الانتقال

13:05 Jul 6, 2020 

Dear Aya,

As you know, all terms require context to understand and translate, but a word like الانتقال needs contextualizing even more because of its versatility. It could mean any number of things and could be translated in any number of ways.

You have provided two sentences showing two seemingly unrelated instances of the word الانتقال. Should we infer that these two instances are from the same document? What type of document is it (or what type of document are they)?

Based on your reading of the material in its entirety, does it seem to you that the the word الانتقال means the same thing in both instances? If you have doubts about that, please share them with us so we can try to offer better guidance.

The second sentence is particularly troubling. It uses one of the most unfortunate turns of phrase in contemporary Arabic, frequently used by mediocre writers of newspaper columns and bureaucratic material. It is called التمتمة because it involves the use of the verb تم followed by a verbal noun derived from the main verb, thereby eclipsing the subject of the main verb. For instance, in the expression تم الانتقال, who did what, as you understand it? Please help.