The Problems Encountered by Libyan University Students in Translating Idioms from English to Arabic

Abstract

This study is presented to investigate the difficulties that Libyan undergraduate student's encountered when translating some idiomatic and cultural-bound expressions from English into Arabic. Our research was supported by some previous studies in the field of translating idiomatic and cultural-bound expressions. Two methods were used in this study in order to collect data: The translation test, which was addressed to a sample of (10) Libyan undergraduate students, and it consisted of (9) items. The questionnaire, which was addressed to (5) translation experts and (25) Libyan undergraduate students. The questionnaire consisted of two parts that were of Likert type scale. The first part was the student's perceptions of interruption and translating idioms, the second part was student`s strategies of translating idioms. The analysis of the test shows that, in most idioms student`s ability to infer the intended sense of the idiomatic expressions was very limited and they stuck to literal translation as a strategy to translate them into Arabic. The data analysis of the questionnaire revealed the problems students faced in learning idioms and the strategies they used to translate idioms. Those problems raised from the fact that students translate literally and their sensitivity to the English culture and to their unfamiliarity with the appropriate translation techniques and finally to their inadequate proficiency in the target language.