Safa J. Abu Rahma

A proverb is “ a saying, usually short, that expresses a general truth about life”. Proverbs give advice, make an observation or present a teaching in a succinct and memorable way.

Translators must be familiar with the common uses, features and patterns of proverbs to be capable of translating them. These features and patterns can appear in Speak (2008) classification:

 Abstract statement: it conveys general truth like the English proverb “ absence makes the heart grow fonder” which is translated into Arabic as “ الغياب يزيد القلب لوعة  Everyday experience to express a general point like the English proverb “ don’t cast your pearls before swine” which translated into Arabic as “ لا تظهر قدراتك لمن لا يقدرها ”

 Sayings from specific areas of traditional wisdom and folklore like the English proverb “ after dinner rest a while, after supper walk a mile” which is translated into Arabic “ تغدى وتمدى, وتعشى وتمشى “

 The translator should know linguistic and non- linguistic features of both languages. The first part ( linguistic features) can be mastered through language competency, but the other part (non-linguistic features) is more difficult because it is related to how much the translator is aware and knowledgeable in the culture of both languages, the SL and the TL.

 Each proverb conveys specific meaning in a specific context of situation. Therefore, a proverb should be rendered with care to carry the same cultural conventions in the original proverb.  Thus, a translator is a mediator between cultures and he should render the literal and figurative meaning of the proverbs as well as their communicative effect.

1. The SL text may have a word that is unknown in the target culture like ” التيمم “ ” اذا حضر الماء بطل التيمم “ 2. The SL may express a concept that is known to other languages but is not lexicalized such as “ television” 3. The SL word is semantically complex. A word may have single morpheme but it is complex semantically like ‘Oh’ which carries a lot of meaning.

4. The SL and TL make different distinction in meaning. While English use the word ‘ aunt’ to refer to the sister of your father or mother, Arabic use عمة and خالة. 5. The TL lacks super ordinate and vs.. 6. Differences in expressive meaning. For example (child battering) could be translated by adding an equivalent modifier like “ savagely”. So it becomes الايذاء العنيف للأطفال

Baker (1992) suggests strategies that help translators when translating proverbs and idioms: 1) Using a proverb or an idiom of similar meaning and form. For example, the proverb (beware of a silent dog and still water) is translated into ( احذر المرء الصامت والمياه الراكدة )

2) Using a proverb of similar meaning but dissimilar form. For instance, (a light purse is a heavy curse). Is translated into ( الفقر جريمة ). Or “don’t tell tales out of school’ is translated to ( هون حفرنا وهون طمينا ) 3) Translation by paraphrase. For example, the proverb (Barkus is willing) is translated into ( العين بصيرة واليد قصيرة )

4) Translation by omission: in this strategy, the translator deletes the whole idiom because there is no target language proverb matching the source language proverb closely. Additionally, there is lack of ability in paraphrasing the meaning of the idiom.