ارزیابی کیفی ترجمه اصطلاحات و عبارات ثابت در ترجمه فارسی رمان «قلب تاریکی» بر اساس مدل نابابان

1. Introduction

One aspect of translation that is more vulnerable compared with other linguistic features is the translation of idiomatic expressions. As stated by Adelnia and Vahid Dastjerdi (2011), idiomatic expressions are the essence of any language and the most problematic part to handle. They claim that not all idiomatic expressions have direct equivalents in another language because they are linguistic expressions that are typical for a language and specific to a single culture. Newmark (1988) and Larson (1984) strongly stated that the translation of idiomatic expressions is a challenge and literal translation should be avoided. They need to have mastery of the SL to understand the idioms, and also mastery of the TL to find its proper counterpart. Thus, the translation of an idiomatic expression is not as simple as people may think. Besides good knowledge of the SL and TL, the translator should have good knowledge of the cultural background of both languages. Translating idiomatic expressions, as the main focus of this study, is one of the most challenging tasks that a translator encounters because there is no uniformity in defining a certain approach to translating idioms, most idioms are culture-specific, and their pragmatic meaning is more significant than their literal meaning. 

English and Persian are two languages rich in the use of idiomatic expressions. However, there are sometimes lexical, semantic, cultural, or pragmatic gaps between the two languages which make translating such expressions challenging and problematic. This is because most idioms are culture-specific, and their overall meaning cannot be realized simply from the meaning of the individual lexical items. In other words, sometimes lexical, semantic, cultural, or pragmatic gaps between the two languages render the translation of such expressions challenging. Literal or word-for-word translation of idioms may lead to confusion and the outcome may not be appropriate. Translators need to have mastery of the SL to understand the idioms, and also mastery of the TL to find its proper counterpart. Moreover, they are expected to be well-equipped with the cultural background of both languages (Adelnia & Vahid Dastjerdi, 2011). 

The short novel Heart of Darkness was written by Joseph Conrad in 1899. Linguistically, this novel contains a complicated language rich in idiomatic expressions. However, no research has to date assessed the quality of the translation of the culture-specific and idiomatic expressions in this short novel in terms of Nababan et al.’s (2012) TQA model. In this model, accuracy is a factor that indicates how closely the target text adheres to the meaning of the original text, acceptability describes whether or not a translation complies with the laws, customs, and cultural norms that are applicable in the target language, and readability is a factor that takes into account both the translated text’s readability in the target language and the target readers’ comprehension of the translation. Therefore, this study answers how accurate, acceptable, and readable the idiomatic expressions are rendered in the Persian translation of the novel Heart of Darkness.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Theoretical Background

To achieve a good translation, the translator must accurately transfer the meaning of the source text into the target text (Kovács, 2008). According to Hidayat (2016), a good translation must meet eight criteria: (1) it must be simple to understand; (2) it must be fluid and smooth; (3) it must be idiomatic; (4) it must convey the literary nuances of the original; (5) it must distinguish between the literal and metaphorical; (6) it must reconstruct the cultural and historical context of the original; (7) it must make explicit what is implicit in abbreviations and illusions to sayings, songs, and nursery rhymes; (8) a good translation tries to convey the meaning of the source text as much as possible. It implies that a translator must possess certain skills to translate a text into another language. A ‘good’ translation is expected to have several features including equivalence at lexical, idiomatic expressions, grammatical, textual, and pragmatic levels (Baker, 2011) plus other features including accuracy, readability, and acceptability (McDonald, 2022). Essentially, these mean that a good translation should convey information or messages from the source language (SL) correctly, precisely, and honestly, while following the intent of the SL author. The information conveyed should be complete and accurate, with nothing left behind, added, or changed. The translation should be easy to understand, and readers should be able to follow the message contained therein. The primary purpose of translation is to communicate meaning accurately. To achieve a quality translation, the translator must not ignore, add to, or subtract from the meaning contained in SL because it is influenced by the formal form of the target language (TL). Translation is not aimed at creating new works or new writings; instead, it aims to be a bridge between SL authors and readers (McDonald, 2022). Savitri (2018) also suggested three necessary aspects of accuracy, readability, and acceptability in the translation process and for assessing the translation quality. Nababan et al. (2012) TQA scale used in this study mentions three main features (accuracy, acceptability, and readability) for assessing the quality of translation. In this TQA model, accuracy is a factor that indicates how closely the target text adheres to the meaning of the original text. Acceptability describes whether or not a translation complies with the laws, customs, and cultural norms that are applicable in the target language on both a micro and macro level. Readability is a factor that takes into account both the translated text’s readability in the target language and the target readers’ comprehension of the translation.

For quality assessment, Nababan et al.’s translation quality assessment scale was employed, which includes three factors: accuracy, acceptability, and readability. Accuracy refers to a translation that conveys information or messages from SL correctly, precisely, and honestly following the intent of the SL author. The purpose of translation is to communicate meaning accurately. In a quality translation, nothing is left behind, nothing is added, and nothing is different, and readers can easily follow the message contained therein. As regards accuracy, a translator does not summarize a text into a new article but the translator must be able to become a communication facilitator to convey messages contained in SL into TL appropriately (McDonald, 2022).

Table 1

Scale and Indicators of Accuracy

It should be noted here that an assessment of the accuracy of message redirection will always involve the source text and the target text. In other words, the comparison between the source text message and the target text message is one of the important features of assessing the accuracy of the message forwarding (McDonald, 2022). 

Acceptability leads to the prevalence and naturalness of the translated text in TL following the rules and norms of the language of the TL readers. The text must be accepted and understood by the target reader. Readers will understand the meaning contained in the sentences that make up a translated text and then relate it to the context of the text’s situation. The term acceptability is used to express the adherence of the translation to the linguistic rules and textual norms of the target language. It gives the idea that a translation will be adequate if the norms to be followed come from the source culture and language, while the translation is called ‘acceptable’ if the norms followed come from the target culture and language (McDonald, 2022). He further remarked that an assessment of the accuracy of the transfer of SL text messages into the TL should not be carried out by the researcher alone. 

Table 2

Scale and Indicators of Acceptability

Readability is the degree of ease with which a piece of writing can be read and understood its meaning. A translated text can be considered to have a high level of readability if the text is easy to read and the reader can catch the message conveyed, regardless of the compatibility of the message with the message contained in the SL text. In other words, the reader acts as a subject that determines the readability of a text (McDonald, 2022). 

Table 3

Scale and Indicators of Readability 

The scope of the present study was limited to assessing the quality of Saleh Hosseini’s (2010) Persian translation of idiomatic expressions in the short novel Heart of Darkness. Adelnia and Vahid Dastjerdi’s (2011) typology of idiomatic expressions was chosen for the analysis of the idiomatic expressions in this study. These include: 

a) Phrasal verbs: typically have distinct meanings. The original verbs’ meanings are a result of their combinations of verb, preposition, and adverb, or verb and adverb. 

b) Slang: refers to extremely informal expressions or words that defy grammar rules or conventions in language usage.  

c) Colloquialisms: are not appropriate for formal speech or writing. Instead of being used in formal contexts, these expressions are more frequently found in everyday, ordinary, and casual contexts.  

d) Allusion: figurative language to make direct or indirect references to a location, myth, literary work, or events.  

e) Proverb: a short, well-known phrase that contains wisdom, truth, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed, and memorable form, handed down from generation to generation.  

2.2 Empirical Studies 

Several studies have addressed translation quality using Nababan et al.’s TQA model. Syah et al. (2023) assessed the translation of English idiomatic expressions into Indonesian in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. They concluded that the translation had good quality. Putri et al. (2022) analyzed the quality of the translation on the Medan City Tourism webpages, indicating that it is quite accurate, acceptable, and readable. Ningsih and Pulungan  (2021) described the translation quality in the book Bound, finding it less accurate but acceptable and readable. Azti et al. (2019) analyzed the translation acceptability of the novel After You and highlighted the impact of translation and editing techniques on acceptability. 

Yasin et al. (2018) evaluated the English translation of The Rainbow Troops into Indonesian using Nababan et al.’s (2012) framework. They found the translation to be of low quality in accuracy and acceptability and medium in readability. They suggested that improving accuracy, acceptability, and readability requires good translation capabilities and cultural understanding. Nugroho et al. (2017) used Nababan et al.’s (2012) TQA scale to assess the Indonesian translation of the passive voice in George Orwell’s 1984. They concluded that 61.43% of the data was accurate, 69.52% was acceptable, and 76.19% was readable, resulting in an average score of 2.66 for the translation quality.

3. Method

3.1 Corpus

The data were taken from the short novel Heart of Darkness by the Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad and its Persian translation by Saleh Hosseini. This short novel has 72 pages and was selected due to its reputation as one of the most enduring literary works of the present era. It was first published in 1899 in New York. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness 67th on their list of the 100 best novels in English of the 20th century. The novel has been widely republished and translated into many languages, including Persian. The translation by Saleh Hosseini was selected in this research due to its more recent release in 2010 and because he has translated numerous works from famous English and American writers such as Shakespeare, Wolf, Faulkner, Orwell, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, etc.   

3.2 Data-collection and Analysis Procedures

The data collection procedure started with the identification, extraction, and tabulation of idiomatic expressions in the English text based on Adelnia and Vahid Dastjerdi’s (2011) categorization. To check for the meaning of the idiomatic expressions in English, a variety of English dictionaries such as the online versions of Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, and Oxford were used. Then, the episodes that contained idiomatic expressions in English were compared with their corresponding equivalents in the Persian translation. The next step was identifying the type of idiom in Persian based on the same model and inserting them in front of the English idiomatic expressions in the tables.  

After the data were collected, a few examples were randomly selected for each of the five categories. Following each example, the level of accuracy, acceptability, and readability of each example were determined and described. To check for the level of accuracy, acceptability, and readability of the translations, the researcher asked for help from ten randomly selected native readers and experts of the Persian language and literature and also relied on her knowledge of the Persian language as a native of the Persian language. Then, the results including percentages were calculated for each category. Then, the results were categorized into three subheadings accuracy, acceptability, and readability. Finally, for more convenient comparisons, bar graphs were also used, and then evaluative statements were made about the quality of translations.

4. Results and Discussion

Regarding accuracy (see Figure 1), it was found that out of 180 idiomatic expressions, 77.22% were evaluated as accurately translated; 16.66% were less accurately translated, and 6.11% were inaccurately translated. In other words, more than three-fourths of them have been translated accurately. In phrasal verbs, 75% of the data were accurate; 18.2% were less accurate, and 6.7% were inaccurate. In contrast, in colloquialism, 83.6% were accurate; 12.2% were less accurate, and 4% were inaccurate. Regarding allusion, it was shown that 76.1% of the data were accurate, 19% were less accurate and 4.7% were inaccurate. 

Figure 1. The Results for Accuracy of the Selected Translation

Since accuracy is concerned with ‘how faithfully the message of the source text is maintained in the target text’, it is very important to transfer the exact intended meaning of the SL into the TL. 

Regarding acceptability (see Figure 2), it was shown that out of 180 idiomatic expressions, 83.33% were evaluated as acceptable; 12.22% were evaluated as less acceptable, and 4.44% were evaluated as unacceptable. In other words, more than four-fifths of them have been translated acceptably. There were more colloquialisms and phrasal verbs as idioms in the original text than slang, allusion, and proverbs. Thus, this proportion was almost similar in colloquialism and phrasal verbs. As regards phrasal verbs, almost 83.6% of the cases were evaluated as acceptable; 11.5% were less acceptable, and 4.8% were unacceptable.  In contrast, in colloquialisms, almost 42% were evaluated as acceptable; 12.2% were less acceptable, and 4% were acceptable. Regarding allusion, 80.9% were acceptable, 19.4% were less acceptable and 19.4% were unacceptable. 

Figure 2. The Results for Acceptability of the Selected Translation

In translation studies, acceptability is a very important criterion. In particular, translations are deemed acceptable to the extent that they comply with the relevant norms of the target culture. The results showed that the translation was close to the norms of the target culture, thus it was an acceptable translation. 

Regarding readability (see Figure 3), it was shown that out of 180 idiomatic expressions, 80.55% were evaluated as considered readable; 15% were considered less readable, and 4.44% were considered unreadable. In phrasal verbs, almost 77.8% of the data were evaluated as readable; 17.3% were less readable, and 4.8% were unreadable. In contrast, in colloquialism, 85.7% were readable; 10.2% were less readable, and 4% were unreadable. Regarding allusion, it was shown that 85.7% were evaluated as readable, 9.5% were less readable and 4.7% were unreadable. 

Figure 3. The Results for Readability of the Selected Translation

The following examples from each category of idiomatic expressions clarify the above results.

4.1 Phrasal Verbs

Example 1

It is too beautiful altogether, if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset.

دنیاشان رویهمرفته از بس زیباست که اگر قرار بود آن را برپا دارند همان روز اول خراب میشد.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary (2024 online version), the phrasal verb ‘set up’ means ‘to arrange for an event or activity to happen’. The Persian translator has rendered it as بر پا دارند [establish, set up] which is considered an accurate equivalent for this phrasal verb in Persian and, thus is acceptable and readable for target readers. 

Example 2 

in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up….

و در فضای شفاف بادبانهای آفتاب سوخته بارجه ها که براثر مد آب به آرامی تکان می‌خوردند و ...

According to the Cambridge Dictionary (2024 online version), the phrasal verb ‘drift up’ in this context means ‘moving slowly, especially as a result of outside forces, with no control over direction’. This phrasal verb is rendered as به آرامی تکان می خورد [moved slowly] in Persian which accurately conveys the same word in English, thus is acceptable and readable.

 4.2 Colloquialism 

Example 3

I pulled myself together and spoke slowly. “The last word he pronounced was your name.”

خودم را جمع و جور کردم و آرام گفتم: «آخرین کلمه ای که بر زبان آورد نام تو بود.»
 

According to the Cambridge Dictionary (2024 online version), the English colloquial expression ‘pull oneself together’ means ‘to become calm and behave normally again after being angry or upset’. This expression is translated as خودم را جمع و جور کردم [I pulled myself together] in Persian which transfers almost the same meaning. Thus, it is accurate, acceptable, and readable to the target readers.

Example 4

…there was nothing on earth to prevent him from killing whom he jolly well pleased.

نفس کشی هم نبود که او را از کشتن هر کسی که عشقش می کشید باز دارد.

According to the Online Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2024 online version), the English colloquial phrase ‘jolly well’ is used ‘to emphasize anger, annoyance, or disapproval’. This expression is translated as هر کسی که عشقش می کشید [whom he liked] in Persian which is less accurate but is acceptable and readable to the target readers. 

Example 5

Nobody seemed to trouble much about Fresleven’s remains.

گویا هیچکس در باره جسد فرس له ون تره هم خرد نکرد.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary (2024 online version), the English colloquial idiom ‘…to trouble much’ means ‘causing someone to be worried or nervous’. This idiom is rendered as تره خرد نکردن [do not worry about something] in Persian which is used by Persian speakers in situations when someone does not care about something or someone. Although it is translated less accurately, but is acceptable and readable. 

4.3 Slang

Example 6

“At first old Van Shuyten would tell me to go to the devil.” He narrated with keen enjoyment. But I stuck to him, and talked and talked till at last he got afraid.

آنوقت با شور و شوق وافری نقل کرد: اولش فون شویتن بهم می گفت: گورت را گم کن ولی من ولش نکردم و آنقدر گفتم و گفتم که کم مانده بود کله اش بترکد.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary (2024 online version), the slang idiom ‘go to the devil’ means ‘something you say to someone annoying or bad to tell them to go away forever.’ This slang idiom is rendered as برو گورت رو گم کن [go to the hell] which is similarly an idiom in Persian used when you do not like to see someone forever. Therefore, it is translated accurately and thus is acceptable and readable.

Example 7

Dash it all! I thought to myself, …..

به خودم گفتم مصبتو شکر! …

According to the Online Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2024 online version), the slang expression ‘dash it all’ is used ‘in a speech to express anger, frustration, etc.’ In Persian, however, the translator has inaccurately replaced it with the Persian expression مصبتو شکر [thank God] which is normally used in Persian in reverse situations. Thus, it is unacceptable and unreadable for target readers. 

Example 8

And now for this stupid scoundrel... “your success in Europe is assured in any case,” I affirmed, steadily.

و حالا بخاطر این بی سر و پای ابله ... به لحن محکم و موکدی گفتم: در هر صورت توی اروپا موفقیت تو تضمین شده است.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary (2024 online version), the slang expression ‘stupid scoundrel’ refers to ‘a person especially a man who treats other people very badly and has no moral principles’. This has been translated as بی سر و پای ابله [stupid scoundrel] in Persian which accurately conveys a similar slang expression and, thus is acceptable and readable for the target readers.

4.4 Allusion 

Example 9

…till I got out and stepped into his shoes.

تا اینکه من رفتم و جایش را گرفتم.

In the above example, according to the Online Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2024 online version), the English allusive expression ‘step into’ indicates ‘to take a particular role or do a particular task’ which is normally accompanied by the word ‘shoes’. In Persian, the translator has accurately rendered this allusive expression as جایش را گرفتم [to take his place], thus it is acceptable and readable for the target readers.

Example 10

Here and there a military camp lost in a wilderness, like a needle in a bundle of hay_ cold, fog, tempests, disease, exile, and death, death skulking in the air, in the water, in the bush.

اردوگاهی نظامی به چشم می آمد که در بیابان، مانند سوزنی در کومه گاه، گم شده بود و دیگر چیزی نبود جز سرما و مه و توفان و بیماری و در بدری و مرگ -  مرگی که در هوا در آب در بوته ها کمین کرده بود.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary (2024 online version), the English allusive expression ‘like a needle in a bundle of hay’ refers to ‘something impossible or extremely difficult to find, especially because the area you have to search is too large’. This expression is translated almost word-for-word in Persian as مانند سوزنی در کومه گاه [like a needle in a haystack]. Thus, this translation is accurate, acceptable, and readable. 

4.5 Proverb 

Example 11

You forget, dear Charlie, that the laborer is worthy of his hire.

چارلی عزیز فراموش مکن که مزد آن گرفت که کار کرد.

According to the Oxford Reference (2024 online version), the proverb ‘the laborer is worthy of his hire’ refers to the ethical advice that ‘someone should be properly recompensed for effort.’ Although this proverb in Persian is transferring a more or less similar message, it is less accurate, less acceptable, and less readable because it carries a slightly different tone than that in English.

Example 12

They both agreed it was frightful, then made several bizarre remarks: “Make rain and fine weather - one man – the council – by the nose” bits of absurd sentences that got the better of my drowsiness…

هر دو به اتفاق گفتند که وحشتناک است و پس از آن چیزهای پیش پا افتاده ای برزبان راندند هم از آخور و هم از توبره - یک آدم - شورا - افسار - تکه هایی از جملات مهملی که چرتم را پاره کرد و …

In this example, the proverb ‘to make rain and fine weather’ means ‘to be all-powerful and decide on everything.’ This proverb has a positive connotation in English and refers to someone who benefits all others. However, the translator has equated it with the Persian proverb هم از آخور میخوره هم از توبره [both from the waste and the manger] which has a negative connotation and refers to a person who seeks benefits from all sides in an interaction. Thus, it is inaccurate, unacceptable, and unreadable.

4.6 Summary of the Results

Overall, it was shown in this study that the Persian translations of idiomatic expressions in terms of Nababan et al.’s (2012) threefold TQA criteria have rather high quality because, as stated by Yasin et al. (2018), the quality of a translation is strongly influenced by how accurate the translation is. In other words, accuracy has a major effect in determining the quality of the translation compared to acceptability and readability.

Figure 4. Overall Quality of the Translation of Idiomatic Expressions

As Figure 4 shows, the Persian translations of idiomatic expressions by Saleh Hosseini are quite acceptable (about 83%), quite readable (about 80%), and to a lesser extent accurate (about 77%), respectively.     

5. Discussion 

According to the above figure, the research findings are consistent with those of Ningsih and Pulungan (2021) who evaluated the translation quality of the book Bound based on Nababan et al.’s (2012) assessment scale and showed that the translation quality of the book Bound was found to be acceptable, quite readable and less accurate. Similarly, the findings support those of Syah et al. (2023), who evaluated the translation quality of English idiomatic expressions into Indonesian in Harry Potter and The Cursed Child based on Nababan et al.'s (2012) TAQ model, and concluded that the overall average quality score of the translation of English idioms was 2.8, indicating good quality. They also found that most translations were accurate, acceptable, and easily readable to the target readers. 

The findings are also in line with those of Nugroho et al. (2017) who assessed the Indonesian translation of the passive voice in George Orwell’s 1984 and concluded that the translation enjoyed a high level of quality, i.e. 61.43% of the data was accurate, 69.52% was acceptable, and 76.19% was readable, resulting in an average score of 2.66 for the translation quality. The consistency of the findings of this study with the others might be due to the similarity of text type (literary prose and novel), research design, and in some cases, the scope (idiomatic expressions) used in such studies.

On the other hand, the research findings disconfirmed those of Yasin et al. (2018) who used Nababan et al.’s (2012) framework to assess the quality of the English translation of the novel ‘The Rainbow Troops’ and found that the translation quality of this novel was less qualified since its accuracy and acceptability were both low and readability was medium. Since accuracy has a major effect in determining the quality of the translation compared to acceptability and readability, they concluded that the translation is less qualified. The most possible reason for this inconsistency is the varied scopes of the studies. 

Regarding acceptability, the results are also consistent with those of Azti et al. (2019) who analyzed the novel After You for its acceptability and proved that the translation is acceptable for the reason that the translator’s and editor’s translation and editing techniques had a positive impact on the translation’s acceptability before implementation. The study findings also confirm those of Putri et al. (2022) who analyzed the quality of the translation on the Medan City Tourism webpages using Nababan et al.’s (2012) TQA scale and showed that the translation quality of the webpages was generally accurate, quite acceptable, and quite readable. 

6. Conclusion

To sum up, it can be argued that various factors, such as accuracy, acceptability, and readability determine a ‘quality’ translation. The first factor is text-based (the accuracy of the translation is judged based on textual features), while the latter two factors are reader-based (the translation is deemed acceptable and readable from the perspective of the target audience). It is believed that accuracy greatly influences acceptability and readability, hence quality predominantly depends on accuracy. In this research, the short novel Heart of Darkness translation was found to be highly accurate (around 77%) in terms of culture-specific idiomatic expressions. As a result, the translation is evaluated as accurate, acceptable, and readable. This will guide Persian readers interested in reading a Persian version of this short novel to opt for Saleh Hosseini’s translation with greater confidence and derive pleasure from reading a text that is highly accurate, acceptable, and readable, at least in terms of culture-specific aspects such as idioms, expressions, and proverbs. In conclusion, it is concluded that Nababan et al.’s (2012) threefold criteria for evaluating translation quality offer a dependable analytical framework for scrutinizing literary translations, and with further research, it may be extended to assess other types of texts. 

Regarding the applicability of the findings, they are expected to fill the theoretical gap in the literature regarding the quality of the Persian translation of idiomatic expressions in the short novel Heart of Darkness by Saleh Hosseini. Practically, the findings are expected to provide translators, translation trainees, and translation trainers with useful information about the difficulties they might face in rendering and teaching idiomatic expressions, phrasal verbs, collocations, and proverbs and find new and creative ways to translate these kinds of terms and expressions.