Forms Of Manipulation Of The Audiovisual Translation Of The Islamic Religious Discourse From Arabic Into English.

Abstract

In today’s highly globalized and digitized world, people’s
knowledge and perception of other peoples’ cultures and religions
is entirely depending on media and translation. However, when
translating religious discourse, translators tend to consciously or
unconsciously, select, add, omit, filter and adapt. Which ultimately may result in the production of a completely new target text in
terms of intention and discourse, and that is allegedly the case of
the AVT by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
of the Islamic religious discourse from Arabic into English. As a
media institution, MEMRI is accused of playing a critical role in
shaping, especially the western world’s perception of the Islamic
religion through its selective and manipulative translations of its
religious discourse, aiming at distorting its image. Therefore, this
research paper has sought through exploring MEMRI’s AVT practices to confirm or refute those charges against it, and highlight
any manipulation, if any.