Translation Difficulties of Polysemous Words from English into Arabic: A Case Study of Yemeni EFL University Students

Abstract

This research paper aims to shed light on one of the Arabic-speaking EFL learners' lexical problems, concerning translating words used in context from English into Arabic. It focused on translating polysemous words when they are used both in their direct core and indirect secondary meanings. In order to investigate this problem, a translation test was administered to a sample comprised 28 male and female students studying English at the Faculty of Education- Yafea, University of Aden, Yemen. The test consisted of 10 English sentences used to collect quantitative data from the participants. Each five sentences tested one polysemous word (break and sound,). The meanings of the polysemous words in the first sentence in each five sentences is direct, core meaning; whereas their meanings in the other 4 sentences are indirect secondary meanings. Based on the results of the study, it was found that Arabic-speaking EFL learners were unable to a great extent to translate the words well, especially when those words were used in their indirect secondary meanings. Based on the results, this research suggested that polysemous words should be given much attention in ELT B.educational courses at all stages of English language learning and teaching because of students' drastic incompetence in understanding the different meanings of polysemous words.