Translating Religious Texts Through Rechecking Semantic-Communicative Analysis: Integrating SDGs Into Translation Studies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23917/profetika.v26i03.12567Keywords:
religious text translation, semantic-communicative analysis, rechecking strategy, sdgs, translation studiesAbstract
Objective: This study aims to develop a religious text translation model based on rechecking semantic-communicative analysis to improve translation quality. The model supports semantic accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and moderation in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Theoretical framework: This research integrates semantic and communicative translation theory, cognitive-communicative approaches, functional translation principles, and hermeneutic interpretation. These frameworks collectively support a holistic and ethically grounded approach to religious translation. Literature review: Previous studies on religious translation focus mainly on isolated linguistic or cultural strategies, with limited integration of systematic rechecking and SDGs perspectives. This study addresses the gap by proposing an integrated semantic-communicative and contextual model. Methods: This study employs a qualitative approach using data from Islam: A Short History and focus group discussions with Qur’an translation teachers. Semantic-communicative analysis, rechecking procedures, and hermeneutic interpretation are applied to ensure accuracy and contextual relevance. Results: The findings indicate that religious text translation faces challenges related to semantic non-equivalence and cultural context. Integrating semantic-communicative analysis improves readability and meaning accuracy. Rechecking procedures effectively reduces the distortion of key religious terms. Implications: The study highlights the need for translator training that integrates linguistic and religious knowledge. It also supports the use of contextualized glossaries and cautious machine translation with rechecking mechanisms in line with the SDGs. Novelty: The novelty of this research lies in its holistic and replicable translation model integrating semantic-communicative analysis, expert-based rechecking, and hermeneutic interpretation. This approach advances translation studies by linking linguistic accuracy with ethical and sustainable knowledge transmission.
References
[1] H. M. Al-Smadi, “Challenges in Translating Scientific Texts: Problems and Reasons,” J. Lang. Teach. Res., vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 550–560, 2022, https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1303.11.
[2] P. Kulkarni and G. K. Birajdar, “Exploring the Cross-Lingual Similarity of Valmiki Ramayana Using Semantic and Sentiment Analysis,” Vietnam J. Comput. Sci., vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 73–102, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1142/S2196888825500010.
[3] J. Munday, Introducing translation studies: Theories and applications. 2016. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315691862.
[4] J. Wen, X. Pei, and G. Li, “On the Local Reception and Dissemination of Christian Novel Illustrations in Late Qing Guangdong,” Religions, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 108, 2026, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17010108.
[5] A. Q. A. Hassan, “The Problems of Translating Religious Texts: A Study on Senior EFL Learners of King Khalid University,” Int. J. Linguist., vol. 12, no. 2, p. 301, 2020, https://doi.org/10.5296/ijl.v12i2.16649.
[6] H. Ghaddar, “The Creation of the Heaven and the Earth in the Hebrew Tanakh and the Arabic Qur’an: A Comparative Rhetorical Study,” Relig. Compass, vol. 20, no. 1, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.70035.
[7] F. Khan and M. A. Haneef, “Religious Responses To Sustainable Development Goals: an Islamic Perspective,” J. Islam. Monet. Econ. Financ., vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 161–179, 2022, https://doi.org/10.21098/jimf.v8i2.1453.
[8] A. Herliana, I. Najiyah, S. Susanti, and L. M. Billah, “The Application of Deep Learning in Qur’anic Tafsir Retrieval Using SBERT, FAISS and BERT-QA,” J. Appl. Data Sci., vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 344–356, 2026, https://doi.org/10.47738/jads.v7i1.1000.
[9] A. A. Otay, M. A. A. Jabar, A. R. Bin Hassan, and M. Z. Islam, “Analyzing Mood Structures in the Quranic Stories of Nuh: A Comparative Study of Quranic Translations,” Theory Pract. Lang. Stud., vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 155–165, 2025, https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1501.18.
[10] N. Jafar, M. Lampe, M. J. Muhammad, D. Muhammad, A. I. Guntur, and A. Hasyim, “Gender and Religiosity in Indonesian Popular Media: An Anthropological Reading of Cultural Representations,” J. Lekt. Keagamaan, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 667–695, 2025, https://doi.org/10.31291/jlka.v23i2.1489.
[11] J. Cui, “A study on the relativity of foreignization and domestication in translation based on data comparison,” Commun. Comput. Inf. Sci., vol. 217 CCIS, no. PART 4, pp. 352–356, 2011, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23339-5_64.
[12] Amirudin, Suyono, Soeprijanto, and M. Hudri, “Digital Religious Literature and Its Role in Shaping Religious Moderation Among Indonesian University Students,” J. Lekt. Keagamaan, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 432–461, 2025, https://doi.org/10.31291/jlka.v23i2.1444.
[13] B. Hutchinson, “Modeling the Sacred: Considerations when Using Religious Texts in Natural Language Processing,” Find. Assoc. Comput. Linguist. NAACL 2024 - Find., pp. 1029–1043, 2024, https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2024.findings-naacl.65.
[14] A. Wijaya, A. Z. Abidin, and M. Syaifudin, “State-Sponsored Qur’anic Exegesis and Interreligious Relations: A Comparative Study of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia,” Ascarya J. Islam. Sci. Cult. Soc. Stud., vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 279–291, 2025, https://doi.org/10.53754/iscs.v5i2.854.
[15] J. Seema, “Vryheid en kultuur in Maphalla se vertaling van Kipling se ‘If’ na Sesotho,” Literator, vol. 35, no. 1, 2014, https://doi.org/10.4102/lit.v35i1.95.
[16] A. Prayogi, “Pendekatan Kualitatif dalam Ilmu Sejarah: Sebuah Telaah Konseptual,” Hist. Madania J. Ilmu Sej., vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 240–254, 2021, https://doi.org/10.15575/hm.v5i2.15050.
[17] M. Mulyadi, “Penelitian Kuantitatif Dan Kualitatif Serta Pemikiran Dasar Menggabungkannya,” J. Stud. Komun. dan Media, vol. 15, no. 1, p. 128, 2013, https://doi.org/10.31445/jskm.2011.150106.
[18] A. Sholikhah, “Statistik Deskriptif Dalam Penelitian Kualitatif,” KOMUNIKA J. Dakwah dan Komun., vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 342–362, 2016, https://doi.org/10.24090/komunika.v10i2.953.
[19] A. A. Mekarisce, “Teknik Pemeriksaan Keabsahan Data pada Penelitian Kualitatif di Bidang Kesehatan Masyarakat,” JJurnal Ilm. Kesehat. Masy. Media Komun. Komunitas Kesehat. Masy., vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 145–151, 2020, https://doi.org/10.52022/jikm.v12i3.102.
[20] E. S. Bertos and M. Á. V. Cernuda, “Biblical Translation: Do Different Strategies Produce Divergent Texts?” Monogr. Trad. e Interpret., no. 15, pp. 273–302, 2023, https://doi.org/10.6035/MonTI.2023.15.10.
[21] J. R. Koch, K. D. Dougherty, and P. A. Maloney, “Religion, Tattoos, and Religious Tattoos: The Body as Sacred Subculture,” J. Sci. Study Relig., vol. 64, no. 4, pp. 433–441, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12962.
[22] M. Alshammeri, E. Atwell, and M. A. Alsalka, “Detecting Semantic-based Similarity between Verses of the Quran with Doc2vec,” Procedia CIRP, vol. 189, pp. 351–358, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2021.05.104.
[23] N. O. Babayeva, “Modern Cognitive Approach to Learning Translation,” Path Sci., vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 1021–1028, 2023, https://doi.org/10.22178/pos.93-16.
[24] A. Nur Wicaksono, S. Akhyar, A. Nirwana AN, and M. Akhiruddin Bin Ibrahim, “Application of the Rule of Al-Wujuh Wa an-Nazhair on Tarjamah Tafsiriyah To the Word Heart in the Translation of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia,” Profetika J. Stud. Islam, vol. 25, no. 01, pp. 183–194, 2024, https://doi.org/10.23917/profetika.v25i01.2498.
[25] E. N. Gerasimova, S. N. Dvoryatkina, O. A. Savvina, and S. V Shcherbatykh, “Implementing a Spiritual and Moral Education Program for Maths Teachers,” J. Teach. Educ. Sustain., vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 69–83, 2021, https://doi.org/10.2478/jtes-2021-0006.
[26] M. Mutiani, J. Jumriani, M. R. Ilhami, M. F. N. Gillian Ratumbuysang, M. Iqbal Assyauqi, and A. Susilawati, “Enhancing Critical Language Awareness and Democratic Participation in Social Studies Using a Digital Civic Debate Platform,” Int. J. Lang. Educ., vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 739–758, 2025, https://doi.org/10.26858/ijole.v1i2.82097.
[27] Muthoifin et al., “Sharia Economic Empowerment of Low-Income Communities and Subsidy Recipients in Boyolali for Sustainable Development Goals,” J. Lifestyle SDG’S Rev., vol. 5, no. 1, 2025, https://doi.org/10.47172/2965-730X.SDGsReview.v5.n01.pe02983.
[28] S. Asghar, G. E. Torrens, and R. G. Harland, “Cultural influences on perception of disability and disabled people: a comparison of opinions from students in the United Kingdom (UK) and Pakistan (PAK) about a generic wheelchair using a semantic differential scale,” Disabil. Rehabil. Assist. Technol., vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 292–304, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1080/17483107.2019.1568595.
[29] S. Zhabotynska and N. Slyvka, “Emotive speech acts and their discourse modifications in the literary text,” Discourse Interact., vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 113–136, 2020, https://doi.org/10.5817/DI2020-1-113.
[30] J. Maciuszek, “I believe that he didn’t do it, and I don’t believe that he did it. The influence of context on the semantic-communicative relations between sentence negation and performative negation,” Stud. Logic, Grammar. Rhetor., vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 61–76, 2018, https://doi.org/10.2478/slgr-2018-0016.
[31] A. A. Otay, M. A. A. Jabar, A. R. T. S. Hassan, and M. Z. Ismail, “Exploring Quranic Narrative Styles Using Interpersonal Mood Analysis Based on a Passage From Nuh Story,” J. Lang. Teach. Res., vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 1290–1301, 2025, https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1604.23.
[32] Y. Luchinsky, E. N. Luchinskaya, R. V. Patyukova, I. P. Khoutyz, and N. N. Olomskaya, “Correlation of the concepts of public communication and PR-discourse in the mass media space,” Indian J. Sci. Technol., vol. 9, no. 27, 2016, https://doi.org/10.17485/ijst/2016/v9i27/97702.
[33] J. B. S. Al-Qinai, “Convergence and divergence in the interpretation of Qur’anic polysemy and lexical recurrence,” Acta Orient., vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 71–92, 2012, https://doi.org/10.1556/AOrient.65.2012.1.4.
[34] V. V Stepanova and H. M. A. Hachim, “Rhetorical Devices of the Qur’an and their Translation into English and Russian: Patterns of Social Behavior in the Focus,” SKASE J. Transl. Interpret., vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 2–19, 2025, https://doi.org/10.33542/JTI2025-1-01.
[35] F. S. Casarin, L. D. Branco, N. Pereira, R. Kochhann, G. Gindri, and R. P. Fonseca, “Rehabilitation of lexical and semantic communicative impairments: An overview of available approaches; ReabilitaÇÃo de dÉficits comunicativos lÉxico-semÂnticos: Um panorama das abordagens conduzidas,” Dement. e Neuropsychol., vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 266–277, 2014, https://doi.org/10.1590/S1980-57642014DN83000011.
[36] Y. Li and J. Fu, “The Translation of Physics Texts by Western Missionaries During the Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties and Its Enlightenment of Modern Chinese Physics,” Religions, vol. 16, no. 1, 2025, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16010025.
[37] A. A. M. Alhaj, M. B. Ahmed, and D. A. Abdullah, “A pragma-stylistic assessment of three translations of the meanings of Surah al-Fatiha into English,” Theory Pract. Lang. Stud., vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 18–27, 2019, https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0901.03.
[38] H. F. Abdalhussein and H. F. Jawad, “Meanings of the Polysemous Qur’ānic Word Raḥmah (Mercy) and its English Translation,” GEMA Online J. Lang. Stud., vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 133–148, 2024, https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2024-2404-08.
[39] S. M. H. Almommani and M. N. Al Salem, “Is Reverso a Good Translation Tool? Evidence from Translating Antonyms in Surat Al-Raid to English,” Dirasat Hum. Soc. Sci., vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 1–9, 2023, https://doi.org/10.35516/hum.v50i6.158.
[40] S. Sari, “Translating Musical Instruments in Fifteenth-Century Valencia,” Magnif. Cult. I Lit. Mediev., vol. 10, pp. 155–195, 2023, https://doi.org/10.7203/MCLM.10.26078.
[41] G. M. Al-Otaibi, “Explicitation in the translation of Qur’anic binomials: A descriptive study,” Indones. J. Appl. Linguist, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 293–305, 2023, https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v13i2.63098.
Downloads
Submitted
Accepted
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Mujazin; Anam Sutopo, Nuria Siswi Enggarani; Alaa Alkhateeb
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
