A sociolinguistic approach to translating Jordanian proverbs related to women as mothers into English

Abstract EN

This study investigates the translatability of proverbs in Jordanian Spoken Arabic (Henceforth, JSA) pertaining women as mothers into English.

In addition, it sheds light on the image of Jordanian mothers expressed by these proverbs.

The data consisted of 14 proverbs in JSA that were classified according to the role of a mother in the society.

They were translated into English by 20 MA translation students (both males and females) at Yarmouk University, Jordan.

Then, the translated data were analyzed and evaluated according to the adequacy scale of translation (Adequate, Semi-adequate and Inadequate).

Sociolinguistic approach to translation was employed as a theoretical framework of the current study.

The study concluded that most translators provided inadequate translation to these proverbs due to their lack of cultural and social knowledge, and they neglected the social meaning during translation.