The Language and Translation of Arab Folktales

This ancient expressiveness is preserved in Arabic-speaking territories in numerous regional spoken idioms commonly known as al-3arabiyya al-3aammiyya or al-lugha ad-daarija. Admittedly, the differences between one spoken idiom and another sometimes surpass those between genetically and typologically related but separate languages, e.g. the Slavic languages. But they are the only authentic vehicle of Arab oral literature and each differs drastically from the written, “pure” or “eloquent” Arab language (al-3arabiyya al-fuSHa).

Not only does no-one tell folktales in literary Arabic, but it is also certain that they could not possibly have been created in it. Rendering folktales into what is today called modern standard Arabic (MSA) is burdened with a surplus of syntactic details, as the character of MSA is superdialectal. The lively tales, so full of bright humor, are transformed into wooden dummies. Re-telling folktales in the standard languages of the nations that have adopted a living spoken dialect as their literary language does not suffer from the rigidity to the same extent.

Even between pairs of almost identical sentences, colloquial and non-colloquial, we always feel the former as “natural” and the latter as “unnatural” for oral narration. An important role here belongs to sentence perspectives, especially the presentative and narrative ones.

Regarding such differences in presentation as well as the importance of preserving the invaluable treasures of oral literature, we might think that these aspects have been observed by the Arabs, who showed a great affinity for philology in the Middle Ages. Regrettably, modern Arab science had not, until recently, mustered enough strength to cope with the subject. Foreigners have done much more. Genuine Arab folktales have remained terra incognita to this day.

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