Baker's most frequently used strategies for translating idioms in maḥfūẓ's works : al-thulāthīyah, al-liṣṣ wa-al-kilāb, and mīrāmār

Abstract EN

The present paper investigates the strategies used for the translation of idiomatic expressions from Arabic into English in Maḥfūẓ’s works: Al-Thulāthīyah, Al-Liṣṣ wa al-kilāb, and Mīrāmār.

The paper also examines how effectively the idioms are translated from Arabic into English, and suggests the most suitable strategies for conveying the idioms that the researcher views as inappropriately translated from Arabic into English.

This research is based on Baker’s strategies for translating idioms.

These include: using an idiom of similar meaning and form, using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form, translation by paraphrase, and translation by omission.

The researcher tries to identify the most frequently used strategies and the significant differences among the uses of these strategies.

Conducting a descriptive statistical analysis, it has been concluded that “using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form” and “paraphrase” were the most used strategies.

Sometimes, the translators confronted some challenges in translating idioms either due to their misunderstanding of the idiom meaning or inability to find a proper equivalent in the target language.

Based on the findings of this research, it is recommended that, in addition to having enough knowledge in terms of the theoretical translation issues and the translation strategies suggested by different linguists, a translator should have a good command of the TL idiomatic expressions, and in the case of translating novels, ask for the assistance of a native TL reviewer to handle the challenging task of transferring the idioms into the TL.