Translation Case Study: First Year Master a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of a

1.2.8. Idioms and Metaphors 
Language is a system of communication that is used by a particular community of 
speakers. Metaphors constitute a large part of this everyday language. They have been 
recognized as rhetorical devices that compare two seemingly different objects. King 
(2000:216) defines metaphors as „describing something by using an analogy with something 
quite different‟. For example, „the words are clear as crystal‟ is an idiom that expresses the 
similarity between the words and the crystal in the degree of clarity. According to King 
(2000:216), the ability to explain a complex vague expression making it more understandable 
and clear is the beauty of metaphors. 
Moreover, both idioms and metaphors, as Maalej (2005) states, have a power of 
likening .i.e., they cannot be understood if they are taken literally. The difference between the 
two, however, can be marked through a separate existence of a basic correlation. The latter is 
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due to the fact that idioms in the past have an old reference which represents systematic 
metaphors.
According to Maalej, idioms and metaphors are culture-specific aspects of a particular 
language, i.e., the non-existence of a direct one to one correspondence in the TL of a 
particular idiom in the SL is the result of culture-specific metaphors. In this respect, Maalej 
states: 
Culture-specific metaphors are best represented in phraseology. Native 
language idioms and set phrases can blend together ethno-specific 
concepts pertaining to the world view of it speakers, to their national 
character, as well as their traditional social relations, thus becoming an 
embodiment of national dispositions and spiritual values. They are 
presented metaphorically indirectly and figuratively, which is why 
culture-specific metaphors produce idioms that have no corresponding 
counterparts in another language (2005: 215).