General introduction

1. Statement of the problem

The expend of the human race through the course of time came along with a verities of

languages which created a deep hole of disconnection between the users of languages, due to

their incapacity in interpreting the source language message to their own language. Gradually,

this need of being able to understand other languages set the way to the emergence of a new

discipline, concerned with expressing a language in other words of another language which is

mostly known by Translation. This domain covers every aspects and styles of language,

translation is not an easy task because the translator or trainees students my encounter some

difficulties while translating, especially concerning the case of idioms which are used in our

daily life , but when it comes to translating them, it gets really hard to understand what is the

meaning of a specific idiom which results in incomplete wrong translation.

2. Aims of the study

The main aims of this dissertation is to highlight the main problems faced by translators or

trainees students while translating, the obstacles that hold the students back from

understanding the meaning of idioms and main issues in translating them from one language

to another.

3. Research questions

- How can the understanding of an idiomatic expression meaning be related to its correct

translation into the TL ?

- what are the main problems that translators and students trainees face while translating

idioms ?

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4. Structure of the study

This study is divided into two theoretical chapters; the first chapter shed the light on the

background of the definition of translation, the problems that may take place while translating

and equivalence in translation. The second chapter, talks about the definition of idioms and

their characteristics, then we move to the fixed aspects of idioms in addition to their types and

classification. Finally, we try to mention how an idiom can be possibly interpreted and

translated in order to focus on the problems faced when translating idioms.

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I. Chapter One: Translation:

Introduction :

Taking in consideration the importance of the idiomatic expressions’ role in language and

the issues encountered by students while translating them, the first part of this dissertation

aims to shed the light on the theoretical perspective of both translation and idioms. It includes

brief definitions of translation and the problems which may occur while translating. In

addition to that, an explication of the equivalence levels in translation is given. Then, we

move to define the nature of idioms and their characteristics, types, classification and how

they could possibly be translated.

1.1. Definition of translation:

Among prime translators, scholars and specialists, the concept of translation may differ in

some small details which can not harm, by a way or another, the main basis of translation

definition, which is basically known as changing a linguistic message from the SL to the TL,

according to the Oxford advanced learners dictionary, translation is “the process of changing

something written or spoken into another language.”

To bring the translation definition into the light we are going to highlight the definition of

translation by Ghazala in his book “Translation as Problems and Solutions” where he defines

it as follows:

As a subject, translation generally refers to all the processes and methods used to render
and/or to transfer the meaning of the source language text into the target language as
closely, completely and accurately as possible, using (1) words/ phrases which already
have direct equivalent in Arabic language; (2) new words or terms for which no ready-
made equivalents are available in Arabic; (3) foreign words or terms written in Arabic
letters as pronounced in their native origins; (4) foreign words or terms made to fit
Arabic pronunciation, spelling and grammar. (Ghazala 01)
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 Ghazala goes on to illustrate briefly what has been said in the examples below:

1- ‘Speak’ (‫)يتكلم‬

2- ‘Satellite’ (‫)قمر صناعي‬

3- ‘Aspirin’ (‫)أسبرين‬

4- ‘Democracy’ (‫) ديمقراطية‬

Therefore, and after crossing by the definitions mentioned above, translation can be

expressed as an interlingual process of interpreting the meaning contained in the SL by

means, say, words of another language. This means that what we do translate is the meaning

we obtain from the source language.

1.2. Translation problems:

A translation problem is any obstacle found in the source language which may result in an

interruption of the translation process, so the translator stops translating to recollect his/her

ideas again, or to use dictionaries for looking up meaning of words…etc.

These problems are categorized into grammatical, stylistic and lexical problems.

1.2.1. Grammatical problems:

According to Ghazala, this kind of problems takes place during the process of translation due

to the following causes.

1.2.1.1. complicated SL grammar:

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The fact that each language has its own grammar system, results in difficulties the translator

encounters while translating. For instance, ‘of the three books you have recommended to me I

have chosen only one’ when translated into Arabic, it becomes ‘ ،‫من الكتب الثلثاة التي نصحتني بها‬

‫ ’اخترت واحدا‬the ambiguity here for the translator is caused by the delay of the main clause in

the SL sentence (I have chosen only one). Though, translating the same sentence written in its

normal word form (i.e. the main clause is in the beginning of the sentence) is much clearer

and easier. ‘I have chosen only one of the three books you have recommended to me’ which is

translated into Arabic as ‘‫( ’اخترت واحدا فقط من الكتب الثلثاة التي نصحتني بها‬Ghazala 18)

1.2.1.2. Different TL grammar:

The translator often faces problems concerning the TL grammar system, which can hold

him/her back from rendering the message being translated. For instance, “most English tenses

[…] do not exist in Arabic grammar. Also, all English sentences are verbal, whereas in Arabic

they are verbal or nominal.” (Ghazala 19)

1.2.1.3. Different word order:

The rules concerning the positions of sentence components from subjects, verbs to nouns and

adjectives…etc can be very different from those of the TL. Taking an example fro English and

Arabic translation, it appears that “all English sentences usually start with the subject

followed by the verb, whereas in Arabic, verbal sentences start with the verb followed by the

subject.” (Ghazala 19)

Also, during translating, the following difficulties concerning grammar may take place.

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1. The translation of the verb “Be”, “Do” and “Have”.

2. The translation of modal verbs, adjectives, tenses and articles.

3. The translation of the first participle and conditional sentences.

4. The change of word class. (Ghazala 19)

1.2.2. Lexical problems:

Another kind of translation problems is the one classified as lexical. The translator is exposed

to lexical problems when he/she deals with an ambiguous “word or […] expression [in the SL

which] is not understood clearly […], or not know at all”. (Ghazala 20)

Lexical problems can be distinguished into the followings:

1.2.2.1. Literal translation:

Translating a text directly, word for word from one language to another is not always easy ,

because there are some words of the SL which do not exist in the TL.

1.2.3.2. Synonyms:

Words which have the same meaning are synonymous words(synonyms).the problem with

synonymy is the closeness or the complete identification of words in comparison with in each

other in the same language or for different languages, the TL and SL and the effectiveness or

ineffectiveness of similarity on the meaning . (Ghazala 20)

1.2.3.3. Polysemy and monosemy:

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A polysemous word is a word which has multiple meanings.eg spring has four meanings (‫نابض‬

‫يقفز‬٠ ‫ربيع‬٠ ‫نبع‬٠).a monosymous is a word which has only one word like: telephone (‫)الهاتف‬.

Mixing between polysemous and monosymous words poses problems of translation.

(Ghazala 20)

1.2.3.4. Collocations:

Collocation is when two or more words occur in language .sometimes translation requires a

great deal of attention to overcome translation problems. (Ghazala 20)

1.2.3.5. Idioms:

Idioms are words which are not identified from the obvious meaning but with special meaning

(e.g. to walk on water : ‫)يصنع المعجزات‬including phrasal verbs like get on ,get off , get out get

up …ect., are often making problems for translators. (Ghazala 21)

1.2.3.6. Proverbs:

Proverbs are understood according to one’s culture generally fixed quotes which translators

find tough to translate. (Ghazala 21)

1.2.3.7. Metaphors:

Metaphors are said to mean another thing accept what was said, they are not direct and also

seem difficult to translators. (Ghazala 21)

1.2.3.8. Technical translation: arabization:

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Translating scientific words into Arabic has many problems. The translation of some words is

yet to be solved. Techniques and methods are proposed to solve these problems. (Ghazala 20)

- In addition to proper names, titles, political establishments, geographical terms and us

acronyms which “pose some problems of translation that [translators] must take care

of.”(Ghazala 20)

1.3.3. Stylistic problems:

The style in which a particular SL is written depends on the SL author’s choice of words or

his/her aim of writing and how he/she wants the reader to be affected. The understanding of a

specific style and transferring its image to the TL text is also concerned as a serious obstacle

to translators, the main features of stylistics problems are listed below.

1.3.3.1. Formal vs. informal style:

The language of the SL message being translated can be either formal or informal, this

includes both grammar and words. Considering the English-Arabic translation, it is hard

sometimes for translators, especially those who have little knowledge about formality and

informality, to achieve complete correct translation. (Ghazala 22)

1.3.3.2. Fronting:

A word, a phrase or a clause which is put in the beginning of the sentence in order to

concentrate and emphasize its meaning due to it’s importance in the effectiveness of the

whole sentence meaning. E.g. ‘suicide he committed’ instead of ‘he committed suicide’. This

implies difficulties in transferring the same style into the TL. (Ghazala 22-3)

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1.3.3.3. Ambiguity:

When the writer of the SL text adepts ambiguity in his style, it may pose some difficulties for

the translator to understand what the SL is really about which may result in a

misunderstanding of the SL text meaning, therefore , the translated text/message into the TL

may not be equivalent to the SL. (Ghazala 23)

1.3.3.4. Passive vs. active voice:

The translation of passive and active styles from English into Arabic for instance, is very hard

sometimes, because they are two contrastive styles having different functions which make it

confusing for translators to retain a full correct meaning from SL into TL.

- Other stylistic problems are those of the ones listed below.

1. The style of short vs. long sentences.

2. Repetition and variation.

3. Redundancy.

4. The style of the show of muscles.

5. Nominalization vs. verbalization

1.4. Equivalence in Translation:

Since translation is mainly about rendering the message of SL into another one carrying

equivalent meaning in the TL, the translator always seeks equivalence in his/her translation,

therefore, equivalence can be defined as when “a specific linguistic unit in one language

carries the same intended meaning/ message in a specific linguistic medium in another, then

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these two unites are considered to be equivalent.”(Karimi) Equivalence is found on the word

and above the word level.

1.4.1. Equivalence on the word level:

This is the case concerning when the translator easily finds one-to-one categorically or

structurally equivalent units in both SL and TL, hence for example, the translation of the

English verb ‘to spray’ into Arabic, it is rendered to the Arabic verb ‘‫ش‬
‫ ( ’ييشر ش‬two words having

equivalent meaning in both English and Arabic)

1.4.2. Equivalence above the word level:

It is not always easy for the translator to find one-to-one equivalence, especially when it

comes to translating metaphors and idioms which are culture bound unites, for instance, an

idiom in the SL cannot be translated word for word translation into another language, because

this will ruin the meaning and the function of the idiom, however, to retain the retain such

expression’s meaning in the TL, the translator must take in consideration their function where

the phrase of the SL is substituted with another one of the TL which serves the same function.

(Bussnett 32)

To illustrate this, a translation of an English idiom into Arabic is given:

(English) ‘A fox is not taken twice by the same snare’

(Arabic) ‘‫س الشجحرر يميريتين‬ ‫’الشمؤُرمشن ل شيليد ش‬

‫غ رمن ينف ر‬

Conclusion

To render a satisfactory translation, the translator must acquire a large knowledge about the

grammatical, lexical and stylistic systems of both the SL and TL in order to achieve

equivalence or an appropriate interpretation.

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 II. Chapter Two: Translation and Idioms:

Introduction

This chapter starts with brief definitions of idioms, followed by mentioning the main

characteristics and fixed aspects of idioms, in addition to that, types and classification of

idioms are presented and finally we close this discussion by exposing the interpretation and

translation of idioms and the difficulties that my encounter translators or trainees students

while translating them.

2.1. Definition of Idioms:

Idioms are parts of our daily language, used in our daily street talk conversation, with our

families inside homes and also in business formal meetings. According to Ghazala “phrases

which have special meanings and cannot be known from the direct meaning of their words are

called idioms.” (21) Ghazala after that goes on to give more details about the nature idioms,

stating that “an idiom is a fixed phrase whose form is unchangeable, and whose meaning is

always the same, inflexible, metaphorical and indirect” (131)

“A group of words whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words”

(Oxford advanced learners dictionary)

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 Mona Backer states that “idioms are frozen patterns of language which allow little or no

variation in form and [which] often carry meanings which cannot be deduced from their

individual components.”

2.2. Characteristics of Idioms:

Considering the definitions mentioned above, an idiom can have the following

characteristics:

- Consists of more than one word, and is usually an expression or a phrasal verb.

- The meaning of an idiom is not deducible from the meaning of individual words.

- The word order and the grammatical structure of an idiom cannot be changed .

- Any of the words forming an idiom can never neither be omitted nor replaced by other

words.

2.3. fixed variation of idioms:

If any of these characteristics is misbalanced, the idiom meaning and function will be

ruined, however, there are some special cases when the meaning and the function of an idiom

is retained even if its vocabulary and grammatical structure is slightly changed. McCarthy and

O’ dell give an explanation to this in the table below.

Variations Examples

Occasionally an idiom in Government Ministers always pass the buck if they are
the active voice can be challenged about poverty. [blame somebody else /
used in the passive. refuse to accept the responsibility]

The buck has been passed from Minister to Minister.

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 No one seems prepared to accept the responsibility.

Some verb-based idioms There is too much buck-passing in the government

also have noun-compound nowadays. No one accepts the blame for anything.
forms.

One or more words in the Stop acting the fool/goat! [stop acting stupidly]
idiom can be varied.

Table 01: fixed variations of idioms (McCarthy and O’ dell 6)

2.4. Types of Idioms:

Referring to (Mekkai qtd. in Tommassello), idioms differ due to their position on the scale

of idiomaticity which is the quality of how an expression can be idiomatic, or in other words,

idiomaticity is the “characteristics of natural languages to use set [of] words combinations”

(Routledge dictionary of language and linguistics). Idioms are two types, encoding and

decoding idioms.

2.4.1. Encoding idioms:

An encoding idiom is “an expression which language users might or might not understand

without prior experience” (Mekkai qtd. in Tommassello 247). This means that this kind of

idioms is recognizable and interpretable. For instance ‘answer the door’ is an idiomatic

expression which is carrying the meaning of ‘open the door’.

2.4.2. Decoding idioms:

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 “a decoding idiom is an expression which the language users couldn’t interpret with

complete confidence if they hadn’t learned it separately”. (Mekkai qtd. in Tommassello 247)

decoding idioms are hardly figured and understood, also, they get misleading sometimes. E.g.

‘beat around the bush’ which means to avoid an issue

Gairns and Redman explain how idioms can differ from their word structure in the

following table.

Type of idiom Example Meaning

1 verb-based idioms Take advantage of Make good use of sth.
STH
Change your mind Change your decision or opinion about sth.
Get nowhere Make no progress, or have no success
Be supposed to do sth. If you are supposed to do sth., you should do
it, because somebody told you to do it, or
because it is your responsibility to do it.SYN
be meant to do sth.
2 prepositional In that case Used to say what will happen, or what you
phrases will do, as a result of a particular situation
In charge (of sb/ sth) Having control or command (of sb/sth)
3 noun phrases A piece of cake INF a thing that is very easy to do.
A stone’ s throw A short distance

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4sayings and Famous last words Used when you think somebody is speaking
proverbs with too much confidence about sth that they
think will happen
Better late than never = it is better to arrive late than not at all.
5 fixed phrases with Bright and early Early in the morning.
two key words, More or less Almost or approximately
usually joined by
and or or.
6 idiomatic phrasal Get through (to sb) Make contact with sb by phone.
verbs Laugh sth off Joke about something to show it is not
serious or important.
7 exclamations or Don’t ask me INF used to say that you don’t have the
short spoken phrases Thank heavens answer to sth. SYN search me INF.
Used to say you are pleased and relieved
about sth

Table 02: Types of idioms. (Gairns and Redman 10)

2.5. Classification of Idioms:

The quality to how an expression can be idiomatic, or say, the degree of idiomaticity is the

basic feature on which idioms are classified. Thus, they can be categorized as follows:

2.5.1. Transparent Idioms

Fernando claims this type of idiomatic expression has a very close meaning to that of the

literal one. Therefore, they can be easily inferred. For more illustration, two examples are

given below.

2.5.2. Semi Transparent Idioms:

The idioms can carry both idiomatic and literal meaning, or have one literal and one

figurative meaning.

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 ‫ق اليحرقيقريي ل ييطَيعشن رفي ال ي‬
E.g.: “A true friend does not stab in the back” “‫ظهر‬ ‫صردي ش‬
‫( ”ال ي‬Ghazala 131)

2.5.3. Semi Opaque Idioms:

This kind is the one mostly used as idioms, because the literal meaning is usually odd or

irrational. For instance, the idiom ‘to know the ropes’ means ‘to know how a particular job is

should be carried out’

E.g.: “they apply the law of might is right” “‫طَبقوَين يقاشنوَين اليقوَي ييأَشكلُ الضعيف‬
‫( ”إنهم يش ي‬Ghazala 133)

2.5.4. Opaque Idioms:

This kind of idioms is the hardest to be understood, for its literal meaning is unintelligible,

quite obscure and incomprehensible.

‘Beat around the bush’ means ‘to avoid an issue’

2.5. The interpretation of idioms:

One of the main translation problems for translators is the translation of fixed phrases such

as idiomatic expression (baker65).since idioms differ on the scale of idiomacity ,some of

them can be easily recognizable and some of them are not, as mentioned before in the

classification of idioms .

During the translation of idiom, it is difficult for the translator to recognize the meaning of

an idiom due to the fact that most idioms belong to a specific culture, and each one may has a

special culture background.

2.6. The Translation of Idioms:

According to Baker “most idioms resist variation in form some are more flexible than

others’’ (64).

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E.g.: “there was too much buck passing’’ (McCarthy and O’Dell 6) which means refusing to

take responsibility for something. Baker pointed out that “a person competence in actively

using the idioms and fixed expressions of a language hardly ever matches that of a native

speaker ’’ (64).The common problems that idiomatic and fixed expressions pose in translation

relate to two important areas:

- The ability to recognize and interpret idioms correctly.

- The difficulties involved in rendering the various aspects of meaning that an idiom conveys

into the TL.

These two difficulties are much more present in the case of idioms than they are in the case of

fixed expressions (Baker 65).

2.6. Difficulties in Translating Idioms:

According to (baker 68-70), the problems in translating an idiom is not about on which class

an idiom is located on the scale of idiomacity .The main difficulties in translating idioms are

summarized as follows:

1. An idiom or fixed expression may have no equivalent in the target language:

“the way a language chooses to express or not express various meaning cannot be predicted

and only occasionally matches the way another language chooses to express the same

meaning (68)’’.This means that in one language we may express a given meaning by means of

a single word In another language, however, we may express it by means of a transparent

fixed expression .Still another one may express it by means of an idiom and so on. Fixed

expression and idioms are like single words; they can be culture specific. Basnet Mcguire (qtd

in Baker) explain that the expressions “which, say, when’’ are directly linked to English social
17
behavioral patterns and the translator putting the phrase into French or German has to contend

with the problem of the non-existence of a similar convention in either TL culture.

2. An idiom may have a similar counterpart in the TL, but its context of use may be different.

Backer claims that “the two expressions may have different connotations for instance, or they

may not be pragmatically transferable’’.

3. An idiom may be used in the source text in both its literal and idiomatic sense at the same

time:

“unless the target language idiom corresponds to the source language idiom in the form and

meaning .The play on idiom cannot be successfully reproduced in the target text’’(69).

Conclusion

the way how idioms are structured and how their meaning is implied, make them a very

special aspect of language which is crucial to the users of language. Furthermore,

understanding how idioms works and how they can be used make their translation much

easier and clearer.

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 General Conclusion

Translation comes along with obstacles that the translators or students trainees may encounter,

such as grammatical, stylistic and lexical problems. The translator attempt to overcome these

obstacles in order to find equivalence, so that the TL text is as close as possible to the SL text

concerning its structure, meaning and style.

idioms which are part of the figurative language, pose a big challenge to translators and

trainees students. firstly, because of their ambiguous nature which depends on the whole

meaning of the words combination taken together, and secondly, because they are culture

bound units and they cannot be changed , moreover , their translation from one languge to

another , which oblige the translators to have a large knowledge about the SL idiom’s

background culture so that it can be correctly interpreted an translated, which is considered as

a hard task . !!

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 Work Cited

Becker, Mona. In Other Words: A Course Book In Translation . London: Routledge,1992.

Bussmann, Hadumod. Routledge Dictionary Of Language And Linguistics. London:

Routledge, 1998.

Busnett, Susan. Translation Studies. London: Routledge, 2002.

Fernando, C. Idioms and idiomaticity. London: penguin books, 1996.

Gairns and Redman. Idioms and Phrasal verbs: intermediate . China: Oxford UP, 2011.

Ghazala, Hassan. Translation as Problems and Solution: a Coursebook for university students

and trainee translators. ELGA Publication, 1995.

Karimi, Lotfollah. Equivalence in Translation. <<http:www.translationdirectory.org>>

McCarthy and O’dell. English Idioms in Use. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002.

“idiom.” Oxford Advanced Learners’s Dictionary. 7th ed. Oxford UP.

Tomassello, Michael. The New Psychology of Language: Cognitive and Functional

Approaches. V2. New jersy: Lawerance Erlbaum Associates, 2009.

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