COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AND LINGUISTICS

TRAN 301
Spring 2022
Arabic Newsletter

Overview
In this assignment, you will produce a news story in Arabic by translating relevant
information from the source news story. In the translation you must demonstrate
your ability to:
a) use appropriate translation strategies for translating and writing news,
b) translate effectively a text from English to Arabic, and
c) use correct grammar, punctuation and appropriate writing style.

Due date: The Arabic newsletter must be typed and submitted in PDF format1 via
Blackboard by the end of 2nd February2.
Assignment weight: 10% of your total grade.

Instructions
❑ Read the ST.
❑ Read the translation brief before you translate and write the news story.
❑ After reading the source news story, decide which information to include in
the Arabic new story, taking into account the target readership and the
editorial policy of the target news publisher as stated in the translation brief.

1
As per syllabus, assignments must be submitted in the format requested by the instructor, failure to do will result
in 10% penalty.
2
As per your syllabus, late assignments will automatically receive a 10% penalty. Assignments handed in more than
24 hours late will receive a further 10% penalty. Each subsequent 24 hours will result in a further 10% penalty.
 COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AND LINGUISTICS

❑ Use idiomatic language, correct grammar and punctuation. Read the

assessment rubrics in the syllabus.
❑ Your news story should include headline (translated or your own), picture
(same as of the ST or your own), lede, more paragraphs.
❑ The word limit of your Arabic news story is 150-180 words. This includes the
headlines and all components of the story.
❑ You should include at least one quotation, with at least 30 words of quoted
speech.
❑ Your assignment will have the following 2 sections:
1. Title page (includes your name and student’s number) stating that it
is Arabic Newsletter
2. The Arabic News Story3
❑ Insert the URL address of the source text in the headline of the Arabic news
story.
❑ Remember this is not a literal translation of the ST! You will write a news
story on the basis of the source text. Apply all the strategies and methods
you learnt during the course.
❑ Make sure you submit your own work. Plagiarism will not be tolerated in
anyway. Refer to the policy on plagiarism in the syllabus document.
❑ Do some research! Use your class notes, recommended readings (if any), as
well as the extra sources included in your list of suggestions for further
reading, in addition to any other relevant sources you find at QU library to
translate this text.
❑ Please make use of office hours. I am more than happy to help at any point
during the writing process.
❑ Note that office hours are there to help you understand the concepts or
answer any questions you might have about the source text. These office
hours are not there for correcting the assignment prior to submission.

3
Font must be size 12, and use double space.
 COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AND LINGUISTICS

Translation brief:
Select a news story from BBC (Entertainment section) to subtitle from English into Arabic. Add
your selection (title and link) in the table on Google Docs (Click on the link below). Wait for my
approval which will be added to the table in front of your selection. If not approved, you should
find another news story. Don’t choose any text already selected by others. Check the table. The
source text should be lengthy enough in order for you to find enough information for your
Arabic story. On the basis of the information given in the source text, write a news story in
Arabic. Make your story ready to be published on Aljazeera.net. You may use any strategies
that might help you produce a news story that sounds more idiomatic and easier to understand
by native speakers of Arabic. Remember that translating news is different from translating
other types of text. You translate and write a new text.

Link to the selection table:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UQkd5vPwAMSs34eazEQKtNw2vJ3d6iih81EXyEqOhsY/edit#