This study analyzes the translation of Donald Trump's coded political rhetoric into Arabic. Using Gricean pragmatics to decode the messages and Newmark's theory to evaluate the translations, the research shows that literal (semantic) approaches fail to transfer the original's strategic ambiguity and ideological force. In contrast, communicative strategies that prioritize functional equivalence successfully recreate the intended persuasive effect. The study concludes that pragmatic competence is crucial for political translators, who must focus on a text's function over its form.
Ahmed,R K and (Ph.D.),Z A D . (2026). Pragmatic Failure and Communicative Success in Political Translation. Journal of Language Studies, 10(Issue 1, Part 2), 288-298. doi: 10.25130/Lang.10.1.P2.15
MLA
Ahmed,R K , and (Ph.D.),Z A D . "Pragmatic Failure and Communicative Success in Political Translation", Journal of Language Studies, 10, Issue 1, Part 2, 2026, 288-298. doi: 10.25130/Lang.10.1.P2.15
HARVARD
Ahmed R K, (Ph.D.) Z A D. (2026). 'Pragmatic Failure and Communicative Success in Political Translation', Journal of Language Studies, 10(Issue 1, Part 2), pp. 288-298. doi: 10.25130/Lang.10.1.P2.15
CHICAGO
R K Ahmed and Z A D (Ph.D.), "Pragmatic Failure and Communicative Success in Political Translation," Journal of Language Studies, 10 Issue 1, Part 2 (2026): 288-298, doi: 10.25130/Lang.10.1.P2.15
VANCOUVER
Ahmed R K, (Ph.D.) Z A D. Pragmatic Failure and Communicative Success in Political Translation. JLS. 2026;10(Issue 1, Part 2):288-298. doi: 10.25130/Lang.10.1.P2.15
