Idiom Comprehension and Translation by Female English Translation Majors
The present study attempted to investigate the problems and difficulties relevant to idiom
comprehension and translation with female majors in English Translation. In general, EFL
learners experience difficulties in understanding the meaning of idiomatic expressions; however,
the problem is magnified when learners are required not only to understand the meanings of
these expressions, but also to render their meanings in another language.
The objective of this study was to investigate whether or not female English translation
majors at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University face any difficulties
in understanding and translating English idiomatic expressions. The study also aimed to classify
the translation strategies the subjects used, as well as, the types of errors they made. The research
followed a qualitative descriptive design model. The study population included female English
translation majors. The sample was composed of two groups of female English translation
majors in their fourth and fifth year of study.
The findings of the study demonstrated that the subjects generally did not face difficulties
in understanding English idiomatic expressions. However, the findings indicated that they
generally did face difficulties in the translation of English idiomatic expressions into Arabic.
Furthermore, the findings helped to identify eleven error categories and seven translation
strategy categories. The error categories are: miscomprehension of the original, wrong choice of
word, literal translation, register/style, omission, sentence structure, addition, ambiguity,
redundancy, transliteration, and use of the exact English expression. The seven strategy
categories are: paraphrase, literal translation, use of an idiom/attempting an idiomatic translation,
omission, use of an informal expression, transliteration, and use of the exact English expression.
Purpose
The current research aimed to investigate the context of translator training in Saudi Arabia, in
light of PACTE’s translation competence model (2003). This involved examining different…
Translator training is an area that has received much interest among the research community of Translation Studies scholars. This is driven by the need for highly qualified and skilled…