Difficulties in Translating Hyperboles from Arabic Poems into English Texts

Abstract

The study focuses on exploring the difficulties faced the translators during the translation of hyperboles in Arabic literary text caused by the ambiguity in the source text. The study aims to look for the strategies mostly used by M.A graduates in translating hyperboles from Arabic literary text into English, as well as surveying the samples being given to the M.A graduates to look for the reason of ambiguity in translating them. To fulfill the aims of this research, the study hypothesizes that the use of communicative or literal translation will convey the meaning from into TLT accurately and clearly, or using the Vinay and Darbelenet translation strategies will produce the same effect of SLT on TLT and whether the hyperbole in Arabic literary text is translatable despite the social, stylistic or structural differences in literary text. To prove the hypotheses, the procedures start with the researcher collecting 10 samples and giving them to 10 M.A graduates for the 2022-2023 academic year, followed by analyzing the samples according to the Vinay and Darbelenet translation model, the samples were chosen from the poem collection of Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab “Rain Song””انشودة المطر”, specifically from the two poems “قافلة الضياع” and “غريب على الخليج”, and given to be translated into English by the M.A graduates, then discussing the results of the collected data. The study concludes that the translation of hyperboles from Arabic literary texts into English text can be challenging due to the different ways they are used, additionally hyperboles can have multiple interpretations which is the result of the context they are used in, as well as that hyperboles in Arabic literary text are also affected by the difference in culture and social background and other factors.