EQUIVALENCE IN THE TRANSLATION OF METAPHORS AND IDIOMS IN KING ABDULLAH II'S POLITICAL SPEECHES

Abstract

Translation is a process of converting the meaning of a certain message from one language to another language.one of the major problems encountered by translators of political speeches is translating figures of speech like metaphors and idioms and finding equivalent meaning for them. This research aims at finding the equivalent translation provided by the Royal Court translators when translating metaphors and idioms from English into Arabic in the political speeches of king Abdullah II of Jordan. In the current study, Nida (1969) theory of equivalence in translation is adapted in order to achieve the objectives of the study. Nida (1969) proposes two types of equivalence in translation, namely formal and functional/dynamic translation. This study deploys descriptive and comparative methods in dealing with the selected examples of the political speeches and discussions papers of king Abdullah II of Jordan which are published in his official website: (http://www.kingabdullah.jo) . The findings of the study revealed that translators of the royal court apply Nida (1969) theory of equivalence in translating both metaphors and idioms in the political speeches of king Abdullah II. namely, Formal and functional equivalence.