Touching upon the translation of the style of irony (English - Arabic)

Inc. ref.

One of the trickiest subjects in the field of translation is the translation of the style of irony. This is due to the difficulty of spotting and understanding it in the SL text first, and then of finding a possible, good and matchable version of translation in the TL language, that reflects similar stylistic functions and implications in the TL (Le. Arabic here). The delicacy and subtlety of irony, especially when it is culture-based, makes it hard to tackle in translation. Yet it is not an insuperable problem of translation. This article investigates at some length the different definitions given to irony in English language. Then, it discusses its different types in general. Eight of these interchangeable types are singled out, exemplified for in detail and translated into Arabic, with problems of translation being picked up and then solved. The paper is concluded by a framework of translation procedures and steps suggested to help translators overcome the problems of translating the English style of irony into Arabic.