Translating Nouzha Fassi Fihri's La Baroudeuse: A Case Study in ...

The culturally specific exclamation "Wili Wili!" is deleted from the final
version. English or French vocalizations with similar meanings fail to convey the
same sense of surprise and shame and have the disadvantage of being specific to
other cultures. The exclamation "Heavens!" is somewhat similar in that it can
indicate surprise, but only vaguely connotes that the situation does not satisfy
"heavenly" criteria and is therefore sinful or shameful. The French "Oh là là!"
suggests admiration or consternation more than shame. Though the final version
offers no satisfactory replacement, the phrases "Shame on her!" "How shameful!"
and "What a scandal!" appear in both versions and sufficiently compensate for the
meaning lost.
Though transcribed Arabic names are maintained from the initial to the
final version, spelling modifications have been made in response to a reader's
comments and in anticipation of readers' expectations, as illustrated in examples
21, 22, and 23.
21 o: Rkia and Hnia (64, 77)
21 i: Rkia and Hnia
21 f: R'kia and H'nia
In the final version, an apostrophe was added to separate the initial consonant
cluster, thereby making the sound image of these names more accessible to
English speakers while maintaining an approximation of the Moroccan
pronunciation.
22 o: Karaouiène (39), Karaouine (50, 78, 114, 115), Karaouïne (209)
22 i: Karaouiyine
22 f: Qarawiyin
92