Influence of Ideological Perspectives on Translation: A Case Study of Multiple Arabic Translations of George Orwell’s Animal Farm

Abstract

George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) is one of the most influential political allegories of the twentieth century, and has been widely translated into different languages across the globe, including Arabic. Since its first Arabic version appeared in 1951, the novel has been retranslated multiple times, reflecting the shifting cultural, political, and ideological landscapes of the Arab world. This paper investigates how ideological perspectives have shaped those Arabic translations of Animal Farm, showing their influence not only on the linguistic rendering but also on the interpretive lens through which Arab readers engage with Orwell’s satire. Adopting a descriptive and comparative approach, the study analyzes four representative Arabic translations published between 1951 and 2014. Analysis focuses specifically on translators' prefaces, the rendering of the names and descriptions of the key characters, as well as of some ideologically sensitive passages. By tracing differences between the data translations in terms of lexical choices, omissions, and additions, the paper shows how each translator's ideological stance—ranging from critical, neutral, and skeptical to sympathetic—manifests itself in translation strategies and narrative framing. The paper concludes that none of the selected translations is definitive; rather, each version reflects a negotiation between Orwell’s original political purpose and the translator's ideological environment. This highlights the broader interplay between literature, translation, and ideology, reminding us that translations of politically charged texts are never neutral but always culturally situated.