A Multifaceted Approach to the Translation of Collocations from English to Persian (original) (raw)
Related papers
The ROLE OF COLLOCATION IN TRANSLATIONESE
University of Tarbiat Modarres, 1990
As the amount of translation across languages has tremendously increased during the last forty years, and the pre-theoretical discussions of the ‘art of translation’ has not provided a satisfactory basis for the field of translation, linguistic theories have come to the help of translation. ‘Collocation’ is one of the linguistic concepts which can be usefully applied to translation theory. The Iranian critics in the field of translation have mentioned and criticized ‘awkward and unintelligible combinations of words’, i.e. unacceptable collocations, as a major factor in artificial language-the ‘translationese’ (Nida and Taber, 1969) fabricated by some Iranian translators (see Saffarzadeh, 1984; derakhshan, 1988). The research questions of this study were: 1. What are the collocation-types? 2. Which are the most frequent types of unacceptable collocations? 3. What are the causes (or sources) of unacceptable collocations? 4. Which method of, or approach to, translation may create unacceptable collocations? 5. How can the translator avoid collocational clashes, or unacceptable collocations? The general hypothesis of the research was that a collocationally acceptable lexical sequence in the SL may be rendered into an unacceptable and anomalous lexical combination in the TL due to difference between the collocational meanings (or possibilities) of a lexeme and those of its equivalents in TL, even though having the same or identical referential (denotative) and emotive (connotative) meanings. To provide answer to the above questions, actual data were gathered from seven translations of two English novels and their corresponding original versions on unacceptable collocations. The data collected in this way provided a source of materials for three types of multiple-choice tests which were given to four groups of subjects. A taxonomy was provided to classify and represent types of unacceptable collocations. These major types of causes were distinguished: 1. Non-observance of collocational possibilities in the TL; i.e. mainly those collocations in which a collocate is used in one of its secondary (or figurative) sense in the SL, while the translator has provided the equivalents for its primary sense, rather than a different equivalent for its secondary (or figurative) sense. 2. Mistranslation; 3. Type-setting errors. The majority of senses were of the first type which confirmed the hypothesis. The most frequent types of unacceptable collocations found in the study were: 1. Adjective + Noun 2. Subject + Verb 3. Noun + of/’s + Noun It was concluded from the study that though word-for-word method of translation is the main source of creating unacceptable collocations and translationese, there are certain other lower levels involved; such as, morpheme-for-morpheme translation, transliteration, and the importation of foreign words. From the tests given to about 120 subjects, a significant conclusion was derived as: those students who compared the Persian sentences with the English original sentences, were under the negative impact (or interference) of the English language, the SL, and deviated from the naturalness (of the Persian way of expression) according to such interference.
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2016
This study investigated patterns of reciprocal English-Persian translation of collocations by Iranian EFL learners. The participants of the study were 20 intermediate and advanced level students at different private language schools in Tehran city. The instruments used in the study was a researcher-made questionnaires used for translating collocations and involved 60 items including ten collocation types. The questionnaire was translated into Persian. Then, the English and Persian versions were given to the participants to complete. The collected data was analyzed using the SPSS software. The results showed that there were meaningful differences between the two translations in ‘verb + noun’; ‘prepositions of time, place and manner; ‘verb + adverb’; and ‘adjective + preposition’ correlations. The most frequently used strategy used for translation of collocations in English-Persian and also in Persian-English translations was literal translation which is a type of direct translation. ...
A topic of paramount significance, yet underdeveloped in Translation Studies, is official translation. A fundamental problem that seems hazardous to the quality of official translation is deviant collocational structures produced by translators. Since official translationhas a highly significant stylistic and pragmatic part, any collocational errors can considerably affect the validity and readability of translations. The present researchaims tooffer a systematic study on the sources of collocationerrors made by certified translators. To do this, official texts and documents translated by the certified translators working at a number of translation bureaus of Shiraz, Iran, were investigated. The data collected were categorized according to Lie's model of error analysis, while the theoretical basis of the study was founded upon the assumptions of Functionalist linguistics. A statistical analysis of the data collected was also included. The findingsprovide some implications that can inspire future research both for the purpose of confirmation or exploration of newfindings.
This study aimed to investigate the knowledge of undergraduate students in rendering a range of Arabic lexical collocations into English in different contexts properly, depending on the students' mental linguistic repertoire. It also examined the strategies practiced in their translation to come up with the proper collocation. The study used two main tools. A questionnaire was responded by students and teachers, also a test for students only. The participants were thirty (30) Yemeni students studying at the Department of English, Faculty of Education-Saber and six (6) of the translation course university teachers. The students' knowledge of collocations was measured by a Translation Test of three Arabic lexical collocational items (ضرب-حصر-تخفيف) which were contextualized in fifteen sentences, each of which contained a verb-noun collocation. The results of the statistical analysis showed that there was a negative knowledge of collocations and that the third year B.A. students face difficulty in finding out the exact equivalents and collocation. They were not collocationally competent and they really found difficulty in selecting the words that come together to form good English sentences. Therefore, they violated the system of collocations. As a result, they were not able to produce correct English sentence. The results also showed that the students tend to depend on different language strategies to facilitate their translation such as L1 transfer, synonymy, avoidance and paraphrasing. These strategies lead to poor English translation. Accordingly, some suggestions are put forward to overcome the stated problems.
The Problem of Translating English Collocations into Arabic Language
The present study investigates the problem of translating English collocations into Arabic among Saudi EFL students. Twenty undergraduate students of fourth year are involved to participate as subjects in this experiment during the academic year 2016-2017. Their ages are between 20-24.All participants are native Arabic speakers learning English as a foreign language. The data collection procedure were a test of fourteen collocation expressions; the most commonly used ones. The students were asked to translate them into Arabic within one hour. The result revealed that Saudi EFL students were incompetent in translating English collocations into Arabic. They relied completely on the literal translation strategy. Their translation of English collocations is poor and unnatural collocations as well. The result revealed also that the students were even incompetent in understanding English collocations as well due to linguistic and cultural difficulties. Therefore, the solution of the problem depends upon raising students' awareness of the process of translating English collocations because it is not a replacement of word-for-word between the two languages as well as paying great attention to the learning process of English collocations; linguistically and culturally.
Translation of Collocation: Problems and Issues
Sana'a University, 2015
This thesis discusses the concept of collocation in translation from different theoretical and practical perspectives. As collocation is seen by many translation scholars as a complex translation problem, this research is an attempt to investigate the nature of this complexity in translation practice through short stories. The research practically investigates the concept of collocation through a comparative and contrastive analysis of two different English translations of the same Arabic short story, The Color of Rain, written by Mohammed Abdul Wali, aiming at a better understanding of the problem of collocation in translation from Arabic into English, and finding out cost-effective ways to deal with such problems practically and professionally. The original story and both translated versions were deconstructed into collocational units or elements where a collocation can be identified or inferred in a matrix. The matrix also includes four main collocation types: free, restricted, figurative, and idiomatic, plus criteria values of each type and the researcher’s commentary. In-depth discussion with examples from both translations is included covering three main areas: (1) comparative and contrastive translation quality assessment of both translations from collocation perspective; (2) types of collocations used in the original story and in both translations; and (3) strategies used in the translation of collocation, including avoidance or omission, repetition, transfer, analogy, and reduction. It is found that the first translation (TT1) has less pragmatic impact than the second translation (TT2). Both translators demonstrated competency in free and restricted types of collocation, but translating figurative collocations is found out to be the most significant problem in TT1 as opposed to TT2. TT2 used the five strategies mentioned above in a more competent way than TT1, which reflects mastery in translating collocations in this particular short story. This competency is synergized through collaborative efforts offered by two translators from different cultural backgrounds as featured in TT2. Sole translation activity may reflect a less competent level of performance as demonstrated in TT1, and this may be one important reason of the problems of collocation encountered by the first translator.
The study aims at exploring the difficulties that face the students of Al Quds Open University in collocations translation process from English to Arabic and vice versa. The researcher attempted to find suitable solutions for such difficulties and problems. The researcher followed an experimental descriptive method in the study. The researcher designed a test in order to explore the difficulties and problems that face such students. The test is composed of five questions ,the first one is Common collocations - nouns which naturally follow verbs (multiple choice) , the second one is "Choose the most suitable Arabic word combination to correct collocation" , the third one is " Choose most suitable English word combination to correct collocation" the fourth one is " Translate the following collocations from Arabic to English" ,the fifth one is "Translate the following collocations from English to Arabic". Such study was applied on English students of Al Quds Open University in Gaza Branch during the second course of the academic year 2013/2014. The researcher chose and selected a random sample of Al Quds Open University students in Gaza Branch. The researcher will follow a suitable statistical methods for such study. At the end of the study ,the researcher adopted a group of recommendations and suggestions.
The Problem of Translating English Collocations into Arabic
ABSTRACT The present study investigates the problem of translating English collocations into Arabic among Saudi EFL students. Twenty undergraduate students of fourth year are involved to participate as subjects in this experiment during the academic year 2016-2017. Their ages are between 20- 24.All participants are native Arabic speakers learning English as a foreign language. The data collection procedure were a test of fourteen collocation expressions; the most commonly used ones. The students were asked to translate them into Arabic within one hour. The result revealed that Saudi EFL students were incompetent in translating English collocations into Arabic. They relied completely on the literal translation strategy. Their translation of English collocations is poor and unnatural collocations as well. The result revealed also that the students were even incompetent in understanding English collocations as well due to linguistic and cultural difficulties. Therefore, the solution of the problem depends upon raising students' awareness of the process of translating English collocations because it is not a replacement of word-for-word between the two languages as well as paying great attention to the learning process of English collocations; linguistically and culturally. Keywords: Translation problem, English collocations, cultural and linguistic difficulties
Collocation in English-Arabic Translation
Babel, 2006
Collocation is considered one of the major 'trouble spots' for translators. This may be ascribed to the relative difficulty in predicting the constituent elements of a collocation, the considerable variation in collocability across languages and the lack of adequate resources on collocation. However, few empirical studies have been made so far on the types of collocations that are particularly problematic to the translator, the specific sources of the problem and the procedures that translators actually resort to in handling such collocations. This paper investigates the areas just defined with special reference to collocation in English and Arabic. A translation test involving thirty sentence-contextualized collocations of different types was designed. The test was administered to four Arab university instructors who taught translation and did translation work for different periods of time. The participants' performance in the test was considerably low. A detailed analysis of the problem was conducted and the findings were then reported. It is hoped that a study of this kind would provide essential feedback for translation teachers and syllabus designers.
Translation of Collocations into Arabic: A Descriptive Corpus-Based Study
2020
Translation of collocations represents a constant translation problem, where extensive linguistic and cultural gaps between languages result in a lack of equivalence of specific-culture, and bound collocational patterns. This study aims to investigate a number of English collocations and their Arabic translations, in order to measure the degree of domestication versus foreignization in translated Arabic texts. This study applies Baker’s theoretical framework of equivalence and translation strategies (2018), and makes use of the parallel corpus: OPUS2, on the corpus analysis web-based tool Sketch Engine. This study has shown that domestication predominantly characterises the translation of collocations in Arabic, where equivalence is usually achieved using different translation