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

part one 44.84%
part two 55.15%
 
Figure 05: Difference in Percentage between Total Correct Answers in Part One and 
Two 
2.4.3. Translation from Arabic into English
In this part, a test consists of ten Arabic idioms taken in their context of use are given 
to students. The purpose of this test is to examine the students‟ abilities to translate idioms 
from their mother language to their second language of learning. The outcomes of this test are 
represented in the following table: 
37 

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N 
Idioms 
Appropriate 
Guesses 
Inappropriate 
Guesses 
Number of
Correct
A
nswers
Percentage 
Number of
Incorrect 
Answers
Percentage 
1 
ْٛمجط٠ ُٙٔإ
باغلا حؼيرش
06 
30% 
14 
70% 
2 
ٟردبع ٟراذ١ع
نكًادأ يًوريػأ 
15 
75% 
05 
25% 
3 
ٟم١مسٌا ك٠ذصٌا
 يف يؼطي لا
رهظلا
10 
50% 
10 
50% 
4 
ٖسبخ ًزل
مد جدورثت
12 
60% 
08 
40% 
5 
ًخس ٗٔا
ع
ظ
ىأشلا ني
05 
25% 
15 
75% 
6 
ْأ غ١طزغ٠
خازجؼولا غٌصي
...
07 
35% 
13 
65% 
7 
دٕٛدٌا ْبو
يف حلهس حسيرف 
برحلا
06 
30% 
14 
70% 
8 
ًخشٌا ناد
ءارثلا يف ةلقتي 
10 
50% 
10 
50% 
9 
ْبو
ييلثحلا ىلػ ةؼلي
03 
15% 
17 
85% 
10 
بّو ةشسٌا ٌٝإ طبٌٕا ك١ع
قبغر
حتذولا ىلإ جاؼٌلا
03 
15% 
17 
85% 
 
Total 
77 
123 
Total of all 
translations 
200 
General Percentage 
38, 5% 
61, 15% 
Table 5: Percentage of Students’ Appropriate and Inappropriate Guesses
38 

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0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
appropriate
inappropriat
e
 
Figure06: Percentage of Students’ Appropriate and Inappropriate Guesses 
appropriate
guesses38.15%
inappropriate
guesses61.15%
 
Figure 07: General Percentage of Student’s Appropriate and Inappropriate
Guesses
 
 
39 

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2.4.3.1. Results and Analysis
Table 5 reveals that out of 200 translations there are 77 appropriate guesses (38.5%) 
and 123 inappropriate ones (61.15%). From these results, we can notice that there is a lower 
rate of successful guessing in the translation from Arabic into English than from English into 
Arabic in part two, which records 139 correct answers out of 252 (55.15%). This confirms 
that translating idioms from Arabic into English is a difficult task especially if students are not 
familiar with these idioms. These results also show that an idiom is hardly possible to guess 
unless it is already learned. Another point is that idiom 02 
'
ُىٔادأ ٟٔٚش١ػأ ٟردبع ٟراذ١ع
'
has 
recorded the highest score (15 correct answers out of 20) (75%), in contrast to idioms 09 and 
10 (
ْبو
ٓ١ٍجسٌا ٍٝػ تؼٍ٠ 
, رثزٌّا ٌٝإ جبؼٌٕا قبغر بّو ةشسٌا ٌٝإ طبٌٕا ك١ع) which have only three correct 
answers for both of them, but a percentage of 85% for incorrect ones.