JoLIE 8/2015
TRANSLATION OF METAPHORS AND IDIOMS – MISSION IMPOSSIBLE[1]?
Teodora Popescu
1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to present the findings of an experiment with MA students in English Philology, carried out during the translations class included in their academic curriculum. The texts that we used for translating purposes were taken from the business press and they represented quite a novelty for the students, since they had previously received training only in literary translations during their BA studies. The analysis of students’ work was made taking into account two methodological aspects: the linguistic dimension as well as the cultural one. During the explicit training throughout the semester, we analysed and translated texts by trying to frame them within the social, political and economic background of the countries where the articles were published. The findings revealed that although the students’ linguistic competence was relatively advanced, their intercultural competence was still in need of improvement. In particular, the complex issues of equivalence and non-equivalence at above-the-word level were tackled as part of the course activities, especially collocations, idioms, and metaphors which are culture-bound by nature. An important outcome was the students’ improvement in translation strategies awareness.
Key words: Business lexis; Linguistic competence; Intercultural competence; Translation competence; Figurative language.
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How to cite this article: Popescu, T. (2015). Translation of metaphors and idioms – mission impossible? Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 8, 163–178. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2015.8.11
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[1] This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-2785.