Macro-Level Translation of Arab Politeness Strategies in Mahfouz’s ‘ Midaq Alley ’: A Socio-Pragmatic Study

Politeness in Arabic discourse is deeply rooted in cultural and socio-pragmatic norms that pose significant challenges in literary translation into English. This study examines the representation and translation of Arab politeness strategies in Naguib Mahfouz’s Midaq Alley , focusing on how translation methods and ideological orientations mediate their cross-cultural rendering. Adopting a socio-pragmatic perspective informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics and ethnographic discourse analysis, the study employs qualitative document analysis of selected textual excerpts. Spradley’s ethnographic framework—domain, taxonomy, componential, and cultural theme analyses—is used to identify and interpret politeness strategies and their translated realizations. Findings show that politeness is structurally embedded across narrative stages (orientation, complication, evaluation, and resolution) and is reshaped through macro-level ideological choices and micro-level translation techniques. The study highlights that translating politeness requires balancing semantic equivalence with cultural resonance. It contributes to translation theory and offers practical guidance for handling culturally embedded pragmatic meaning in literary texts.