Shut your filthy mouth! Egyptian translators of Czech literature are solving a dilemma: What to do with vulgarities to avoid being banned by censors?
“Vulgar words or swear words, whether we want them or not, are part of the culture,” believes Egyptian bohemian and translator Amr Shatury. Of all the novels he has ever translated, he says the most vulgarisms were in Jáchym Topol’s book Sensitive Man. Yet Amr Shatury is pushing for an earthy grotesque about contemporary Europe to be published in Egypt. A professor in Cairo’s Department of Bohemia, he translated, among other works, Topol’s prose The Cold Earth. “The Egyptian publisher wants me to translate the vulgarities into written Arabic, otherwise, he says, they won’t be understandable in other Arab countries,” says Šatury, adding that he is trying to argue with the request because the original text would make a completely different prose.
Source https://vikend.hn.cz/zavri-sva-spinava-usta-egyptsti-prekladatele-ceske-literatury-resi-dilema-co-s-vulgarismy