A Point about the Quality of the English Translation of Gulistan of Saadi by Rehatsek

This study was completed in two phases to check the reliability of some translations regarding the depth of the translators’ understanding of the source language in this case Persian. First, a field work was carried out in the departments of Foreign Languages and of Persian language and literature of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman during the spring semester of2007. Secondly, a random selection of English excerpts was compared to the Persian source. We looked for structural, cultural and contextual probable mismatches. The objective was to raise consciousness in both Persian and English readers regarding the translations’ level of accuracy. Consequently, some faults were identified in each and all the selected texts showing contextual, cultural and structural mismatches and misinterpretations.