Translation Errors Among Bilingual Arabic Language Students: Collocations as an Example

(Aliyu Ahmad, Nik Farhan Mustapha, Syed Nurulakla Syed Abdullah and Pabiyah Toklubok)

---

Abstract

The study of translation by bilingual female students studying Arabic had not received much attention, especially with regard to the cultural errors that these students made during English-Arabic translations, which resulted in them making mistakes in translation. This prompted the researchers to focus on this area. The main objective of this article is to explore common errors in English-Arabic collocation translation among Arabic students in the Federal College of Education (Technical), Gusau and identify possible reasons for them. The researchers used a qualitative analysis approach, adopting an evaluation instrument. A semi-structured interview was also conducted among the sample group in order to find out the causes of the errors. The results showed that the students encountered errors in translation collocations, which included lexical and grammatical collocations. Reasons for these errors included: a lack of collocations knowledge, a lack of special books and dictionaries of collocations and an inability to identify an equivalent to English collocations in the Arabic language. This study is extremely important for students of Arabic, scholars, and English-Arabic translators, as it alerts them to common errors in English-Arabic translation.
KEYWORDS
Homonymy, collocation, culture, lexicology, synonymy, grammar

PDF

References

Zughoul, M. and Abdul-Fattah, H. (2003). Translational collocational strategies of Arab learners of English. Babel Journal, 49(1), 57–77. 
Abusy, A.M. (2013). Almusahabat Allughawiat W’atharuha Aldalali: Dirasat Fi Nahj Albalagha ''Linguistic Collocation and its Semantic Effect: A Study in Nahj Al-Balaghah'. Al-Kufa, Iraq: Maktabtur-Raudah Al-Haidariyyah. ]in Arabic[
Bahumaid, S. (2006). Collocation in English-Arabic translation. Babel Journal, 52(2), 132–51.
Bassenet, S. (2002). Translation Studies. 3rd Edition. London: Routledge.
Benson, M. (1985). Collocations and Idioms. In: R. Ilson (ed.) Lexicography and Language Learning. Oxford: British Council and Perganon.
Benson, M., Benson, E., and Ilson, R. (1997). The BBI Dictionary of English Word Combinations. Amsrerdam: John Benjamin.
Boussalia, S. (2010). Students’ Difficulties in English-Arabic Translation of Collocations Case Study: Third Year Students of English. Master's Dissertation, Mentouri University, Constantine, Algeria.
Brashi, A.S. (2005). Arabic Collocations: Implication for Translation. PhD thesis, Sydney, University of western Sydney.
Cartford, J.C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Easy In Applied Linguistics. London: Oxford University Press.
Duweik, B.S. and Shakra, M.A. (2011). Strategies in translating collocation in religious texts from Arabic into English, The linguistic Journal, 5(1), 5–44.
Farghal, M. and Obeidat, H. (1995). Collocations: A neglected variable in EFL. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 33(4), 315–31.
Ghazala, H. (1995). The translation of collocation: Arabic-English. Turjuman, 2(2), 7–44.
Ginstaki, C. (1999). Second Language Lexical Acquisition: A Study of the Development of Collocational Knowledge. Bethesda, MD: International Scholars publications.
Hafiz, A. (2002). Throw a party with collocation the need for an Arabic combinatory dictionary. International journal of Arabic-English Studies (IJAES), 3(1-2), 1–15
Hammadah, .A.A.M. (2007). Almusahabat Allughawiat Wa'atharuha Fi Tahdid Aldilalat Fi Alquran Alkarimi: Dirasat Nazariat Tatbiqiati 'Linguistic Collocation And Its Impact on Determining Semantics in The Holy Qur’an: An Applied Theoretical Study'. Ph.D, thesis, university of Cairo, Cairo, Egypt. ]in Arabic[
Hassan, A.M. (1990). Almusahabat Fi Altaebir Allughawii 'Collocation in Linguistic Expression'. Cairo, Egypt: Arab Thought House. ]in Arabic[
Hatim, B. and Mason, I. (1990). Discourse and the Translator. London: Longman Group, UK.
Husamaddin, Z.K. (1985). Altaebir Aliastilahi: Dirasat Fi Ta’sil Almustalah Wamafhumih Wamajalatih Aldilaliyat Wa’anmatih Altarkibia ''Idiomatic Expression: A Study in The Rooting of The Term, its Concept Semantic Field and Structural Pattern'. Cairo, Egypt: Anglo-Egyptian Bookstore. ]in Arabic[
Ibn Faris, Z.A. (2001). Muejamu Maqayis Allugha 'Dictionary of language standards'. Second Edition. Beirut, Lebanon: Arab Heritage Revival House. ]in Arabic[
Ibdah, Z. and Ababbnah' Y. (2020). Almusahabat allafziat fi kitab mutaghayir al’alfaz liabn faris 'Verbal collocation in the book of variable words by ibn faris. Journal of the Islamic University for Human Studies, 28(3), 216–41. ]in Arabic[
Lewis, M. (2000). Teaching Collocation: Further Development in the Lexical Approach. Oxford. Oxford University Press.
Mahmoud, A. (2005). Collocational errors made by Arab learners of English. Asian EFL Journal, 5(2), n/a.
Newmark, P. (1988). A Textbook of Translation. New York and London: Prentice Hall.
Rabeh, F. (2010). The Problem in Translation Collocations: The Case of Master 1 Students of Applied Linguistics. Master's Dissertation, Mentouri University, Constantine, Algeria.
Robins, R. (1967). A Short History of Linguistics. London: Longman. 
Shammas, N.A. (2013). Collocation in English: Comprehension and use by MA Students at Arab Universities. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 3(9), 107–22