ANALYZING THE PROBLEMS IN TRANSLATING IDIOMATIC TEXTS FROM ENGLISH TO TAMIL AND TAMIL TO ENGLISH

Abstract

The study investigates the problems in translating idiomatic texts from English-Tamil and Tamil-English, which is frequently occurring in general translation, and the effective ways of overcoming such problems using procedures of translation as techniques and strategies. This work has used both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The data collected from the translation tests conducted for the undergraduates of the Department of Translation Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Jaffna consisted of idioms at the sentence level. The validation of the text was through judgment comparing both source and target texts. The findings are as follows; when translating idioms from English to Tamil specific strategies like using an idiom of similar meaning and form, using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form, Translation by paraphrase, and dynamic equivalence are adopted. This study will help the undergraduates/ trainee translators to translate in a reader-friendly manner.