THE TRANSLATION OF ARAB APOLOGY STRATEGIES IN NAGUIB MAHFOUZ’S “CAIRO TRILOGY’ INTO ENGLISH: A PRAGMATIC APPROACH

Oleh :
Layali Amer Yahay Amer - B512308002 - Fak. Ilmu Budaya

Apology speech acts function as complex pragmatic mechanisms embedded within specific interpersonal, cultural, and theological frameworks in high-context languages such as Arabic. Because these expressions are inherently tied to social conventions and religious values, transferring them into a target language like English poses a distinct communicative challenge. In cross-cultural communication, a reliance on purely surface-level linguistic transfer often fails to capture the original pragmatic force, subtle relational dynamics, and specific cultural norms. To explore this phenomenon, this study investigates the translation of Arab apology strategies into English in Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy (Bayn al-Qasrayn, Qasr al-Shawq, and Al-Sukkariyya) in terms of translation techniques, shifts, methods, ideologies and translation quality assessment. The present study adopted a qualitative case study design to examine the English translation of Arab apology strategies in Naguib Mahfouz's “Cairo Trilogy” using a pragmatic approach with the application of Olshtain & Cohen (1983) and Trosborg’s (1987) apology strategy framework, Molina and Albir's (2002) translation techniques, House's (2006) translation shift theory, and Nababan et al.'s (2012) translation quality assessment model. The data were collected from documents and informants through document analysis and focus group discussions, using purposive sampling. The analysis was conducted through qualitative content analysis based on Spradley’s ethnographic approach, which includes domain, taxonomy, componential, and cultural theme analyses.The findings reveal that apologies in Mahfouz’s “Cairo Trilogy” employ diverse strategies, which are heavily shaped by the social variables of power, distance, and rank of imposition. Among these, the use of explanations or accounts of the situation emerges as the dominant strategy. To render these, translators applied a range of micro-techniques, relying most extensively on established equivalents to preserve pragmatic function. This methodological diversity inevitably led to cultural-pragmatic shifts, particularly within religious expressions, honorifics, and proverbs. At the macro level, the text reflects a complementary use of communicative and semantic methods, along with domestication and foreignization. However, the predominance of target language-oriented translation methods indicates that the translation primarily reflects a domestication ideology rather than foreignization. In terms of translation quality, the assessment indicates that while the translation is generally effective, the use of literal translation or pure borrowing may diminish the levels of accuracy, acceptability, and readability. This underscores that translation quality depends on selecting the technique that best satisfies each context.This study demonstrates that verbal expressions are deeply embedded in their social contexts, making literal translation inadequate for capturing pragmatic meaning. It underscores the importance of balancing cultural identity and reader accessibility in literary translation. Accordingly, cross-cultural pragmatics should be integrated into translator training to help future translators minimize pragmatic loss.