Analysis of Semantic, Syntactic, and Pragmatic Adaptations in Urdu Translations of Stephen Hawking's “A Brief History of Time”

Abstract

This article analyzes the translation strategies employed in rendering Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time into Urdu, concentrating on semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic adaptations in the translations by Yasir Jawad and Nazir Mehmood. Applying O’Brien’s (2012) linguistic framework, the study examines selected excerpts to evaluate how complex technical terminology, cosmological concepts, and the text’s explanatory tone are conserved or adapted across languages. The analysis reveals diverse strategies, including neologisms and loanwords, used to balance scientific precision with reader accessibility. The findings highlight the challenges of translating scientific discourse into Urdu, a language with an evolving lexicon, and offer insights into balancing precision with accessibility. This research contributes to translation studies by addressing gaps in the translation of scientific texts into other languages, providing strategies for broad scientific communication.

Keywords: Translation, Strategies, Scientific, Challenges