Aesthetic Functions in Translation (Study in Arabic and English Proverbs)

This article aims to give interpreters an understanding of the importance of studying the socio-cultural environment in the target language, which is certainly very different from the source language. Also, in translating proverbs into other languages whose speakers have different cultures with speakers of source languages, such as Arabic and English cultures. The data source for the main reference in this paper is the encyclopedias of Arabic proverbs by al-Maydani (1955) entitled Majma ’al-Amtsal. For finding English proverbs, the author uses Cambridge Advanced Learner Dictionary, 3rd Edition software and Martin H. Manser's The Fact on File Dictionary of Proverb. The aesthetic function theory formulated by Jan Mukarovsky was used in finding the equivalent translation of Arabic proverbs into English proverbs describing the foregrounding and automatization translations. The selection of lexicons in Arabic proverbs has lot relations with the cultures of Arab society, which emerge from various domains, such as agriculture, hunting, farm, warfare, trade, and jewelry. As for the English proverbs, of course, the lexicons used are widely found in the lives of Western people and in accordance with what was expected in their social situations. Keywords: equivalence; Arab proverb; English prover