Translating English Graduation Speech into Arabic: A Motivation-Based Study

The current study scrutinizes the impact of motivation on the postgraduates, particularly, the speech is delivered by their inspiring masters. Thus, the study aims to bridge the gaps between two disparate languages and cultures, English and Arabic, by examining the challenges and strategies involved in presenting the motivations while maintaining cultural relevance and linguistic aesthetics during the translation process to enhance the quality of graduation speeches delivered in Arabic-speaking contexts through focusing on motivation. It is hypothesized that graduation speeches are unlike in English and Arabic, since the former highlights the positive language, whereas the latter highlights flashback. To establish this point, one English graduation speech is selected and analyzed qualitatively based on Georges (2006) Model of Success. The text is translated into Arabic by three fourth-year qualified students at the Department of Translation, College of Arts, University of Wasit (2023/2024), and analyzed according to Al-Qinais (2000) Model of Translation Quality Assessment. The conclusions are anticipated to contribute to the fields of translation studies, contrastive analysis, and cross-cultural communication by providing insightful information about the difficulties faced by translators when attempting to convey the attitudes of speakers from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds.