Inaccuracy in the Translation of Dentistry Terms from English into Arabic

This study investigates the inaccuracies manifested in the translation of dental terms from English into Arabic by Palestinian dentists. It underscores the fact that the translation of dental terms is part and parcel of technical translation; and accounts for the major causes and provides an adequate solution for such inaccuracies. The findings of the study point out the shortcomings of using different dental translation strategies simultaneously for the same term and point out that the experience and the institutional background of the dentists have a profound impact on the accuracy of translating dental terms. The findings have also underlined the difference between technical and conventional translation rules. While the study points out that dentists have used Arabicisation, transliteration, and descriptive translation strategies for the accomplishment of adequate equivalences in the translation of dental terms, it has shown also that Arabicisation is highly neglected and rarely used by dentists in comparison with the other two translation strategies. Transliteration is the most common especially among specialists and descriptive is mainly used by dentists with non-specialists. The methodology used in this study relied heavily on the data taken from a pilot study, carried out through the distribution of a questionnaire to a hundred dentists at the American University in the city of Jenin and in the city of Nablus on the West Bank, followed with a number of personal interviews with a number of dentists.


Introduction
Not long ago, little attention was given to translation as a field of study; it was regarded as a branch of linguistics. After that, translation studies were given more attention and became a fully-fledged field of study.
The word translation itself derives from the Latin term [About the Language Realm] (n.d). Retrieved January 15, 2016 from http://www.languagerealm.com/articles/history-of-translation.php "to bring or carry across". The ancient Greek term is "metaphrasis" ("to speak across") and this gives us the term "metaphrase" literal or word-for-word translation)-as contrasted with "paraphrase" (a saying in other words). This distinction has been existed at the heart of the theory of translation throughout its history: Cicero and Horace employed it in Rome; Dryden continued to use it in the seventeenth century and it still exists today in the debates around "fidelity versus transparency" or "formal equivalence versus dynamic equivalence". Hajjaj (1997, p. 40) argues that translation has always been recognized as one of the most important and necessary activities in all human life. Translation among human languages is very vital and important indeed. Suffice it to say that in the age of technologies, no group of people within a nation can do without access to the world of information and technology in many aspects. Technology has increasingly been invading every home in every corner of the world through radio, television, computer networks and printed media. It is almost impossible for all people to learn just one language in their life time, and because English has become the most globally used language, translation to and from English remains the means for facilitating international communication.
Translation is not only a complex event, but it is also a multi-purpose activity, requiring skill, knowledge and an immense of efforts. The ability to transfer the thoughts and ideas from one language to another in written or oral form is not innate; it needs more knowledge, experience and practice. While every normal human being is born predisposed to acquire a language, translation does not work in the same way. It needs hard work to be learnt and mastered through a constant process. Enani (1999, p. 5) defines the translator as "a writer who formulates ideas in words addressed to readers.
The only difference between him and the original writer is that these ideas are the following ones".
El Shafey (1985) has argued that a translator first analyzes the message and makes the ideas easily absorbed and understood in the TL; s/he breaks the ideas down into its simplest and structurally clearest elements, transfers it at this level into the TL in the form which is most appropriate for the intended audience. The translator represents the link between the ST and the target TL receivers. His/Her role is very important in this regard because s/he is the main authentic honest source who will write the message for others. El Shafey (1985, p. 95) added that "A translator instinctively concludes that it is best to transfer the "kernel level" in one language to the corresponding "kernel level" in the "receptor language". www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/sll Studies in Linguistics and Literature Vol. 5, No. 1, 2021 12 Published by SCHOLINK INC. Farghal and Shunnaq (1999, p. 2) have stated that "translation is often regarded as a project for transferring the meaning from one language into another". Translation is then regarded as a human activity which enables human beings to exchange ideas and thoughts in any language. In fact, translation is highly relevant to all sciences, philosophy, linguistics, sociology and psychology. Newmark (1988, p. 5) defines translation as "rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text". Hatim and Munday (2004, p. 3) have argued that "translation is a phenomenon that has a huge effect on everyday life". Translation is that kind of science which facilitates understanding among different nations in all aspects of life.
Technical translation is considered as a main branch in translation studies since technical sciences develop rapidly all over the world. Therefore, the need for technical translation to or from English language is very important so as to cope with that huge number of technical terms that are being coined in all languages in general and in the English language in particular. All of these terms are mainly names of different inventions, electronics, industrial products, machinery, medical sciences and other scientific fields. It is universally acknowledged that industrialization has led to the formalization of translation for business purposes since the eighteenth century. Newmark (1988, p. 51) says, "technical translation is one part of specialized translation". Despite the small number of technical terms in a text in general, they still play an important role in the text meaning. In that, Newmark (ibid) says, "Although terminology doesn't form more than 5% to 10% of the whole text, it still plays an important role in the text". In a sense, the text will not be acquired or understood properly unless the intended meaning of the terms is clarified. Translation is considered as a mediation between cultures in different aspects. The translator, though, has the capacity to enhance and facilitate our understanding of all global developed scientific sciences. Medical or dental terms are one branch of these scientific developments which need to be understood and illustrated through translation. Gambier Y. and Doorslaer L. (2011, p. 80)  conventional or technical translation problems when translating from English into Arabic. It is also very obvious that the dentistry terms inaccurately translated from English into Arabic may cause great damage to the real intended meanings of these terms. The dental text should not be dealt with as a text free; on the contrary, it must be recognized as a text bound; this problem results from the random use of the term translation using English Arabic dictionaries. Dental translation should follow the rules of technical translation so as to avoid translation problems. Moreover, the lack of knowledge in the Arabic language basic rules is another obstacle that hinders accurate dental translation results.
The vast developments in dentistry as well as in medical sciences in general-actually need hard work in the field of translation so as to cope with all the new English terms in the Arabic language. Therefore, there is a need to find out the accurate way to transfer (translate) these scientific achievements and coin them in the Arabic language. The Arabic language translators or dentists-as specialized in the field-should work hard to find out the accurate equivalences for these dental terms according to the Arabic language accurate linguistic rules. Hence, translating English dentistry terms from English into Arabic accurately is vital and necessary for all dentists so as to acquire the exact intended meaning and then to convey the original translated English dental texts or terms to both specialists and non-specialists.
This study focuses mainly on the inaccuracy of dental terms translation from English into Arabic and the expected negative consequences of that inaccurate translation. The discrepancies between the different translations observed in the pilot study represent the cornerstone of the study. Many other data sources will also be examined including a number of personal interviews with a number of dentists, as well as some authentic dental or medical dictionaries such as The Unified Dictionary of Dentistry (UDD) and The Unified Medical Dictionary (UMD). This study examines the inaccurate areas and sheds light on the difference between technical and conventional translation rules. It also tries to find out the most satisfying solution for dentistry terms translation problem.

Statement of the Problem
This study aims to explore the problems that translators or dentists may encounter in translating English dentistry texts or terms into Arabic, based on the available literature on technical translation.
The thesis mainly identifies two problematic or inaccuracy areas: conventional and technical.
First, Greek and Latin languages are the main sources of the medical terms where prefixes or suffixes are added to the "root word" which becomes a new term; basically, it is usually a term derived from Greek or Latin as source languages. The following important points are in place: 1) In fact, English speaking communities are pioneers in modern technologies, so all of these technologies are of Greek and Latin origins.
2) English medical terms are widely used among Arabic specialists who favor transliteration over Arabicisation or descriptive. At the same time it has been found that Arabicisation is rarely used among specialists whereas descriptive is used with no-specialists. Hervey and Higgins (1992) have said that, translation could be viewed as a process of conveying the gist of the source text message into a target text message, and they have added that in technical translation the target text should be as close as possible to the source text.
The distinction between conventional and technical translation represents the most common problems that encounter both translators and dentists when translating technical or dentistry terms from English into Arabic in particular. Many of these problematic areas are found in the translations of many dentists.
As an example of an inaccurate dental translation is found in the following dental term, translated from English into Arabic: First, the term "contamination" means ‫ﺗﻠﻮﺙ‬ in Arabic whereas it was translated into ‫ﻋﺪﻭﻯ‬ by some dentists which is not only inaccurate but totally wrong [Wound basic] (n.d), Retrieved January 23, 2016 from https://quizlet.com/57036959/wound-basic-flash-cards/.
"Contamination" implies the presence of microorganisms that do not necessarily colonize or reproduce in the host. 'Infection' implies colonization and reproduction of the organism within the host".
Disease only occurs when the infection impairs the health of the host.

Purpose of the Study
This study is expected to investigate and to identify the exact problematic areas that encounter dentists in translation of dentistry terms. The researcher's investigation has led to identify two areas: conventional and technical where translation has been inaccurate, if not wrong. It has been found that the different connotations of dental terms are sometimes misunderstood, thus causing problems in translation of dentistry terms.
In the course of translation history, translation discourse distinguishes between types of translation equivalences according to many different pioneers in translation: word for word and sense for sense, 1) Descriptive equivalence.
Fischback (1986) maintained that "translating medicine is regarded as the most universal and oldest field of scientific translation because of the homogenous ubiquity of the human body" (as cited in Shajji, 2013, p. 4).
This is very apparent in dentistry where there are many terms used daily by dentists and their staff in the course of delivering care to patients, maintaining patients' records and preparing claims. Many terms are familiar, especially to experienced individuals, but in general the accuracy of dental terms translation from English into Arabic depends mostly on the dentist's institutional background [Terms and Definitions] (2015), Retrieved January 30, from http://www.ada.org/glossaryforprofessionals. aspx "New dentists and staff, however, may not be as familiar-and over time new terms come into use and old terms are revised for clarity".

Research Questions
The present thesis pursue to answer the following questions: 1) What are the main problems that translators face in translating technical terms?
2) What are the most common inaccurate features in translating dentistry terms?
3) What is the effect of experience and the institutional background of the dentist in the translation process? 4) What are the main causes of this inaccuracy? 5) What are the direct and indirect effects of this inaccuracy on both patients and dentists? 6) What are the possible solutions for the problem?

Significance of the Study
The main significance of the study lies mostly in understanding the exact problematic areas in the translation of dental terms and how this problem can be solved.
The significance of the study can be divided into two main parts. First, there is little research on conventional and technical inaccuracy in the translation of dental or medical terms from English into Arabic as to specialists and non-specialists. Second, it is geared toward materializing the shortcomings of inaccuracy in translating the dental terms. Third, it is also an attempt to shed light on the most problematic dental terms that are translated from English into Arabic by dentists or other dental texts, thus achieving a stable method of dental translation terms. Finally, the study is also significant to dentists, students of dentistry, translators and researchers in the field.
The pilot study was conducted in which a number of dental terms or texts were submitted to dentists to translate from English into Arabic. The sample of the pilot study was 100 dentists from Nablus City in Palestine and the Arab American University in Palestine to include all the dentists in Palestine who come from different institutional backgrounds. The dentists were asked to translate some problematic dental terms from English into Arabic. The results of this study were very clear regarding the conventional and technical problems. At the same time, the dentists reported, in the personal interviews, that they do not usually use Arabic equivalence for the English dental terms when they communicate with specialists, but they always use transliteration instead.
Depending on the data analyses, the researcher found that the institution where the dentists have graduated from had a clear important role in the range of accuracy in the translation of dental terms from English into Arabic.

Limitations of the Study
The study is limited to a number of limitations: 1) The dentists were asked to translate a number of dental terms or texts which had some problematic translation areas.
2) The study focused on dentists mainly who came from Nablus and the Arab American University in Jenin.
3) The study focused on three main technical or medical translation strategies: Arabicisation, descriptive and transliteration.
4) The study focused on the range of knowledge depth in Arabic as a basic requirement for an accurate translation.

Structure of the Study
The study falls into five main chapters as follows: The thesis is divided into chapters according to the chronological order of scientific research methodology. Chapter one includes an introduction in which the researcher touches on historical background of translation in parallel with the importance of technical and medical translation. It also introduces the different components of main ideas of the study. Chapter Two is devoted to pioneers in medical translation or dentistry translation. It also discusses the general features of technical and medical terms translation and how they are different from the daily usage of language. It includes definitions of dentistry term translation and the characteristics of medical and dental translation. It concludes with a look at the importance of dentistry translation to specialists and non-specialists.
Chapter Three focuses on the methodology of the study. It describes the community of the study, the sample, the primary sources of the data collection which include: Pilot study and personal interviews with a number of dentists. Chapter four is devoted to analyses of data collection and personal interviews depending on authentic reliable dental sources. The analytical results showed a variation in the translation of dentistry terms in many aspects of technical or conventional inaccuracy. Chapter Five incorporates the findings and results of this study and offers a number of recommendations.

Introduction
This section is an overview of the methodology used in the thesis, such as pilot study, interviews with a number of dentists and some dental texts analyses. It also focuses on the frames that have been used to collect the data which is the main base of the study. Moreover, it discusses the most common equivalences and strategies of medical translation.

Description of the Study
Just as the foundations support and decide the shape of a building, a theoretical framework provides the rationale for predictions about the relationships among variables of the research study.
This chapter discusses the methods and procedures that are used to collect the data which are necessary for the thesis analyses and then come up with the necessary results and recommendations. This chapter also includes the districts of the respondents and some other necessary information about them that are vital for the study analyses. The chapter displays the necessary sources of the data include mainly the pilot study, dental texts analyses and short interviews with a number of dentists.

Tools and Data Collection
The crucial first concern of the study is to find out the difference between conventional and technical translation inaccuracy in the translation of dental terms from English into Arabic. The dental texts and terms are translated by a number of dentists. A number of significant discrepancies have been observed and analyzed about these different translations. The second aim of this study is also to absorb beneficial results about the importance of accurate translation of the dental terms to both specialists and non-specialists combined with the best required sources that the dentists can rely on in dental translation, beside the recommended dental translation strategies. Third, the effect of the different translation strategies that are followed, either between dentists themselves (specialists) or between dentists and patients (non-specialists) on the other hand, asymmetrical talk, on dental translation accuracy.
The target dentists are mainly from Nablus City, who learned dentistry in different institutions, and the Arab American University in Jenin. Moreover, some personal interviews are conducted with a number of dentists.

Population & Sample of the Study
The sample of the study consists of 100 dentists, 65 dentists from Nablus and 35 undergraduate students from the Arab American University in Jenin. Apparently, not all targeted dentists have received their education in English language. The Arab American University in Jenin is one sample that proves that Palestinian universities use English language in their medical faculties, but at the same time not all Arab universities use English language as a learning language. Clearly, the targeted dentists from Nablus City have not received their education in English language only, which means that not all dentists in Palestine receive their dentistry education in English only. As a result, he sample that covers the study may be considered as a systematic and may make the problem clear and convenient for the study and analytic calculations.
The respondents were asked to translate 20 dental texts from English into Arabic. The texts include a large number of problematic translation areas of the dental terms which can be an actual sample for the study. The dentists were asked to translate the whole texts to find out how they do translate the intended meaning of the whole dental text first, then observe and analyze the different translations of every dental term. The dentists were also asked to mention their institutional background and the number of years' experience so as to find out the effect of these factors on the of translation accuracy range, compared also with the translation results of the undergraduate students from the Arab American University in Jenin. Although the language of dentistry is universal, not all dentistry faculties use English language as a language of dentistry teaching. Therefore, the institutional background of the dentists has a tangible effect on the dentists' accurate translation degree of the English dental terms into Arabic language, and so there is a variation between the dentists themselves. The dentists who have graduated from East Europe, Russia, Ukraine or Syria in particular face some difficulties in English medical terms translation accuracy. However, many dentists have argued that they face some difficulties in using "Arabicization" equivalence in dental terms translation.

The Procedures of the Study
The data of the study has been collected from translated dentistry terms by different dentists from Nablus, and the Arab American University in Jenin. Different inaccurate areas of the dental terms translations have been observed through comprehensive analyses in the pilot study. Moreover, other translated dental terms from English into Arabic, either in dentistry conferences or other dental texts, have been also examined in the pilot study which have shown translation inaccuracy.
The main authentic sources that are used in the study are: Some points about the two dictionaries can be pointed out in this concern as follows: First, The Unified Dictionary of Dentistry English-Arabic, 2004 1) It uses just one Arabic word for the English expression, but other synonyms are not used unless it is very necessary in order to make the translation unified.
2) If there are many foreign synonyms for the same dental term, for historical reasons, it just translates its original meaning. 3) It uses the common words in Arabic or that were previously used by Arab scientists.
4) It uses transliteration equivalence for exotic words because it is difficult to find an Arabic equivalence for these terms.
5) It works hard to make the term Arabicized so as to be easier for Arabic language derivations.
6) It considers the Arabicized term an Arabic term which follows the Arabic structural rules.
7) It is committed to choose the easiest exotic terms from all foreign languages such as Latin, French and English without being restricted to only one foreign language so as to be also easier in the Arabic language.
8) It translates species names in the taxonomy of animals and plants, but microbes are not Arabicized. The UMD is available in print, on CD and on the internet. The fourth edition of the UMD contains more than 150 000 terms in English and Arabic. Most of these terms are available also in Farsi, French, German and Spanish".
It is really the first dictionary that introduces the medical terms in Arabic language. It provides an opportunity for those who are not specialized in Medicine to have an access to medical sciences from the inside so as to recognize the diseases, their causes and their newly coined names, particularly associated with the names of their discoverers of Western or other scientists. Moreover, it illustrates the classifications of the diseases and their types the various disciplines, the symptoms that we feel and the symptoms that we do not feel.
Third, another important authentic source is (Oxford Study Dictionary, 2010) which is mainly used by the students of dentistry specially in Arab American University in Jenin.
Pilot study is the main data collection in this study in addition to personal interviews with a number of dentists. The targeted dentists graduated from different universities and from different countries as has been mentioned earlier. They were asked to translate some controversial dentistry terms through contexts www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/sll Studies in Linguistics and Literature Vol. 5, No. 1, 2021 20 Published by SCHOLINK INC. and the researcher focuses on both the whole translated text and then the dental terms in each context to find out the discrepancies between the different translations, and recognize the kind of problem whether it is really technical or conventional. The researcher has classified the translated terms according to the type of inaccuracy, and the inaccuracy created by the difference in technical and conventional translation.
In the following chapter the first section will discuss the inaccuracy of technical and conventional translation of the dentistry terms. Some dentists and translators fall in real technical problem when translating these terms into Arabic. It is clear that the institutional background also has great effect on the accuracy of translation.
It is necessary for all dentists to understand the English dental term in their native language so as to understand the gist of its message and get its exact crucial meaning.
This study is concerned with assessing different aspects and dimensions of translation inaccuracy of dental texts and terms which shows discrepancies between the translated contexts either by dentists or other translators from English into Arabic.
The mainly used frame in translation is to gauge equivalence between ST and TT and to investigate the problematic translation areas to come up with a possible solutions for this problem.

Interviews with Dentists
The researcher has conducted some personal interviews with experienced dentists about the use of dental terms in terms of its importance to both dentists and patients in English and Arabic. They have provided the researcher with a significant guideline about dental terms translation from English into Arabic.
Moreover, the questions were mainly about the importance of translating dental terms use between dentists themselves and between dentists and patients. In addition to this, they have been asked about the main references they use in understanding the dental terms. One of the aims of this study is to discover the types of equivalences that are used among dentists when translating English terms from English into Arabic. They have confirmed that they usually use transliteration equivalence in most of their communication, then comes the second equivalence which is descriptive translation. A few number have said that they have used Arabicisation in translating dental terms which has the most common and known problematic area.

The Questionnaire
Conducting pilot study is the main data collection method used in the study in addition to other dental translated texts analyses. The questionnaire included a large number of dental terms introduced through texts which have problematic translation inaccurate areas. It is the way to reach a reliable data through a comprehensive study about inaccuracy in dental terms translation. The dentists have been asked to translate a number of dental terms from English into Arabic. The first section of the questionnaire includes general information about the dentist especially his/her experience period and the institutional background which is very important to come up with the required results as follows: The main aim of the first section is to find out the effect of both experience and the institutional background on the dentists translation accuracy of the dental terms from English into Arabic. This questionnaire covers the regions of Nablus and the Arab American University in Jenin.
In the second section, the respondents have been required to translate 20 texts that include a number of problematic dental terms when translated from English into Arabic. The translation of the terms has been analyzed to find out the different kinds of problematic areas. It was found that many terms have not been translated in the same way or in an inaccurate way. The questionnaire has been analyzed and the researcher tries to figure out the types of inaccurate translation areas and the reasons behind that.
Moreover, the questionnaire has tested the regional effect of the accurate translation from and Nablus and the Arab American University in Jenin.

Statistical Analyses
The 100 copies of the questionnaire were collected and analyzed depending on the previous mentioned dental sources: The Unified Dictionary of Dentistry and The United Medical Dictionary. The translated dental terms are presented in different table-analyses that include different translations by dentists compared later with the translation of UDD and UMD. Finally the tables also include the use of different translation strategies which clarify the negative effect of using different translation strategies for the same term.

Result
This study has pointed out the problematic areas in dental translation from English into Arabic and has attributed the inaccurate translation areas to the lack of experience in technical translation rules. The study has also focused on the type of translation strategies used in technical translation in general and in dental term translation in particular which are: Arabicisation, transliteration and descriptive translation. At the same it has cautioned against the haphazard use of different translation strategies without following certain translation rules and taking into account the type of the dental text and recipients. The findings have also underscored the tendency of dentists to resort to transliteration strategy when interacting with other specialists at the expense of other strategies on account that it is the easiest one although it is not the optimal option in some cases. In fact, using acronyms or abbreviations is very common among dentists, and using transliteration translation strategy for abbreviations or acronyms leads to a high ambiguity. Moreover, the experience and the institutional background of the target dentists have shown great influence on the accuracy of dental terms translation and have revealed the significant differences between the dentists who have received their education in English language or in other languages. Finally, it is observed that there is smattering of the basic rules of both Arabic and English languages.

Discussion
Clearly, some dentists were not fully aware of the three translation strategies and it is not recommended to use them simultaneously which could cause serious ambiguity. Choosing the translation strategy depends mostly on the type of the dental term and the institutional background of the dentists. Some dentists maintained that they usually used simplified descriptive translation strategy for the English dental term specially when communicating with laymen or non-specialists, but they use transliteration strategy for the dental term especially with specialists, bearing in mind that the majority of them did not give any importance to Arabicisation translation.
The following table shows the translation strategy which the dentists adopted for to translate the following dental terms in the personal interviews. It is very obvious that they supported descriptive translation when communicating with non-specialists and used the transliteration strategy when communicating with specialists; however, the majority of them refrained from using the Arabicisation translation strategy. Table 2 shows the Arabicisation translation strategy according to UDD and UMD.