Translating and Interpreting The mother tongue as the target language

Abstract

The present article intends first to point up the difference between a translator’s task and that of an interpreter though both are required to master the target language to a large extent. Interpreters, however are faced with an easier task for many reasons when they translate into their mother tongue, in particular, because interpreting generally involves general questions and topics which are rendered in a rather spontaneous manner. Translators, in contrast, are supposed to master specialized fields such as business, sciences, law cases, literature and so on, even though the target language is usually theirs. The second part of the paper attempts to deal with the difficulties of translation and interpreting in relation to the diglossic issues that Arabic as the target language raises.