Pragmatic equivalence in the translation of English indirect refusals by advanced Iraqi learners at University of Bara

Abstract EN

This study focuses on the pragmatic equivalence in the translation of some English speech acts of indirect refusals into Arabic by advanced Iraqi learners of English at University of Basra.

To achieve this aim, a test of (14) English contexts was designed, am I a group of advanced Iraqi learners of English participated in the test of translating these contexts into Arabic.

It is hypothesized that the translation of English indirect refusals into Arabic is problematic and diverse on the pragmatic level particularly in arriving at adequate equivalence.

The study follows Baker's model of pragmatic equivalence in translation which is theorized on Grice's model of the co-operative principle and its maxims.

The translations collected from the test were divided into three groups : equivalent translations, acceptable translations, and mistranslations.

The findings of the study indicated that the percentage of translations that were pragmatically equivalent to the original texts were the lowest ones.