Human Translation vs. Machine Translation in the Naguib Mahfouz’s Novel Palace Walk: A Case Study

Abstract

Literary translation is one of the most important ways to break down barriers between languages, as its mission is to convey the cultural aspects and beliefs of one people to another. For translating these works to look like the originals is not an easy task for humans, so imagine what would happen if they were given to machines! The researcher chose Naguib Mahfouz's novel Bayn Al-Qasrain ‘Palace Walk’ to study the differences between human and machine translation, so this study is based on comparing the results of human and machine translation of literary texts, in particular Naguib Mahfouz's novel Bayn Al-Qasrain ‘Palace Walk’, in addition to researching the strategies used by them. Finally, the researcher will shed light on the errors and problems faced by humans and machines in translating cultural expressions from Arabic into English.