The Study of Idiom Translation in Fiction from English into Thai

Authors: Chinchira Bunchutrakun

Abstract:

The purposes of the study are to investigate the problems that the translators encountered when translating English idioms into Thai and study the strategies they applied in solving the problems. The original English version and the Thai translated version of each of two works of fiction were purposively selected for the study. The first was Mr. Maybe, written by Jane Green and translated by Montharat Songphao. The second was The Trials of Tiffany Trott, written by Isabel Wolff and translated by Jitraporn Notoda. Thirty idioms of two translated works of fiction were, then, analyzed. Questionnaires and interviews with the translators of each novel were conducted to obtain the best possible information.

The results indicated that the only type of problem that occurred was cultural problems, and these were solved differently by the two translators

Keywords: Translation, idiom translation, fiction translation, problem-solution strategies.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1337377

References:

[1] Larson, Mildred L. 1984. Meaning-based Translation: A Guide to Cross-Language Equivalence. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
[2] Green, Jane. 1999. Mr Maybe. London: Penguin Books.
[3] Songpao, Montharat. 2004. Mr Maybe KhonNai Di Phu Chai Khong Chan. 3rd ed. Bangkok: Matichon Publishing House. translated from Green, Jane. 1999. Mr Maybe. London: Penguin Books. (in Thai)
[4] Wolff, Isabel. 1998. The Trials of Tiffany Trott. Glasgow: Harper Collins Publishers.
[5] Notoda, Jitraporn. 2004. Tiffany Trott Date Yang RaiHai Hay Sot. Bangkok: Matichon Publishing House. translated from Wolff, Isabel. 1998. The Trials of Tiffany Trott. Glasgow: Harper Collins Publishers. (in Thai)
[6] Supon, Duangta. 1998. Theory and Technique in Translation. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University. (in Thai)