AN INTERPRETATION-LADEN SCRUTINY OF PRACTITIONERS’ PERSPECTIVES ABOUT TRANSLATION CHALLENGES

UM ESCRUTÍNIO CARREGADO DE INTERPRETAÇÃO DAS PERSPECTIVAS DOS PROFISSIONAIS SOBRE OS DESAFIOS DA TRADUÇÃO

Abstract

Translators’ attitudes toward interpreting texts were examined in this study. Additional goals included uncovering common difficulties in translation and recommending methods for overcoming these issues for those involved in the field. A cluster sampling method was used to select 60 translators from Kerman and the surrounding area based on gender and ethnicity. This study included a questionnaire and a structured interview as its primary tools. All of the participants received questionnaires and filled them out in accordance with the instructions. A random sample of twenty translators was then picked for a structured interview. SPSS was used to perform the final analysis on all of the data. A large majority of respondents felt that the difficulties of translating texts go beyond cultural differences to include linguistic ones as well. They also used dictionaries and Babylon translators’ tactics to get over the difficulties of translating texts.

Keywords
multicultural; perspectivas do profissional; termos especializados; desafios de tradução

Resumo

As atitudes dos tradutores em relação à interpretação de textos foram examinadas neste estudo. Objetivos adicionais incluíam descobrir dificuldades comuns na tradução e recomendar métodos para superar esses problemas para os envolvidos no campo. Um método de amostragem por conglomerados foi usado para selecionar 60 tradutores de Kerman e arredores com base em gênero e etnia. Este estudo incluiu um questionário e uma entrevista estruturada como suas principais ferramentas. Todos os participantes receberam questionários e os preencheram de acordo com as instruções. Uma amostra aleatória de vinte tradutores foi então escolhida para uma entrevista estruturada. O SPSS foi usado para realizar a análise final de todos os dados. A grande maioria dos entrevistados sentiu que as dificuldades de traduzir textos vão além das diferenças culturais para incluir também as linguísticas. Eles também usaram dicionários e táticas de tradutores da Babilônia para superar as dificuldades de tradução de textos.

Palavras-chave
Tradução poética; Practitioner’s Perspectives; Specialized Terms; Translation Challenges

Introduction

Translation has its own terminology; hence it can be considered as a distinctive category in its own right. Translating terminology requires special attention because it includes specific terms embedded in traditions and local cultures. Therefore, the transfer from one system to another is not straightforward process. Translation in particular is of paramount importance because it takes place in international institutions and organizations. Today’s world involves an increasing amount of agreements, negotiations and disputes between nations and individuals, and makes translation crucial and even indispensable professional practice (Duraner, 2012). Therefore, translation training has come into prominence to ensure that translators in the sector are well-trained and competent. However, it presents the biggest problems to translators (Simonnaes, 2012). This is because language is, unlike general language characterized by certain syntactic, semantic, morphological, terminological, genre, abbreviations pragmatic and stylistic features which make it challenging for translators. translation differs from other types of translation in two major ways: the system and the terms which associated with it. Hence, understanding the terms and its translation to another language depends heavily on the understanding of its place in system to which it belongs to (Al Aqad, 2014). language is thought to be complex, pompous, laborious, and archaic, with Latin expressions and syntax constructions. Due to its complexity, a great number of people encounter difficulties in fully understanding important documents, such as decisions expressed by a court or by a tribunal, the regulations embodied in a statute or the terms specified in a contract. A very important aspect that should be taken into consideration is that translation is not simply a matter of linguistic transference. In order to perform an accurate translation, the translator has to focus on a complex network of factors, such as the context of situation, the intended use of the translation, the communicative purpose, the generic knowledge. Translators must have basic knowledge of the cultures and systems of the source and target languages, and they must be aware of the differences of these cultures and even of the absence of equivalent concepts (Bhatia et al., 2008).

According to Dan (2015), translation may become necessary in more than a situation and most importantly, for different purposes. A text may need translation for informative and prescriptive purposes, with differences of outcome in terms of force. Translation may also be needed at an international level, in a bilateral or multilateral treaty, involving parties speaking different languages, or during the writing of a contract, for the same reason, as well as at a domestic level, in the case of a bilingual or multilingual country, both for its law and for the regulation of disputes among people belonging to different language communities. A number of cases have been filed on the grounds of inaccurate translations, causing large financial and business losses among parties. These losses may gradually have a negative impact on the economy as well as on the market. Due to privacy laws, these cases cannot be publicly revealed. The question is why, if translation is so necessary, has it been relegated to the side lines for so long! Translation studies have, evolved to consider that loyalty to the communicative function of the original text is paramount (Nord, 2007) and that accuracy concerns the content and communicative intention more than strict adherence to the words in the text. A translator is expected to convey the exact meaning, because partial or incorrect translation may distort the message. Mistranslation causes a barrier in communication and the foreigner may not get the exact intention of the text; therefore, it is important to analyze the difficulties and some challenges for translation and develop some strategies for overcoming problems that lead to mistranslations. This paper examined the challenges and difficulties of texts from English to Persian as well as the strategies used for the translation of terms. In order to meet the objectives, some questions have been formed.

1. What is the translation practitioners’ views toward translating text?

2. What are the main challenges of translation practitioners in translating texts?

3. What are the specific strategies for overcoming possible difficulties and challenges in translating text?

Significance of the Study

The importance of such study lies in the following points. The research formulates a list of useful techniques and procedures for translation to overcome difficulties and problems. The study upgrades the level of translation process from English language to Persian by adopting suitable techniques and procedures for accurate translation. Besides, the research draws the attention of the concerned parties to the importance of providing appropriate procedures and requirements to improve translation process. Also, it draws the attention of people in charge and the officials to the importance of student’s role in achieving and carrying out effective procedures and techniques translation for the purposes to create that leads to produce accurate and perfect translation.

Literature review

Related Studies on Tarnation

A study was done by Wagner (2003) on translating the documents. He stated that the translator must be familiar with all the mechanisms of the law, and the way texts are drafted, understood and applied in practice. He also declared that to make a text that leads to the required result in practice, the translators can understand not only what the words mean and what a sentence means, they know what effect it is supposed to have, and how to achieve that impact in the other language. Another research was carried out by Šarčević (2001) on translating text. He noted that translators have traditionally been bound by the principle of fidelity to the source text. It was generally accepted that the translator’s task is to reconstruct the form and substance of the source text as closely as possible. Accordingly, the stricter and the better literal translation was the golden rule for texts. The other relevant study has been done by Murici (2016) on finding out the important problems in translating text. He uttered that the translation plays a very important part in the contact between different people and various cultures in history and is playing an even more important role in our globalized world and that translation is a complex process that requires special skills, knowledge and experience on the part of the translator to produce such translation as it is a cross-cultural and inter-lingual communicative act and as a complex human and social behavior. He concluded that the role of a translator in the translation process by highlighting that the central task of the translator is to translate, not to solve problems and that he/she should produce a text that preserves its meaning, effect and intend. All in all, some of the recent studies evaluated translation of text from different views as analyzing linguistic challenges of translation (Bostanji, 2010), difficulties encountered in translating some texts (Farhan, 2016), contract translation problems (Wang & Sin 2013) and etc. However, none of them referred to assess the challenges of translating text for the translation practitioners’ views. In other words, there has been little work in analyzing and specifying the challenges of translation from EFL practitioners’ attitudes. This research may fill the gap in the literature by evaluating and analyzing the problems of translating text from practitioners’ views. After conducting this research, it is hoped that more translators interested in investigating the challenges and problems of translation different texts and provide new environments for translation students to be aware of such difficulties in translating text at anytime and anywhere.

Methodology

Participants and Sample

The participants of this study were 60 Iranian translation practitioners that selected based on convenience sampling. They were from different cities (Kerman, Shahrbabak, zarand, Baft, and Jiroft). The rationale behind choosing this number of participants is for practical reasons because the study was just small-scale complementary research, and the researcher found these people accessible. The subjects were from both genders, male and female.

Instruments

In order to gather data, a two- part questionnaire and a structured interview were employed in this study.

Questionnaire

To explore the attitudes of the participants, a two- part questionnaire adopted from Holi (2016) was used in this study as the following. The first part explores some information about gender, age, major, and etc. The second part consists of 15 items with Five-Likert Scale, ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. The questionnaire focuses on difficulties and challenges that translators encounter when translating texts. Moreover, the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were established through various methods such as experts and statistical validation.

Structured Interview

Interview is an extendable conversation between partners that aims at having an ‘in-depth information’ about a certain topic or subject (Schostak, 2006, p. 54). The second instrument for collecting data was structured interview consisted of four parts, developed by Holi (2016). It examined the main challenges of translating texts, and also evaluated the suitable strategies for overcoming the possible difficulties for translating such texts. The learners were supposed to answer them about 8-10 minutes. A third of participants were randomly selected for interview. Totally, 20 participants were interviewed by researcher.

Data Collection Procedure

As it was mentioned above, the researcher selected 60 Iranian translation practitioners based on convenience sampling. The researcher herself informed them about the goal of the study and told them that they did not need to write their names and what they state in the papers would remain confidential; therefore, they were encouraged to give their true responses to any item. Also, she asked them if there were any questions or concerns. After their preparing for responding, then the questionnaires were given to them. They should have responded to all questions carefully without any time limitation. Moreover, a third of participants were randomly selected for interview. Totally, 20 participants were interviewed and the data were recorded by the researcher carefully. Eventually, all the data were gathered for analyzing and interpreting.

It is worthy to note that the present work considered Haijaa’s (2007) framework. which referred to two important translational problems which some translators of texts would be faced with them. The first one highlighted as the lexis-related challenge (i.e. referential aspect) and the structure-related challenge (i.e. style aspect) regarded as the second one. He said that a word gets its meaning just in a specific context, but it would be meaningless word out of the text. Also, he declared that source and target texts do not have the same structures and styles for constructing sentences and paragraphs. Additionally, Haijaa (2007) focused on some linguistics challenges and cultural issues as the minor problems and challenges that a translator encounters in translating texts.

Figure 1
Framework of the Study

Design and Data Analysis

The choice of the methodological approach to tackle a research problem should be appropriate to the research questions and should reflect the research topic because the methodology shapes why a certain approach is used and how is to be used (Dörnyei & Toguchi 2010). Thus, quantitative method was employed to collect and analyze data as well as interpret the results. It can be said, this research was conducted to determine the translators’ views towards the difficulties of translating the text. Thus, suitable model for the current work was a quantitative one.

Investigating the participants’ attitudes toward the translation was the main objective of the study. Explanation of what mentioned above showed that the study was measurable. The Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software, was used by researcher for analyzing the collected data from questionnaires and structured interviews. In fact, frequency, percentage, and mean of the responses were calculated for analyzing the translation practitioners’ responses. The results were analyzed, detailed, and displayed in the following chapter.

Results

Descriptive Statistics of the Questionnaire

In this section descriptive statistics analysis was conducted in order to evaluate the items of questionnaire related to translating texts. All the statements of the first part measured in 5-point Likert scale, ranging from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agreed”. Mean score, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage of each item were used in order to investigate every question. These results are presented in the following tables and diagrams.

Table 1
Descriptive statistic of Item One

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
1	It is challenging to translate Persian contracts into English and vice versa.			7	13	1	17	22
			Percentage	11.67%	21.67%	1.67%	28.33%	36.67%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)		Count	N
12	68	1	22	8.24	10.23902		5	60

• Source: Authors

The first item of questionnaire evaluated whether it is challenging to translate Persian contracts into English and vice versa. Based on the above table, about 37% of the translation practitioners strongly agreed, and about 28.5% agreed on the mentioned statement. However, 20% of them showed their disagreements toward this item, and 1.67% of them had neutral idea toward the first statement.

Table 2
Descriptive statistic of Item Two

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
2	I sometimes find the structure of sentences quite long and difficult for me when translating contracts between English and Persian.			4	5	2	22	27
			Percentage	6.67%	8.33%	3.33%	36.67%	45%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)		Count	N
12	134.5	2	27	11.59	14.40009		5	60

• Source: Authors

Table 2 represented descriptive analysis toward the structure of sentences. Accordingly, analysis showed that most of the EFL learners (about 82%) agreed or strongly agreed that they sometimes find the structure of sentences quite long and difficult for them when translating contracts between English and Persian. While, a low percentage of them (15%) indicated their disagreement toward the mentioned item. Also, 3.33 % of participants had neutral opinion.

Table 3
Descriptive statistic of Item Three

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
3	text layout constitutes a great difficulty for me when translating contracts between English and Persian.			13	15	2	17	13
			Percentage	21.67%	25%	3.33%	28.33%	21.67%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)		Count	N
12	34	2	17	5.83	7.24008		5	60

• Source: Authors

The third item investigated text layout. Based on table 3, half of the translation practitioners (50%) believed that text layout constitutes a great difficulty for them when translating contracts between English and Persian. 46.67% showed their disagreements toward this item, and a low percentage of them (3.33%) had neutral idea toward the third statement.

Table 4
Descriptive statistic of Item Four

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
4	Culture-specific terms are always challenging for me in translating contracts between English and Persian.			5	7	0	19	29
			Percentage	8.33%	11.67%	0%	31.67%	48.33%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	139	0	29	11.78	14.63900	5		60

• Source: Authors

In table 4, data analysis remarked that most of the practitioners (80%) declared that culture-specific terms are always challenging for them in translating contracts between English and Persian. While, 20% of them disagreed or strongly disagreed on this statement, and none of them had neutral idea toward the third statement.

Table 5
Descriptive statistic of Item Five

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
5	Punctuation and capitalization cause many difficulties for me when translating contracts between English and Persian.			22	27	0	7	4
			Percentage	36.67%	45%	0%	11.67%	6.67%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	139.5	0	27	11.81	14.66530	5		60

• Source: Authors

Data analysis highlighted that almost 82% of respondents strongly disagreed and disagreed toward the mentioned item, whereas 20% of them showed their agreements. Nobody had neutral view on the mentioned statement.

Table 6
Descriptive statistic of Item Six

N	Item			SD	D	N	A		SA
6	Translating modal verbs, i.e. shall, will, must, may, etc. is one of the challenges in translation.			14	13	1	17		15
			Percentage	23.33%	21.67%	1.67%	28.33%		25%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	40	1	17	6.32	7.85297	5		60

• Source: Authors

Based on the received information, more than half of the practitioners (53.33%) responded that translating modal verbs is one of the challenges in translation, but 45% of them stated they do not have any problems with translating modal verbs. A low percentage (1.67%) had neutral opinion toward the statement.

Table 7
Descriptive statistic of Item Seven

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
7	Tenses used in contracts create difficulty for me when translating between English and Persian.			10	7	4	21	18
			Percentage	16.67%	11.67%	6.67%	35%	30%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	52.5	4	21	7.24	8.99671	5		60

• Source: Authors

Based on the information in table 7, a high percentage of the students (nearly 65%) mentioned that tenses used in contracts create difficulty for me when translating between English and Persian. However, a low percentage (28.34%) of them declared that they do not have any problem in translating contracts, and 6.67% showed their neutral opinion on the mentioned item. On the whole, a high majority showed their agreement with this idea.

Table 8
Descriptive statistic of Item Eight

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
8	It is difficult for me to understand French and Latin words when translating contracts between English and Persian.			6	5	43	19	27
			Percentage	10%	8.33%	5%	31.67%	45%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	110	3	27	10.48	13.02268	5		60

• Source: Authors

As indicated in table 8, most of the practitioners (almost77%) illustrated that is difficult for them to understand French and Latin words when translating contracts between English and Persian. While, a few of them (18.33%) indicated their disagreement, and 5% showed their neutral attitude.

Table 9
Descriptive statistic of Item Nine

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
9	It is difficult for me to understand contracts when translating between English and Persian.			16	14	0	12	18
			Percentage	16.67%	11.67%	6.67%	35%	30%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	50	0	18	7.0710	8.77989	5		60

• Source: Authors

The results of the table 9 highlighted that exactly half of the participants (50%) agreed and half of them disagreed which is difficult for them to understand contracts when translating between English and Persian.

Table 10
Descriptive statistic of Item Ten

N	Statement			SD	D	N	A	SA
10	I find it difficult to find suitable equivalent to terms when translating contracts between English and Persian.			9	8	2	14	27
			Percentage	15%	13.33%	3.33%	23.33%	45%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	88.5	2	27	9.40	11.68088	5		60

• Source: Authors

In table 10, data analysis indicated that most of the participants (78.33%) have problems in finding suitable equivalent to terms when translating contracts between English and Persian. While, 18.33% of them disagreed or strongly disagreed for on the above statement, and 3.33% indicated their neutral ideas toward this item.

Table 11
Descriptive statistic of Item Eleven

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
11	I find concepts in contracts difficult for me when translating contracts between English and Persian.			8	17	0	22	13
			Percentage	13.33%	28.33%	0%	36.67%	21.67%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	71.5	0	22	8.4557	10.49922	5		60

• Source: Authors

As seen in table 11, data analysis highlighted that 58.34% of respondents believed concepts in contracts are difficult, and 41.66% stated concepts are not difficult for them in translating contracts between English and Persian. As the diagram displayed, nobody had neutral opinion.

Table 12
Descriptive statistic of Item Twelve

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
12	I find abbreviations difficult when translating contracts between English and Persian.			14	7	2	18	19
			Percentage	23.33%	11.67%	3.33%	30%	31.67%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	53.5	2	19	7.3143	9.08198	5		60

• Source: Authors

Moreover, most of the subjects (61.67%) mentioned that translating abbreviations in contracts are difficult for them. However, 35% disagreed with the proposed item, and 3.33% showed their neutral views.

Table 13
Descriptive statistic of Item Thirteen

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
13	I find binomial expressions and parallel structures, i.e. direct or supervise, liable and responsible, generally and specifically, etc. difficult when translating contracts between English and Persian.			13	17	5	14	11
			Percentage	21.67%	28.33%	8.33%	23.33%	18.33%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	20	5	17	4.4721	5.55289	5		60

• Source: Authors

As the table shows, 41.66% of respondents have problems in translating binomial expressions and parallel structures of English-Persian contracts. Exactly half of them (50%) remarked that they do not have any problem in this case. A low percentage (8.33%) had neutral opinion on this statement.

Table 14
Descriptive statistic of Item Fourteen

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
14	I find it difficult to translate multiple negatives when translating contracts between English and Persian.			9	9	2	19	21
			Percentage	15%	15%	3.33%	31.67%	35%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	62	2	21	7.874	9.7768	5		60

• Source: Authors

Furthermore, about 67% of the respondents found some difficulties in translating multiple negatives of contracts between English and Persian, but 30% of them showed their disagreements toward this item.

Table 15
Descriptive statistic of Item Fourteen

N	Item			SD	D	N	A	SA
15	It is challenging to translate words and expressions, i.e. hereinafter, hereto, hereby, aforesaid, whosoever, herein, etc. when translating contracts between English and Persian.			10	13	0	13	24
			Percentage	16.67%	21.67%	0%	21.67%	40%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	73.5	0	24	8.572	10.645	5		60

• Source: Authors

Also, most of the respondents (61.67%) considered that it is challenging to translate words and expressions, when translating contracts between English and Persian. Whereas, 38.34% of them displayed their disagreement on the mentioned statements, and nobody gave the neutral answer to the item.

Table 16
Descriptive statistic of Item Fourteen

N	Item			SD	D	N	A		SA
16	It is difficult to translate doublets, i.e. will and bequests, aid and abet, cease and desist, last will and testament, etc. when translating contracts between English and Persian.			9	8	4	17		22
			Percentage	15%	13.33%	6.67%	28.33%		36.67%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count		N
12	53.5	4	22	7.3143	9.08198	5		60

• Source: Authors

In last item of the questionnaire, 65% of practitioners remarked that it is difficult to translate doublets, i.e. will and bequests, aid and abet, cease and desist, last will and testament, etc. when translating contracts between English and Persian.

Data Analysis of Interview

Regarding the second question, a structured interview has been conducted by the researcher for evaluating the practitioners’ views on translation, and the analysis of the items has been presented. It should be noted that 20 of the participants were interviewed by researcher, and the results of the careful analysis have been provided in the related table.

Table 17
Descriptive statistic of Item Fourteen

Different Translations
Sentence	Item		Sometimes	Never	Always
How often do you translate the following?	A. Contracts and text.		12	1	7
		Percentage	58.33%	5%	36.67%
	B.Commercial contracts and agreements.		5	2	13
		Percentage	26.67%	8.33%	65%
	C. Political agreements and treaties		9	3	8
		Percentage	46.67%	13.33%	40%
	D. Personal documents, i.e. birth, marriage, school, etc.		12	3	5
		Percentage	58.33%	16.67%	25%
	E. Administrative and organizational documents i.e. minutes of meeting, rules and regulations, business letters, etc.		4	2	14
		Percentage	21.67%	8.33%	70%
	F. Legislations, constitutions, court pleadings, etc.		11	3	6
		Percentage	55%	13.33%	31.67%

• Source: Authors

At first, the researcher investigated some forms of text which were translated by the participants of this study. According to the careful analysis, 58.33% sometimes translated contracts and text, and 65% of them always translated commercial contracts and agreements. Moreover, 46.67% of the practitioners sometimes, and 40% of them always translated political agreements and treaties. Also, most of them (58.33%) sometimes translated personal documents, i.e. birth, marriage, school, etc. at the end, a great percentage of them (70%) stated that they always translated administrative and organizational documents, and 55% of the respondents sometimes translated legislations, constitutions, court pleadings, etc. (Table 17).

Table 18
Data Analysis of Main Challenges

Main challenges
N	Item				Linguistic	culture-related	Lexical knowledge	grammar	translator’s knowledge
1	In your opinion, what are the main challenges that translation practitioners might face when translating texts?				5	6	3	4	2
				Percentage	25%	31.67%	16.67%	20%	6.67%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)		Count		N
12	31.5	4	19	5.6124	6.96882		5		60

• Source: Authors

Second, the interview investigated the main challenges that translation practitioners might face while translating texts. As table 18 highlighted, most of the practitioners (31.67%) assumed that cultural-related challenges are the main ones. Then, 25% of them referred to the linguistic problems, followed by grammar challenges (20%), and lexical knowledge (16.67%). However, a low percentage of them (6.67%) regarded the translator’s knowledge as the main challenge in translating texts.

Table 19
Analysis of Specific Strategies

Specific Strategies
N	Statement			Legal dictionaries	Colleagues	The internet websites	Legal drafters	Google translators	Babylon translator	Parallel texts
1	Which specific strategies are particularly important in overcoming these difficulties and challenges?			6	1	3	2	3	4	1
			Percentage	31.67%	6.67%	15%	8.33%	15%	18.33%	5%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD	Confidence Level (95.0%)			Count		N
8.571	29.9523	3	19	5.4728	5.06156			7		60

• Source: Authors

Different strategies have been evaluated by the researcher in this project. As table 19 illustrated, most of the practitioners (31.675) referred to “ dictionaries”, and 18.33% of them selected “Babylon translation”. Also, the same percentage of them (15%) chose “Google translation” and “ The internet websites”. Moreover, a low percentage of the translation practitioners appointed “ drafters” (8.33%), “Colleagues” (6.67%), and “Parallel text” (5%) for translating text.

Table 20
Analysis of Level of Difficulty

Level of Difficulty
N	Statement					English into Persian	Persian into English
1	What is the level of difficulty do you encounter in the translation of contracts from English to Persian compared to the translation from Persian to English; please provide rating 1-5?					3	5
			Percentage			37.50%	62.50%
Mean	Variance	Minimum	Maximum	SD		Confidence Level (95.0%)	Count
4	2	3	5	1.4142		12.7062	2

• Source: Authors

Finally, the researcher investigated the level of difficulty that encounter in the translation of contracts from English to Persian compared to the translation from Persian to English. As table 20 detailed, most of them (62.50%) declared that it is difficult to translated text from Persian in to English, but 37.50% mentioned it is difficult to translate text from English to Persian.

Discussion

Revisiting the Research Questions

What is the translation practitioners’ views toward translating text?

Descriptive statistics illustrated the participants’ views through 16 items relating to translating of text. At first, the questionnaire investigated if it is challenging to translate Persian contracts into English and vice versa. As the related tables revealed, a great percentage of the learners (65%) showed their agreements on this item. Moreover, about 82% of respondents claimed that the structure of sentences is sometimes quite long and difficult for them when translating contracts between English and Persian, and half of the practitioners (50%) considered that text layout constitutes a great difficulty for them when translating contracts between English and Persian. Then, 80% considered that culture-specific terms are always challenging for them in translating contracts between English and Persian, and almost 82% of the respondents remarked that punctuation and capitalization do not cause many difficulties for them while translating contracts between English and Persian. Furthermore, more than half of the students (53.33%) responded that translating modal verbs is one of the challenges in translation. In addition, 65% of the practitioners believed that tenses used in contracts create difficulty for them when translating between English and Persian, and almost 77% highlighted that it is difficult for translators to understand French and Latin words when translating contracts between English and Persian. Data analysis indicated that most of the participants (78.33%) had problems in finding suitable equivalent to terms when translating contracts between English and Persian. The questionnaire also focused on the concepts of contracts, and 58.34% of respondents believed that concepts in contracts are difficult. In their views, translating abbreviations in contracts had been difficult for them (about 62%). Additionally, 41.66% of respondents had problems in translating binomial expressions and parallel structures of English- Persian contracts. Exactly half of them (50%) remarked that they do not have any problem in this case. Based on the received data, about 67% of the respondents found some difficulties in translating multiple negatives of contracts, and 61.67% considered that it is challenging to translate words and expressions of English to Persian contracts. Also, 65% of practitioners remarked that it is difficult to translate doublets in translating contracts (English into Persian).

In a nutshell, due to the descriptive analysis, it was found that there are some difficulties and challenges in translating text from practitioners’ points of view, as most of them reflected their agreements on the questions related to the problems and difficulties of translating such text. However, almost 37% of the participants demonstrated their disagreements on some of the questionnaire’ items. In fact, they argued that most of the problems and difficulties were related to long structure of sentences and cultural specific terms. Then, understanding French and Latin words and finding suitable equivalent terms regarded as problems in their views. Also, they referred to some items as multiple negatives, doublets, abbreviations, and the concepts in contracts as challenges of translations. At the end, translating modal verbs and tenses of text were difficult parts for them.

What are the main challenges of translation practitioners in translating texts?

According to the careful analysis, 58.33% sometimes translated contracts and text, and 65% of them always translated commercial contracts and agreements. Moreover, 46.67% of the practitioners sometimes, and 40% of them always translated political agreements and treaties. Also, most of them (58.33%) sometimes translated personal documents, and a great percentage of them (70%) stated that they always translated administrative and organizational documents, and 55% of the respondents. The results of interview investigated the main challenges that translation practitioners might face while translating texts. As the analysis indicated, most of the practitioners (31.67%) assumed that cultural-related challenges are the main ones. Then, 25% of them referred to the linguistic problems, followed by grammar challenges (20%), and lexical knowledge (16.67%). However, a low percentage of them (6.67%) regarded the translator’s knowledge as the main challenge in translating texts.

What are the specific strategies for overcoming possible difficulties and challenges in translating text?

Finally, different strategies have been investigated by the researcher in this project. Most of the practitioners (31.67%) referred to “ dictionaries”, and 18.33% of them selected “Babylon translation”. Also, the same percentage of them (15%) selected “Google translation” and “ The internet websites”. Moreover, a low percentage of the translation practitioners appointed “ drafters” (8.33%) and “Colleagues” (6.67%). At the end, “Parallel text” (5%) received the lowest percentage among all the proposed strategies for overcoming the problems of translation. Therefore, the most important strategy for overcoming the difficulties and challenges in translating text was identified as “ dictionaries”.

Conclusion and implications

In the respondents’ views the translation challenges in text are not only linguistic ones, also they involve culture-specific challenges. As mentioned earlier, the most difficult parts dedicated to translating the long structure of sentences and culturally specific terms. Also, understanding French and Latin words, and finding suitable equivalent terms regarded as the challenges for them. On top of that, some challenges with the grammatical points as multiple negatives, modal verbs, and tenses were reported by translation practitioners. In the other place, they said that they have been utilizing different types of strategies to overcome the challenges such as using dictionaries, Babylon translators, Google translators and the internet websites. Also, a low percentage of them preferred to use the strategies as drafters, colleagues, and parallel texts. Additionally, the level of difficulty that they encountered in the translation of contracts from English to Persian compared to the translation from Persian to English was examined. Most of them declared that it is difficult to translate text from Persian in to English, but a few of them mentioned that it is difficult to translate text from English to Persian. Therefore, translating Persian-English text was more difficult than English-Persian one. Finally, the results are consistent to some extent with other relevant empirical findings in the literature. translation has been seen as a highly sensitive area in translation due to its complex syntax and peculiar convention of drafting and differences in source and target languages (Frade, 2015). According to Baker (1992) the most common problems that translators face during the rendering of a text are the lack of verbal/ functional equivalence in the target language. It requires highly competent translator whose task is to stay faithful to the intent, tone, and the format of the original, source document and make the text clearer and understandable to the receiver.

By carrying out this study, the researcher attempted to talk about the present challenges and problems of translation. Therefore, it has practical implications for improving translation syllabus, translation pedagogy, textbooks designers, and translation teachers. The results may help translation syllabus-designers, textbook writers and decision-makers to arrange some training courses which help translation to improve their professional skills. The translation courses and training should be organized by the professional individuals in both translation and law. Because having knowledge and background can help in overcoming the contracts translation in particular, and generally the translation challenges. Before starting to translate the documents, translators should have sufficient information about the systems of the source and target languages. Also, a collaborative role should be created between translator and drafters which can be effective in dealing with such challenges. This research has offered some practical implications for developing translation syllabus, textbooks designers, translation pedagogy, and translation teachers. The outcomes can be useful for translation practitioners, translation students of university, and decision-makers to organize some courses for enhancing the translation skills. Eventually, it should be noted that translators are required for more training by concentering on the application of pragmatics to translation.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  19 June 2023
• Date of issue
  2022

History

• Received
  03 May 2022
• Accepted
  11 July 2022
• Published
  Dec 2022