Analysis of strategies in translating idiomatic expressions from English into Malay

• Main Author: Farah Syazana Suhaimi
• Other Authors: Stefanie Stadler
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Linguistics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76527
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Even though idioms are omnipresent in majority, if not all languages, identifying and translating idiomatic expressions remain a challenging aspect of the translation process (Adelnia & Dastjerdi, 2011). Due to the Eurocentric bias in translation studies as argued by Haroon & Abdul Majid (2015), few researchers have addressed idiom translation strategies from English to Malay. The principal purpose of this study is to shed light on the various translation strategies used by translators when faced with an idiomatic expression. Specifically, this paper analyzes idioms found in three English novels and its Malay translation; namely, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. This study employs quantitative and descriptive quantitative methodologies and defines an idiom as a multiword expression that are either pure or semi idioms whose meaning and use are conventional, and contain at least one nominal element which functions as a noun. Hence, the study excludes compound nouns as well as simple phrasal verbs with idiomatic meaning. The theoretical consideration was based on Baker’s (2011) research on strategies in translating idioms. From the data gathered, a total of 143 English idiomatic expressions were found in the novels. Five out of six translation strategies were present and translation by paraphrase was found to be the most frequently used idiomatic translation strategy.