Translator's Challenges (A Case Study of Arabic-Persian Translation of a Political-Journalistic Text)

This study investigated the translation challenges and difficulties of pre-service translators in Iran. In this regard, 35 undergraduate students of Arabic Language and Literature at the College of Qum affiliated to the University of Tehran participated in the study as a requirement for the course ‘Translation Techniques’. They all translated the same political-journalistic sentence from Arabic to Persian, and their errors and difficulties were collected. Descriptive analysis of the results revealed five high frequency erroneous areas common among the population; L 1 transfer, economy in translation or over-translation, word-to-word translation, taking side, and miscomprehension. As the major objective of this study was to inform novice translators of the possible pitfalls common in Arabic-Persian translation, the findings suggest that translators: be aware of homonymy, be loyal to the meaning, take the account of ‘free translation’, avoid taking side and self-censorship, and finally, ensure the full comprehension of the text before translation.