Fuad Yahya Apr 19, 2020:

Could be this . . . could be that We are basically marching in place, because the text does not particularly support either interpretation. That is the mark of sloppy writing.

Ayman Chouaib Apr 19, 2020:

Title: Chess Game أوافق ما ذهبت إليه أستاذ فؤاد في تقييمك لمستوى الكتابة عموما. ويمكن من جهة أخرى أن يكون العنوان ببساطة وصفا للعبة الشطرنج التي يدور الحديث مدارها. فالشطرنج كما نعرف لعبة تتطلب 'صحوا' ونشاطا عقليا، فيكون العنوان لعبة الصحة مشيرا ببساطة إلى لعبة الشطرنج

Fuad Yahya Apr 18, 2020:

I see. If that is the case, then the title لعبة الصحو would essentially mean "the game I played right after waking up" (although one would have to phrase it differently to make a concise title, perhaps "Arise and Play" or "My Morning Game" or "Chess in the Morning," etc.). Likewise, the first sentence would mean, "Upon waking up, I would recall the the good all times when I beat my friends, acquaintances, and those who just asked me to play with them, without prior acquaintance." And in the third instance, انكسار يعقبه صحو وانتصار would mean "defeat followed by revival and victory."

This is plausible. If so, it would confirm my judgment that the writer doesn't have a sense of semantic precision or meticulous phrasing. In such situations, the translator should give oneself broad liberties to express the ideas that the writer failed to express well in the original text. The translator essentially becomes the editor. This is not orthodox translation as we know it, but it is not entirely unheard of. It could potentially produce a better work than the original.

Ayman Chouaib Apr 18, 2020:

I appreciate all your thoughts on this dear Fuad. The second صحو refers indeed to a kind of revival/revenge after being defeated in the game. Yet the first صحو clearly refers to when he woke up and went to play with his friends at the cafe, for the event that follows that is having lunch ساعتها أشعر بجوع حقيقي رغم شبع الروح بالفوز في النهاية, ووسط تهليل الاستحسان ممن كانوا يشهدون أنسحب من المكان وأتوجه إلى المطعم المجاور لأتناول وجبة الغداء

adel almergawy Apr 18, 2020:

According to our colleagues ' fruitful elaboration ,The word صحو has no fixed meaning

Yassine El Bouknify Apr 18, 2020:

I would translate في الصحو into: During the period of resumption ...

Yassine El Bouknify Apr 18, 2020:

Food for thought The word is deliberately used in order to make readers ponder its exact meaning. Anyway, الصحو correlates with reviving or/and resuming something after a pause. It's a kind of a hibernation period. And the doer wants to regain his strength in order to impress his friends and so on. Therefore, I would translate the title into The Game of Revival or Resuming the Game or The Game of Awakening.

Fuad Yahya Apr 17, 2020:

This should have been a monolingual question. To complete my though in the previous comment, the asker should have provided a link to the complete text of the short story (as you did) and should have posted this question as a monolingual question (Arabic-Arabic). The question should have been worded like this:

تظهر كلمة "صحو" في عنوان هذه القصة القصيرة وفي موضعين آخرين في القصة، إلا أن معنى الكلمة مبهم في كل الحالات الثلاث. في أقرب الظن، ما هو المعنى المراد من هذه الكلمة في هذه القصة؟

A link to the whole story would eliminate the mystery. Potential answerers could then give their best suggestions. Suggestions may still be no more than guesses, but they would at least be well-informed guesses. Once a meaning has been assigned to the term, the asker should have no difficulty translating it, because صحو is an easy word to translate, once a meaning has been assigned to it.

My honest answer is that the writer failed to make his intention clear.

Fuad Yahya Apr 17, 2020:

Thank you, Ayman, for providing the link I found the word صحو used in three instances:

1. The title: لعبة الصحو

2. The sentence that begins with في الصحو كنت أستعيد خبراتي القديمة في الفوز على الأصدقاء والمعارف

3. The sentence

دعونا من قوانين اللعبة شبه الشائعة والتي كنت أجيدها في الزمن القديم على طريقتي الخاصة, انكسار يعقبه صحو وانتصار

The last instance is the most intriguing: Why is loss followed by صحو? Why is صحو conjoined with winning? What does صحو represent to the writer? Answering these questions may provide a clue -- or not. On the whole, the story is written in a tattered language. Words are not well-chosen or well-used. Semantic precision is not high on the author's agenda.

The reason I initially implored the asker to clarify the meaning is that the question was posted under the Arabic-English pair. This typically indicates that the asker fully grasps the meaning of the term but only needs help translating it. Now I doubt that the asker grasped the meaning of the term, because it doesn't seem to have a definite meaning. It may have some significance in the author's mind, but the author has failed to make the significance clear.

This should have been a monolingual question. Explanation will follow.

Ayman Chouaib Apr 17, 2020:

I think the context provided is quite enough, dear Yahya. Also, the article is available here ( http://www.3rbi.info/Article.asp?ID=11601 ) and the following sentence reads:
في الصحو كنت أستعيد خبراتي القديمة في الفوز على الأصدقاء والمعارف أو مَن يطلبون ملاعبتي دون سابق تعارف, أيامها كانت لعبة الشطرنج هوايتي الوحيدة, وبمثل ما كنت أصعد كل صباح درجات الطوابق الخمسة الأولى لمبنى المجمع الكائن في ميدان التحرير دون انتظار للمصعد لأوقع في خانة الحضور كنت أهبط الدرجات نفسها متعجلا على حريتي دون انتظار للمصعد

أحمد الشيخ مجلة العربي مايو 2004

adel almergawy Apr 17, 2020:

I got your clarification , Mr Fuad, it is a space of guessing. Thanks a lot

Fuad Yahya Apr 17, 2020:

Doubly troubling The asker, who is so far the only participant to claim knowledge of the story, has declined to explain in what sense the word الصحو is used in the story as the story unfolds. Is it used in the sense of clouds dissipating, or in the sense of wakefulness? Is it about intervals of mental clarity betwixt periods of mental fogginess due to the lapse of time, old age, or mental illness? Is it about the game requiring sharp focus and unabated attention? The asker has declined to provide information that would help generate well-informed suggestions. In so declining, the asker has turned this exercise into a guessing game.

Meanwhile, guesses keep coming, like mud being thrown at a wall in hope that something would stick. There is even the added spectacle of spirited arguments about how justified or unjustified the guesses are.

Ayman Chouaib Apr 16, 2020:

المتحدث هنا ليس بصدد اللعب حتى يفكر في الفوز وما يتطلبه من صفاء ذهن. بل هو يتذكر أحداث خلت من طفولته. بقرينة "كنت أستعيد " وقرينة " أيامها كانت لعبة الشطرنج هوايتي الوحيدة

adel almergawy Apr 16, 2020:

You should have a clear mind to win

Fuad Yahya Apr 16, 2020:

What does it mean? Considering that you have read the story, what do you think الصحو means in the story?