Translation of English Causative Verbs into Persian: A Comparative Study of Professional Translators and Translation Trainees

Abstract

According to books of grammar, a causative form is an expression of an agent causing or forcing a person to perform an action. Translation of English causatives into Persian seems to be one of the biggest problems that Translation students and novice translators usually come across. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the translation strategies applied by the professional translator and translation trainees while translating English causatives into Persian. In this descriptive corpus-based study, the present researcher examined sixty causative constructions of novel Lord of The Flies by Gerald (1991) and their Persian translation by Mansouri (2003). In addition, twenty causative constructions from the novel were given to the twenty Translation students in order to analyze their Persian translations of causative constructions. Based on the finding, the professional translator has used Non-causative and Positive Implication strategies most frequently, whereas the students have used Auxiliary and Noncausative strategies most frequently. It can be concluded that there is a strategy behind every choice, and a reason behind every strategy, and translators should try their best to transfer all the components of a causative verb as well as possible, because each word or verb has its own value. The translator's mastery over the causative construction in the language pair explores throughout this study reminds us of a point of paramount significance. The main implication of this research may make the translators, at any level, better understand the English causative sentences and avoid producing translations that hinder communication between the translator and the readers.