Investigating Difficulties in Translating Culture Specific Idioms Encountered by EFL Learners The Case of Third Year License Students at Mila University

Abstract

This study investigates the perspectives of EFL learners on the difficulties encountered while translating culture-specific idioms from English into Arabic and vice versa. It investigates three fundamental factors that make cultural idiomatic expressions such a challenge for undergraduate students at the University Center Abdelhafid Boussouf Mila: lack of equivalence in the target language, lack of cultural context, and insufficient understanding of translation techniques. The study also aims to figure out whether students have difficulty implementing the appropriate procedures when translating culture-specific idioms into Arabic. To achieve this aim, the descriptive-prescriptive analytic method is used and should be followed. A questionnaire is used as a data collection instrument and administered to five (5) teachers of translation and 64 students from the third year at Mila-University. The results obtained clearly show that students find it difficult to translate such culture-specific idioms due to cultural differences since each language has its own expressions and meanings that are hard for non-native speakers to understand unless they delve deeper into the target language. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that students generally employ different strategies and fall into the problem of choosing the appropriate strategy when translating culture-specific idioms as well as the way to apply it successfully; using similar meanings in a form is the most commonly used strategy, followed by paraphrasing and omission. As part of the solution, students are recommended to read more about cultures in order to give the right meaning to each expression or phrase they learn. Accordingly, teachers have to provide students with common cultural idiomatic expressions to improve their understanding of the language and culture.