Difficulties that M.A.

Students Encounter in Translating

Political Expressions from His Majesty King Abdullah's Our
Last Best Chance
By Ishraq Al Zu'bi
Supervisor: Professor Abdullah Shunnaq
Abstract
The present study aimed at investigating difficulties that M.A. students
encounter in translating terms and expressions from King Abdullah's Our
Last Best Chance.
To achieve this goal, the researcher raised the following three questions:
1. What difficulties does the translator face when translating political
terms and expressions into Arabic?
2. What type of equivalence does he/ she opt for when rendering such
terms?
3. What translation strategies are opted for to render these terms into
Arabic?
To answer the above questions, this study used 30 excerpts selected from
Our Last Best Chance, which included specific political expressions/ terms.The
researcher designed a translation test given to 40 M.A. students,
enrolled in the M.A. programs of Translation and the English language in
two Jordanian universities (Yarmouk and Middle East University) during
the second semester 2011/2012, to translate them.
The findings of the study showed that most translations are inadequate as
the students faced difficulties while translating .These difficulties were
mostly due to their unfamiliarity with political expressions/ terms,
producing improper equivalence in the T.L; and resorting to literal
translation.
Furthermore, the study recommended that more comprehensive studies
to be executed on translating political discourse to enrich the translation
field.