Difficulties in Translating Cultural Bound Idioms et Case study: 1st year Master Translation Studies

Abstract

This research attempts to investigate the difficulties in translating cultural bound idioms. Cultural differences constitute areas of potential difficulties in English/Arabic translation of such fixed expressions. These difficulties arise when one form of behaviour in one culture is practically non-existent in another, or when the same cultural concept is conceived and interpreted differently by both cultures.The aim of this study is to examine the difficulties students of first year masterTranslation and Translation studies at University of Kasdi Merbah Ouargla, face while translating idioms and try to suggest solutions and identify strategies that may help to limit or avoid these difficulties. Inthis respect, a test made up of ten sentences which contains idiomatic expressions is given to 1st year master students to be translated. The results of the study show that there are potential problems in theprocess of translating idioms from English into Arabic. Furthermore, the findings show that students lack of practice translating idioms lead student to misinterpret the idioms and to guess the appropriate meaning of them. They also confirm our hypothesis and reveal that, the more they practice, the more they will produce accurate translation.