Assessing Difficulties of Translating Opaque Idioms from English into Arabic: A Case Study

The translation of idiomatic expressions from English into Arabic is considered a difficult task for translators. This difficulty may reveal that this translation has a serious misunderstanding and mistranslation of the source text. This study aims to determine the major challenges that master students in the translation department encounter when translating idioms and identify the methods and strategies for translating such expressions. The study hypothesizes that the commonest challenge that translators encounter when rendering idiomatic expressions into Arabic is cultural differences. The commonest strategies are used by students when rendering idiomatic expressions into Arabic, which include omission, paraphrasing, different form but similar meaning and similar and meaning. The translation of opaque idioms is harder than the transparent ones. Theoretically, the study presents a literature review on translation methods of translation and the relation among translation, language and culture, idioms and difficulties in translating idiomatic expressions, and it tackles translation, models and strategies used in translation idiomatic expressions. Finally, it sets forth a brief account previous study. Practically, the data used for analysis comprise twenty-five idiomatic expressions selected from the videos on the you- tube channels (Interactive English). These idioms are given to 10 M.A. students from the department of translation, college of arts university of Tikrit who voluntarily agreed to take part in the test to translate the selected idioms. In this study Moon’s (1998) idioms typology is used as a linguistic model to identify the four types of idioms (The transparent, the semitransparent, the opaque and the semi-opaque idioms) used by the translators. Newmark’s (1981) model of translation is also used to distinguish two methods of translations, semantic and communicative methods. The other is provided by baker (1992). The findings of the study showed that master students face many challenges when translating idiomatic expressions including the lack of awareness of the cultural difference between English and Arabic. This study suggests that it is important to find a target language idiom rather than translating such an idiom by paraphrasing. As well as being familiar with the adopted strategies may help student’s abilities translate more properly. Finally, the study displays that the type of idiom has a minor impact on understanding its meaning and aiding an appropriate translation.英语习语的阿拉伯语译写，向来被译者视为极具挑战性的工作。此类译介难点往往暴露出译者对源文本存在严重的理解偏差与误译问题。本研究旨在厘清翻译专业硕士研究生在英译阿习语过程中面临的核心挑战，并梳理此类表达的译介方法与策略。研究提出假设：译者在将习语译为阿拉伯语时，最普遍的挑战源于文化差异。学生译介此类表达时常用的策略包括省略法、意译法、异形式同义法与同形式同义法；晦涩习语（opaque idioms）的译写难度高于透明习语（transparent idioms）。理论层面，本研究首先梳理相关文献综述，涵盖习语译介方法、翻译与语言文化的关联、习语本体特征及习语译介难点，并探讨习语译介所采用的翻译模型与策略；最后概述既往相关研究成果。实践层面，本研究的分析数据取自YouTube频道「Interactive English」发布的视频中选取的25条习语。研究将这些习语交由提克里特大学文学院翻译系的10名硕士研究生完成译写测试，所有参与者均自愿参与本次测试。本研究采用穆恩（Moon, 1998）提出的习语分类学作为语言学分析框架，将译者所使用的习语划分为四类：透明习语（transparent idioms）、半透明习语（semitransparent idioms）、晦涩习语（opaque idioms）及半晦涩习语（semi-opaque idioms）；同时借助纽马克（Newmark, 1981）的翻译模型，区分出语义翻译法与交际翻译法两种译介路径；此外还采用了贝克尔（Baker, 1992）的相关理论。研究结果显示，硕士研究生在译写习语时面临诸多挑战，其中包括对英阿两国文化差异缺乏认知。本研究建议，译者应优先选用目标语中的对应习语，而非通过意译的方式进行转换；同时，熟练掌握各类译介策略有助于提升学生的译写能力。此外，本研究发现，习语类型对理解其语义及实现恰当译介的影响相对有限。