| drifting winds arabians خيول الرياح المتهادية، مزرعة الرياح المتهادية للخيول العربية
Explanation:
Please note that the above are merely attempts to render the meaning of the name of your farm in Arabic. For their meanings, back-translated to English, see below.
Translating a business name is always a complicated issue, because the name is part of the brand, which, in the end, requires an executive decision, not a technical decision, even though technical input by translators is necessary.
Some business names are best transliterated. The name stays phonetically the same, even though it may be written in a different alphabet. This is the best procedure to follow when the business name is a personal name ("McDonald"), or has an obscure meaning that is irrelevant to the company's or product's current identity ("Coca Cola").
There are times when the name has an obvious meaning and was chosen very carefully, but, on balance, the owners believe that how the name sounds is even more significant than the meaning behind it. They would rather hear Japanese and Javanese customers pronounce the name the same way as their Parisian counterparts. Examples: Windows, Apple, Safeway, General Electric, General Motors, etc.
But there are situations, such as yours when the meaning seems to be the overriding value. That is when a translation is appropriate, but must be approached carefully and, once formualted, kept consistent.
The name of your farm presents a unique set of difficulties when translated to Arabic. By far, the greatest difficulty is the syntactical issue of modifiers. The name you have chosen has multiple layers of modifiers, as follows:
- The noun "winds" is modified by the present participle adjective "drifting."
- The resulting noun phrase "drifting winds" is in turn used as a "noun modifier" for the noun "Arabians."
- Even without its complex modifier, the noun "Arabians" by itself has its own internal complication. It may look like a simple noun on its own, but in fact it is a contraction masking the noun phrase "Arabian hourses." In other words, the real noun of this whole phrase is "horses," which is not even stated.
- And, as if this was not enough, the ultimate noun modified by this multi-layered structure is the word "Farm," which is only remotely hinted at, for a very good reason: you want your customers to think "horses" (preferably "Arabian horses") rather than "farm."
In other words, behind the innocent-looking three-word phrase is a complex world of syntactical relationships. Transposing all of this to Arabic is not an easy task.
Since Arabic does not lend itself easily to such layering of modifiers (and does not use nouns to modify other nouns), one approach would be to flatten the layers, bring out one or both of the hidden nouns ("horses" and/or "farm"), or lighten the burden by omitting one of the layers. Here are some possibilites (not all equally good):
1. "Drifting Winds" الرياح المتهادية
This choice is pretty drastic. "Arabians," which is probably the key noun in the whole phrase is gone -- not a great choice.
2. "Drifting Winds Horses" خيول الرياح المتهادية
Arabians are not explicityly stated, but horses are. The advantage is that the syntax fits Arabic standards.
3. "Drifting Winds Farm" مزرعة الرياح المتهادية
Horses are gone again. I suspect that the farm is not as significant for you as the horses in the farm. If so, this is not an optimal choice.
4. "Drifting Winds Horse Farm" مزرعة خيول الرياح المتهادية
Like option 2, this has the word "horses," but not the word "Arabian."
5. "Drifting Winds Arabian Horse Farm" مزرعة الرياح المتهادية للخيول العربية
This option states the entire content, but unlike the English phrase, it is very explicit, very wordy, and very flat. Does this fit your bill? Only you can decide.
This is a perfect example showing how translation is essentially an art of compromise. There are many choices, but there may not always be a perfect choice.
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Note added at 14 hrs 33 mins (2005-02-25 07:37:09 GMT)
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One thing I did not address above is that \"Drifting Winds Arabians\" is not only difficult to put in Arabic (as a name for a farm), but is also hardly an exciting name for a business. It carries none of the grace, speed, power, temperament, or incomparable beauty of Arabian horses. It is hard to imagine a horse breeding farm referring to its own horses as \"drifting winds.\"
But that is a separate issue.
| Fuad Yahya
Native speaker of:  Arabic, English
PRO pts in category: 12
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peer agreement (net): +2