Exploring translation accuracy and acceptability in political discourse: a linguistic study of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's speech

In the context of global diplomacy and intercultural communication, translation serves a crucial function in ensuring the accurate and culturally appropriate transmission of messages. This study examines the translation techniques and quality—specifically regarding accuracy and acceptability—employed in the Indonesian translation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s speech delivered at the Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit in Riyadh. Adopting a qualitative content analysis approach, the study analyzes 30 selected segments from the speech using Molina and Albir’s translation technique framework alongside Nababan’s model of translation quality assessment. Data were derived from publicly available video excerpts and were further validated through expert evaluation and participant response triangulation. The findings indicate that modulation (26 instances), transposition (20), and literal translation (17) were the most frequently utilized techniques. Modulation and transposition were found to enhance both accuracy and acceptability, whereas literal translation often compromised contextual and semantic precision. Regarding translation quality, one expert assessed 66.67% of the samples as accurate, while the other evaluated 58.33% as less accurate and 38.89% as inaccurate. In terms of acceptability, 52% of 600 participant responses classified the translation as acceptable. These results underscore the importance of culturally and contextually informed translation strategies in diplomatic discourse. This study contributes to the field of translation studies by demonstrating the significant relationship between translation techniques and overall quality. It also emphasizes the necessity of achieving a balanced interplay between linguistic fidelity and cultural equivalence in high-stakes multilingual communication.