Strategies in Translating Collocations in Religious

Texts from Arabic into English

Bader S Dweik and Mariam M Abu Shakra

Atlas Global Journal for Studies and Research. July 19, 2010
 Abstract
The present study investigated the strategies adopted by students in translating specific

lexical and semantic collocations in three religious texts namely, the Holy Quran, the

Hadith and the Bible. For this purpose, the researchers selected a purposive sample of 35

MA translation students enrolled in three different public and private Jordanian

universities . The data investigated here consisted of a translation test that comprised 45

relatively short sentences of contextual collocations selected from the above-mentioned

three religious texts and divided as 15 collocations per text. Students were required to

translate these collocations from Arabic into English. The findings have shown that

students resorted to various strategies in order to overcome the problem of rendering

certain collocational expressions. Employed strategies were synonymy, generalization,

paraphrasing, deletion and literal translation. Moreover, the study indicated that the

strategy of synonymy emerged as the most conspicuous one for translating lexical

collocations while literal translation signaled the first adopted strategy in the translation

of semantic collocations in the Holy Quran and in the Bible. Deletion emerged as the most

obvious strategy in translating collocation in the Hadith.

Key words:Translating,Collocations,Relgious,Texts,Arabic,English
Introduction:

Translation is considered a kind of activity, which "inevitably involves at least two

languages and two cultural traditions" (Toury, 1980, p.200). However, the main argument of

scholars who questioned the possibility of translation (Nida, 1964; Toury, 1980; Baker, 1992;

Shunnaq, 1997) has been that language and culture are intrinsically connected and thus cultural

diversity makes translation impossible. "Since no two languages are identical either in

meanings given or in phrases and sentences, then there can be no absolute correspondence

between languages" (Nida, 1964, p.156). Moreover, Shunnaq (1997) has added that variations

between languages in terms of the linguistic forms and cultural patterns may vary in scope

depending on the cultural and linguistic gap between the two languages concerned such as

Arabic and English

As these statements imply, translators are permanently faced with various translation

problems such as, finding the exact lexical equivalents in the TL, dealing with the cultural

aspects implicit in a source text SL, conveying the intended semantic message in the SL to TL

and finding the most appropriate strategy of successfully conveying these aspects in the target

language (TL).

From a wide variety of translation problems, that the translator opts to deal with

is Arabic collocations into English. Rendering Arabic Collocation into English constitute a

major linguistic and cultural hindrance due to several reasons: the most significant reason is the

wide linguistic and cultural gap between Arabic and English, which consequently led to the

lack of equivalence of specific-culture, bound collocational patterns. Hence, the meaning of

collocations has to be communicated from Arabic culture by its linguistic system into English

culture. This process of communication could be complicated and hindered because

 collocations are "in fact a direct reflection of the cultural setting in which they are

embedded"(Baker, 1992, p.49). This suggests that collocational patterns among languages

reflect the preferences of those specific languages. Hence, what is considered culturally

acceptable in one language may be regarded as totally strange and mysterious in another (

Dweik, 2000)

Another considerable reason for the difficulty of translating Arabic collocations into

English is related to the nature of collocations, which is considered largely arbitrary and

independent of meaning within and across languages. Baker, (1992) gives the example of "to

break the law" as being unacceptable, if translated into Arabic as "kasara al qānūn"§.

Furthermore, this unacceptable translation could actually cause a collocational clash if not

translated as "khālafa al qānūn". This relative variation in collocability across languages added

to the relative difficulty in predicting the constituent components of a collocation; create an

arduous task to translators, if they lack the ability "to recognize a collocational pattern with a

unique meaning different from the sum meanings of individual elements" (Baker, 1992, p. 53).

This is applicable to the Arabic collocational pattern " salimat yadāk". This pattern will be

mistranslated if the translator fails to recognize that the two lexical constituents are attached to

each other to create a special meaning that is completely different from the meaning of its

individual elements like, " thank you or well done".

The arduous task of translating Arabic collocations into English is further

complicated when the task concerns rendering religious collocations into English. Such

complexity lies in the fact that religious collocational patterns are of theological nature

characterized as being so specific and culture bound. Moreover, their collocational constituents

have a set of intrinsic semantic features that condition their selectional restrictions. For
examples, "ُ‫?“ "ﺇﻗﺎﻣﺔ‬iqāmatu" is selectionally restricted to "‫" "ﺻﻼﺓ‬ṣalāt” to form the

restricted collocation ?iqāmatuṣ-ṣalāt” "‫ "ﺇﻗﺎﻣﺔ ﺍﻟﺼﻼﺓ‬Similarly “ʕuqūqu " ‫ ﻋﻘﻮﻕ‬selects

"alwālidayn" ‫ ﺍﻟﻮﺍﻟﺪﻳﻦ‬to form "‫" ﻋﻘﻮﻕ ﺍﻟﻮﺍﻟﺪﻳﻦ‬

“ʕuqūqu l-wālidayn". In fact, Shunnaq (1997) has realized that religious collocations are deeply

rooted in the structure of the Arabic language. Hence translators who "attempt to render a key

religious term that constitutes a complete referential gap in English would be in despair to find

the precise equivalent of Quranic words and expressions" (p.44). If however, the translator

attempts to employ the literal (word-to-word) transfer of the SL into the TL, his translation will

sound unnatural leading to a "meaningless strings of words, collocational clashes" (Nida, 1964,

p.165).

Searching for acceptable collocations requires a considerable effort on the part of the

translator, who should at least try to provide a TL translation that is equivalent in both meaning

and use to the SL collocations. Nevertheless, when translators come across the hindrance of not

finding a corresponding TL equivalent for the SL lexical item, they resort to several strategies

to overcome the problems encountered. Ferch & Kasper's (1983) have justified translators'

resorting to different strategies "if the concept of translation strategy were of an empirical

value, it would have to be linked to translation problems. Strategies emerge as soon as the

translation cannot be carried out automatically" (p.286).

Garcia, (1996) has stated that "different procedures for the translation are implemented to

achieve a partially successful transfer, when these difficulties in translation often become

unavoidable" (p. 64).

 Statement of the Problem:

Inadequacy in translation comes as a consequence of the translators' inability to call up

the relevant equivalent collocation in the TL. Therefore, translators tend to employ certain

strategies to overcome the problem of collocational equivalence. This study intends to find out

the strategies used by MA translation students when they translate collocations in religious

texts from Arabic into English and vice versa.

Question of the Study:

The aim of the study is to investigate the various strategies used by MA translation

students as a result of the difficulties encountered in translating collocations in religious texts

from Arabic into English.

The present study has attempted to answer the following question:

What strategies do MA translation students employ in rendering collocations in religious texts?

Hypotheses of the Study:

The researcher hypothesizes the following:

M.A. translation students encounter difficulties in translating collocation in religious texts,

consequently they tend to use several inadequate translation strategies as soon as translation

cannot be carried out smoothly.

Significance of the Study:

The importance of this study lies in the fact that it deals with the various strategies

employed in the translation of collocations in three religious texts. Hence, it adds to what

previous scholars did on the topic of collocations, yet it is different. For to the best of our

knowledge, research in this area is quite limited and therefore this study may fill a gap in

literature.
 1.6 Limitations of the Study:

1-This study is limited to two types of collocations: the lexical and the semantic.

2-Results cannot be generalized beyond the selected sample, which is composed of students in

the M.A translation program in three Jordanian universities and four professional translators.

3-The generalization of results is limited only to the test that was constructed by the researcher.

Review of related literature:

Theoretical studies:

The process of collocational translation has been widely investigated by linguists,

(Newmark, 1988; Lorscher, 1991; Baker, 1992; Vinay & Darbelnet, 1995). Their studies

concentrated on the correlation between the strategies employed by translators and the

difficulties encountered in translation. Originally, former studies referred to strategies of

translation as solutions for handling translational problems .However, adopting certain strategies

can themselves lead to further complications and difficulties.

Newmark, (1988) has acknowledged the problems translators have to face at different

levels, and thus formulated certain strategies that would help the translator overcome these

problems, "when the translator is involved in the process of translation, he is always trying to

solve a thousand small problems in the context of a large one” (p. 8). Finding the appropriate

collocations in translation is a "continual struggle"(p. 213). These situations can be resolved

when "translators depend on certain strategies, which may be quite effective when dealing with

linguistic similarities but lead to serious problems in case of cultural disparity" (p.81).

Furthermore, Newmark (1988) has proposed certain methods of translation based on

different understandings of strategies. These strategies are, "word-for-word translation, literal

translation, faithful translation, semantic translation, adaptation, free translation, idiomatic

translation and communicative translation"(p.45). Newmark emphasized communicative

translation in which the "translator attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the

original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible

to the readership" (p.47).

Lorscher (1991) has referred to translation problems encountered by translators even by

the professional ones, as "transfer problems". Such problems are attributed to the difficulties in

the interpretation of meaning conveyed by the source language text and not by the semantic or

lexical differences between languages. Moreover, he has defined translation strategies as

"conscious procedures, which the subjects employ in order to solve translation problems.

Accordingly, translation strategies have their starting-point in the realization of a problem by a

subject, and their termination in a possibly preliminary solution to the problem or in the subject’s

realization of the insolubility of the problem at the given point in time" (pp. 76-81)

Baker (1992) has referred to translation strategies as descriptions of handling "various

types of non-equivalence" (p.26). Baker has listed eight strategies of coping with lack of

equivalence at a phrase level. She suggested certain strategies such as, superordinate by using a

more general word or by more neutral or less expressive word, by cultural substitution

translation using a loan word with a subsequent explanation such as footnotes, by deleting

information; omission and finally, translators can lengthen the target text paraphrase (pp26-38).

The linear set of translation strategies proposed by Vinay & Darbelnet (1995) has turned

out to be comprehensive and applicable to most translational actions, ranging from the semantic

to the most communicative one and allowing the translator to make certain adjustments if he
deems them appropriate. The linearity of the approach manifests itself in the seven procedures;

borrowing, calque, literal translation, transposition, modulation, equivalence and adaptation.

Empirical research:

Research in the area of translating collocations from SL to TL showed that the relationship

between strategies and errors is consistent. That is to say, erroneous renditions of collocations

are attributed among other things, to the strategies that translators tend to employ to handle the

problem of non-equivalence. Researchers (Khanji&Hussein, 1999; Abdul-Fattah & Zughoul,

2003; Bahumaid, 2006) have extensively investigated the procedures employed either by EFL

or by translators in order to overcome hindrances in the translation of collocations.

Khanji&Hussein (1999) investigated the nature of difficulties students encounter in

learning collocations and the strategies used when students are unable to collocate lexical

words correctly. The sample of the test consisted of 120-second year students majoring in

English at the University of Jordan. The test consisted of 50 collocational items based on their

frequency of appearance in textbooks and English courses. The results showed that students'

incorrect responses reflected three categories; one was based on their SL such as literal

transliteration, which is considered as "negative transfer" (p.140). The second was based on TL

semantic contiguity whereby, the students replaced a lexical item by another one that shared

certain semantic features with it and the third category was the lexical reduction strategy

(p135).

Abdul-Fattah & Zughoul (2003) carried out their study on EFL university learners at both

graduate and the undergraduate levels. The researchers aimed at finding out the proficiency of

EFL learners in rendering collocations and the strategies used in producing Arabic collocations.
They wanted to investigate the competence of those learners in rendering into English the

Arabic verb "kasara" "broke". The test was administered in two forms that contained 16 lexical

sequences of the verb "broke". The study sample consisted of two groups of EFL university

students, from the Department of English at Yarmouk University. Data analysis revealed that

the overall performance of the subjects in the target collocations was far from satisfactory. It

also identified twelve distinct communicative strategies that were characterized as, avoidance,

literal translation, substitution, overgeneralization, quasi-metaphorical similarity, assumed

synonymity ,derivativeness, imitation of literary style, idiomaticalness, paraphrase and

circumlocution, graphic ambiguity and finally, false TL assumption.

Bahumaid (2006) investigated the procedures employed by the translators in rendering

collocations whose TL equivalents are unknown to them. The result indicated that translators

resort to several procedures. He conducted his study on four Arab university instructors who

taught translation and did translation work for different periods. The two-part translation test

consisted of thirty sentences on contextualized collocations of different types. The sentences

contained 15 English collocations and 11 Arabic ones in addition to 4 Arabic phrases. Some of

the collocations selected for the test were of the general type as "to make noise" while others

were associated with specific register. The results showed that culture-bound and in

register-specific posed the greatest challenge in translation whereas, collocations that have

literal meanings were relatively easier to render. Moreover, translators employ certain

strategies such as , giving the meaning of the collocations, using synonyms or near-synonyms,

attempting literal renditions and finally avoiding the renditions completely.

Method and Procedures of the Study:

Sample of the Study:

The research undertaken for this study has focused on a sample of 35 M.A translation

students who were enrolled at three different Jordanian universities for the academic year

2007/08. Students have completed most of the requirements in their M.A translation program.

Most of those students belong to the category of working people. Hence, some have had the

experience of working in translation.

Since the aim of the study was to investigate the strategies translators at different levels

of competence use in their attempts to come up with the proper collocation, recruiting a purposive

sample of graduate students majoring in translation, would fulfill this aim. .

Instrument of the Study:

In this study, a translation test (see Appendix 2, pp 32-33.34) was designed by the

researchers to find out the various strategies that were employed by the students in translating

Arabic collocations of cultural and Islamic nature into English. The test consisted of 45 relatively

short sentences of collocations and distributed as 15 collocations for each part of the religious

text. The primary data source of part (A) of the test was from the Holy Quran; Test (B) was from

the Hadith and Test (C) was from the Bible.

In the construction of the translation test, the researchers selected two types of collocations

to cover two collocational types (1) Lexical selection: that mostly consisted of (i) verb + noun as

in " ‫" " ﻛﺸﻒ ﺍﻟﻀﺮ‬kashafa aḍḍurra" (ii) verb + verb,

"‫?" "ﺇﺫﺍ ﺣﺪّﺙ ﻛﺬﺏ‬iًā ḥaddaθa kaًab" (iii) noun + noun, "‫" "ﺷﻬﺎﺩﺓ ﺍﻟﺰﻭﺭ‬shahādatuz-zūr" (iv) noun +

adjective,"‫" "ﻋﺎﺑﺴﻲ ﺍﻟﻮﺟﻮﻩ‬ʕābisīl-wujūh". The selection of these collocational patterns was based on
the semantic restrictiveness of the two collocational constituents. For example, the verb "‫"ﻛﺸﻒ‬

"kashafa" may have several denotative meanings that are easily accessed in dictionaries, however,

in this Quranic example, it is restricted in its selection to "‫ " "ﺍﻟﻀﺮ‬aḍḍurr".

(2)Semantic selection: In this selection, metaphoric and stylistic collocations were

considered "‫" "ﻓﻀﺮﺑﻨﺎ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺁﺫﺍﻧﻬﻢ‬faḍarabnā ʕalā ?āًānihim" and "‫?" "ﺃﺑﻴّﻀﺖ ﻋﻴﻨﺎﻩ‬ibiyyaḍḍat "?aynāhu"

are two patterns of collocations that carry a semantic message and have in addition to its literal

meaning , another metaphoric connotation. For example, when the verb "‫?" "ﺇﺑﻴّﺺ‬ibiyyaḍḍa"

collocates with "‫?""ﻋﻴﻨﺎﻩ‬aynāhu" , the verb acquires a new sense that is completely different from

the color white and conveys the meaning of " becoming blind" . Certain target items particularly in

part (B) and part (C) were familiar to subjects of the study. Nevertheless, the two types chosen;

whether semantic or lexical along with their translations, were validated by a jury of specialists to

ensure their face and content validity.

The tests' reliability was established by means of testing -re-testing. The translation pretest

was administered to a group of four professional translators who were not part of the sample;

however, they were purposively selected due to their long years of experience in the translation

field. Professional participants were asked to determine the approximate time it would take the

respondents to answer the translation test. Their feedback provided beneficial and constructive

comments. They acknowledged the intensity of religious collocations and realized that translation

of such collocations would require deep comprehension. Therefore, participants should be

allowed a week time to finish the test as a homework assignment. After administering the test, the

researcher analyzed students' responses after they were tabulated on computer sheets and a program

was run to calculate the frequencies of strategies employed by M.A students. The received

translations were classified to find out the most common strategy used.
 Results of the study:

The results of the study are presented with respect to the research question:

What strategies do MA translation students employ when rendering lexical and semantic

collocations in religious texts?

The outcome of the study reveals a significant relationship between students' erroneous

responses and strategies employed in the process of translation.

The responses reflected two major strategies. First the achievement strategies, referred to

as compensatory strategies and secondly, the reduction strategy which includes both the

avoidance as well as the deletion strategies. Translators who follow the "formal reduction

strategies try to avoid producing non-fluent or incorrect utterances, and functional reduction

strategies, which may include reduction of propositional content through topic avoidance,

message abandonment or meaning replacement" (Ferch and Kasper ,1983,p.52). Contrary to

these reduction strategies, are the achievement strategies, whereby the "translator tries to expand

his communicative resources with the use of achievement strategies which include

generalization, paraphrase, word coinage, restructuring, co-operative strategies and

non-linguistic strategies. Ferch and Kasper also refer to these achievement strategies as

compensatory strategies" (Ferch and Kasper, 1983 p.52)

Table (1) below presents these strategies in terms of their frequencies and percentages. The

general taxonomic format of these strategies which detected in the data of the study was

identified according to (Ferch and Kasper ,1983 ,pp 37-.52).

Table (1) indicates that the students adopted the following strategies in translating lexical

collocations: synonymy, accounting for 106 frequencies (37%) of the total responses.

Generalization accounting for 67 frequencies (24%) , paraphrasing 40 frequencies (14%),

 deletion 38 frequencies (14%) and literal translation which accounted for 10 frequencies (10%)

of the total translations.. Each strategy will be explained further and illustrated by using

examples taken from the students' responses.

Table1
Frequencies & percentages of strategies employed in translating lexical collocations
Part (A): the Holy Quran
Literal Paraphrases Synonymy Generalization Deletion Correct

Fr % Fr % Fr % Fr % Fr % Fr %

- --- 35 100.0 ---- --- --- ٍ‫ﺷَﻴْﻄَﺎﻥٍ ﺭﱠﺟِﻴﻢ‬

10 28.6 5 14.3 6 17.1 0.0 7 20.0 7 20.0 َ‫ٱﺳْﺘَﺮَﻕَ ٱﻟﺴﱠﻤْﻊ‬

‫ﻭَﻛَﺸَﻔْﻨَﺎ ﻣَﺎ ﺑِﻬﻢ‬

---- 6 17.1 21 60.0 1 2.9 7 20.0 ----
ٍْ‫ﻣﻦ ﺿﺮ‬

---- 1 2.9 20 57.1 0.0 7 20.0 7 20.0 ‫َﺻَﻜﱠﺖْ ﻭَﺟْﻬَﻬَﺎ‬

--- 0.0 16 45.7 10 28.6 4 11.4 5 14.3 ٌ‫ﻋَﺠُﻮﺯٌ ﻋَﻘِﻴﻢ‬

--- 0.0 0.0 31 88.6 4 11.4 ---- ‫ﺍﻟﺠﻦ ﻭﺍﻷﻧﺲ‬

----- 22 62.9 5 14.3 3 8.6 5 14.3 --- ْ‫ٱﻟْﻴَﺘِﻴﻢَ ﻓَﻼَ ﺗَﻘْﻬَﺮ‬

َ‫ٱﻟﺴﱠﺂﺋِﻞَ ﻓَﻼ‬
---- 6 17.1 3 8.6 22 62.9 4 11.4 -----
َ‫ﺗَﻨْﻬﺮ‬

Literal Paraphrases Synonymy Generalization Deletion Correct Responses

Fr % Fr % Fr % Fr % Fr % Fr % Summary

10 4 40 14 106 37 67 24 38 14 19 7

1- Synonymy

It emerges as the most conspicuous strategy accounting for (37 %) of the students'

responses. Although real synonymous items do not exist in language, "it is unlikely that two

words with exactly the same meaning would both survive in a language" Zughuol, 1991, p.48).
Yet synonymy is used in translation if the items share certain semantic features and thus are close

enough in their meaning to allow a choice to be made between them in some contexts. The heavy

use of synonymy by the students was attributed to two factors: first, students' lack of ability to

select the correct collocate due to the difficulty and conciseness of lexical terms that exist in

religious texts; second, students' unawareness of the selectional restrictions of one collocant with

another. This strategy was employed by all the students with regard to rendering the collocation,

“shayṭānun rajīm”, and accounting for (100%) of the students' responses. Received lexical

collocations were synonymous lexical items that were inadequately selected to compensate for

the difficulty of translating collocational items that are so comprehensive in meaning to be

expressed by single lexical item. Accordingly, received items such as, "cursed devil", "satan the

outcast", "evil spirit accursed", "stoned demon" "disgraced satan" and their lexical constituents

such as "outcast”, damned, stoned , cursed and disgraced could not be considered compatible

to the collocant "‫“ "ﺭﺟﻴﻢ‬rajīm”, but rather each one is a lexical constituent that is part of the

meanings included in the term" ‫“ "ﺭﺟﻴﻢ‬rajīm” .

Another example that illustrates the heavy use of synonymy is the verb + noun

collocational pattern "wa kashafnā mā bihim min ḍurr". A high percentage of students (6o%)

used 'reveal their distress", "removed their affliction", "take away their sufferings", "dispelled

their misery". Likewise, students' resorted to near synonymy strategy and replaced certain lexical

items by another one that belongs to the same semantic field due to the lack of equivalence of

culture –specific language.

2- Generalization:

The second most adopted strategy in translating lexical collocations was generalization.

It accounted for (24%) This strategy was used because students failed to find the specific term for
the intended collocations. Therefore, they attempted to reconstruct the optimal meaning by using

general words. Certainly, generalizing implies a disregard for restrictions on word meaning and

word usage, and can therefore be dangerously inadequate. It gives a less precise meaning in the

TL. To illustrate this point further examples from received translations will be analyzed:

In each one of the examples given, students chose to give a more general rendition rather

than the specific ones. In the first example, "aljinnu wal- ?ins" (88.6%), students used the term

"men" instead of the "humankind". "as-sā?ila" registered 62.9% and general lexical items such

as, "poor man, beggar and homeless" were received. As for "ʕajūzun ʕaqīm" (28.6%), used

general terms like "an infertile old lady", "a childless old lady/ woman and sag" , which

obviously indicate that finding the exact equivalent posed a problem for the translators so they

resorted to such strategies.

3- Paraphrasing:

This strategy is the third adopted strategy in translating restricted lexical collocations,

accounting for (14%) of the students' responses. In this strategy, students produced alternative

versions of translation by means of definitions, examples and descriptions, without changing the

meaning of the original. Students resorted to paraphrase in rendering the collocation ‫"ﻓﺄﻣﺎ ﺍﻟﻴﺘﻴﻢ ﻓﻼ‬

"‫?" ﺗﻘﻬﺮ‬mma al-yatīmah flā taqhar" . (63%) of students employed this strategy and received

translations were like "do not repel the orphan on account of his poverty". Using this strategy is

attributed to the lack of precise lexical equivalence. Similarly, in translating the collocation, ‫ﺇﺳﺘﺮﻕ‬

"‫?" "ﺍﻟﺴﻤﻊ‬istaraqas-samʕ", (14%) of students demonstrated their unfamiliarity with collocations

within their first language. Hence, confused "?istaraqa" which literally has the meaning of

"eavesdropping" ,with "‫" "ﺳﺮﻕ‬saraqa ". Nevertheless, renditions were like" he steals the hearing

unintentionally" or "he gains the hearing by stealing".

 4- Reduction strategy:

This is related to the elimination of either one constituent or both constituents of the

collocation. Deletion accounts for (14%) of the 35 students' responses. Three examples are

illustrated below in the table that were all reduced in form and meaning to meaningless one lexical

element.

In the translation of the collocation "‫" "ﻓﺼﻜﺖ ﻭﺟﻬﻬﺎ‬faṣakkat wajhahā ", a high percentage

(20%) of students' renditions eliminated the two collocational constituents into one and thus,

producing meaningless translation such as "spanked her face". Similarly, "‫"ﺇﺳﺘﺮﻕ ﺍﻟﺴﻤﻊ‬

"?istaraqas-samʕ ", has been reduced by (20%) of students to "listen/ ears/ hearing". Since

students seem to lack any knowledge of SL collocation, the translation produced was neither

equivalent in sense nor structure. A third illustration of reduction strategy is the collocation "

‫""ﻭﻛﺸﻔﻨﺎ ﻣﺎ ﺑﻬﻢ ﻣﻦ ﺿﺮ‬kashafnā mā bihim min ḍurr". In this example, (20%) of students deleted one

element or both elements "reveal, dispel, "hardship removal" which again resulted in unnatural

translation and a complete deviation from the original one.

5- Literal translation:

This strategy is SL based strategy in which the translator simply transfers all the words

into the TL without considering the cultural aspects. This in return leads to nonsensical

translation that sounds clumsy and foreign. This strategy was the least employed one in the

translation of lexical collocations, accounting for (4%) of the total responses.

Table 2
 Frequencies & percentages of strategies used in translating semantic
collocations in part A: the Holy Quran
Literal trans. Paraphrases Deletion Correct

Fr. % Fr. % Fr. % Fr. %

22 62.9% 7 20.0% 6 17.1% -- ‫ﺧَﺘَﻢَ ﺃﻟﻠﱠﻪُ ﻋَﻠَﻰٰ ﻗُﻠُﻮﺑِﻬﻢ‬

18 51.4% 10 28.6% 7 20.0% -- ٌ‫ﺃَﺑْﺺَٰﺭِﻫِﻢْ ﻏِﺸَﺎﻭَﺓ‬

23 65.7% 5 14.3% 0.0% 7 20.0% ُ‫ﻭَٱﺑْﻴَﻀﱠﺖْ ﻋَﻴْﻨَﺎﻩ‬

15 42.9% 11 31.4% 5 14.3% 4 11.4% ْ‫ﻓَﻀَﺮَﺑْﻨَﺎ ﻋَﻠَﻰ ﺁﺫَﺍﻧِﻬِﻢ‬

21 60.0% 8 22.9% 3 8.6% 3 8.6% ‫ﻭَﻫَﻦَ ٱﻟْﻌَﻈْﻢُ ﻣِﻨﱢﻲ‬

19 54.3% 11 31.4% 4 11.4% 1 2.9% ً‫ﻭَٱﺷْﺘَﻌَﻞَ ٱﻟﺮﱠﺃْﺱُ ﺷَﻴْﺒﺎ‬

17 48.6% 7 20.0% 11 31.4% 0.0% ً‫ﻇَﻞﱠ ﻭَﺟْﻬُﻪُ ﻣُﺴْﻮَﺩّﺍ‬

Literal trans. Paraphrase Deletion correct Received response

135 55.1% 59 24.1% 36 14.7% 15 6.1% 245

Table (2) above indicates the strategies employed in the translation of semantic

collocations in terms of percentages and frequencies. This pattern of collocations poses a

tremendous challenge to translators. In such a type, students often fail to recognize the unusual

combination of words, which are employed in religious texts for stylistic and rhetorical

functions to create "images". It is what Baker (1992) called "marked collocations" (p.61). Such

collocations have in addition to their denotative and referential meaning another more

comprehensive connotative metaphorical sense, which often involves implicit messages.

Consequently, selectional restrictions are violated and constituents of this type do not follow

the semantic restrictions that other common collocations follow.

Nevertheless, "elements of metaphoric collocations are uniquely restricted to each other".

 (Baker, 1992, p.61). The table also indicates that (93.9%) of students resorted to various

strategies in the translation of this pattern of collocation which consequently led to erroneous

translation.

1- Literal translation

This strategy emerged as the most conspicuous strategy used by the respondents to

overcome the problem of rendering metaphoric collocational. It accounted for (55.1%) of the

245 received translation. Students opted to use this strategy because they expected to find one-to

one correspondence between SL and TL. However, one major hindrance that occurred in the

process of translation stemmed from students' insufficient comprehension of the meaning

implied.

In rendering "‫" "ﻭﺍﺑﻴّﻀﺖ ﻋﻴﻨﺎﻩ‬wa ?ibyaḍḍat ʕaynāhu", (65.7%)of students translated

this collocation literally as" his eyes turned white". Thus, they have failed to recognize

collocational range of the verb "?ibyaḍḍa" and its meaning that is far remote from the most

frequent meaning which denotes the color white as in "white shirt". "?ibyaḍḍa" acquires a

metaphoric meaning "becoming blind" when it collocates with face or eyes.

Similarly ,the collocation" "khatamal-lāhu ʕalā qulūbihim" registered a high percentage

(62.9%) of inadequate translations due to adopting this strategy. "God set a seal on their hearts"

and " Allah has stamped their hearts" were literal translations whereby, students abandoned the

message implied by the metaphoric use of the verb "katama" , which is used here to mean that "

there is no seal on the truth and that the hearts and senses of the unbelievers are sealed off by a

seal."(Al-Zamakhshari, 2002, p.57).

Likewise, the collocation "ẓalla wajhuhu muswaddan", accounted for (48.6%) of literal
translation and received as "his face darkened" or "his face turned black". Literal renditions

of this collocation failed to convey the connotative meaning defined by the context as "becoming

so enraged and furious".

2- Paraphrasing:

It is second most adopted strategy in the translation of semantic collocations strategy. It

accounted for 59 frequencies (24.1%) of 245 students erroneous translations. In rendering the

collocation " faḍarabnā ʕalā ?āًānihim", (31.4%) of students, paraphrased this collocation

because they failed to produce the correct connotative sense of the verb "ḍaraba". Thus, received

paraphrases like, "we drew a veil over their ears", "we covered up their hearing", reveal a loss of

the semantic message which is "they went into deep sleep (Al-Zamakhshari, 2002, p.678).

Likewise, the collocation "wahanal-ʕaẓmu minnī", accounting for 8 frequencies

(22.9%), was paraphrased as "the bones in my body are weakened". This rendition again, caused

the connotation of the metaphoric message to be lost. The metaphoric use of "bones" indicates

that the skeleton and bones are essential in supporting the muscles and holding the whole body

together. Therefore, If are weakened, the whole body collapses.

3- Deletion:

This is the third adopted strategy in the translation of semantic collocation. It accounted

for 36 frequencies (14.7%) of the students' responses. In this strategy, students tended to abandon

large units of the message in the SL as a result of incomprehensibility of semantic units. In

translating the metaphoric collocation, "ً‫?“ﺃﺷﺘﻌﻞ ﺍﻟﺮﺃﺱ ﺷﻴﺒﺎ‬ishtaʕalar-r?su shaybā” (11.4%) of

students demonstrated their lack of knowledge of collocational restrictions and failed in

rendering the connotative meaning of this collocation by reducing the pattern to "hair glow" ,
 "hair shines", and "head is all flame".

Table (3) below shows the frequencies and percentages of strategies adopted by students.

These strategies are ordered by rank (figure 1) according to the highest percentages indicated.

Table 3
Frequencies & percentages of strategies employed in translating lexical
collocations in Hadith
Literal Generaliz
Paraphrase Synonymy Correct Deletion
trans. ation
% Fr. % Fr. % Fr. % Fr. % Fr. % Fr.

-- -- --- --- --- --- 23 8 --- --- 77 27 ╕Ċ▀♂

║╖♥╒☺
┤
-- --- 26 9 57 20 17 6 ╕╒♀╧♂
║│╒╘▪┤′
--- 63 22 37 13 ♦╒█♥╦ ♣′ ▀
20 7 28.6 10 5.7 2 45.7 16 ╗▪╔♂
║╜╠′
2.9 1 5.7 2 --- 57.1 20 34.3 12 ╓╥♀╙╤╠ ║╥┤
28.6 10 17.1 6 20 7 34.3 12 ◄♠╣║╤▓′ ║╥┤
45.7 16 --- 14.3 5 40 14 ♦╒╣ ♦♥╘├║║╥ ┤
--- 63 22 -- 37 13 .♣▀╣♂
║╤♂
◦║
8.6 3 45.7 16 8.6 3 --- 8.6 3 28.5 10 ╨ ◘♪♂
║Ë› ╘☺
′
22.9 8 65.7 23 --- 11.4 4 ♦▪╤♂
║′♂
║ ◙′ ☻
▓
45.7 16 31.4 11 22.9 8 ╦′ ╧♂
║╕╤╒ʼn╫
25.7 9 31.4 11 --- -- 42.9 15 ╒ij╦′ ╤▀ IJ╔╗╩′ ╩′
20 7 22.9 8 37.1 13 20 7 -- ▒═╒╝♂
║║′♥■▌└′
37.1 13 40 14 -- 20 7 2.9 1 ▄ ▪╦♥♂
║║′╤′ ▓′
20 7 8.6 3 17.1 6 42.9 15 11.4 4 › ▪╔╩ ╦╔╒▓
% Fr. % Fr. % Fr. % Fr. % Fr. % Fr.

2.5 13 8.2 43 15.6 82 21.5 113 22.7 119 29.5% 155 525

Figure (1) strategies ordered by rank according to percentages

 Literal
translation
Generalization 2.5%
8.2%
Deletion Deletion
29.5% Synonymy
Paraphrasing
15.6% Paraphrasing
Generalization
Literal translation
Synonymy
21.5%

A) Deletion:

The data collected from the respondents show that the most adopted strategy in

translating Part (B) the Hadith is deletion which registered (29.5 %) of the adopted strategies.

With regard to this strategy, the high percentages of the lexical reduction and elimination of

collocational components indicate that certain collocations pose a problematic area in translation

due to the lack of precise equivalents in the target language. Therefore, students have to

. Examples taken from the received translations show that elimination of one element or

two elements of the collocation results in reduction of conveying the message and in unnatural

translation. Certain collocations like; "‫?" "ﺇﻗﺎﻣﺔ ﺍﻟﺼﻼﺓ‬iqāmatuṣ- ṣalāh” (77%) of received

translation were like "praying" and "do prayers regularly". The reduction in this translation is not

only of one or two constituents but also there is an elimination of Islamic culture. In fact, “salāt"

is different from prayer. It has a linguistic meaning and a "sharīʕa" "meaning. The linguistic

meaning is the same as prayer but the sharīʕa meaning is quite different from prayers

(Ibn–Katheer, p. 38). Similarly, deleted items in translating "‫“ "ﺣﺞ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺖ‬ḥajjul-bayt" accounted for

(45.7%) of the responses. The received translations were; "visit al-bait", "pilgrimage and Hajj".

This rendition of the collocation is incomplete and definitely unacceptable. For anyone can visit
al-bait and go to kaʕba without "‫ "ﺣﺞ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺖ‬ḥajjul-bayt”. People who live near by al-kaʕba always go

there and visit al-bait. Again, the elimination is not only a reduction of lexical items but also of

Islamic culture.

Similarly, (40%) of received translation of the collocation "‫?" "ﺇﺫﺍ ﺍﺅﺗﻤﻦ ﺧﺎﻥ‬iًā ?i?tumina

khān" ," betraying, cannot be trusted, betrayer", indicated that students tended to solve the

problem they faced by eliminating either one constituent or both altogether. Hence, they exhibited

a communication failure.

B) Near Synonymy:

Students resorted to this strategy when they were not able to find the exact equivalent or

select the proper lexical item. Therefore, they replaced a lexical item by another one that shared

certain semantic features with it. In rendering the collocation "‫“ "ﻋﻘﻮﻕ ﺍﻟﻮﺍﻟﺪﻳﻦ‬ʕuqūqul-wālidayn"

(65.7%) of received synonymous items were like, "ungrateful to parents", "disobeying parents",

and "parents' undutifulness".

Another example was "‫“ "ﺍﻷﻟﺪ ﺍﻟﺨﺼﻢ‬al?aladdul-khaṣm”. Synonymous items like

"violent enemy" , "tough disputant" ,"fierce opponent", "irreconcilable opponent" and " bitterly

antagonistic", all belong to the same semantic field which is either showing emotional

intensity or ,destructive force. Yet neither item can be replaced by one another. For example

"disputant" has the root verb "to dispute" by the meaning of: "ً‫ ﻳﻨﺎﻗﺶ ﺃﻣﺮﺍ‬/‫ ﻳﺘﻨﺎﺯﻉ‬/‫"ﻳﺘﺠﺎﺩﻝ ﺑﺸﺪﻩ ﻭﻋﻨﻒ‬

“yatajādal bishiddah wa ʕunf/ yatanāzaʕ/yunāqishu ?anran” . (Al- Mawrid (p. 282) where as

"vehement' implies having intense eager feelings filled with desires of speech or behavior.

(Oxford, p. 951).
 C) Paraphrasing:

This strategy is the third most adopted one. It is noted that 82 frequencies (15.6%) of

students' responses resorted to paraphrasing. They attempted at producing alternative versions of

translation without changing the meaning. The highest frequency of paraphrasing was in the

following collocations "‫?“ "ﺇﺫﺍ ﺍﺅﺗﻤﻦ ﺧﺎﻥ‬iًā ?i?tumina khān” ,accounting for 16 frequencies (45.7

%). Different paraphrases received for this collocation were like, "whenever he is in charge, he

betrays", "if you keep something as a trust, he does not return it" and " if you trust him, he will

not be trust worthy".

Similarly paraphrasing in translating the collocation "‫“ ﻋﻮﺩﻭﺍ ﺍﻟﻤﺮﻳﺾ‬ʕūdul-marīḍ"

registered 14 frequencies (40%) of students' responses; "go to the hospital and visit sick people".

Obviously the many attempts to reconstruct the optimal meaning by expanding the collocation and

replacing it with free phrases without changing the meaning ,was the outcome of finding difficulty

in translating religious collocations.

D) Generalization:

This strategy is used when students tried to give general meaning for the intended

collocations. This strategy accounted for (8.2%) of the responses. The students resorted to this

strategy to compensate for the lack of knowledge of the exact equivalent in the target language, so

they tried to utilize their assumptions of the world knowledge in rendering the target message. As

a result, they failed most of the time to convey a complete equivalent rendition. Received

translations of the collocation "‫“ "ﻗﺘﻞ ﺍﻟﻨﻔﺲ‬qatlun-nafs” show a frequency of 16 (45.7 %) of the

responses who employed generalization. "‫“ "ﻋﻮﺩﻭﺍ ﺍﻟﻤﺮﻳﺾ‬ʕūdul-marīḍ” is another collocation that

has a high frequency of 13 (37.1%).

 E) Literal:

This is the least adopted strategy in Part (B) test. It shows a frequency of 13 (2.5%) of the

responses adopted by students. This strategy is adopted when the students found difficulty in

finding the exact equivalent terms. The data of strategies show that the collocation:" ‫ﻭﺳﻮﺳﺖ ﺑﻪ‬

‫“ "ﺍﻟﺼﺪﻭﺭ‬waswasat bihi iṣ-ṣudūr”, has a frequency of 9 (25.7%) of the responses and literal

translation of this collocation as "chest's whispering" is marked as being unacceptable and

unnatural because it .is not equivalent to ‫ "ﻭﺳﻮﺳﺖ ﺑﻪ ﺍﻟﺼﺪﻭﺭ‬the Arabic “waswasat bihi iṣ-ṣudūr”.

Similarly, "killing one's soul" as the literal translation for "‫“ "ﻗﺘﻞ ﺍﻟﻨﻔﺲ‬qatlun-nafs” cannot be

considered as equivalent in terms of meaning. For the term, "‫ " "ﺍﻟﻨﻔﺲ‬nafs" is quite inclusive and

includes either oneself or others. Furthermore, "‫" "ﻗﺘﻞ‬killing" may also include bodily mental or

spiritual harm.

Table (4)

Frequencies & percentages of strategies employed in translating lexical collocations

in the Bible N= (12)

Literal Paraphrase Synonymy Deletion Generalization Correct Description

% Fr. % Fr. % Fr. % .Fr. % Fr. % Fr.

‫ﺛﻢ ﺻﻌﺪ‬
57.1 20 -- - 0.0 0 28.6 10 --- -- 14.3 5
‫ﺍﻟﺮﻭﺡ ﺑﻴﺴﻮﻉ‬
‫ﻋﺎﺑﺴﻲ‬
--- ---- 28.6 10 40 14 31.4 11 --- --- ----- -----
‫ﺍﻟﻮﺟﻮﻩ‬
----- ‫ﻟﻠﺜﻌﺎﻟﺐ‬
---- --- ----- -- 40 14 57.1 20 ----- 2.9 1
- ‫ﺃﻭﺝﺍﺭ‬
‫ﻟﻄﻴﻮﺭ ﺍﻟﺴﻤﺎء‬
--- -- 0.0 0 62.8 22 34.3 12 --- ----- 2.9 1
‫ﺍﻭﻛﺎﺭ‬
‫ﺻﺮﻳﺮ‬
---- --- 20 7 20 7 28.6 10 --- --- 31.4 11
‫ﺍﻻﺳﻨﺎﻥ‬
‫ﻃﺮﻳﺤﺔ‬
--- --- 28.6 10 25.7 9 20 7 2.9 1 22.8 8
‫ﺍﻟﻔﺮﺍﺵ‬
---- --- 14.3 5 14.3 5 31.4 11 --- --- 40 14 ‫ﺳﻨﺤﺖ‬
 ‫ﺍﻟﻔﺮﺻﺔ‬

‫ﺭﺟﻤﺎ‬
17.2 6 - - 37 13 17.2 6 --- --- 28.6 10
‫ﺑﺎﻟﺤﺠﺎﺭﺓ‬
‫ﻻ ﺗﺴﻜﺮﻭﺍ‬
--- --- 31.4 11 22.9 8 25.7 9 ---- --- 20 7
‫ﺑﺎﻟﺨﻤﺮ‬
5.7 2 --- -- 8.5 3 34.3 12 17.2 6 34. 3 12 ‫ﺷﻔﺎء ﺍﻟﻤﺮﺽ‬

31.4 11 ----- --- 25.7 9 20 7 ---- --- 22. 9 8 ‫ﺻﺎﺡ ﺍﻟﺪﻳﻚ‬

20.0 7 11.4 4 2.9 1 20 7 8.6 3 37.1 13 ‫ﻳﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﺤﺴﺎﺏ‬

Literal Paraphrase Synonymy Deletion Generalization Correct

% Fr. % Fr. % Fr. % Fr. % Fr. % Fr.

11 46 11.2 47 25 105 29 122 2.4 10 21.4 90 Total

Analysis of the strategies of part (C) is similar to the analysis of the previous two parts of

the tests. The strategies adopted by the students are noted in terms of frequencies and percentages.

Table (4) indicates that students adopted the following strategies: deletion accounting for 122

frequencies (29%), near synonymy 47 frequencies (25%) paraphrasing, 47 frequencies (11.2%) ,

literal translation accounting for 46 frequencies (11%) and the least adopted strategy was

generalization. It accounted for 10 frequencies (2.4%). These strategies are ordered by rank

according to the highest percentages as in figure 2 below.

 Figure (2) Strategies adopted ordered by rank according to percentage

Generalization Deletion
2.4
,
Synonymy
Literal, 11
Deletion, 29 Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing,
11.2 Literal

Generalization 2.4
Synonymy, 25

1- Deletion:

Figure (4) shows that deletion was the most employed strategy accounting for 122

frequencies (29%) of all the strategies used. Deletion is attributed to the fact that biblical

collocations definitely reflect culture –specific language that expresses ideas previously

unexpressed to the majority of the respondents. Hence, students resorted to deletion to avoid

clumsy and unnatural translations. Below are examples of received translations that show a

deletion of one lexical element .However, elimination of the two constituents were not employed

by a good number of students .

Examples of reduced collocations are: "‫"ﻟﻠﺜﻌﺎﻟﺐ ﺃﻭﺟﺎﺭ‬ "Liθ-θaʕālibi ?awjār". (57.1 %) of

received translations " foxes" " pits" and "holes" indicated students' heavy use of reduction and

elimination to certain lexical items . thus, producing inadequate translation. This is applicable

to "‫" "ﺷﻔﺎء ﺍﻟﻤﺮﺽ‬Shifā?ul-marīḍ" which was reduced to curing / healing/ remedy / medicine by
(34.3 %) of students.

1- Near synonymy:

It was the second most adopted strategy, accounting for 105 frequencies (25%) of the

strategies. Synonyms, which are very similar in meaning, were problematic to students. Baker

(1992) has stated that "words which we might think of as synonyms or near –synonyms will

often have quite different sets of collocates"(p. 47). In rending collocation "‫"ﻋﺎﺑﺴﻲ ﺍﻟﻮﺟﻮﻩ‬

ʕābisīl-wujūh" (40%) of students employed this strategy and produced synonymous items that

share certain semantic features like "gloomy faces/ furious faces sad countenance stern faces

and sullen faces". Similarly, the collocation "‫" "ﺭﺟﻤﺎً ﺑﺎﻟﺤﺠﺎﺭﺓ‬rajman bilḥijārah" was rendered by

(37%) of students as "throwing stones" or " hitting stones"

3- Paraphrasing:

It was the third adopted strategy among the other strategies accounted for 47 frequencies

(11.2%) of used strategies. It was an option used by the students whereby the meaning is kept but

the form is changed to phrases. The collocation ‫" "ﻻ ﺗﺴﻜﺮﻭﺍ ﺑﺎﻟﺨﻤﺮ‬lā taskarū bilkhamr" was

rendered by (31.4%) of students as " do not get intoxicated by drinking alcohol" or " drinking

wine makes one loses his mind". This is applicable to "‫ " "ﻃﺮﻳﺤﺔ ﺍﻟﻔﺮﺍﺵ‬ṭarīḥatal-firāsh" whereby

(28.6%) of students paraphrased this collocation to " sick lying in bed" , resting in bed because

she is sick" " she does not feel well so she is in her bedroom"

D) Literal Translation:

Literal translation accounted for 46 frequencies (11%) for lexical collocations. The highest

percentage of literal translation was used in translating the collocation ‫"ﺛﻢ ﺻﻌﺪ ﺍﻟﺮﻭﺡ ﺑﻴﺴﻮﻉ ﺍﻟﻰ‬
 "‫“ ﺍﻟﺒﺮﻳﻪ‬θumma ṣaʕadar-rūḥ biyasūʕ”. (57.1%) of students resorted to this strategy and literally

translated it as: "Christ was mounted by the spirit", "Christ elevated by the soul" or "Christ went

up by the spirit". Word for word translation created a collocational clash and contradiction in

meaning. The lexical items, mounted / elevated/ went up and raised belong to one semantic field

which is "being moved from a lower to a higher level" Oxford Dictionary (p.280). Thus," ‫ﺇﻟﻰ‬

‫“ "ﺍﻟﺒﺮﻳﻪ‬ilāl-barriyyah” is not a "higher place

Nevertheless, literal translation strategy was the most adopted strategy in translating

metaphoric collocations. It accounted for 53 frequencies (50.4%). By employing literal translation

to render collocations that carry certain semantic messages; the message implied is often distorted

leading to more ambiguity. Table (5) is an illustration of received translations rendered literally.

Table (5) Frequencies & percentages of strategies employed in translating

metaphoric collocations in the Bible N= (3)

Literal Paraphrase Synonymy Deletion Generalization Correct

Collocations
% Fr % Fr. % Fr. % Fr % Fr. % Fr.

51.4% 18 --- 0 22.9% 8 20% 7 - - 5.7% 2 ‫ﺣﻤﻞ ﺍﷲ‬

‫ﻣﻘﻴﺪﻳﻦ‬
42.9% 15 17.1% 6 20% 7 20% 7 - - --- 0
‫ﺑﺎﻟﺴﻼﺳﻞ‬
57.1% 20 2.9% 1 --- 0 34.3% 12 - - 5.7% 2 ‫ﻳﺸﺮﻕ ﺑﺸﻤﺴﻪ‬

Literal Paraphrase Synonymy Deletion Generalization Correct

Response
Summary
% Fr % Fr. % Fr. % Fr % Fr. % Fr.

50.4% 53 6.6% 7 14.3% 15 24.8% 26 - - 3.9% 4 105

Literal translation of semantic collocation tend to reduce and avoid the message

intended .The collocation "‫“ "ﻳﺸﺮﻕ ﺑﺸﻤﺴﻪ‬yushriqu bishamsihi” was literally rendered by students,
accounting for 20 frequencies (57.1%). Translations received were like "to shine with his sun" or

make his sun shine.Another collocation that did not convey the metaphoric message correctly was

"‫“ "ﺣﻤﻞ ﺍﷲ‬ḥamalul-lāḥ”. It was rendered literally by students, accounting for (51.4%) as "the

lamb of God". The symbolic connotation of this collocation "Christ is a symbol of sacrifice" was

lost and the implied meaning of this collocation was distorted

Conclusion:

The formulation of translation strategies bears on the relationship between the nature of

theological collocations and the inherent difficulties involved in the meaning of these

collocations. Accordingly, when the translator comes across the hindrance of not finding a

corresponding TL equivalent for the SL lexical item, he resorts to several strategies to overcome

the problems encountered. This finding attests with Ferch & Kasper's (1983) hypothesis of

communicative strategies as "potentially conscious plans for solving what to an individual

presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular communicative goal" (p.268)

Various strategies opted for by translators in rendering specific collocations seem to

produce inappropriate translation. If a novice translator renders semantic collocations literally

without paying adequate attention to message implied, the connotations are likely not to be

transferred as a result of the translator's failure to acknowledge them. They will be entirely lost to

the majority of the TL readers; consequently, the translation will be ineffective. On the other

hand, translators should resort neither to the strategy of synonymy nor to the strategy of

generalization when rendering lexical collocations. The reliance on those two strategies is an

indication of translators' lack of awareness of collocational restrictions. Zughoul (1991) has

elaborated on employing synonymous items that it is "unlikely that two different words with
exactly the same meaning would both survive in a language" (p.48). As for paraphrasing,

Newmark (1988) believes that "paraphrase is the last translation procedure which simply irons

out the difficulties in any passage" (p.90). However, should be the translators' last resort.

Recommendations:

It goes without saying that there are no fixed translation strategies that students can adopt

when rendering SL specific and culture –bound collocations into English. While some

strategies are helpful, others turn out to be of little avail. Consequently, the translator may utilize

particular strategies that can be asserted to be effective where connotations and implied

meanings are significant.

In light of the findings of the study, it is recommended that:

• It is recommended that the translator of religious texts should be well versed in the two

languages and the two cultures (Arabic and English) so as not to miss any fragment or

component of the meaning of the collocations existing in religious texts.

• Translator should utilize footnotes as a translation strategy to give a broader contextual

knowledge that would be of great value to the TL reader in the communicative process.

• Translators should employ transliteration whenever the SL collocations and TL are shared

linguistically by the two languages yet culturally different "zakāt", "ṣalāh" and " ḥajjul-bayt".

• The most indispensable strategy that deals with semantic collocations is the one that is

concerned with conveying the implied meanings of the message and not merely with words.
References:

Al-Zamakhshari, (2002)..Al-kashaaf. Beirut: Dar-Alfkr.

Abdul-Fattah, H. & Zughoul, M. (2003). Translational collocational

strategies of Arab learners of English. Babel, 49 (1), 57-77.

Bahumaid,S. (2006). Collocation in English-Arabic translation. Babel, 52,

132-151.

Baker, M. (1992).In other words: A course book on translation. New York:

Routledge.

Dweik, B. (2000). Bilingualism and the problem of linguistic and cultural

interference. In: Alharbi, L. and Azer, H.(eds). Arabic language
and culture in a borderless world. Kuwait: Kuwait University.

Ferch. & Kasper, G. (1983).Strategies in interlanguae communications. Harlow:

Longman.

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A perpetual problem. BABEL. 42 (3), 158-164.

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translation strategies: A psycholinguistic investigation. Germany.

Khanji,R.& Hussein, R.( 1999). Assessing English collocational knowledge among

advanced language learners. Mu'tah Lil-Buhūth wad-Dirāsāt.

(14),6.
Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. London: Prentice Hall.

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Brll,Leiden.

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translators' association.

Toury, G. (1980): In search of a theory of translation. Tel Aviv: The porter

institute for poetics and semiotics, Tel Aviv University, 1980.

Vinay, J.P. & Darbelnet, J. (1995). Comparative stylistics of French &

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lists. IRAL,19 (1), 45-60.
List of Appendices:

Appendix (1)

A Guide to Arabic Transliteration

Transcription (Adapted from Al-Arabiyya)

Arabic letters (consonants) Vowels Transliteration

‫ء‬
‫ﺏ‬ b
‫ﺕ‬ t --َ----- a
‫ﺙ‬ θ --------ُ u
‫ﺝ‬ j --------ِ i,e
‫ﺡ‬ ḥ --‫ﻭ‬---- u
‫ﺥ‬ kh --‫ﺍ‬----- ā
‫ﺩ‬ d ‫ﻭ‬ ū
‫ﺫ‬ ً --‫ﻱ‬---- ī
‫ﺭ‬ r َ‫ﻱ‬---- iyy
‫ﺯ‬ z ‫َﻭ‬ aw
‫ﺱ‬ s َ‫ُﻭ‬ uww
‫ﺵ‬ sh ‫َﻱ‬ ay
‫ﺹ‬ ṣ
‫ﺽ‬ ḍ
‫ﻁ‬ ṭ
‫ﻅ‬ ẓ
‫ﻉ‬ ʕ
‫ﻍ‬ gh
‫ﻑ‬ f
‫ﻕ‬ q
‫ﻙ‬ k
‫ﻝ‬ l
‫ﻡ‬ m
‫ﻥ‬ n
‫ﻩ‬ h
‫ﻭ‬ w
‫ﻱ‬ y
 ‫‪Appendix 2‬‬

‫)‪Translation Tests (1‬‬

‫‪Part (A): 15 Collocations from the Holy Quran‬‬
‫‪Dear Participants,‬‬
‫‪You are kindly requested to translate the underlined collocations into English in‬‬

‫‪accordance with the context. There are 15 collocations in each religious text; 15 in the Holy‬‬

‫‪Quran, 15 in Hadith and 15 in the Bible. Your cooperation is highly appreciated.‬‬

‫‪A) Collocations from the Holy Quran:‬‬

‫‪"-1‬ﺧَﺘَﻢَ ﺃﻟﻠﱠﻪُ ﻋَﻠَﻰٰ ﻗُﻠُﻮﺑِﻬﻢْ ﻭَﻋَﻠَﻰٰ ﺳَﻤْﻌِﻬِﻢْ ﻭَﻋَﻠَﻰٰ ﺃَﺑْﺺَٰﺭِﻫِﻢْ ﻍِﺷَﺎﻭَﺓٌ ﻭَﻟَﻬُﻢْ ﻋَﺬَﺍﺏٌ ﻋﻈِﻴﻢٌ"‪.‬‬
‫……………………………………………………………………‬
‫ﻱَٰﺳَﻔَﻰٰ ﻋَﻠَﻰ ﻳُﻮﺳُﻒَ ﻭَٱﺑْﻴَﻀﱠﺖْ ﻋَﻴْﻨَﺎﻩُ ﻣِﻦَ ٱﻟْﺤُﺰْﻥِ ﻓَﻬُﻮَ ﻛَﻈِﻴﻢ"‪"-2‬‬ ‫‪.‬ﻭَﺗَﻮَﻟﱠﻰٰ ﻋَﻨْﻬُﻢْ ﻭَﻗَﺎﻝَ ﺃَ‬ ‫ٌ‬
‫……………………………‪………………………………………. .‬‬
‫ﺕْﻌَﻪُ ﻭَﺣَﻔِﻈْﻨَﺎﻫَﺎ ﻣِﻦ ﻛُﻞﱢ ﺷَﻴْﻄَﺎﻥٍ ﺭﱠﺟِﻴﻢٍ ‪"-3‬ﻭَﻟَﻘَﺪْ ﺟَﻌَﻠْﻨَﺎ ﻓِﻲ ٱﻟﺴﱠﻤَﺎءِ ﺑُﺮُﻭﺟﺎً ﻭَﺯَﻳﱠﻨﱠﺎﻫَﺎ ﻟِﻠﻨﱠﺎﻇِﺮِﻳﻦَ‬
‫ﺇِﻻﱠ ﻣَﻦِ ٱﺳْﺘَﺮَﻕَ ٱﻟﺴﱠﻤْﻊَ ﻓَﺄَ ﺑَ‬
‫‪"ٌ.‬ﺷِﻬَﺎﺏٌ ﻣﱡﺒِﻴﻦ‬
‫‪…………………………………………………………………………..‬‬
‫‪"-4‬ﻓَﻀَﺮَﺑْﻨَﺎ ﻋَﻠَﻰ ﺁﺫَﺍﻧِﻬِﻢْ ﻓِﻲ ﺍﻟْﻜَﻬْﻒِ ﺳﻨﻴﻦَ ﻋﺪَﺩَﺍً"‪.‬‬
‫‪……………………………………………………………………….‬‬
‫ﻗَﺎﻝَ ﺭَﺏﱢ ﺇِﻧﱠﻲ ﻭَﻫَﻦَ ٱﻟْﻌَﻈْﻢُ ﻣِﻨﱢﻲ ﻭَٱﺷْﺘَﻌَﻞَ ٱﻟﺮﱠﺃْﺱُ ﺷَﻴْﺒﺎً ﻭَﻟَﻢْ ﺃَﻛُﻦْ ﺇِﺫْ ﻧَﺎﺩَﻯٰ ﺭَﺑﱠﻪُ ﻧِﺪَﺁءً ﺧَﻔِﻴّﺎً ‪"-‬ﺫِﻛْﺮُ ﺭَﺣْﻤَﺖِ ﺭَﺑﱢﻚَ ﻋَﺒْﺪَﻩُ ﺯَﻛَﺮِﻳﱠﺂ‪5‬‬
‫‪.‬ﺑﺪﻋﺎﺋﻚ ﺭَﺏﱢ ﺷَﻘِﻴّﺎً"‬
‫…………………………………………………………………………………‬
‫‪ "-6".‬ﻭﻟﻮ ﺭَﺣِﻤْﻨَﺎﻫُﻢْ ﻭَﻛَﺸَﻔْﻨَﺎ ﻣَﺎ ﺑِﻬﻢْ ﻣﱢﻦ ﺿُﺮﱟ ﻟﱠﻠَﺠﱡﻮﺍْ ﻓِﻲ ﻃُﻐْﻴَﺎﻧِﻬِﻢْ ﻳَﻌْﻤَﻬُﻮﻥَ‬
‫………………………………………………………………………………‬
‫‪" -7‬ﻭَﺇِﺫَﺍ ﺑُﺸﱢﺮَ ﺃَﺣَﺪُﻫُﻢ ﺑِﻤَﺎ ﺿَﺮَﺏَ ﻟِﻠﺮﱠﺣْﻤَـٰﻥِ ﻣَﺜَﻼً ﻇَﻞﱠ ﻭَﺟْﻬُﻪُ ﻣُﺴْﻮَﺩّﺍً ﻭَﻫُﻮَ ﻛَﻈِﻴﻢ"‪.‬‬
‫‪………………………………………………………………………………….‬‬
‫‪" -8‬ﻭﻣَﺎ ﺧَﻠَﻘْﺖُ ٱﻟْﺠِﻦﱠ ﻭَٱﻹِﻧﺲَ ﺇِﻻﱠ ﻟِﻴَﻌْﺒُﺪُﻭﻥِ"‪.‬‬
 ‫…………………………………………………………………………………‬
‫‪"".‬ﻓَﺄَﻗْﺒَﻠَﺖِ ٱﻣْﺮَﺃَﺗُﻪُ ﻓِﻲ ﺻَﺮﱠﺓٍ ﻓَﺼَﻜﱠﺖْ ﻭَﺟْﻬَﻬَﺎ ﻭَﻗَﺎﻝَﺕْ ﻋَﺠُﻮﺯٌ ﻋَﻘِﻴ ٌﻢ ‪9-‬‬
‫‪……………………………………………………………………………….‬‬
‫‪" .‬ﻭَﺃَﻣﱠﺎ ﺑِﻨِﻌْﻤَﺔِ ﺭَﺑﱢﻚَ ﻓَﺤَﺪﱢﺙْ ﻭَﺃَﻣﱠﺎ ٱﻟﺴﱠﺂﺋِﻞَ ﻓَﻼَ ﺗَﻨْﻬَﺮْ ‪-"10‬ﻓَﺄَﻣﱠﺎ ٱﻟْﻴَﺘِﻴﻢَ ﻓَﻼَ ﺗَﻘْﻬَﺮْ‬
‫……………………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪Part (B): 15 Collocations from the Hadith‬‬

‫ﻋﻦ ﺍﻟﻨﺒﻲ ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ ﺃﻧﻪ ﻗﺎﻝ‪:‬‬

‫‪"-1‬ﺑﻨﻲ ﺍﻹﺳﻼﻡ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺧﻤﺲ‪ :‬ﺷﻬﺎﺩﺓ ﺃﻥ ﻻ ﺍﷲ ﺇﻻ ﺍﷲ ﻭﺍﻥ ﻣﺤﻤﺪﺍ ﺭﺳﻮﻝ ﺍﷲ ﻭﺇﻗﺎﻣﺔ ﺍﻟﺼﻼﺓ ﻭﺇﻳﺘﺎء ﺍﻟﺰﻛﺎﺓ‬

‫ﻭﺻﻮﻡ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﻭﺣﺞ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺖ ﻣﻦ ﺍﺳﺘﻄﺎﻉ ﺇﻟﻴﻪ ﺳﺒﻴﻼً"‪.‬‬

‫…………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪"-2‬ﺁﻳﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﺎﻓﻖ ﺛﻼﺙ‪:‬ﺇﺫﺍ ﺣﺪﺙ ﻛﺬﺏ‪ ،‬ﻭﺇﺫﺍ ﻭﻋﺪ ﺃﺧﻠﻒ ‪ ،‬ﻭﺇﺫﺍ ﺍﺅﺗﻤﻦ ﺧﺎﻥ"‪.‬‬

‫…………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪ "-3‬ﺇﻥ ﺃﺑﻐﺾ ﺍﻟﺮﺟﺎﻝ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﷲ ﺍﻷﻟﺪ ﺍﻟﺨﺼﻢ"‪.‬‬

‫…………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪" -4‬ﺳُﺌﻞَ ﺍﻟﺮﺳﻮﻝ ﻣﺤﻤﺪ ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ ﻋﻦ ﺍﻟﻜﺒﺎﺋﺮ ﻓﻘﺎﻝ ‪ " :‬ﺍﻟﺸﺮﻙ ﺑﺎﷲ‪ ،‬ﻭﻗﺘﻞُ ﺍﻝﻧﻔﺲ ﻭﻋﻘﻮﻕُ ﺍﻟﻮﺍﻟﺪﻳﻦ‪،‬‬

‫ﻭﺷﻬﺎﺩﺓ ﺍﻟﺰﻭﺭ"‪.‬‬

‫…………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪"-5‬ﻛﻦ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺪﻧﻴﺎ ﻛﺄﻧﻚ ﻏﺮﻳﺐ ﺃﻭ ﻋﺎﺑﺮ ﺳﺒﻴﻞ"‪.‬‬

‫…………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪" -6‬ﺇﻥ ﺍﷲ ﺗﺠﺎﻭﺯ ﻟﻲ ﻋﻦ ﺃﻣﺘﻲ ﻣﺎ ﻭﺳﻮﺳﺖ ﺑﻪ ﺻﺪﻭﺭﻫﺎ ﻣﺎ ﻟﻢ ﺗﻌﻤﻞ ﺃﻭ ﺗﺘﻜﻠﻢ"‪.‬‬

‫……………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪ "-7‬ﻓﻜﻮﺍ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻧﻲ ‪ ،‬ﻭﺃﻃﻌﻤﻮﺍ ﺍﻟﺠﺎﺋﻊ ‪ ،‬ﻭﻋﻮﺩﻭﺍ ﺍﻟﻤﺮﻳﺾ"‪.‬‬

‫…………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪Part (C): 15 Collocations from the Bible‬‬

 ‫‪"-1‬ﺛﻢ ﺻﻌﺪ ﺍﻟﺮﻭﺡ ﺑﻴﺴﻮﻉ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﺒﺮﻳﺔ ﻟﻴﺠ‪ًُ‬ﺮﺏﱞ ﻣﻦ ﻗﺒﻞِ ﺇﺑﻠﻴﺲ"‪.‬‬

‫‪………………………………………………………………………………..‬‬

‫‪"-2‬ﻭﻋﻨﺪﻣﺎ ﺗﺼﻮﻣﻮﻥ‪ ،‬ﻻ ﺗﻜﻮﻧﻮﺍ ﻋﺎﺑﺴﻲ ﺍﻟﻮﺟﻮﻩ‪ .‬ﻛﻤﺎ ﻳﻔﻌﻞ ﺍﻟﻤﺮﺍﺅﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺬﻳﻦ ﻳُﻘﻄﺒّﻮﻥ ﻭﺟﻮﻫﻬﻢ ﻟﻜﻲ ﻳﻈﻬﺮﻭﺍ ﻟﻠﻨﺎﺱ ﺻﺎﺋﻤﻴﻦ "‪.‬‬

‫………………………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪ "—3‬ﻭﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻴﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﻟﻲ ﺭﺃﻯ ﻳﻮﺣﻨﺎ ﻳﺴﻮﻉ ﺁﺗﻴﺎَ ﻧﺤﻮﻩ ﻓﻬﺘﻒ ﻗﺎﺋﻼَ ‪" :‬ﻫﺬﺍ ﻫﻮ ﺣﻤﻞ ﺍﷲ ﺍﻟﺬﻱ ﻳﺰﻳﻞ ﺧﻄﻴﺌﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻢ"‪.‬‬

‫………………………………………………………………………………………‬

‫ﻭﻟﻄﻴﻮﺭ ﺍﻟﺴﻤﺎء ﺃﻭﻛﺎﺭ ﺃﻣﺎ ﺍﺑﻦُ ﺍﻹﻧﺴﺎﻥ ﻓﻠﻴﺲ ﻟﻪ ﻣﻜﺎﻥٌ ﻳﺴﻨَﺪُ ﺇﻟﻴﻪ"‪.‬‬ ‫‪"-4‬ﻟﻠﺜﻌﺎﻟﺐ ﺃﻭﺟﺎﺭ‬

‫‪……………………………………………………………………………………….‬‬

‫‪ "--5‬ﻳﺮﺳﻞ ﺍﺑﻦ ﺍﻹﻧﺴﺎﻥ ﻣﻼﺋﻜﺘﻪ‪ ،‬ﻓﻴﺨﺮﺟﻮﻥ ﻣﻦ ﻣﻠﻜﻮﺗﻪ ﺟﻤﻴﻊ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﺴﺪﻳﻦ ﻭﻣﺮﺗﻜﺒﻲ ﺍﻹﺛﻢ ﻭﻳﻄﺮﺣﻮﻧﻬﻢ ﻓﻲ ﺃﺗﻮﻥ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺭ ﻫﻨﺎﻙ ﻳﻜﻮﻥ‬

‫ﺍﻟﺒﻜﺎء ﻭﺻﺮﻳﺮ ﺍﻷﺳﻨﺎﻥ"‪.‬‬

‫………………………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪ "--6‬ﻭﻛﺎﻧﺖ ﺣﻤﺎﺓ ﺳﻤﻌﺎﻥ ﻃﺮﻳﺤﺔَ ﺍﻟﻔﺮﺍﺵ‪ ،‬ﺗﻌﺎﻧﻲ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﺤﻤﻰ"‪.‬‬

‫…………………………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪" - 7‬ﺛﻢ ﺳﻨﺤﺖ ﺍﻟﻔﺮﺻﺔُ ﻋﻨﺪﻣﺎ ﺃﻗﺎﻡ ﻫﻴﺮﻭﺩﻭﺱ ﺑﻤﻨﺎﺳﺒﺔ ﺫﻛﺮﻯ ﻣﻮﻟﺪﻩ ﻭﻟﻴﻤﺔًَ ﻟﻌﻈﻤﺎﺋﻪ " ‪.‬‬

‫…………………………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪ " – 8‬ﻭﻗﺪ ﺃﻭﺻﺎﻧﺎ ﻣﻮﺳﻰ ﻓﻲ ﺷﺮﻳﻌﺘﻪ ﺑﺈﻋﺪﺍﻡ ﺃﻣﺜﺎﻟﻬﺎ ﺭﺟﻤﺎً ﺑﺎﻟﺤﺠﺎﺭﺓ"‪.‬‬

‫…………………………………‪ِ ………..……………………………………….‬‬

‫‪"-9‬ﻻ ﺗﺴﻜﺮﻭﺍ ﺑﺎﻟﺨﻤﺮ‪ ،‬ﻓﻔﻴﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﺨﻼﻋﺔ"‪.‬‬

‫………………………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪"-10‬ﺃﻳﺤﻞّ ﺷﻔﺎء ﺍﻟﻤﺮﺽ ﻓﻲ ﻳﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﺴﺒﺖ؟"‪.‬‬

‫………………………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪ "-11‬ﻭﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﻝ ﻭﻫﻮ ﻣﺎ ﺯﺍﻝ ﻳﺘﻜﻠﻢ‪ ،‬ﺻﺎﺡ ﺍﻟﺪﻳﻚ ‪ .‬ﻓﺎﻟﺖﻓﺖ ﻳﺴﻮﻉ ﻭﻧﻈﺮ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺑﻄﺮﺱ ﻓﺘﺬﻛﺮ ﺑﻄﺮﺱ ﻛﻠﻤﺔ ﻳﺴﻮﻉ ﺇﺫ ﻗﺎﻝ ﻟﻪ ‪ :‬ﻗﺒﻞ ﺃﻥ‬

‫ﻳﺼﻴﺢ ﺍﻟﺪﻳﻚ ﺗﻜﻮﻥ ﻗﺪ ﺃﻧﻜﺮﺗﻨﻲ ﺛﻼﺙ ﻣﺮﺍﺕ"‪.‬‬

 ‫……………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪" -12‬ﺑﻞ ﻃﺮﺣﻬﻢ ﻓﻲ ﺃﻋﻤﺎﻕ ﻫﺎﻭﻳﺔ ﺍﻟﻈﻼﻡ ﻣﻘﻴﺪﻳﻦ ﺑﺎﻟﺴﻼﺳﻞ ﺣﻴﺚ ﻳﻈﻠﻮﺍ ﻣﺤﺒﻮﺳﻴﻦ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻳﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﺤﺴﺎﺏ" ‪.‬‬

‫……………………………………………………………………………‬

‫‪" -13‬ﻳﺸﺮﻕ ﺑﺸﻤﺴﻪ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻷﺷﺮﺍﺭ ﻭﺍﻟﺼﺎﻟﺤﻴﻦ"‪.‬‬

‫‪……………………………………………………………………………………….‬‬