The translation of idioms: problems and practical techniques from a didactic point of view

Abstract

Words in all languages rarely appear isolated from other words or they are seldom matched together at a random order. These lexical patternings are categorized as collocations, idioms and fixed expressions. The present paper aims at exploring at a theoretical level the specific lexical patternings and techniques of translating them into the target language. It starts by making the crucial distinction between “word” and “morpheme” and it moves on by examining the main differences between “collocations”, “idioms” and “fixed expressions.  The paper centers on the difficulties that a translator is likely to encounter in translating them in the target language and conveying their actual meaning. It specifically presents certain translation techniques for handling such difficulties based on the model suggested by Mona Baker in her work “In Other Words” with the hope to help future translators to handle problems that are due to lack of equivalence above word level. The main conclusion drawn is that various factors need to be considered in deciding on how to convey the meaning of these idiomatic uses of language such as the cultural context in which they occur, the individual lexical items of which they consist as well as the text type in which they occur.

Keywords: equivalence above word level, difficulties in translating idioms, distinction between idioms and fixed expressions, naturalness and readability, translation techniques.