Translation of Idioms and Metaphors in Hasan Erkek’s Play Eşik: Difficulties and Solutions

Abstract

TThis paper presents a discussion of the strategies adopted to translate the idioms and metaphors from Turkish into English in Hasan Erkek’s play Eşik. The translation of Eşik – translated into English as Threshold – provides a great many examples of linguistic devices, which led translators to adopt various translation decisions on the line between closeness to the original and closeness to the target culture. This study focuses on the idiomatic and metaphorical expressions that constituted difficulties in the translation. For the purpose of this study, Baker’s (2017) typology of strategies provided a framework for explaining the translation decisions as this typology was specifically developed for the translation of idioms and fixed expressions. In translating a play there are certain factors such as making it performable for actors and making it immediately understandable for the audience. While moving back and forth between target- and source-orientedness, the translation solutions were also required to set the balance between performability and understandability. Thus, rather than opting for a general approach applicable to the whole text, the translators dealt with each specific case in its own right and in its specific context. In this paper, the various strategies used in the translation of the idiomatic and metaphorical expressions in Eşik into English were analysed in consideration of Nord’s functionality and loyalty principles.