Images of the egyptian society: translation of short stories from Khalid el-Khamissi's book Taxi and the effects of the contrast between the modern standard arabic and egyptian dialec

• Grant number: 12/23943-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2013
• End date: January 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature
• Principal Investigator: Mamede Mustafa Jarouche
• Grantee: Júlia Cardoso Rodrigues
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Images of the Egyptian society: translation of short stories from Khalid el-Khamissi's book Taxi and the effects of the contrast between the modern standard Arabic and Egyptian dialect. University of Sao PauloJulia Cardoso Rodriguesjulia [e-mail] present research aims the translation from Arabic to Portuguese, some short stories from the book Taxi, by Khalid el-Khamissi. This work will mainly focus on the observation of the effects created by the particular usage of the Arabic language on the book and after that a final translation to Portuguese, which will seek to maintain the effects created in Arabic. Published in 2006, the book Taxi became a great success inside and outside the Arab countries and was translated to more than 10 different languages over the last six years. One of the reasons why the book is considered to be so relevant is the fact that it works as a study of the Egyptian society through Cairo taxi drivers, which are part of the humblest portion of the Egyptian population and usually forgotten or ignored. They have, however, the unique characteristic of getting in touch with the points of view of different layers of society through their clients, as well as having an incredible variety of backgrounds. Besides that, the most interesting, and the main reason the book stands out, is that the literary piece points out many Egyptians popular dissatisfactions and the anti-government feelings between the years of 2005 and 2006, which sometime after would culminate in the Egyptian Revolution of January 25th, 2011, part of which I could testify while I was in Egypt between 2011 and 2012. Result of conversations between the writer and taxi drivers that work daily in the streets of Cairo, the book is divided into 58 short stories through which we get in touch with a diverse range of characters who stand for the most different opinions, but which converge concerning the government. For that reason, the bookend up showing us a society extremely suspicious of its rulers and tired of feeling deceived and helpless. This literary piece is innovative in what concerns the object it addresses, but it also surprises us with the language the author used in its composition. Seeking to build very realistic characters, the author employs the Egyptian dialect in all of the dialogs throughout the book, keeping the usage of the Modern Standard Arabic in the other parts. For that reason, Taxi is not an easy book to translate. The literary production using Arab dialects is not very common, and so it is difficult to find translations from books written in dialect, as well as researches that tackle the matter of its translation, its problems, and issues. One example is that the oral discourse stands out for being so lively, and this effect should be maintained after the translation so it does not diminish the character's expressivity so well constructed by the author.(AU)