To Translate or Not to Translate: The Case of Arabic and Foreign Shop Names in Saudi Arabia

The translatability of shop names constitutes a problem for translation students. To find out the status of shop name translation in Saudi Arabia, a sample of 271 shop names (clothing, accessories, beauty products, restaurants, cafes… etc.) was collected and analyzed to find out which shop names are translated, which ones are not, and which ones should be translated and to set some guidelines for shop-name translation. Results showed that 24% of the shops have pure Arabic names, 25% have international brand names (Starbucks, Burger King, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Monsoon, Zara, Sony); 39% have local English names ( أوبريشن فلافل Operation Falafel, Brand Center براند سنتر, بيبي شوب Baby Shop); and 12% mixed names (Arabic + foreign). Only 6.7% of all shop names are fully translated (العربية للعود Arabian Oud; الركن السويسري Swiss Corner; الشمس والرمال للرياضة Sun & Sand Sports; Seven Degree Café مقهى ٧ درجات); 3,3% are partially translated (Cotton Home قطن هوم; ماما بطاطا Mama Batata; JORI COFFEE الجوري كوفي) and 90% are transliterated using Arabic letters (Bershka بيرشكا , MANGO مانجو, كامايو Camaieu). Many shop names are transliterated, although they are translatable, are difficult to decode as the grapheme sequence does not fit the Arabic graphological system (Dr Nutrition دكتور نيوتريشن & Natural Touch تاتش ناتشرال). It was recommended that Franchised International brand names such as Debenhams & Samsung cannot be translated but transliterated. Some foreign shop names can be fully or partially translated rather than transliterated (Dr Nutrition