Courses Envisaged for Fall 2025
ONLINE COURSE OFFERING #1
TO BE LAUNCHED SOON
STRATEGIC TRANSLATION: A DISCOURSE APPROACH
This course introduces a discourse-oriented approach to translation, designed for those seeking to move beyond surface-level language transfer into the heart of meaning-making across contexts and cultures.Rather than treating translation as a sentence-by-sentence operation, we explore how texts function as:
- Communicative events shaped by genre, and
- Statements of purpose driven by discursive attitudes.
Drawing on key insights from discourse analysis, text linguistics, and genre theory, participants will learn to:
- Identify textual expectations
- Negotiate shifts in register
- Adapt strategies to specific domains
Case studies—from legal documents to media commentary—form the backbone of the course. We emphasize how translators function not merely as linguists, but as critics, mediators, and intention analysts.By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Analyze texts through a discourse lens
- Apply genre-sensitive strategies in translation
- Adhere to translation briefs with greater confidence and contextual insight
Who should take this course?
Early-career translators, graduate students in translation studies, professionals aiming to enhance their interpretive and textual skills, and anyone curious about the why and how behind effective translation.
Please Note:
All online courses offered through this platform are strictly non-profit. Every dirham or dollar received in course fees will be channeled to charitable causes—not to personal gain.
Below is a downloadable Power Point summary of my academic appointments, research contributions, and publications across translation, linguistics, and TESOL.
ONLINE COURSE OFFERING #2
TO BE LAUNCHED SOON
Coherence as an aspect of Quranic inimitability: The Case of Intra-textuality and the Translaor
The online course addresses the issue of Intra-textuality (as opposed to Inter- or Contra-textuality) in the context of the often-discussed theme of Quranic Inimitability الأعجاز القرآني . The discussion of the various textual phenomena will then lead us to the challenges faced by translators of the Quran in attempting to preserve the subtlety of how one part of the text holds a resemblance of meaning to that of another part of the text. This relationship is deliberately crafted, either directly
- through compositional strategies such as quotation, allusion, etc. ,
or more indirectly -
- by interconnections perceived by the reader based on that which, usually in the same textual environment, conjures up images of an earlier occurrence.
In other words, the Intra textuality model we will be working with relies on the idea of an uninterrupted chain starting with the beginning of Fatiha, continues with the end of Fatiha only to be picked up by the beginning and end of Albaqra, Al 3mran, etc, until the end of the book. We start with a key concept, then scrutinise the entire text’s surah beginning and end by surah beginning and end in sequence, for anything that Reiterates Partially reiterates Alludes to Or at least does not exclude the connotation and denotation of the concept under scrutiny. We argue that this pivotal concept is taqwa تقوى "God-fearing", and the entire Quran was written miraculously around the taqwa chain. It is, in effect, a book of taqwa.
