Difficulties and Strategies in Translating Verb-Noun Collocations in the Qur’an by Arab Translators

Abstract

This paper tries to display the importance of finding the correct equivalents in the target language when translating the Arabic verb-noun collocations, particularly those of the Qur’an, into English. The analytical focus is on the translations of four native Arab translators of the Qur’an. Analysis of these four translations will be based on the translation models of Newmark (1988) and Venuti (1995). The paper’s objectives are (i) identifying the difficulties encountered by the selected translators in their respective translations of the Qur’anic collocations, (ii) showing the extent to which they succeeded in finding the correct equivalent English collocations in their respective translations of Qur’anic collocations, and (iii) suggesting strategies for translating the Qur’anic non-equivalent collocations that convey the intended meaning. Findings reveal that the translation of the Qur’anic collocations depends on understanding the meanings of these Qur’anic collocations and finding the precise equivalent collocations in the target language, which, in turn, communicate the intended meaning of the Qur’anic collocations in a much more native-like translation. The study recommends the use of faithful, functional equivalence, and communicative strategies for translating non-equivalent collocations. However, if these strategies do not convey the full intended meaning, the foreignization strategy may be more appropriate, as it conveys the meaning and the culture of the source text.