(Un)Translatability of Persian Idiomatic Expressions to English in Political Discourse

Journal of Teaching English Lnaguage Studies

مقاله 5، دوره 3، شماره 2، بهمن 2014، صفحه 73-87   

نویسنده

Alireza Karimi

Islamic Azad University Takestan Branch

چکیده

The present study sought to investigate the extent to which Persian idiomatic expressions would influence the western translators' strategies in providing the ultimate product in English, and it also attempted to uncover the underlying assumptions in target text, then to suggest some weighty strategies to overcome difficulties with translation. For this purpose, the data was analyzed within the mentioned framework proposed by Mona Baker (1992) that are four problem-solving strategies to overcome the difficulties of idiomatic translation. For that purpose, at first the texts of Mr. Ahmadinejad's speeches were selected from the Iranian government news agency website. Then the renditions of transcriptions of the news were excerpted from the Western English media. After all the data were collected, the descriptive and test statistics provide us a help to see the frequent type of the strategies used to overcome difficulties with translating idiomatic expressions. Totally, according to the table, 30 idiomatic expressions were randomly selected in his speeches. Among these strategies, “translation by omission” was the most frequently used, and the other three expressions of “Using an idiom of similar meaning and form”, “Using an idiom of similar meaning and dissimilar form”, and “Translation by paraphrase” formed the other half.  Accordingly, the research null-hypothesis that states, “There are no specific translation strategies of idiomatic expressions in political discourse” is rejected, and we can claim that there were specific translation strategies of translation of idiomatic expressions in Mr. Ahmadinejad's political discourse by Western media.

کلیدواژه‌ها

idiom؛ Untranslatability؛ translation؛ Cultural untranslatability؛ Linguistic untranslatability؛ Translation strategy

مراجع

Atkins‚ A. (2002). Critical Discourse Analysis: A letter to expatriates from the Rt. Hon. Sir Norman Fowler M.P. Retrieved from

www.cels.bham.ac.uk/resources/essays/Andrew-Atkins-Assignment-5.pdf-2009-10-22

Baker‚ M. R. (1992). In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. London and New York: Routledge.

Belfaqeeh‚ N. (2009). Strategies for translating idioms and culturally0bound expressions within the human development genere. M.A dissertation‚ University of Birmingham. http://www.cels.bham.ac.uk/resources/essays/Noor-Balfaqeeh-822875 Diss.pdf(accessed12/02/2011)

Catford‚ J.C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation. London: Oxford University Press.

Cohen, A.D. (1984). On taking tests: what the students report. Languge testing, 11-21

Davies, M. G. (2004). Multiple voices in the translation classroom: Activities. Tasks, and projects. Amesterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Fairclaugh‚ N. (1995). Media Discourse. London: Edward Arnold.

Fernando‚ C. & Flavell‚ R. (1981). On Idiom: Critical Views and Perspectives (Exter Linguistic Studies 5‚ University of Exter)‚ Chapter 4‚ 'Contrastive Ideology' .

Gottlib‚ H. (1997). Quality Revisited: The Rendering of English Idioms in Danish Television Subtitles vs. Printed Translation. In A. Trosborg (ed.)‚ Text Typology and Translation . Amesterdam: John Benjamins B.V.

Jaaskelainen‚ R.‚ (1999). Taping the process: an explanation study of cognitive and effective factors involved in translating. Joensuu: University of Joensuu Publications in Humanities.

Kress, G. (1993). Against Arbitrariness: The Social production of the Sign as a Fundamental Issue in Critical Discourse Analysis. Discourse 7 Society, 4(2),169-191.

Kress, G. (1989). Linguistic Processes in sociocultural practice. (2^nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Krings‚ H.P. (1986). Translation problems and translation strategies of advanced German learners of French. In J. House‚ & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.)‚ Interlingual and intercultural communiation. Tubingen: Gunter Narr.

Loescher‚ W. (1991). Translation performance‚ translation process and translation strategies. Tuebingen: GutenNarr.

Mollanazar, H. (2004). Principles and Methodology of Translation. Tehran: SAMT .

Mounin‚ G. (1977). Los Problems teoricos de la traduccion . tr. Julio Lago Alonso‚ Madrid‚ Gredos .

Munday‚ J. (2001). Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications. USA and Canada: Routledge.

Newmark‚ P. (1988). A textbook of Translation. New York: TiceHall Press.

Stakšiene‚ M. (2009). Analysis of Idiom Translation Strategies from English into Lithuanian. Studies about Languages. NO. 14‚13-19. http://www.Kalbos. 1t/zurnalai/14-numeris/03.pdf (accessed 07/03/2011)

Tahir-Gurcaglar‚ S. (2003). The translation bureau revisited: Translation as Symbol. In M. Calzada-perez (Ed.) Apropos of ideology. Manchester: St. Jerome.

Van Dijk‚ T. A. (1998). Critical Discourse Analysis. Retrieved from  http://www.hum.uva.nl/teun/cda.htm