Strategies of Translating Arabic Religious Idioms into English

Abstract

Translating religious idioms from Arabic into English is regarded as a challenging task for translators. The hard nature of this task may indicate a significant misapprehension and misinterpretation of the original text in the process of translation. This, in turn, forms a problem to translators as how to translate these idioms appropriately. Therefore, this study aims, to identify the strategies faced by translators when translating religious idioms into Arabic. Additionally, the study aims to identify the strategies employed in translating such expressions. It hypothesizes. Translators frequently employ strategies when translating religious idiomatic expressions into English. The translation of opaque idioms presents a greater challenge compared to transparent idioms. Practically, the study sample includes a total of (4) religious idioms, selected from Arabic theses conducted of department of Islamic sciences and Arabic language at University of Tikrit. These (4) idioms were translated by (4) MA student in the department of translation, College of Arts, University of Tikrit. This study employs two models for date analysis, one is proposed by Moon (1998), which encompasses four distinct categories of idiomatic expressions, namely transparent, semi-transparent, opaque, and semi-opaque. Nida's (1961) proposed translation strategies differentiate between two approaches, namely the formal and dynamic equivalence methods. The study reveals that M.A. students encounter numerous obstacles when translating religious idioms, primarily due to lack of understanding regarding the cultural disparities between the English and Arabic language.