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 Post subject: إنَّ The sentence emphasis opener
PostPosted: 06 May 2009, 06:26 
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"Inna" (إنَّ) is used at the beginning of Arabic sentences to emphasize a statement. It has been often translated to Indeed or Verily, which seems OK. The problem is not that it is hard to translate per se, but that it is used in Arabic so often that whatever it translates to inevitably becomes a very common word in the English text. Since "Indeed" is not used nearly as often in English (much less "Verily"), this creates an alienating effect.

Not sure if anything can (or even should) be done about that, but it is worth discussing and all suggestions are welcome. Also, in the context of emphasis, there are other Arabic constructs used for emphasis in the Quran (sometimes jointly), and perhaps some coordination of how they are translated individually and jointly is warranted.

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 Post subject: Re: ان The sentence emphasis opener
PostPosted: 06 May 2009, 21:49 
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Good point. Similarly ل, the /læ:m/ of emphasis. I think emphasis in Arabic should be translated over to English as well. I'm inclined to use "verily" for إنَّ and "indeed" for the /læ:m/ of emphasis.

"Verily" is used a lot in the Bible, so it won't be that alien to the English speaker, I don't think. In fact, one verse in the Bible I recall reading says, "Verily, verily I say unto ye."

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