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Translation of News Headlines

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 Translation of News Headlines

Firas Ahmed Al-Hamadani – College of Law, Al-Mustansiriyah University

Introduction

Newspapers were created to spread news about various aspects of life:

politics, sports, arts, education, industry, etc. Being the main tool to attract
readers to any news piece, headlines assume special importance. This special
importance resulted in special structure and characteristics. Jaki (2014: 35)
states that structure and style of news headlines differ not only from that of the
titles of other genres but also from the rest of the news article itself.

Due to the novel technique and style used in English news headlines, most
translators face several problems when attempting to translate them. One
reason for this is the difficulty of understanding them in the first place.

This research paper aims at understanding the „unusual‟ linguistic

characteristics of English news headlines, which make them a tough challenge
for most translators across the world.

The paper consists of three sections. The first section gives various definitions
of a news headline. The second section explains what sort of a language is
used in the structure of news headlines, it is divided into four sections:
grammar, vocabulary, idioms, and punctuation. Finally, the third section is
dedicated to show us examples of the accurate translation of news headlines
in light of the aforementioned linguistic features.

Key words: headline, translation, vocabulary, idioms, punctuation

Page 1 of 16
1. Definitions of a Headline

According to Oxford Wordpower Dictionary, a headline is “the title of a

newspaper article printed in large letters above the story.”(2010: 372).

Swan defines headlines as “the short titles above news reports”. He states that
due to their unique language and style, English headlines are often found to
be puzzling and “difficult to understand” (2005:211).

Bazza believes that news headlines are considered to be of high importance.

The reason behind this lies in the fact that a headline contains the main
information about an article; hence, catching the reader‟s attention and
determining whether the article is worth reading or not. Headlines‟ writing,
thus, contributes in one way or another to determining the successfulness of
news articles, newspapers, and magazines all around the world.(2012:3)

Furthermore, according to Dor, a headline is what creates a sort of

communication between the reader and the meaning of the text. Therefore,
participating in the comprehension of the text by the reader, which is another
factor of a headline‟s role or importance. (2003:720).

The following sections will show the special characteristics of English news
headlines such as the nature of the language, grammar, vocabulary, and
punctuation.

Page 2 of 16
2. Language of English News Headlines

Newspaper writing is rarely a representation of common English. Prásková

states that headlines in newspapers, in particular, use different grammar
rules to everyday English. This is because the main purpose of headlines is to
convey an idea by using as few short words as possible. The reason for such
brevity is the limited space provided for headlines in newspaper (2009:10).

“Headlines also have a special register. We can notice the difference in

language when talking about economics and when talking about football.
Morley (1998:43) as cited in (Mozūraitytė, 2015:15) points out that there is
also a difference in language when we write formally or informally, technically
or non-technically, emotionally or neutrally. He adds that often the technical
register is associated with formal register and emotional language with the
colloquial.”

Furthermore, the language of headlines is also known as „block language‟.

According to Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, block language is “a type
of structure different from normal clause or sentence structure, but often
conveying a complete message.” (1998:49)

The structures written in block language are often abbreviated strings of noun
phrases. Functional words such as auxiliaries and articles are usually deleted
when using block language (e.g. Tanks met by rain of stones). (Ibid).

2.1- Grammar of English News Headlines

Due to the unfamiliar style and the violation of many grammatical rules,
English news headlines may seem very odd and unacceptable to many
readers at first glance. Mozūraitytė states that in order to catch the reader‟s
attention and save space, journalists tend to use unusual characteristics and
grammar when writing headlines. This abnormality of style, however, may
cause a sort of ambiguity or difficulty in understanding the headline. (2015:17).

Those special grammatical features will be clarified in the following rules and
examples taken from Swan(2005:211-12):

a. Headlines are not always complete sentences. Many headlines consist

of noun phrases with no verb.

Page 3 of 16
MORE WAGE CUTS
HOLIDAY HOTEL DEATH

b. Headlines often contain strings of three, four or more nouns; nouns

earlier in the string modify those that follow.

FURNITURE FACTORY PAY CUT ROW

Headlines like these can be difficult to understand. It sometimes helps to read

them backwards, FURNITURE FACTORY PAY CUT ROW refers to a ROW
(disagreement) about a CUT (reduction) in PAY at a FACTORY that makes
FURNITURE.

MORE POWER CUTS (There are/will be more power cuts)

TERROR ALERT IN CAPITAL (There is/was a terror alert in the capital)

c. Headlines often leave out articles and the verb be.

Indefinite articles (a, an) and the definite article (the) are omitted in headlines
in order to save space.

STRONG EARTHQUACK ROCKS EAST INDIA

SHAKESPEARE PLAY IMMORAL SAYS HEADMASTER

Saxena (2016) states that: “headlines are skeletonised sentences. You do not
use the verbs is/are and their past tense forms was/were. The reason for this
is simple. These verbs take away space without adding any new
meaning.”E.g.
DELHI-GURGAON EXPRESSWAY READY

d. In headlines, simple tenses are often used instead of progressive or

perfect forms. The simple present is used for both present and past
events.

BLIND GIRL CLIMBS EVEREST (= ... has climbed ...)

STUDENTS FIGHT FOR COURSE CHANGES (= ... are fighting ...

The present progressive is used to talk about changes. Be is usually

dropped.

Page 4 of 16
BRITAIN GETTING WARMER, SAY SCIENTISTS (=Earth is getting warmer.)

TRADE FIGURES IMPROVING (=Trade figures are improving.)

According to Williams, “the present tense is quick and current, and helps
emphasize the action happening, rather than its completion”.

E.g., LION ESCAPES ZOO

Furthermore, if perfect tenses can be used to show the outcomes of an action

or to expresses the completion of an action. while the present continuous may
be used to refer to changing events. But those tenses are usually expressed
by the use of participles only (Williams, 2013).

e. Many headline words are used as both nouns and verbs, and nouns
are often used to modify other nouns. So it is not always easy to work
out the structure of a sentence. Compare:

US CUTS AID TO THIRD WORLD (= The US reduces its help ... CUTS is a
verb, AID is a noun.)

AID CUTS ROW (= There has been a disagreement about the reduction in
aid. AID and CUTS are both nouns.)

CUTS AID REBELS(= The reduction is helping the revolutionaries, CUTS is

a noun, AID is a verb.)

f. Headlines often use infinitives to refer to the future.

PM TO VISIT AUSTRALIA (=The PM is going to visit Australia)

For is also used to refer to future movements or plans.

TROOPS FOR GLASGOW? (= Are soldiers going to be sent to Glasgow?)

Page 5 of 16
g. Auxiliary verbs are usually dropped from passive structures.

MURDER HUNT: MAN HELD (= ... a man is being held by police.)

SIX KILLED IN EXPLOSION(= Six people have been killed ...)

Note that forms like HELD, ATTACKED are usually past participles with
passive meanings, not past tenses (which are rare in headlines). Examples:
AID ROW PRESIDENT ATTACKED (= ... the President has been attacked.)
AID ROW: PRESIDENT ATTACKS CRITICS (= ... the President has attacked
her critics.)

h. ‘As’ and ‘in’ are often used instead of longer connecting expressions.

HOSPITAL BOSS AXED AS PATIENT DIE (= ... because patients die.)

FOOTBALL MANAGER IN CAR CRASH

As it can be seen from the aforementioned features, “the grammar rules for
newspaper headlines can lead to ambiguous headlines, as many words are
implied and not written. You may also see different vocabulary in headlines,
with less common, but concise, verbs, such as bid, vow and spark. There are
many additional style issues that certain newspapers use, for instance the
capitalisation of every word, or joining conjunctions with commas instead of
conjunctions”(Williams, 2013).

Examining those features carefully, in addition to ample knowledge of certain

lexical terms, will definitely lead to a better understanding of English news
headlines and therefore to a relatively accurate translation of them.

2.2. Vocabulary of English News Headlines

Mozūraitytė describes the vocabulary of English news headlines as “unusual,

sensational and short”. In other words, journalists tend to choose unfamiliar,
emotional, and eye-catching words so that people will be interested in reading
the article or buying the newspaper. Brevity is required so that the headlines
“can be produced giant sized on the page” hence succeeding in both drawing
the reader‟s attention and in saving place (2015:14).

According to Swan, there are some words used for brevity in headlines writing
which are unfamiliar in common English (e.g. curb, meaning „restrict‟ or

Page 6 of 16
 „restriction‟), while others are employed in exceptional ways (e.g. bid, meaning
„attempt‟). Moreover, journalists may tend to use specific words only because
they are more effective and strong (e.g. the word„blaze‟, meaning „huge fire‟, is
usually employed in headlines to refer to any fire). (2005:212)

Another observation made by Morley (1998:35) as cited in

Mozūraitytė(2015:15) suggests that there is certain vocabulary specifically
employed in newspaper headlines to achieve particular aims,such as“Hospital
rap; Killer bug, Death probe, Fire-bomb riddle, Poison peril, Corpse
horror...Etc.”

The following table contains a list of common headline vocabulary taken from
Swan (2005:212-21):

word Meaning Example

Alert Alarm, warning FLOOD ALERT ON EAST COAST

Blast Explosion; criticise violently BLAST AT PALACE

PM BLASTS CRITICS
Charge Accusation (by police) THREE MEN HELD ON BOMB CHARGE

Deadlock Disagreement that cannot DEADLOCK IN PEACE TALKS

be solved
Flare Begin violently RIOTS FLARE IN ULSTER

Gag Censor(ship), prevent(ion) AFRICAN PRESIDENT ACTS TO GAG

from speaking PRESS
Hitch Problem that causes delay LAST-MINUTE HITCH DELAYS SATELLITE
LAUNCH

Key Important, vital KEY WITNESS VANISHES

Life Imprisonment „for life‟ LIFE FOR AXE MURDERER

Mar Spoil CROWD VIOLENCE MARS CUP FINAL

Nail Force somebody to admit MP NAILS MINISTER ON PIT CLOSURE

the truth PLANS
Oust Drive out, replace MODERATES OUSTED IN UNION
ELECTIONS
Pensioner old age pensioner; anybody PENSIONER SKIS DOWN MONT BLANC
over 65
Quake Earthquake HOUSES DAMAGED IN WELSH QUAKE

Page 7 of 16
Rap Criticise DOCTORS RAP NEW MINISTRY PLANS

2.3. Idioms in English News Headlines

Idioms are frequently used in newspapers headlines. One reason for this is the
attraction idioms may impose on people and thus luring them into reading the
article. Furthermore, idioms can convey an idea by using only a few words
which is very convenientfor the limited space provided for headlines.

Misapprehension of idioms will cause ambiguity and misinterpretation of

meaning; thus, a good translator must be knowledgable enough of these
special expressions. He/she shall also be keen enough to find alternative
expressions to use in the target language. As literal translation of English
idioms may not make any sense in other languages.

The following table contains examples of idioms usedin news headlines with
their explanations accoridng to (O‟Dell and McCarthy, 2010:16):

Headline Explanation
DELIVERY DELAYS PART AND a necessary part of an event or
PARCEL OF POST OFFICE experience which cannot be avoided.
PROBLEMS (The Post Office delivers letters and
parceis.)
Recent delays in the postal service are
symptoms of wider problems, a
government report claims.
FIREWORKS FUND BURNING A If you have money burning a hole in
HOLE IN THE POCKET OF CITY your pocket, you want to spend it as
COUNCIL. soon as possible. (Fireworks burn,
and if one burnt in your pocket. it
The city council today voted to spend would make a hole!)
£100,000 on a massive public
fireworks display.
OPTICIANS FAIL TO SEE EYE TO If two people do not see eye to eye,
EYE they disagree with cach other.
(Opticians care for people's eyes and
The National Association of British help them see better.)
Opticians (NABO) today disagreed
about a new set of standards for the
industry.

Page 8 of 16
THEATRE MANAGERS FINALLY GET Organise themselves so that they do
THEIR ACT TOGETHER things efficiently (informal). (Actors act
in a theatre, and performers have an
The managers of the Cleo Theatre act which they perform.)
have come up with a rescue package
to save the theatre.
AGRICULTURAL REFORM POLICY Delay making a decision when they
FARMERS SIT ON THE FENCE have to choose between two different
options in a dispute. (Farms often
The Farmers‟ Union has stated that it have fences which separate the
remains neutral over the latest plans fields.)
for reform.
CHESS COMPUTER BEATEN BY Have to work on a plan from the
HUMAN DESIGNERS ARE BACK TO beginning again because a previous
SQUARE ONE attempt failed and the progress made
was wasted. (A chess board has 64
Software engineers now have to squares on it.)
rethink the design of the Redray
sofrware that failed to work as
planned.

2.4. Punctuation in English News Headlines

It‟s a known fact that one cannot produce a correct sentence without
employing a punctuation mark. This definitely applies on headlines as well.
Punctuation marks are especially important in headlines writing because they
contribute in achieving both clarity and concision (Saxena, 2013).

Here is the some of the most common punctuation marks used in headlines
and the meanings behind them:

2.4.1Colon

Williams (2012) states that verbs such as “say, comment, tell, argue,
announce, and shout) are usually omitted and replaced by a colon or a hyphen
with the subject followed by “on”. For example:

BUSH ON IRAQI INVASION: “THIS AGGRESSION WILL NOT STAND.”

Page 9 of 16
Furthermore, a colon is also used to separate the subject of a headline from
what is said about it (Swan, 2005:212).

MOTORWAY CRASH: DEATH TOLL RISES

2.4.2 Comma

According to Gibson, the comma can be employed in two exceptional ways

other than its known use. One of which is using it to mean the word “and”, the
other, although less common, is the use of a comma to mean the word “but”.
For example:

MANMOHAN, SONIA TO VISIT MUZZAFFARNAGAR

“A comma is also very useful in separating two news points in the headline.”
(Saxena,2013)
CONGRESS FAVOURS EARLY POLLS, BJP AGAINST IT

“Similarly, the hyphen (-) is used to replace conjunctions, or some joining

verbs, to join clauses” (Williams, 2013).

POLICE ARREST SERIAL KILLER – CLOSE CASE ON ABDUCTIONS

2.4.3 Semi-colon

Semi-colons are often used to separate two clauses (Saxena, 2013)

SHINDE INDUCTED AS HOME MINISTER; TEWARI GETS CABINET RANK

LINCOLN: WAR INEVITABLE; VICTORY ESSENTIAL

“The semicolon (above) is used to separate two thoughts of equal weight.”

(Gibson)

2.4.4 Quotation marks

Page 10 of 16
Quotation marks („...‟) are used to convey the words exactly as they were said
by someone, they also indicate that “the report does not necessarily claim that
they are true.” (Swan, 2005:212)

CRASH DRIVER “HAD BEEN DRINKING”

2.4.5 Question marks

A question mark (?) is usually employed to indicate the uncertainity of

something. (Swan, 2005:212)

CRISIS OVER BY SEPTEMBER?

3. Translation of Selected News Headlines

According to Al-Falahi, translators must adopt specific methods to achieve an

accurate translation of headlines. They should take three matters into account,
which are “length, vocabulary used, and structure”. Moreover, Al-Falahi
believes that “The translation of the headlines is an art with a great level of
difficulty and accuracy. It requires extensive knowledge of the target language
in order to achieve larger degree of preciseness and credibility.” (2017:18).

Furthermore, it‟s immensly important to read the whole piece of news before
attempting to translate the headline. As Arabic headlines usually requiremore
details than the concise headlines found in English, given the nature of the two
languages.

The following headlines,taken from the BBC News website, show the
abovementioned charactersitics and their employment in understanding and
translating the headlines in an acceptable way:

French mayor sorry for Ikea April Fool

"‫عمدة بلدة فرنسٌة تعتذر عن "نكتة أبرٌل‬

Parents find daughter after 24-year search

‫ عاما‬42 ‫عائلة صٌنٌة تعثر على ابنتها المفقودة بعد‬

Page 11 of 16
*the use of the simple present tense and the neglection of auxiliaries are
evident in the preceding two examples.

Russia: UK is „playing with fire‟

‫ برٌطانٌا "تلعب بالنار" فً قضٌة الجاسوس سكرٌبال‬:‫روسٌا‬

*the auxiliary “is” is omitted in the translation as it has no equivalent in Arabic.

In addition, it can be noticed that the Arabic translation of the preceding
headline contains more information than the English one. For it would be
inadequate to translate it literally as the following:

"‫ برٌطانٌا "تلعب بالنار‬:‫روسٌا‬

Surely the translator is free to manipulate the headline as long as he/she

sticks to the accuracy of the text.

Salman Khan: Bollywood superstar jailed for poaching

‫السجن للممثل الهندي سلمان خان لصٌد ظبً نادر‬

Park Geun-hye: South Korea's ex-leader jailed for 24 years for corruption

‫ عاما لرئٌسة كورٌا الجنوبٌة السابقة فً قضٌة فساد‬42 ‫السجن‬

*the colon in the preceding two headlines is used to “to separate the subject of
a headline from what is said about it” as stated by Swan (2005:212). While it is
used to replace verbs such as “say, comment or argue” in the following
example:

US: ISIS is „rebuilding‟

"‫ داعش فً "تجدد‬:‫الوالٌات المتحدة‬

A keen translator should be aware of the different uses of punctuation marks

in order to translate them correctly.

Furthermore, as it was mentioned above, the past tense is rarely used in

headlines. In the previous example, the word “jailed” is a past particle and it‟s
translated into a noun in Arabic “‫ ”السجن‬and not into the past tense as most
headlines should be translated into the present tense.

Student loan repayment threshold rises

‫ارتفاع عتبة تسدٌد قروض الطلبة‬

Page 12 of 16
*such structures, consisting of a string of nouns, may be difficult to grasp at
first glance. Therefore, it is preferable to read the headline backwards when
attempting to translate it into Arabic. This little trick can make the task much
easier for translators.

Meredith Kercher's family 'back to square one'

‫عائلة مرٌدث كرٌتشر تعود للمربع االول‬

*Luckily, the idiom used here can be translated literally since it has the same
equivalent meaning, which is “going back to the very beginning”, in the Arabic
language.

However, this will not always be the case. Most English idioms do not have an
equivalent literal meaning in Arabic. Thus, it's recommended to find the closest
expression possible to convey the meaning of the idiom and to avoid literal
translation by all means as illustrated in the following example:

Government should 'get its act together' over nursing shortage

‫على الحكومة ان تنظم امورها بخصوص ازمة النقص فً الممرضٌن‬

Page 13 of 16
 Conclusion

As the research has demonstrated, news headlines are short, concise, and
eye-catching titles printed above news reports. They have very unique
linguistic features that most translators find difficult to tranlate. The paper
explains those features with examples in a comprehensive and simple way;
starting with the brief and straightforward style, the special use of grammar,
the unusual vocabulary and enriching idioms up to the punctuation marks that
help construct meaning to a certain level. The paper presents some
techniques that help comprehending headlines; hence, giving the accurate
translation for them. Brevity is an important factor for a headline; thus, it must
be considered when translating the headline as well. The present tense is the
prevailing tense used in headlines while the past tense is rarely used and is
avoided when translating. Reading a headline that consists of a series of
nouns backwards when attempting to translate it can make it much easier to
translate. Furthermore, literal translation is an inappropriate method of
translating headlines; hence, it is avoided. Idioms and punctuation marks can
affect the translation crucially; therefore, they‟re treated with caution. A keen
translator must be aware of these features in order to translate them correctly
from English into Arabic and vice versa.

Page 14 of 16
 References

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Translating Newspaper Headlines from English into Arabic. Master
Thesis. Amman: Middle East University.

Bazza, Tarek. (2012).Headline Translation from English into Arabic: A

Comparative Study. Master Thesis. Morocco: AbdelmalekEssadi
University.

Chalker, Sylvia and Edmund Weiner. (1998). The Oxford dictionary of English
Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dor, Daniel. (2003). “On newspaper headlines as relevance optimizers”.

Journal of Pragmatics 35. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University. (695–721).

Gibson, Malcolm. (2019). “Writing Effective Headlines”. No date.

http://web.ku.edu/~edit/heads.htmlAccessed on February12.

McCarthy, Michael and Felicity O‟Dell. (2010). English Idioms in use

(Advanced). Cambridge: Cambridge university press.

Mozuraityte, Renata. (2015).Newspaper Style: Stylistic Features of the

Headlines. Bachelor Thesis. Siauliai: Siauliai University.

Prásková, Eva. (2009).Grammar in Newspaper Headlines. Bachelor Thesis.

Pardubice: University of Pardubice.

Saxena, Sunil. “How to use punctuation marks in headlines”. October 11,

2013. www.easymedia.in/use-punctuation-marks-headlines
Accessed on February 12, 2019.

---.“5 tested rules to follow when writing headlines”. January 4, 2016.

www.easymedia.in/5-tested-rules-to-follow-when-writing-headlines
Accessed on February12, 2019.

Swan, Michael. (2005).Practical English Usage. Third Edition. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.
Tuncer, Hulya. Newspaper Headlines in EFL Classes: Development of
Reading and Writing Skills. The Reading Matrix: An International
Online Journal, Volume 19, Number 2, September 2019.

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 Williams, Phil. “8 grammar rules for writing newspaper headlines”. November
19, 2013. www.englishlessonsbrighton.co.uk/8-grammar-rules-
writing-newspaper-headlines Accessed on February 12, 2019.

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