A Comparative Analysis of Standardized Categories of the UN Resolution

Abstract

The study aims to explore similarities and difference between English versions and Arabic versions/translations of the United Nations resolutions in relation to some standardized categories. It also investigates whether or not these similarities and differences are systematic. The study seeks to answer the following research questions: 1) What are the similarities and differences between English and Arabic versions/translations of the UN resolutions in relation to format and style and 2) Do these similarities and differences seem random or systematic. The research draws on the UN editorial Manual 1983 which include the basic guidelines of writing/translating the UN documents, including UN resolutions. The research used a qualitative approach which involves comparing and contrasting different English versions and Arabic versions/translations of the UN resolutions using a comparative model. The findings of the study showed that English versions and Arabic versions/translations shared some institutionally standardized features that are related to format (titles, headings and subheadings, and paragraphs and subparagraphs) and style ((abbreviations, acronyms, capitalization, italics, bold print, numbering, punctuation, and order and structure of elements). The versions also differed from each other in the use of some these features due to the huge linguistic gap between English and Arabic. This work contributes to existing knowledge of UN production/translation of documents by providing a deeper insight into the structure of these documents across two different languages. This issue is an intriguing one which could be usefully explored in further research, especially across the other official languages of the UN.