A Grey Area in Translating Proverbial Expressions: The case of English and Persian

Abstract

All the languages in the world contain a large number of prefabricated or fixed expressions that have to be learned and used as they are. They do not often allow any deletion, substitution, or addition of any individual constituent word. One such expression is a proverb that contrarily allows variability to some degree. It carries truth, collective wisdom, and morals concerning everyday experience from generation to generation. This experience is common and the same across the languages. Therefore, a similar counterpart might normally exist for a proverb in translating from one language into another or in compiling proverbs in two languages. However, translators or dictionary compilers seem to ignore the characteristic features making the proverbs distinct from other expressions, suggesting some non-corresponding equivalents in translating or compiling dictionaries in the two languages as far as these features are concerned. Thus, in this study, the researcher considers a sample English-Persian dictionary of proverbs in which the compiler does not observe the characteristic features of proverbs in compiling the English entries, meaning that both proverbs and idioms are collected in a single dictionary on proverbs. Ironically however, very few Persian idioms are provided as equivalents for English proverbs. Based on the findings of the present study, the researcher suggests that taking the characteristic features of proverbs and idioms into account could have both lexicographic and pedagogical implications.