Translation Strategies

Strategic View of Translation into Persian

In professional and academic contexts, translation into Persian is not a simple word‑for‑word transfer. At C2 level you are expected to choose strategies consciously, justify them, and adapt your style to purpose, audience, and genre. This chapter focuses on the main strategic options when translating into Persian and on typical challenges between English and Persian.

Equivalence vs Adaptation

A central decision in any translation task is whether to aim for close equivalence or for freer adaptation.

Equivalence means keeping as much of the original form and structure as possible, while still producing natural Persian. This is often expected in academic writing, legal texts, technical documents, and research where wording precision matters.

Example:
English: “The results indicate a significant correlation between age and income.”
Persian (equivalence oriented):
«نتایج نشان می‌دهد رابطهٔ معناداری بین سن و درآمد وجود دارد.»

Adaptation means prioritizing effect and function over literal structure. This is more common in promotional texts, public communication, and some humanities writing where readability and rhetorical impact are more important than structural closeness.

Example:
English: “We are committed to putting our students first.”
Equivalence oriented:
«ما متعهد هستیم دانشجویان خود را در اولویت قرار دهیم.»
More adapted, audience‑friendly:
«اولویتِ اصلیِ ما همیشه دانشجو است.»

Literal vs Sense‑for‑Sense Translation

Literal translation follows the original words and structure as far as Persian allows. Sense‑for‑sense translation follows meaning and function, and rephrases where needed.

In many English to Persian contexts, complete literal translation leads to awkward or even incorrect Persian, so you need to adjust structure.

Literal attempt:
English: “to play a crucial role in something”
Too literal: «نقشِ حیاتی بازی کردن در چیزی»
Sense‑for‑sense:
«نقشِ بسیار مهمی در چیزی داشتن»
or
«در چیزی نقشِ تعیین‌کننده‌ای داشتن»

Another case:
English: “The paper is organized as follows.”
Literal and awkward: «مقاله به شکلِ زیر سازمان‌دهی شده است.»
Natural sense‑for‑sense:
«ساختارِ این مقاله به این صورت است.»
or
«این مقاله به صورتِ زیر سامان یافته است.»

A C2 translator constantly shifts between these two, keeping technical terms literal when needed, but rephrasing idiomatic or structural parts for natural Persian.

Domestication vs Foreignization

Domestication makes the text feel “Persian,” adjusting cultural references, metaphors, and examples so they are easy for Persian readers. Foreignization intentionally keeps some foreign flavor, often to preserve academic or cultural specificity.

Academic contexts sometimes require foreignization, for example when preserving the style of a specific author, or when the foreignness itself is part of the point. But excessive foreignization can make the Persian unreadable.

English: “He is a Hamlet figure in this novel.”
Domesticated explanation:
«او در این رمان شخصیتی دودل و مردد، شبیهِ شخصیتِ اصلیِ نمایش‌نامهٔ «هملت» است.»
Foreignized, shorter:
«او در این رمان شخصیتی شبیهِ هَملت دارد.»

Here, foreignization preserves the cultural name “Hamlet,” which is usually appropriate in academic literary criticism, but you clarify it if the audience might not know the reference.

In social sciences, foreignized institutional terms may be needed:
“House of Commons” → «مجلس عوامِ بریتانیا» (partial domestication with explanation)
“checks and balances” → often explained rather than literally translated:
«نظامِ توازن و نظارتِ متقابلِ قوا»

The strategic choice depends on:

Audience (متخصص / غیرمتخصص)
Text type (مقالهٔ علمی / گزارشِ رسمی / متنِ آموزشی)
Purpose (اطلاع‌رسانی / اقناع / نقد / خلاصه‌نویسی)

Managing Terminology and Technical Terms

In professional and academic translation, consistent terminology is critical. Persian has layers of vocabulary: native Persian, Arabic‑derived scholarly terms, and direct borrowings (often from English or French). Your strategy includes deciding which layer is most appropriate and then keeping it stable.

Example (linguistics):
“phoneme” → «واج»
“morpheme” → «کلمه‌ساخته» or «واژه‌ساخت» (varies by tradition)
“clause” → «بند»
Your strategy: choose one common, credible equivalent, check how it is used in authoritative Persian sources, and stick to it.

For newer or highly specialized terms:

1. Use established Persian equivalents when they exist:
   “globalization” → «جهانی‌شدن»
   “sustainability” → «پایداری» (and in some contexts «توسعهٔ پایدار»)
2. If no standard exists, use transcription plus explanation:
   “phishing” → «فیشینگ (نوعی کلاه‌برداریِ اینترنتی)»
   “quantum entanglement” → «درهم‌تنیدگیِ کوانتومی»
3. For widely adopted English loanwords, use the normal Persian script form:
   “internet” → «اینترنت»
   “algorithm” → «الگوریتم»

Information Density and Sentence Restructuring

English academic prose often uses long noun phrases and heavy pre‑modification. Persian typically prefers more analytic structures, relative clauses, and sometimes shorter sentences.

Example:
English: “long‑term sustainable development policies”
Literal chain: «سیاست‌های توسعهٔ پایدارِ بلندمدت» can work, but complex chains can easily become unreadable.

When the cluster is too dense, break it:
«سیاست‌هایی برای توسعهٔ پایدار در بلندمدت»
or
«سیاست‌های توسعه‌ای که هم پایدار باشند و هم بلندمدت.»

English also allows long sentences with nested clauses. Persian academic style accepts complex sentences, but you must manage clarity.

English:
“This study, which builds on previous research conducted in the United States and Europe, aims to examine the impact of social media on political participation among young adults.”

Natural Persian:
«این پژوهش، که بر پژوهش‌های پیشین در ایالات متحده و اروپا تکیه دارد، می‌کوشد تأثیرِ شبکه‌های اجتماعی بر مشارکتِ سیاسیِ جوانان را بررسی کند.»

Sometimes breaking a sentence is strategically better:
«این پژوهش بر تحقیق‌های پیشین در ایالات متحده و اروپا تکیه دارد. هدفِ آن بررسیِ تأثیرِ شبکه‌های اجتماعی بر مشارکتِ سیاسیِ جوانان است.»

Your strategy is to maintain logical relationships faithfully, but choose a structure that is idiomatic and readable in Persian.

Argumentation, Hedging, and Modality

Academic English uses specific patterns of hedging, certainty, and modality. Persian uses a slightly different toolkit, often with modal verbs, adverbs, and set phrases.

Hedging verbs and phrases:
“suggest” → «نشان می‌دهد», «حاکی از آن است», «دلالت بر این دارد که»
“seem” → «به‌نظر می‌رسد», «ظاهراً», «گویا»
“it is possible that” → «ممکن است», «احتمال دارد»

Example:
English: “The findings suggest that the model may not be accurate.”
Persian:
«یافته‌ها نشان می‌دهد که این الگو ممکن است دقیق نباشد.»
or more cautious:
«یافته‌ها حاکی از آن است که شاید این الگو چندان دقیق نباشد.»

For strong claims:
“demonstrate” → «نشان می‌دهد», but often with context that strengthens it, such as «به‌روشنی نشان می‌دهد» or «به‌طورِ قاطع نشان می‌دهد» when justified.

Strategically, you must match the original author’s level of certainty. Do not inadvertently strengthen or weaken claims in translation.

Style Matching in Academic and Professional Texts

Your translation strategy must be sensitive to expected register: formal academic, policy, business, or technical documentation. English and Persian encode formality differently.

Academic Persian often uses Arabic‑derived nominalizations and formal connectors:

“therefore” → «بنابراین», «از این‌رو», «در نتیجه»
“moreover” → «علاوه بر این», «افزون بر این»
“in contrast” → «در مقابل», «در عوض», «برخلافِ این»

Compare:
English: “Moreover, the results confirm our hypothesis.”
Persian:
«علاوه بر این، نتایج فرضیهٔ ما را تأیید می‌کند.»
or a slightly more elevated version:
«افزون بر این، نتایج در تأییدِ فرضیهٔ ماست.»

In formal reports or policy documents, you may favor more neutral, institutional Persian:

“implement a policy” → «سیاستی را اجرا کردن» → «اجرای یک سیاست»
“conduct a survey” → «نظرسنجی انجام دادن» → «انجامِ یک نظرسنجی»

The strategic step is to decide: Which register fits the client and audience? Once chosen, keep it stable, avoiding sudden shifts into colloquial forms like «می‌خواد» or «می‌خوام» in an otherwise formal text.

Dealing with Cultural and Legal Concepts

Some English terms refer to institutions, legal notions, or cultural practices that do not have exact Persian equivalents. The translation strategy must balance precision, intelligibility, and brevity.

Common strategies:

1. Calque (loan translation) when the structure is understandable:
   “separation of powers” → «تفکیکِ قوا»
   “freedom of expression” → «آزادیِ بیان»
2. Functional equivalent when the literal phrase would mislead:
   “community college” → depending on context, explained:
   «نوعی کالجِ محلیِ دوساله برای آموزشِ عالی»
   “city council” → «شورای شهر»
3. Transcription plus explanation when you must preserve the original term:
   “Common Law” → «حقوقِ کامن‌لا (نظامِ حقوقیِ عرفیِ انگلستان و آمریکا)»

In academic writing, often a mixed strategy works: first mention with original term and explanation in parentheses, later mentions with the chosen Persian equivalent.

Example:
«نظامِ «کامن‌لا» (Common Law) در برابرِ نظامِ «حقوقِ نوشته» (Civil Law) قرار می‌گیرد.»
Later:
«در نظامِ کامن‌لا، رویهٔ قضایی نقشِ مهمی دارد.»

Quotations and Citation Style

When translating academic texts, you must decide how to handle quotations, citations, and references. Two strategic issues arise:

1. Translating quoted material.
   If a quotation is from another published English source and a standard Persian translation exists, you may need to cite and use that translation. If not, you typically translate the quote into Persian, and optionally keep the original in a footnote, depending on the target journal’s norms.

Example in text:
«به گفتهٔ اسمیت (۲۰۱۰)، «جهانی‌شدن فرآیندی چندبُعدی است» (Smith, 2010, p. 23).»

2. Preserving citation formats.
   APA, MLA, or Chicago style usually stay as they are, even in Persian academic writing. Your strategy is to keep the reference details in Latin script, while translating surrounding text into Persian.

For example:
English: “As argued by Anderson (1983), nations are ‘imagined communities’.”
Persian:
«به‌گفتهٔ اَندِرسون (Anderson, 1983)، ملت‌ها «جماعت‌های تخیلی» هستند.»

Strategically, you must respect the target institution’s style guide. Some Persian journals specify whether titles in the reference list should be translated or left in the original language.

Paraphrasing vs Close Translation

At C2 level, you must sometimes choose between very close translation and purposeful paraphrase, especially in summaries, executive abstracts, and educational adaptations.

Close translation is appropriate for:

Legal clauses
Methodology sections
Definitions
Operationalization of variables

Paraphrase is often expected in:

Layperson summaries of technical research
Policy briefs based on academic articles
Teaching materials derived from complex sources

Example:
Original:
“Cognitive load theory posits that instructional design should avoid overloading the learners’ working memory.”

Close translation:
«نظریهٔ بارِ شناختی بر این فرض استوار است که طراحیِ آموزشی باید از ایجادِ بارِ بیش‌ازحد بر حافظهٔ فعالِ یادگیرنده پرهیز کند.»

Paraphrased for broader audience:
«طبقِ نظریهٔ بارِ شناختی، شیوهٔ آموزش نباید آن‌قدر پیچیده باشد که حافظهٔ کوتاه‌مدتِ دانشجو را خسته کند.»

Your strategy depends on assignment instructions. You must never paraphrase in a way that introduces new claims or interpretations that are not in the original.

Revision and Back‑Translation as Strategic Tools

At C2 level, revision is itself a strategy, not just a final check. Two techniques are especially useful:

1. Conceptual back‑translation.
   Without looking at the original, explain in English (mentally or in notes) what your Persian sentence says. If you cannot reconstruct the original meaning accurately, you may have drifted.
2. Genre alignment.
   Compare your translated text not to the English original, but to good native Persian texts of the same genre. For example, compare a translated article introduction to introductions in high‑quality Persian journals. Check whether the style, connectors, typical phrases, and structure align.

Typical English–Persian Strategic Problems

Some recurrent issues require explicit strategic decisions:

Tense and aspect.
English present perfect often maps to Persian simple past, sometimes with adverbs.
English: “Researchers have shown that…”
Persian: «پژوهشگران نشان داده‌اند که…» or sometimes «پژوهشگران نشان داده‌اند که تا کنون…»

Nominalizations.
English academic writing loves nominalizations (e.g. “implementation,” “consideration”). Persian can use them, especially Arabic‑derived ones, but too many can make the text heavy. Strategic unpacking into verbs often helps.
“the implementation of the policy”
→ «اجرای سیاست» rather than «پیاده‌سازیِ آن سیاست» in every case.

Personal pronouns.
English academic texts may use “we” to mean “the author(s).” In Persian, you can keep «ما» when appropriate, or use impersonal forms.
English: “In this paper, we argue that…”
Persian:
«در این مقاله استدلال می‌کنیم که…»
or
«در این مقاله نشان داده خواهد شد که…» (more impersonal)

Each choice subtly affects perceived stance and formality.

Developing a Personal Translation Strategy

Professional translators develop a relatively stable personal strategy that can be adapted as needed. For academic and professional Persian, such a strategy typically includes:

Preferred level of formality and types of connectors
Default approach to technical terms and loanwords
Standard equivalents for recurring academic phrases
A consistent way of handling quotations and references
Habitual procedures for revision and self‑checking

Over time, you refine this strategy by reading high‑quality Persian academic texts, consulting style guides, and discussing choices with field experts.

The goal at C2 is not to find one “correct” way to translate, but to choose consciously among options, justify those choices, and produce Persian texts that are accurate, clear, and stylistically appropriate to their professional or academic context.

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