Translating Academic Discourse: Annotated Translation of Selected Cambridge Essays into Arabic

This study reports on an annotated translation project that seeks to enrich knowledge in the Arab world, with a focus on Morocco. A set of Cambridge essays were selected for their intellectual value and cultural relevance. Before translation, the texts were carefully analyzed to identify key challenges such as terminology, culture-specific references, stylistic features, ambiguities. This analysis assisted in shaping the translation strategies. The process was guided by Katharina Reiss’s text typology, ensuring that the communicative functions of the source texts were preserved, and Hans Vermeer’s Skopos theory, which clarified the overall purpose of the translations. To address practical challenges, the researchers applied Mona Baker’s model of equivalence and Vinay and Darbelnet’s taxonomy of procedures, providing tools to deal with linguistic and cultural difficulties. The annotated format documented the translators’ choices and rationale, offering critical reflection and contributing to ongoing discussions in translation studies.