lexical choice of words. For
instance, “those ideas” in the OT is translated into “ideals” in
the TTFILs, and the rest is translated into etc. These translations
are not faithful to the OT because “ideas” do not mean “ideals”,
and “etc.” does not mean “the rest”, i.e., there is discrepancy of
meaning between both the OT and the TTFILs. Furthermore, the
modifier “so long taken for granted in other parts of the world”
in the OT is not rendered at all in the TTFILs. Thus, there is a
loss of meaning. The meaning in the OT is the ideas that are
taken for granted, whereas it is the ideals in the TTFILs. At the
stylistic level, one can easily figure out that the style of OT is
more literary than that of the TTFILs because of the use of
emotive expressions in the OT. Moreover, the layout of the OT
is not maintained in the TTFILs, resulting in stylistic deviation;
the OT is part of the second paragraph (a subordinate idea),
whereas it is the topic sentence of the second paragraph in the
TTFILs. To illustrate this further, see appendix one (text one)
and appendix four (text four). “Zambesia” is rendered as
“Zambia”. The difference in the spelling and pronunciation is as
a result of phonological naturalization in each translation.
Example Three
3. OT: Consider, for instance, the case of Michele.
He came out of the internment camp at the time when Italy was
made a sort of honorary ally, 2
during the Second World War.

- 141 -
TTFILs: Let us take for instance Michel's case: Michel came
from a prison camp at the time where Italy had become an
honorary ally during the Second War.
The OT consists of an imperative sentence and a compound one
as well as the TTFILs. The first has a parenthetical expression
(for instance), while the second is not parenthetical. The OT
addresses the readers directly through its imperative form, and it
sounds a detached linguistic unit, while the TTFILs looks more
subjective let us take for instance. The OT opts for passive voice
at the time when Italy was made a sort of honorary ally, while
the TTFILs unit is in the active voice. It is more direct. We have
synonymous expressions in both of them (OT: He came out of
the internment camp at the time when Italy was… and in the
TTFILs Michel came from a prison camp at the time where Italy
had…). This shows some congruency between the two versions
and that intermediate translation does not change the meaning of
the original text which is good in translation practice. The word
sort of is deleted in the TTFILs, resulting in loss of meaning; it
is not an honorary ally rather it is a sort of honorary ally. The
style of the OT sounds to be more formal than the TTFILs, as
some of its vocabulary is more formal (the internment camp)
than (a prison camp). The writer in the OT is addressing the
second person (consider..…the cause of Michel), while he is
addressing the first person (Let us take …… Michel's case) in the
TTFILs. This means that there is a partial syntactic equivalence
between the two versions.
Example Four
OT: Yet there are those, and some of the finest souls among
them, who maintain that art is impossible without a minority
whose leisure is guaranteed by a hard-working majority. And
whatever Zambesia's comfortable minority may lack, it is not
leisure.
TTFILs: …, notwithstanding the attitude of Zambian elites who
organically link the weakness of artistic creation to the absence

- 142 -
of a gifted minority, blessed with spare time, and supported by
labour classes, representing a hard working majority.
The OT version consists of one simple sentence and one
complex sentence, while the TTFILs consists of subordinate
clauses. However, there is much similarity between both
versions as they include parenthetical expressions.
At the semantic level, there are some deviations between the OT
and TTFILs. The latter has some distortion at the semantic level.
The expression for instance the finest souls among them has
been rendered into the attitude of the Zambian elite. The finest
souls is a religious expression while the Zambian elite is a socio-
political expression; guaranteed by hard-working majority is
synonymously rendered as supported by labour classes. In the
first instance, there is a deviation at the level of meaning. Hence,
we have an instance of non-equivalence in translation.
At the level of style, one could assume that the OT has more
artistic style than the TTFILs. This means that there is some
shift in the stylistic features due to intermediate translation. For
instance, who maintain that art is impossible ended as Zambian
elites who organically link the weakness of artistic creation. It
goes without saying that any change in form results in a change
in meaning and style. Hence, the two versions are divergent at
the syntactic, semantic and stylistic levels. Zambesia's is
translated into Zambian as a result of phonological naturalization
in translation.
Example Five
OT: Some of the thousands stayed where they were in the camps;
they were fed and housed there at least. Others went as farm
labourers, though not many; for while the farmers were as always
short of labour, they did not know how to handle farm labourers
who were also whit men:

- 143 -
TTFILs: Some of these thousands of arms comrades remained in
the camps where they were fed and sheltered while others
worked in the farms. But they were not numerous, because
although needing a labour force, the peasants did not know how
to act with white workmen.
Syntactically, the OT consists of two complex sentences, a
simple sentence and a compound one that are rendered into a
compound sentence and a complex one in the TTFILs.
Semantically, the TTFILs version has some semantic deviations
from the OT version. For instance, some of these thousands
stayed has become in the TTFILs some of these thousands of
arms comrades. The use of arms comrades adds to the
emotiveness in the TTFILs. In the TTFILs, there are differences
in the lexical choice of words such as remained instead of stayed;
sheltered instead of housed; worked in the farms instead of went
as farm labourers; but they were not numerous instead of not
many, needing a labour force instead of short of labour; peasants
instead of they; did not know how to act instead of did not know
how to handle farm; white workmen instead of workmen
labourers who were also white.
At the level of style, one can roughly say that the style of both is
affective and literary. Hence, we have much congruity between
both of them. In contrast, the layout of the OT is not maintained
in the TTFILs. The OT is part of the last paragraph, whereas it is
the last one in the TTFILs. See appendix (1), and appendix (2).
8. Conclusions
Having discussed two texts after being translated from two
intermediate languages (Arabic and French), the following
conclusions concerning the main aspects of translating from
intermediate languages are drawn:
1. Translation from intermediate languages does not
necessarily produce unfaithful target language texts, as the

- 144 -
majority of the theorists and practitioners of translation
generally believe.
2. Much of the unnecessary shifts in the TTFILs could have
been avoided by the four professional translators who have
made the required translation. Based on this conclusion,
more deviations at the syntactic, semantic, and stylistic
levels could have been occurred if the same texts were
given to beginners in translation. Unfortunately,
professional translators are like a scarce coin.
3. The shifts have occurred in the literary passage more than it
was in the other four texts. This quite normal as translating
literary texts involves more figures of speech and emotive
expressions that are difficult to render into target languages
similarly than other types of texts. In real life situations, the
literary texts, whether prose or verse, might be paraphrased
differently by different critics and students of literature.
Furthermore, the literary texts could have more than one
interpretation.
4. Although the translators are professional and have been told
that the translation is intended to be used in a research, but
one can easily observe deviations at all levels in the TEFLs
(syntax, semantics, and style). These deviations are due to
(i) differences that exist between languages such as the
syntactic, semantic and stylistic differences. In fact, the
differences between remote languages are more than those
which could be found between languages of close features.
(ii) complete equivalence is difficult to be found between
languages. (iii) Each writer has his own style in writing; by
the same taken, each translator has his own style. The style
of the OT differs from that of the TTFILs, as there is more
than one translator when translating from intermediate
languages.

- 145 -
5. The aspects that were established in this study concerning
translation from intermediate languages are: syntactic
semantic and stylistic deviations of varying degrees.
6. The validity of literal translation cannot be established by
intermediate translation.
7. The translated texts of intermediate languages were less
natural than the origin.
Notes:
1) Intermediate translation is sometimes referred to in translation studies
as interlingual translation. For more information on interlingual
translation, refer to Nida (1964).
2) See Shunnaq (1992), for further information on
managing.
3) Larson (1998) referred to the target language as “the
receptor language”.
4) Back translation is considered as a research tool by Rose, 1985;
Newmark, 1982, and Baker, 1992. In this context, it is used to enable
the readers who have no access to the target language to understand
the text, to ensure that the same message from the target language
speakers and readers would be communicated to those who had no
access to the target language. For instance, it is used by Baker (ibid.)
in her didactic book In Other Words to support her argument. It is
also used as a research tool in Newmark’s book (ibid.) to criticise
other approaches in translation. In contrast, it is viewed and used as
a translation quality control stage by Gamborino, 2007 and Tyupa,
2011. A different use of back translation was found and discussed by
Johnes (2009) where using the method of back translation is
considered as a new system of plagiarism adopted mainly by
international students. In addition, it is used to find any discrepancy
in meaning and to check whether translation principles are applied or
not by Larson (1998), and was discussed by Birbili (2000) as a
similar checking system, where back translation is considered as a
procedure to eliminate translation problems in cross-cultural
research. One of the uses of back translation is to assess translation

- 146 -
quality (see Brislin (1970), Vitray (2007), Gamborino (2007), Chen,
H.Y. & Bore, J.RP. (2009) and Tyupa (2011)).
5) Grunwald & Goldfarb (2006) refers to translation as normal
translation, and it could be argued that this terminology was given to
distinguish it from back translation since translation is more
common and, we can say, normal than back translation.
References
1. Arabic References:
-
‫و‬ ‫زهيير‬ ،‫الكرميي‬ ‫و‬ ‫عبيدهللا‬ ،‫الشيناق‬ ‫فيي‬ "‫وسيطة‬ ‫لغة‬ ‫عن‬ ‫الترجمة‬ ‫قضية‬ " ‫ممدوح‬ ،‫الوي‬ ‫أبو‬
)‫ييررون‬‫ي‬‫(مح‬ .‫ييد‬‫ي‬‫محم‬ ,‫ييرايرة‬‫ي‬‫الص‬
1997
‫يية‬‫ي‬‫الترجم‬ ‫ييالم‬‫ي‬‫ع‬
‫ييرجمين‬‫ي‬‫المت‬ ‫يية‬‫ي‬‫جمعي‬ :‫ييان‬‫ي‬‫عم‬ .
.‫األول‬ ‫المجلد‬ ‫من‬ .‫األردنيين‬
-
‫وسيي‬ ‫لغية‬ ‫عبير‬ ‫الترجمية‬ ‫و‬ ‫متارقاتهيا‬ ‫و‬ ‫العربيية‬ ‫إليى‬ ‫الترجمة‬ ‫مظاهر‬ ‫"بعض‬ .‫نزيه‬ ,‫شوفي‬
"‫طة‬
)‫(محيررون‬ .‫محميد‬ ,‫الصيرايرة‬ ‫و‬ ‫زهيير‬ ،‫الكرميي‬ ‫و‬ ‫عبيدهللا‬ ،‫الشناق‬ ‫في‬
1997
‫عيالم‬
‫الترجمة‬
.‫األول‬ ‫المجلد‬ ‫من‬ .‫األردنيين‬ ‫المترجمين‬ ‫جمعية‬ :‫عمان‬ .
2. English References:
- Abu Naser, Jaber. 1995. Back Translation as a Measurement of
Functional Equivalence,
unpublished M.A. thesis. Irbid: Yarmouk University.
- Adusumilli, Kerthi K. 2007. “Natural Languages Translating Using an
Intermediate Language”.
http://www.iaeng.org/IJCS/issues_v33/issue_1/IJCS_33_1_20.pdf
- Al-Shunnaq, Amal. 2014. “Meaning and Back Translation”. PhD diss,
University of Salford.
- Baker, Mona. 1992. In Other Words. London: Routledge.
- Birbili, Maria. 2000. “Translating from One Language to another”
Social Research Update, issue 31.
- Chen, H.X. & Boore, J. RP. 2009. “Translation and Back Translation
in qualitative nursing research: methodological review” In
Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19, 234-289.
- Gamborino, T.L. 2007. “Back Translation”. The MITA Reader, 4(1), 1-
4.
- Grunwalad, David. and Goldfarb, Norman. 2006. “Back Translation for
Quality Control of Informed Consent Forms”, Journal of Clinical
Research Best Practices, 2(2), 1-6
- Jones, Michael. 2009. Back Translation: the latest Form of Plagiarism”,
1-7.
http://ro.uow.edu/commpapers/668

- 147 -
- Klaudy. Kinga. 1996, “Back Translation as a tool for Detecting
Explicitation Strategies in Translation." In Across Languages
and Cultures. 6(1): 13-28.
- Larson, Mildred. 1998. Meaning-Based Translation: A Guide to Cross-
Language Equivalence. Lanham, New York and Oxford:
University Press of America, Inc.
- Lessing, Doris. 1978. “The Black Madonna” In Cassill, R. (ed), The
Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. New York: W. W. Norton &
Company. INC.
- Li, Yuanchun, Landysh G. Latfullina, Rlvira F. Nagumanova, and Alsu
Z. Khabibullina. 2017. “Translator as a Mediator in the Dialogue
of Literatures”.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321771317_The_Translator_as
_a_Mediator_in_the_Dialogue_of_Literatures
- Newmark, Peter. 1982. Approaches to Translation. Oxford, New York,
Toronto, Sydney, Paris, Frankfort: Longman press.
- Nida, Eugen. 1964. Towards a Science of Translating with special
References to principles and Procedures involved in Bible
Translation. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
- Rose, Marilyn Gaddis. 1985 “Back Translation to Recover Form”,
Babel, XXXI (1).
- Salama-Carr, Myriam. 2013. A book review of Disarming Words-
Empire and the Seductions of Translation in Egypt by Shaden M.
Tageldin. In The Translator, 19(2), 283-294.
Shunnaq, Abdullah. 1992. Monitoring and Managing in the Language of
Broadcasting and Newspapers with reference to Problems in
English Arabic Translation. Irbid: Dar Al Amal.
- Tyupa, Sergiy. 2011. “A Theoretical Framework for Back Translation
as a Quality Assessement Tool”. New Voices in Translation
Studies, Issue 7.
- Vitray, Kim. 2007. “The New ASTM Guide”.
http://www.translationdirectory.com/articlesaaerticle B15.php
- You-Soo, Kim. 1993. “The role of the Intermediate Language in Bible
Translation: A Pilot Study”. Master’s thesis, the University of
Texas at Arlington.

- 148 -
Appendix (1): The Original English Text
The Literary Text.
DORIS LESSING
The Black Madonna
There are some countries in which the arts, let alone Art,
cannot be said to flourish. Why this should be so it is hard to say
although of course we all have our theories about it. For
sometimes it is the most barren soil that sends up gardens of
those flowers which we all agree are the crown and Justification
of life, and it is tin's fact which makes it hard to say, finally, why
the soil of Zambesia1
should produce such reluctant plants.
Zambesia is a tough, sunburnt, virile, positive country
contemptuous of subtleties and sensibility: vet there have been
States with these qualities which have produced art, though
perhaps with the left hand. Zambesia is, to put it mildly,
unsympathetic to those ideas so long taken for granted in other
parts of the world, to do with liberty, fraternity and the rest. Yet
there are those, and some of the finest souls among them, who
maintain that art is impossible without a minority whose leisure
is guaranteed by a hard-working majority. And whatever
Zambesia's comfortable minority may lack, it is not leisure.
Zambesia—but enough; out of respect for ourselves and
for scientific accuracy, we should refrain from jumping to
conclusions. Particularly when one remembers the almost wistful
respect Zambesians show when an artist does appear in their
midst.
Consider, for instance, the case of Michele.
He came out of the internment camp at the time when
Italy was made a sort of honorary ally2
during the Second World
War. It was a time of strain for the authorities, because it is one

- 149 -
thing to be responsible for thousands of prisoners of war whom
one must treat according to certain recognized standards; it is
another to be faced and from one day to the next, with these same
thousands trans-formed by some international legerdemain into
comrades in arms.
Some of the thousands stayed where they were in the
camps; they were fed and housed there at least. Others went as
farm labourers, though not many; for while the farmers were as
always short of labour, they did
1. Area along the Zambesi River in southern
Africa.
2. In September of 1943 Italy surrendered and thereafter was a
"sort of honorary ally" of the powers fighting
Germany.
not know how to handle farm labourers who were also white
men: such a phenomenon had never happened in Zambesia
before. Some did odd fobs around the towns, keeping a sharp eye
out for the trade unions, who would neither admit them as
members nor agree to their working.
Appendix (2): The Translated Texts from Intermediate
Languages
The Literary Text
Some countries cannot qualify as a welcoming host to the arts.
One may venture scores of theories on the matter without
nevertheless reaching a conclusive explanation. However, and
quite unexpectedly, seemingly arid grounds may come up with
most lavish gardens, where the diversity of life itself thrives. It is
this reality that makes of Zambia a ground able to produce such
lavish vegetations. In fact, Zambia, this country which the sun's
heat sets ablaze, is a resilient country which may appear

- 150 -
indifferent to sensitive subtleties. However, countries having the-
same profile as Zambia, have managed to produce art, although
in an awkward way.
Zambia cannot be identified with ideals such as freedom,
fraternity, etc., notwithstanding the attitude of Zambian elites
who organically link the weakness of artistic creation to the
absence of a gifted minority, blessed with spare time, and
supported by labour classes, representing a hard working
majority,
Ironically enough, of all things, the supposedly fortunate
Zambian elite, cannot be said to lack spare time.
Nevertheless to the credit of Zambia, we should not jump to
hasty conclusions. Instead, we ought to remember the
contradictory mixture of aspiration and morosity that Zambians
express when an artist emerges amongst them.
Let us take for instance Michel's case: Michel came from a prison
camp at the time where Italy had become an honorary ally during
the Second World War. It was a difficult time for the Zambian
authorities, because to see their country entrusted with the
responsibility of thousands of prisoners of war, who must be
treated according to certain established criteria is one thing, and
see these same people progressively transformed, through tricks
and treachery, into arms comrades is another thing.
Some of these thousands of arms comrades remained in the
camps where they were fed and sheltered while others worked in
the farms. But, they were not numerous, because although
needing a labor force, the peasants did not know how to act with
white workmen. Such a phenomenon had not occurred in Zambia
before. These white workmen undertook various chores in towns.
But, they were frustrated: for instance, the trade unions did not
approve of their occupations and professional activities and
refused to enroll them.

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