Master’s Degree Awarded to Ms. Rashida Mohammed Mesawa in Translation Studies

Ms.Rashida Mohammed Ibrahim Mesawawas awarded a Master’s Degree in Translation Studies with an average of Excellent and a grade of (90%)for her thesis titled: Text Type-Based Assessment of Arabic Translation of the Novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951),which was submitted tothe Department of Translation, Faculty of Languages ‎– Sana’a University. The MA defense was held on Sunday, April 12, 2026‎.

The MA Viva-voce Committee, which was formed based on a resolution issued by the Graduate Studies and Scientific Research Council, consisted of the following:

The thesis aimed to:

• Evaluate the quality of the Arabic translation of The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger in light of the model proposed by Christiane Nord (2000).
• Identify translation deficiencies at the semantic, syntactic, stylistic, and lexical levels using the same model.

The study yielded several key findings summarized as follows:

• Numerous deficiencies were identified in selected segments of the source text and the target text when compared using Nord’s model.
• The analysis revealed multiple mismatches that hindered comprehension of the themes and intended messages of the original text.
• The overall quality assessment indicated a significant divergence between the translated text and the source text.

In light of these findings, the researcher recommended the following:‎

• Avoiding literal translation and striving to convey the aesthetics and message of the source text more faithfully.
• Applying systematic methods of translation quality assessment to literary translations in order to detect mismatches and errors.‎

The defense session was attended by a number of academics, researchers, students, colleagues, and the researcher’s family.