One Novel and Multiple Voices: Tackling Euphemism in Five Arabic Translations of Animal Farm

This study investigates the processes used by George Orwell in the formation of euphemism in Animal Farm and examines how far five Arabic translations of the novel succeed in conveying the euphemistic purposes of the Source text, and the euphemism formation procedures used in these translations. There are plenty of studies on euphemism and on the novel, but not a single study on translating euphemism in Animal Farm, hence this study. Twenty euphemistic expressions are classified based on Warren’s 1992 model and their five Arabic translations are analyzed. The study finds that 95% of the expressions are rendered literally and succeed in rendering the intended meaning, maintaining the same device. The study also finds that Orwell uses a device that is not categorized in Warren’s 1992 classification of euphemism innovation model and therefore it is defined and labelled as “Overstatement Paraphrasing”.