Translation of Idioms: A Hard Task for the Translator

Abstract

Idioms can be considered as a part of everyday language. They are the essence of any language and the most problematic part to handle with. Not all idioms have direct equivalents in another language, because they are linguistic expressions which are typical for a language and specific to a single culture. It is impossible to define any unique approach in the translating process since so many idioms are culturally specific and thus the pragmatic meaning must be much more prized than the literal meaning. If they are to be translated literally or word for word, they lead to extreme confusion. The present study investigates some important idioms in the book What You Asked For, and provides the readers with the procedures and strategies used to translate them. The procedures are proposed by Baker (1992). This paper presents the definition of idioms to see what they are. Then, it classifies the idioms into different categories and in the end, gives some techniques and procedures to translate them

The Pattern of Translation Strategies of Idiomatic Expression in Comics

“…Some research related to translation idiom is presented by Adelnia and Dastjerdi (2011); Wicaksono and Wahyuni (2018). Both research analysis translation strategies for translating idiomatic expression.…”

The Challenges of Translating Idioms from Arabic into English A Closer look at Al Imam AL Mahdi University – Sudan

“…Other than that, Gottlieb (1997) asserted that idioms cannot be straightforwardly translated by one who just understands the general meaning of the related constituents. Furthermore, Adelnia and Dastjerdi (2011) claimed that, an idiom is an expression made out of no less than two lexical items , with a meaning that is difficult to derive literally and which functions semantically as one unit. Besides, Arabic and English languages are both rich in idioms.…”

Translation of Idioms:

“…dioms are culture-specific expressions which also allow little or no syntactical variation, posing a great challenge to the translator (ADELNIA;DASTJERDI, 2011;BAKER, 1992;GEORGAKOPOULOU, 2009;STRAKŠIENE, 2009). However, it might be possible to translate them from a source language (SL) into a target language (TL).…”

“…To begin with, idioms are non-compositional. They cannot be understood based on the attribution of isolated meanings to each of their components (ADELNIA;DASTJERDI, 2011;BAKER, 1992;GRANT;BAUER, 2004;LEAH, 2012;MOON, 1998;RIVA;CAMACHO, 2010;STRAKŠIENE, 2009). Furthermore, falling under the concept of institutionalization, which concerns the degree a certain community is able to recognize a particular phrase (GRANT;BAUER, 2004;MOON, 1998;RIVA;CAMACHO, 2010), idioms are institutionalized because the more they have been constantly spoken by a considerable amount of people from linguistic communities over a determined period of time, the more they wind up being widely committed to the collective memory of speakers.…”

“…Furthermore, idioms are regarded as culture-specific, allowing little or no syntactical variation and thus posing a great challenge to the subtitles translator (ADELNIA; DASTJERDI, 2011;BAKER, 1992, GEORGAKOPOULOU, 2009STRAKŠIENE, 2009). In the translation realm, the translator wished for in these current times is the cultural mediator, whose role is to interpret "expressions, intentions, perceptions, and expectations of each cultural group to the other" so as to establish and balance communication between them (TAFT, 1981apud KATAN, 1999.…”