Analysis of Selecting Equivalence for Cultural Elements of The Blind Owl Novel in Translation into Arabic Relying on the Approach of Ivir

Narrative work is one of the literary types that have more cultural and indigenous elements than other literary forms, and this plays a key role in the translation research, from the theory of translation and translation strategies. ‘The Blind Owl’ is one of the masterpieces of contemporary Persian literature, which has many cultural components in many places, so that translators are faced with many challenges in translating it into other languages. This prominent novel was translated into Arabic by Ibrahim El Desouki. Ivir is one of the theorists who have presented his own approach to translating cultural elements, which includes transcription, definition, literal translation, substitution, lexical creation, omission, and addition. The present study aims to investigate translation methods of cultural elements of the Blind Owl in Arabic based on Ivir’s approach using the descriptive-analytical method. By analyzing the translation method of the Blind Owl, it is evident that in most cultural cases the translator has preferred to use the mixed method, whether in the combination of replacement and definition, and/or borrowing and definition, and even addition and definition in the footnotes. By analyzing the method of translating the Blind Owl, it is clear that in most cultural cases the translator has preferred to address equivalence by substitution method, although such an approach has some problems. In cases where the translator has succeeded in the translation, it is because he has used footnotes to explicate the cultural elements.