Translating can be considered as the process which switches one semiotic entity into another in a semiotic approach, under certain equivalent conditions to do with semiotic codes, pragmatic action and general communicative goals. In order to perceive full communicative purpose of an utterance in translation, we need to comprehend not only the pragmatic action, but also a semiotic dimension which control the interaction of different discoursal elements as signs. A semiotic function is also incarnated by idiolect and dialect. It is known that most of modern Arab writers are encouraged to write a formal classical style using Modern Standard Arabic that is the only style felt to be appropriate for literature in Arab cultures. However, in reality Arab writers including Naguib Mahfuz who won the Nobel prize in the literature in 1988, use ‘ammiyyah al-muthaqqafiin’ colloquial of the cultured. Even he called using colloquial Arabic in literature as a disease, he uses spoken Arabic form that is heavily influenced by modern standard Arabic (MSA) in dialogues of his novels This study examines the translatability of non-Modern Standard Arabic which is performed by such as dialects, colloquial expressions, some features like Arabic genitive construct(idaafa) and foreign loanwords in Naguib Mahfuz’s novels which translated in Korean. This paper calls for adopting a more semiotic perspective when translating unique texts filled with cultural and socio-political meanings.
