Problems encountered in translating oxymora from English into Arabic
This study investigated the problems some Egyptian translation students majoring in English encounter when translating texts containing oxymora. To achieve this, the researchers selected 42 students from the Department of Simultaneous Interpretation, Faculty of Arts, Damanhour University, Egypt,...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Tamhidi Centre, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/52358/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/52358/1/52358_Problems%20encountered%20in%20translating%20oxymora.pdf |
| Summary: | This study investigated the problems some Egyptian translation students majoring in English
encounter when translating texts containing oxymora. To achieve this, the researchers
selected 42 students from the Department of Simultaneous Interpretation, Faculty of Arts,
Damanhour University, Egypt, who were enrolled during the second semester of 2015/2016.
Students were given a translation test in which they were asked to translate 15 statements
from English into Arabic. Each statement contained an oxymoron, apart from one statement
which was used as a control to check if the students were attentive during the test. The
statements were selected in accordance with Shen’s classification of direct and indirect
oxymora. The test was then sent to five expert translators to check the validity of the
translations and to be used to form model answers. The consultation and advice of an
academic expert in Arabic was sought to ensure the validity of the test as well as the
accuracy of the model answers, based on which the respondent’s answers were to be
graded. Results of the study showed that translation students encounter a number of
problems: 1) unfamiliarity with English oxymora, 2) vagueness of some oxymora, 3) inability
to achieve equivalence in the target language, 4) lack of cultural awareness. Based on these
results, the researchers recommend that translation students should be intensively exposed
to literary texts containing linguistic phenomena such as oxymora and the like to become
more familiar with their meaning, usage and the appropriate translation strategies to be used
in rendering them into the target language. |
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