The Translation of Lexis

Difficulties in translating
 The chief difficulties in translating are lexical, not
grammatical-i.e.

 Words
 collocations (run out of time , save time, go missing, go bald, etc…)
 fixed phrases(To get ready for, To make friends with, Out of breath)
 Idioms (Bite off more than you can chew, Cry over spilt milk, Hit the nail on the head)
Two Kinds of word difficulties

 1- you do not understand them

 2- find them hard to translate

Common nouns have 4 types of meaning
 1- physical or material
 2- figurative
 3- technical
 4- colloquial
Other problems
 A- the word may have an archaic or regional sense

 B- may be used ironically

 E.g. George is always so talkative.
Word Meaning
 Context free

 Determined by collocation
( In compound noun, idioms)
Translating proper names
 Look up all proper names.
1- geographical terms
2- Check the existence of any place name used in a work of a
fiction
3- do not take sides on any political disputes about place –names
4- be careful about names of medical texts
5- check the spelling of all proper names