Lexical Problems in English to Arabic Translation: A Critical Analysis of Health Documents in Australia

Abstract

This study empirically examines lexical translation problems encountered by accredited translators in English Arabic Translations. Its main aim is to identify whether lexical errors occur in professionally translated documents and investigate the type of lexical errors occurring as well as identify the possible reasons for them. Five translated health documents in New South Wales were randomly, lexical errors were counted and then analyzed. The functionalist approach has been adopted in this research. Analysis of the errors was mainly focusing on semantics. The lexical errors found were related but not limited to additions, omissions, compounds, synonyms collocations and inconsistencies. More extensive research is required to identify additional types of lexical errors found in professionally translated documents. This research has many limitations due to the paucity of data and its inability to accommodate for all types of errors and their related factors. Therefore, more research is required in this field in order to improve translation outcomes. The findings affirm the hypothesis that lexical errors are made by accredited as well as student translators. It does not reveal conclusively, however, that errors at the lexical level are due to complex and or new lexical items.