Idioms and Proverbs
Idioms are basically the richness of a language. In every language, there must be many idioms which are known daily. Interestingly, it becomes a big problem if we need to translate the idioms or proverbs. Ideally, an idiom should be translated into an idiom as well. There are indeed many idioms of a language that can be simply translated into another idiom in another language. Unfortunately, not all idioms are able to be translated also. If this is the case, so what is the solution? Sure, you should learn more about the target language whether there is another idiom which is at least quite similar with the idiom from the original language. If you are so unlucky to make it cannot be found out, well, you have to translate it into the idiom’s meanings. It can depend on the type of the literary works also. If the literary work you translate tends to use such a poetic word. Sure, you have to arrange your own words as beautiful as possible without lessening the meanings implied.
Cultural Problems
As we know, language is the product of culture. Meanwhile, culture itself is about the view and habit of certain group of people that probably cannot be found in other places. The cultural problem while translating the problem is mainly about the equivalence of the words anyway. In fact, it is quite difficult to find out a term from target language which is exactly the same with the term from original language when it is about the cultures. All you need to do is then by looking for the similar term. Another solution is by not translating the term but then you must give a footnote related to the term’s definition. This second idea is very good as the readers can also learn more cultures which are implied in the literary work.
Some Literary Translation Problems and the Solutions
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Rahmatan Lil 'Alamin
