Investigating Saudi Student Translators’ Difficulties and Strategies in Translating English Culture-bound and Idiomatic Expressions: A Quantitative Study

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Background
Translation, in general, and that of idioms in particular, requires competent knowledge of how both the source language (hereinafter, SL) and target language (hereinafter, TL) are structured.To produce an efficient meaningful translation, it is not enough for someone to only possess linguistic knowledge of both the SL and the TL.On the ground, the translation setting plays a major role in the translation of any text.Munday (2016) stated that this role incorporates the audience, the purpose, and the translator, all of which impact the translation process of the ST and the strategy that should be adopted during translation (p.311).
Various researchers (e.g., Alharbi, 2013;Balfaqeeh, 2009) have asserted that knowledge of idioms is crucial since they are key features of successful communication in second language (L2).This is because idioms are culturally oriented and require different translation methods that aim to enrich L2 learners' pragmatic skills.However, researchers have argued that idiomatic translation is not an easy task and that translators should follow certain procedures.For instance, Baker (1992) asserted that there are two main difficulties involved in idiomatic translation.First, the TL may not have an idiomatic equivalent.All languages have idioms, but finding equivalents in both meaning and form that match the idiom in the SL is not easily retrieved in the target language.Therefore, a lack of idiomatic equivalence can be a source of difficulty in the TL.Idioms and cultural expressions contain culture-specific items that may in some cases be difficult to translate.Also, Strakšiene (2009) claimed that one of the translator's main problems when translating idioms is this lack of equivalence in the idiomatic level.Additionally, Baker (1992) added that a second difficulty surrounding idiomatic translation is the conventional use of idiomatic expressions.This is mainly a matter of spoken discourse and style, but languages, such as Arabic and Chinese, draw some sharp distinction between written and spoken discourse in terms of the use of idioms, which tends to avoid using idioms in written text mode because such idioms are associated with a high degree of informality.These differences between language system and language use might be a source of trouble for most translators (p.84).
In various Saudi universities, programs in translation studies are often offered.Many Saudi university students majoring in English language and/or translation programs are often required to complete a variety of translation courses that are sometimes cognitively demanding as students process different text types and are heavily engaged in classroom tasks involving translation of idiomatic expressions from English into Arabic.In our background survey of various translation courses in our study setting, we have come to hear many teachers' concerns over the quality of their students' written translation of English idioms and expressions; often resulting in some poor translated texts.This is the rationale behind our decision to inspect how Saudi university students process a translation test involving some selected culture-bound and idiomatic expressions in English and examine what translation problems and strategies were to be reported.It was our hope that this present study would offer some practical contribution to the research domain of idiomatic processing and translation.

Review of Relevant Literature
Several studies have investigated the difficulties students often encounter when translating idioms and culture-bound expressions from English into Arabic and vice versa (e.g., Alharbi, 2013;Al-Shawi and Mahadi, 2012;Al-Shorman & Kamal, 2022;Balfaqeeh, 2009;Metwally, 2022).For instance, Al-Shawi and Mahadi (2012) demonstrated how language differences (English versus Arabic) might have been the cause behind students' translation difficulties in translation tasks, especially in relation to social, religious, and cultural differences.In another context, Alharbi (2013) investigated the use of English idioms and culture-bound expressions in a foreign language (FL) translation classroom.Focusing on L2 learners, and using a random sample of English idioms, the researcher translated these idioms from English into Arabic, via utilizing different methods of translation.Alharbi presented her findings as a multilayered method of teaching idioms in some cultural contexts that were demonstrated in the FL translation classroom.Overall, the study demonstrated how FL translation classrooms should involve more instructional guidance to student translators than just merely individual translation tasks.

Difficulties of Processing and Translating Idioms and Culture-bound Expressions
In her book In Other Words, Baker (1992) stated that idioms are like frozen language patterns: they do not give space and formal variation and sometimes convey meanings that are hard to discern from their individual components.She argued that the ability of a person to use fixed expressions in a foreign language is not comparable to that of a native speaker.She also pointed out that most translators working in a foreign language context cannot hope to achieve the same sensitivity as native speakers of the same language.
In his study of idiomatic translation, Ghazala (2003) stated that most idioms are informal and culture-specific.He suggested that in order to translate idioms properly from SL into TL, there should be some essential criteria to follow.This includes, for instance, checking the standard and then the informal TL equivalent, finding the TL name, animal, or object that possesses identical connotations with the name, animal, or object that exists in the SL idioms, and so forth.He emphasized that, despite the traditional understanding of an idiom as a metaphorical unit, some authors sometimes ascribe items, such as jargon, common phrases, and terms that do not present metaphorical issues to the category of "idiom" (p.206).Ghazala (2003: 24) classified idioms into five main types: (1) full and pure idioms, (2) semi-idioms, (3) proverbs, popular and semi-proverbial expressions, (4) catchphrases, and (5) popular expressions.
Over the years, translation researchers have paid considerable attention to problems related to the process of idiomatic translation.For example, Al-Azzam, Al-Ahaydib, and Al-Huquily (2015), and Dweik and Suleiman (2013) have associated translation challenges to cultural expressions.In fact, problems inherited in the translation process of idioms and culture-bound expressions (between Arabic and English) are somehow related to figurative language translation, which is often recognized as one of the most prominent problems in text translation.Teilanyo (2007), for example, perceives cultural expressions as the most consequential for the overall source of translation difficulties, arguing that idioms can differ in frequency and formality between one language and another.Such problems have led some researchers (e.g., Awwad, 1990, Ghazala, 2006;Gläser,1984) to focus on the challenges of and solutions to idiomatic translation.Hence, researchers have repeatedly evaluated and searched for new effective procedures to offer solutions to idiomatic translation of Arabic in relation to other languages (particularly English) in different translation domains and contexts.In their translation models, Baker (1992) and Newmark (1998) proposed several similar strategies and procedures for translating idioms.In particular, Newmark (1998) presented three main procedures of translating idioms, as follows: (1) Finding another metaphor in the TL (2) Reducing the sense (which results in the loss of the emotive coloring of the text) (3) Literal word-for-word translation Similarly, Baker (1992) discussed the translation of set expressions, and offered clear and systematic strategies to follow in translation tasks.Her strategies include: (1) Similar meaning and similar form (Total Equivalence): This strategy involves the use of the TL idioms that express approximately the same meaning as the SL idioms, as well as conveying the same lexical equivalents.For example, the expression "to fish in troubled waters" can be translated strategically as " ‫ﺍﻟﻌﻜﺮ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻤﺎء‬ ‫ﻓﻲ‬ ‫"ﺍﺻﻄﺎﺩ‬ (fishing in dirty water).
(2) Similar meaning, but different in form (Partial Equivalence): In the TL, it is often possible to find an idiom or a fixed expression with a meaning similar to that of the SL idiom or expression, but consists of different lexical elements.For example, "like father, like son" can be partially equivalent to ‫ﺍﻷﺳﺪ"‬ ‫ﺫﺍﻙ‬ ‫ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﺸﺒﻞ‬ ‫"ﻫﺬﺍ‬ (this cub is of that lion) in Arabic.
(3) Paraphrasing: This is by far the most common way of translating idioms when a match cannot be found in the TL, or when it seems inappropriate to use idiomatic language in the target text (TT) due to differences in the stylistic preferences of the SL and the TL.An example of this might be in "play ball" rendered as " ‫ﺃﻁﻊ‬ ‫ﺃﻭ‬ ‫ﻧﻔﺬ‬ ‫"ﺍﻟﺘﻌﻠﻴﻤﺎﺕ‬ (carry out or obey instructions).
(4) Omission: Here, some idioms can be omitted completely in the TT, as with single words.This may be because there are no close matches in the TL, either because the meaning cannot be paraphrased easily or for text stylistic constraints.
Elsewhere, Rakhieh, Al-Saidat, Alshammari, and Rabab'ah (2014) investigated how some English culture-bound color idioms were translated by Jordanian EFL learners.The researchers designed a Culture-Based Translation Test (CBTT) that consisted of 20 statements in English, and found that student translators' performance was low (as revealed by their scores) when translating English culture-bound color idioms.They speculated that this low performance was mainly due to several factors, namely: (1) students' lack of knowledge of English culture-bound color idioms, (2) the absence of equivalent expressions in Jordanian Arabic, and (3) the participants' selection of inappropriate translation methods.Likewise, Gaber (2005) offered numerous techniques for translating culture-bound expressions.These strategies included cultural equivalences, in which cultural expressions are converted into the TL culture-specific words.An example of this can be easily detected when translating "charity begins at home" into its Arabic equivalent ‫ﺑﺎﻟﻤﻌﺮﻭﻑ"‬ ‫ﺃﻭﻟﻰ‬ ‫"ﺍﻷﻗﺮﺑﻮﻥ‬ (relatives are the closest to be favored).Another effective strategy that Gaber (2005) suggests is the use of functional translation, which involves the translator using a TL word or phrase with the same ST function and features, as in the translation of "hungry bellies have no ears" into ‫ﻛﺎﻓﺮ"‬ ‫"ﺍﻟﺠﻮﻉ‬ (hunger is as an infidel).Graber's third important strategy involves the paraphrasing of idioms.This occurs when the translator describes the meaning of a word or expression in the SL, as in the idiom "A man can do no more than he can" into ‫ﻭﺳﻌﻬﺎ"‬ ‫ﺇﻻ‬ ‫ﻧﻔﺴﺎ‬ ‫ﷲ‬ ‫ﻳﻜﻠﻒ‬ ‫"ﻻ‬ (God does not burden any soul beyond its capacity).Noteworthy, glossing is an effective technique that involves additional information being inserted in a footnote to explain an idea such as translating ‫ﺍﻗﻴﺲ"‬ ‫ﺍﻣﺮﺉ‬ ‫ﻣﻦ‬ ‫"ﺃﻏﺰﻝ‬ into "flirtier than Imru' al-Qais", where the translator adds a footnote here to explain that Imru' al-Qais is an Arab poet known for his love poems.Finally, borrowing is another technique used by translators, in which the SL word becomes part of the TL, as shown in the previous proverb being translated into Imru' al-Qais in Arabic.
Generally, most previous studies (e.g., Al-Shawi and Mahadi, 2012;Balfaqeeh, 2009;Rakhieh, Al-Saidat, Alshammari, and Rabab'ah, 2014) have mainly focused on the examination and analysis of English-Arabic idiomatic translation.These studies have provided invaluable information regarding data-collection procedures used in idiomatic translation and the general classifications of various translation strategies.Al-Shawi and Mahadi (2012), for instance, examined problems associated with English idioms and the strategic choices translators resorted to in dealing with such difficulties concerning idiomatic translation from Arabic to English and vice versa.Extracting a handful of English idioms from different audio and video sources (e.g., television, radio programs, movies, and daily interactions) and written sources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, novels, and dictionaries), Al-Shawi and Mahadi analyzed the collected sources to inspect possible translation difficulties, and to suggest strategies aimed to help overcome those translation problems.In the end, the researchers concluded that there were mainly four idiomatic translation strategies: (1) using a parallel idiom in the TL that had the same meaning as that of the SL; (2) using similar meaning, but different in form, (3) paraphrasing the target idiom(s), and (4) using notes and consulting informants for help (probably by asking a person who teaches those idioms if a target idiom was not understood).
Similarly, Balfaqeeh (2009) explored translation strategies (i.e., domestication, and foreignization strategies), using in-depth interviews with six subjects to determine their acceptability from an Arab reader's point of view.The study results revealed how domestication translation strategies were more acceptable to Arab readers (who favored the use of Arabic equivalents to translate English idioms and culture-bound expressions) than other strategies.Also, literal translation and deletion strategies were slightly higher in Arab readers' preferences than other strategies.
In another study, Alrishan and Smadi (2015) investigated translation strategies used by Jordanian EFL university graduate students when translating English idioms into Arabic.With 90 MA Translation students being tasked to complete a translation test containing 16 idioms from different categories, the researchers found that the participants encountered several problems when processing and translating English idiomatic expressions into Arabic.These translation problems were: (1) unfamiliarity with expressions, and (2) inability to locate suitable Arabic equivalents to the English idioms.Furthermore, the students' translation strategies varied according to their linguistic competence and degree of familiarity with those culture-bound expressions used.
Recently, two other studies have explored the most effective strategies used in translating English culture-bound expressions into Arabic.The first was carried out by Metwally (2022) which investigated translation and idiomacity of some color-related expressions of comparison (i.e., similes), collocations and binomials.The researcher concluded that paraphrasing was the most significant strategy used when translating English color-related idioms into Arabic.In another context, Al-Shorman & Kamal, (2022) conducted a study on investigating the most used strategies by 25 Saudi and 25 Jordanian university male translation students in translating English idiomatic expressions into Arabic.Using a translation test that contained 50 idioms of different categories, the study found that the participants used certain shared strategies in translating idioms regardless of their awareness of their strategy use.
However, given the scarcity of studies looking into EFL student translators' difficulties and strategies reported in tasks involving translation of English idioms and culture-bound expressions, our study aimed to address this lack of research in the Saudi context.Hence, this study aimed to investigate the difficulties faced by Saudi female students majoring in English translation when translating idiomatic terms and culture-bound expressions in English.It aimed to analyze translation difficulties and determine the most common strategic processes that Saudi translators tended to use to overcome them.Specifically, this study adapted Baker's (1992) and Newmark's (1998) linguistic approach and strategies used in translating idioms.Specifically, our study aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) What major difficulties do Saudi EFL student translators encounter when translating idiomatic and culture-bound expressions from English to Arabic?
(2) What are the main problem-solving strategies that Saudi EFL student translators use and report when translating idiomatic and culture-bound expressions from English into Arabic?
The present study contributes to the field of translation by suggesting how language-specific elements (in this case idioms and culture-bound expressions) can be processed in translation tasks.Our study is significant in that it proposes the application of Newmark's (1998) and Baker's (1992) strategies to solve common difficulties aroused when translating English idioms.The analytical reading of STs with TTs enabled the researchers to follow Newmark's (1998) and Baker's (1992) models in identifying the strategic actions our students turned to in helping them solve their translation problems.This study can be a valuable source for Saudi female students majoring in translation studies, since it is one of the few studies seeking application of Newmark's (1998) and Baker's (1992) strategies in translation tasks of English idioms in Saudi university-level contexts.

Design
To achieve our study objectives, a quantitative approach in collecting and analyzing the data was adopted.This is to observe the types of difficulties that our female student translators encountered in their translation of English idioms and culture-bound expressions from English to Arabic, and to determine whether or not our student translators were successful in maintaining the ST features of English idioms and culture-bound expressions in their translation tasks.

Participants
Our study participants were 90 Saudi female students enrolled in levels 5 and 6 of their third year of the translation program at a Saudi university.The participants were considered novice translators, and were chosen randomly to take a translation test that was composed of 30 English idioms and culture-bound expressions.The choice to select participants from this level was deliberate, as they were assumed to have studied and covered all required courses given to beginner level students in translation.They had already studied idiomatic translation and were expected to be familiar with this type of translation.The study took place during the first semester of the 2019-2020 academic year.

Instruments
In this study, the instruments used to collect the required data were (1) a translation test (see Appendix A), and (2) a short questionnaire (see Appendices B and C).These two instruments were self-designed to capture our participants' reporting of the difficulties and problem-solving strategies they used when processing and translating idioms and culture-bound expressions from English into Arabic.

Translation Test
The translation test was designed by the researchers in order to ascertain the difficulties Saudi female students might have encountered when translating English idioms and culture-bound expressions, as well as the problem-solving strategies they used when dealing with these translation difficulties.Three faculty-member experts in translation validated the translation test (English to Arabic), revised some English idioms, and reworded some item statements of the target idioms.They provided valuable comments on the instrument development, including reducing the length of the test from the two-hour initial plan.The number of the test items was also reduced to 30, with items being selected from various sources (as seen in Table 2) to provide wider variations of English idioms commonly heard and used in different contexts, and to fulfill certain validity requirements of our study.Later, the translation test was piloted before it was administered to the study participants.Our study questionnaire was also validated by the same three translation experts who suggested some modifications and changes to avoid item ambiguity, as well as the rewording of some statements in the questionnaire.They also suggested that the questionnaire should be structurally divided into two parts: one using a Likert scale to give more statistically significant results, and another showing open-ended questions.Hence, the final version of the study questionnaire consisted of 14 questions, with 9 multiple-choice items and 4 open-ended questions, all divided in four sections: (1) an introduction indicating the overall purpose of our study, (2) demographic questions seeking participants' general background information, (3) a section consisting of 9 statements related to translation difficulties of idioms and knowledge of Newmark's (1998) and Baker's (1992) strategies, and finally (4) a section with 4 open-ended questions.The questionnaire was administered in L1 (Arabic) in order to avoid imposing any language burden on the participants when responding to the questionnaire.The participants were requested to provide their responses using the multiple-choice options ("AGREE", "DISAGREE", "PROBABLY"), and to answer some open-ended questions.Here, the participants were explicitly informed to check their selected responses which should honestly best reflect their own perceptions.

Procedures
First, a pilot study was carried out to verify the validity and reliability of our instruments.Here, data got collected from 20 Saudi female English majors who were randomly selected (from a different university) and were requested to translate the test idioms and complete the administered questionnaire.The piloting test served four overarching aims: (1) checking students' understanding of the test and questionnaire statements, (2) verifying the time needed to finish the translation test and the questionnaire, (3) identifying problems that participants might have experienced in completing both instruments, and (4) allowing students to provide their feedback on the test and questionnaire items in L1 at the end of the pilot study.With instructions being given in L1 to avoid possible confusion of what was required, the findings of our pilot study revealed no serious difficulties being encountered by the participants in responding to the study instruments within the one-hour time duration given.
With some necessary post-piloting modifications and changes being executed to maintain validity of the instruments, the final phase targeted the main data-collection procedures for our study.After obtaining permission from the university in October 2020, the researchers administered the translation test to 90 female student translators.This involved meeting the students and explaining the purpose of our study and the participants' roles in the data collection procedures.We first secured all ethical considerations of our study by explaining that the students' participation was voluntary, and that the participants' identities and private information were to be anonymous.We also reassured our participants that any data collected would remain confidential, and that their collected data were to be used for research purposes only.Afterwards, instructions for the translation test were given in L1 as follows: Please read the following sentences and translate only the underlined words into modern Arabic.Please note that you are NOT allowed to use dictionaries of any kind.You will only have 1 hour to complete this test.
After collecting all participants' translation tests, we administered the study questionnaire (in Arabic).

Data Analysis
In scoring the translation tests collected, the researchers adopted the same grading scale used by Salamah (2012) which assessed students' ability to choose the correct synonym or to paraphrase the underlined word or phrase correctly.Here, students' tests were graded out of 150 marks, with five marks allocated to each item.The scoring process used to assess and evaluate our participants' answers to the test was based on grading scales used in previous studies (e.g., Owaidah, 1991;Salamah, 2012) in which some criteria were adopted as follows: Table 3. Grading criteria for scoring the translation test Mark Mark Explanation 0 Given if a participant does not provide translation of the target idiom.
1 Given if a participant provides an incorrect translation of the target idiom.
2 Given if a participant provides a weak translation of the target idiom.
3 Given if a participant provides an average translation of the target idiom.

4
Given if a participant provides an appropriate translation of the target idiom.

5
Given if a participant provides an excellent translation of the target idiom.
Participants' answers to the translation test were also used to produce a classification of the difficulties they faced and their idiomatic translation strategies used.Each strategy was explained and ranked in a descending order (from the most common to the least common strategy).With examples given to elicit students' translation, the test data were analyzed using SPSS for statistical results.As for the questionnaire, the collected data were analyzed qualitatively using two main approaches: (1) exploring students' answers to the open-ended questions (which aimed to elicit student translators' different ways of responding to test idioms in general), and (2) inferring those main problems students encountered when translating the target idioms and culture-bound expressions in the test.

Results and Discussion
In answering the first research question (RQ1) ('What major difficulties do Saudi EFL student translators encounter when translating idiomatic and culture-bound expressions from English to Arabic?'), the results of the translation test revealed how our participants generally encountered difficulties when translating English idiomatic expressions into Arabic.Specifically, 61% of the participants struggled to use an appropriate Arabic equivalent for this specific idiomatic expression "feeling under the weather" (item 8), as was found to be one of the most challenging idioms that our student translators had to deal with in the test, due mainly to their inability to retrieve an equivalent expression in Arabic.This contrasted with the idioms "you cannot judge a book by its cover" (item 1), and "a piece of cake" (item 6) which revealed 95.6% of correct answers being scored.Interestingly, none of our students attempted to provide a total or partial equivalence for the target idiom "hit the nail on the head", while only five out of 90 managed to provide a partial equivalence for "let the cat out of the bag".Similarly, two students found a partial equivalence for "rain cats and dogs", while five students succeeded in finding an equivalent idiom in Arabic when translating "crying over spilled milk".
Also, one of the interesting results found is the inability of some student translators to locate suitable equivalents for some English idioms.While some students managed to extract a suitable equivalent for the expression "my car is second hand", 50% managed to paraphrase its meaning accurately and succinctly.However, all of the participants found a total equivalence for the idiomatic statement "take any route of your choice because all roads lead to Rome".Furthermore, the following sentences reveal some other examples of idiom-translation difficulties that some participants ran into in the translation test: (1) The thief was caught red-handed.‫ﺃﺣﻤﺮ‬ ‫ﻛﺮﺕ‬ (a received red-card) (2) When he started giving excuse for not completing the assignment in time, the teacher lost her temper.‫ﺻﺒﺮﻫﺎ‬ ‫ﻧﻔﺬ‬ (her patience ran out) Moreover, our results suggest that many students' mistranslations of some target idioms and culture-bound expressions were mainly due to either their misunderstanding or some inherited cultural gaps between English and Arabic.Such mistranslations can be categorized into three types: (1) an omission indicating students' skipping the problematic idioms altogether, (2) an addition of unnecessary changes to some idioms, resulting in mistranslations of the target idioms, and (3) literal translation of some idioms due to problems in comprehending some idioms intended for specific contexts.These findings are consistent with Badawi's (2008) study which found how Saudi EFL students resorted to literal translation and guessing strategies when struggled to comprehend some English idiomatic expressions.
Likewise, our participants were asked about the difficulties they confronted when translating the target idioms in the test.As shown in Table 4, the analysis of our questionnaire data revealed 25% of the 90 participants agreed that they ran into problems when translating English idioms, while 52% answered "Probably" to question 4 on the questionnaire.Most of our students' responses indicated how their poor comprehension of some target idioms inevitably led to some mistranslations, literal translations, or omissions of the idioms.This might suggest that the student translators were not confident enough about their answers, or probably faced serious problems when translating the target idioms.Baker (1992) mentioned that a student's linguistic ability to find a suitable equivalent, and lack of equivalence across languages might explain those difficulties students often encounter when translating idioms into the target language.Misunderstandings of the ST meaning can also lead to mistranslations of the target idioms.Also, some students' answers to idiom 7 in the test ("my car is second hand"), for instance, provide further support to Howwar's (2013) argument that idioms are culture-bound, and possess cultural associations that make them difficult to understand and translate in the TL.This is also consistent with Baker's (1992: 65) argument that "the main problems that idiomatic and fixed expressions pose in translation relate to two main areas: the ability to recognize and interpret an idiom correctly, and the difficulties in rendering various aspects of meaning that an idiom or a fixed expression conveys into the target language".
As for the second research question (RQ2) ('What are the main problem-solving strategies that Saudi EFL student translators use and report when translating idiomatic and culture-bound expressions from English into Arabic?'),our data analysis revealed variations in students' translation strategy-use.After examining the collected translations and counting the frequency of each strategy employed, most of the translation strategies used were paraphrasing, partial equivalence and omission.This might be due to students' inability to locate and retrieve the exact Arabic equivalent expressions of the English idioms (i.e., 28%, 21%).When responding to the questionnaire open-ended question ('In your opinion, how can you translate ambiguous or grammatically wrong idioms?'),many of our participants answered that they would rather translate the sentence but would rather skip the target idioms.Consequently, most of students' translations were incorrect since they expressed meanings not intended in the ST.As shown in Table 5 and Figure 1, our participants mostly used paraphrasing when translating English idioms into Arabic.Partial equivalence was the second most frequently used strategy, while omission as a strategic action came third.Exact English expressions (i.e., literal translation) and total equivalence were found to be student translators' least frequently used translation strategies.
Figure 1.Major problem-solving strategies reported As shown in Figure 1, paraphrasing was the strategic action most frequently used by participants, representing 28% of the total.Paraphrasing corresponds with Newmark's (1998) strategy of reducing the sense (which results in the loss of the emotive coloring of the text).Also, Baker (1992) notes that paraphrasing is regarded as the most common strategy used by students to translate SL idioms that do not possess a TL counterpart.Also, Callison-Burch (2007: 11) stated that paraphrases are "alternative ways of expressing the same content", and argued that many translators choose to paraphrase when engaged in processing text content because many of the statements used in the translation test contained TL equivalents.Although not all paraphrases were accurate translations in our study, paraphrasing was still found the most frequently used strategy since it certainly relies on translators' understanding the SL expressions and their ability to make them comprehensible in the TL.Instances of incorrect or weak paraphrases may not always be due to confusion about text meaning since our students might have grasped the target idioms but were unable to accurately render their meanings.
It appears that our participants used paraphrasing more often when they were not able to recall the total equivalent of the TL idioms.Some examples of students' translations can be seen in the following test extracts: (1) The thief was caught red-handed.‫ﻣﺘﻠﺒﺴﺎ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻠﺺ‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻘﺒﺾ‬ ‫ﺗﻢ‬ (the thief got arrested red-handed) (2) Waiting for the result of my medical tests, I was like a cat on a hot tin roof.ً ‫ﺟﺪﺍ‬ ‫ﻣﺘﻮﺗﺮ‬ (very nervous) Many of our participants translated these test items using paraphrasing.Instead of translating "red-handed" into the Arabic total equivalent ‫ﺍﻟﻤﺸﻬﻮﺩ"(‬ ‫)"ﺑﺎﻟﺠﺮﻡ‬ (criminally red-handed) they translated the English idiom into " ً ‫"ﻣﺘﻠﺒﺴﺎ‬ (red-handed) which indicates some paraphrasing of the target idiom.They also paraphrased the idiomatic expression "like a cat on hot tin roof" into " ً ‫ﺟﺪﺍ‬ ‫"ﻣﺘﻮﺗﺮ‬ (very nervous').
These findings are in line with Gaber's (2005) assertion that paraphrasing remains a frequent strategy used for translating culture-bound expressions.Also, our results provided further support of Al-Shawi and Mahadi's (2012) findings of the strategic paraphrasing being the most common strategy of translating English idioms.Furthermore, our results are consistent with those reported by Al-Assaf's (2019) which revealed how paraphrasing was seen a strategic process most frequently used by student translators.Similarly, paraphrasing was found the most significant strategy used when translating English color-related idioms into Arabic in Metwally's (2022) recent study (see Section 2).
Another commonly used strategy found in our study was partial equivalence, which accounted for 25% of the total number of students' translations.It was noted that our participants used the partial-equivalence strategy more frequently in some test items than others.This also corresponds with Newmark's (1998) strategy of finding another metaphor in the TL.The following are some examples of this strategic action: (1) When Sarah started laughing during the argument, it really added fuel to the fire.‫ﺑﻠﻪ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻄﻴﻦ‬ ‫ﺯﺍﺩ‬ (added little water to the mud).
(2) I read books once in a blue moon.‫ﺣﺴﻨﺔ‬ ‫ﺑﺎﻟﺴﻨﺔ‬ (barely once a year) Here, 57 participants used the partial-equivalence strategy to translate the target idiom into Arabic.This was found in Item 14: "It is only when pigs fly, she'll tidy up her room."Most of the students translated this idiomatic expression into the Arabic equivalent ‫ﻗﺮﻭﻧﻬﺎ"(‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺮﺓ‬ ‫ﺣﺠﺖ‬ ‫)"ﺇﺫﺍ‬ (If only a cow could have made it to pilgrimage on horns) as shown in Table 6.Omission represented the third major translation strategy most frequently used (20%) when translating the test idioms.This strategy is often used when the information conveyed is not particularly important, and when translating such information might create confusion to the reader.Baker (1992: 77) outlines the use of omission as follows: "omission is allowed only in some cases: First, when there is no close equivalent in the target language [and] secondly, when it is difficult to paraphrase, finally an idiom may be omitted for stylistic reasons".Our results showed students using omission 573 times (about 21%) of the instances.An example of this type of strategy can be seen in the following sentences extracted from our students' translation tests: (1) The thief was caught red-handed.‫ﺍﻟﻠﺺ‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻘﺒﺾ‬ ‫ﺗﻢ‬ (the thief got arrested) (2) The child was not really hurt, but she shed crocodile tears anyway.‫ﺑﻜﺖ‬ ‫ﻟﻜﻨﻬﺎ‬ ‫ﺑﺄﺫﻯ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻄﻔﻠﺔ‬ ‫ُﺼﺐ‬ ‫ﺗ‬ ‫ﻟﻢ‬ (the child wasn't injured but she cried) Our participants' use of omission resulted in incomplete translations that lacked some of the information expressed in the ST, which was mainly due to participants' inability to understand the meaning of the idiomatic expressions, as similarly revealed in Salamah's (2012) study.Literal translation strategy was used by only few students.Using the exact English expressions or literal translation resulted in incorrect translations in some of our participants' written statements.Some other interesting and commonly occurring instances of the use of literal translation concerned some idiomatic expressions, such as "you cannot judge a book by its cover" as " ‫ﻏﻼﻓﻪ"‬ ‫ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻜﺘﺎﺏ‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﺗﺤﻜﻢ‬ ‫ﻻ‬ (don't judge a book out of its cover) instead of the common Arabic idiomatic expression " ‫ﻋﻨﻮﺍﻧﻪ‬ ‫ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻜﺘﺎﺏ‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﺗﺤﻜﻢ‬ ‫"ﻻ‬ (don't judge a book by its title), or the translation of "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" into ‫ﺃﻗﺮﺏ‬ ‫ﺃﻋﺪﺍﺋﻚ‬ ‫ﻭ‬ ‫ﻣﻨﻚ‬ ‫ﺑﺎﻟﻘﺮﺏ‬ ‫ﺍﺻﺪﻗﺎﺋﻚ‬ ‫""ﺍﺑﻘﻰ‬ (keep your friends close and your enemies closer) instead of the common Arabic expression " ‫ﺍﻟﻒ‬ ‫ﺻﺪﻳﻘﻚ‬ ‫ﻭ‬ ‫ﻣﺮﺓ‬ ‫ﻋﺪﻭﻙ‬ ‫ﺃﺣﺬﺭ‬ ‫"ﻣﺮﺓ‬ (be cautious of your enemy only once, and your friends a thousand times), or the exact translation of "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" into ‫ﺍﻟﺸﺠﺮﺓ‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﺍﺛﻨﻴﻦ‬ ‫ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ﺧﻴﺮ‬ ‫ﺑﺎﻟﻴﺪ‬ ‫ﻋﺼﻔﻮﺭ‬ " (a bird held in one hand is better than two in a bush) instead of the common Arabic idiom " ‫ﺍﻟﺸﺠﺮﺓ‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﻋﺸﺮﺓ‬ ‫ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ﺧﻴﺮ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻴﺪ‬ ‫ﻓﻲ‬ ‫ﻋﺼﻔﻮﺭ‬ " (a bird in hand is worth ten in a bush).These statements are clear examples of some students' literal translations of the SL expressions.Hence, our results are in line with Baker's (1992) position that translators often resort to literal translation when they are unable to recognize idiomatic expressions as such.Also similar to our findings, Badawi (2008) concluded that the subjects in his study frequently used literal translation among other strategies.
Finally, total equivalence (similar meaning with a similar form) was the least common strategy.This strategic action was used only by 11% percent of our participants who were not able to produce the exact cultural equivalents in Arabic.Consequently, the participants mostly resorted to total equivalence because many of the idiomatic expressions used in the translation test did not project clear equivalent idiomatic expression in Arabic.This explains our participants' difficulties in achieving total equivalence in English idiomatic translation.For example, the translation of the expression "all roads lead to Rome" was produced by many as " ‫ﺇﻟﻰ‬ ‫ﺗﺆﺩﻱ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﻄﺮﻕ‬ ‫ﻛﻞ‬ ‫"ﺭﻭﻣﺎ‬ (all roads lead to Rome) which clearly reflects students' use of total equivalence.Another example of this type of translation can be seen in most participants' response to the English idiom "shed crocodile tears", in which most translated as the exact idiomatic expression ‫ﺍﻟﺘﻤﺎﺳﻴﺢ"‬ ‫("ﺩﻣﻮﻉ‬crocodile tears) in L1.
To sum up, our overall results demonstrated how most English idioms and culture-bound expressions posed some levels of difficulties for our participants to translate into L1 for three main reasons.First, the test idioms are unique to a given community and culture in terms of their linguistic structure, semantics, and socio-cognitive meanings.Second, student translators may have not necessarily understood an English idiom's contextual-bound meaning, making it difficult for EFL students to fully identify, understand, and translate it into the target language.Thirdly, it may be challenging for language learners to understand the specific cultural context in which the target idiomatic expressions are used.As for translation strategies, paraphrasing was our participants' most frequently used translation strategy when responding to the test items, accumulating to more than 749 times across all items.Particularly, this finding is consistent with Baker's (1992) assertion that paraphrasing is a widely used strategy when translating idioms in the TL.In our study, the student translators used paraphrasing to translate all types of English idioms, but more significantly when translating the meaning of opaque idioms.Partial equivalence was the second most frequently used strategy (with 679 occurrences), followed by the strategic process of omission (used more than 568 times in total).As for literal translation (exact expression), the strategy was used 414 times throughout the test items, while the translation strategy of total equivalence was used 290 times.Many student translators expressed their thoughts regarding translating the target idioms literally, with 54.4%, of them arguing that they would have still translated English idioms literally.
Overall, our study results are consistent with findings drawn from previous studies on strategic processing of English idioms.In particular, past studies (discussed in Section 2) revealed how student translators' inability to find equivalents for idioms is as one of the most challenging difficulties in translation (e.g., Al-Assaf, 2019;Al-Shawi & Mahadi, 2012;Rakhieh, Al-Saidat, Alshammari, & Rabab'ah, 2014).Similar to our results, Al-Assaf (2019), for instance, concluded that success in translating English idioms requires student translators' deep familiarity with the target idioms in the SL and the strategic competence in translating them accurately and correctly into the TL.Similarly, Al-Shawi & Mahadi (2012) argued that there are two main difficulties in translating idioms: (1) the ability to recognize and translate idioms and culture-bound expressions correctly, and (2) difficulties involved in rendering the various aspects of meaning that a target idiom conveys into the TL.In addition, Rakhieh, Al-Saidat, Alshammari, and Rabab'ah (2014) concluded that differences between the source and target cultures can be problematic for novice translators when translating English idioms.However, some previous past studies reported findings that are not consistent with our study results.For instance, Salamah (2012) investigated those translation errors made by her participants and found no major difficulties being encountered in comprehending idiomatic expressions.She explained that this was probably due to some of the expressions used which were generally high-frequent idioms that were probably familiar to her study subjects.

Conclusion
The current study was an attempt to investigate types of translation difficulties faced by Saudi female university students when translating English idioms and culture-bound expressions into Arabic and those strategies they used to deal with such problems.To meet the study objectives, multiple instruments (a translation test and a self-designed questionnaire) were employed to examine the translation problems and strategies reported by EFL students when translating English idioms into Arabic.
Overall, the study results showed that our student translators struggled to provide the correct meanings of most English idiomatic expressions.It can be inferred that the students' selection of translation strategies represented variations of their linguistic and pragmatic competencies.In general, the participants' degree of familiarity with the target English idioms was low and their abilities to translate them into L1 was limited.Hence, our study found considerable variations in the students' translations, providing evidence that Saudi female university students often lack competence in executing some effective idiomatic translation strategies.However, some students' cultural knowledge might have probably played some role in helping them to comprehend some of the target idioms, particularly those that are not exactly equivalent to idioms in L1.

Pedagogical Implications
Given our study findings, several pedagogical recommendations are proposed.First, to increase their competence in idiomatic translation, Saudi student translators need be exposed to more English idiomatic expressions in their academic classrooms.This involves encouraging translation instructors to provide explicit training and instruction on how their students should practice executing some effective strategies to selected idioms in translation activities.As Salamah (2012) suggested, university academic and training programs, particularly in the first academic years, should introduce translation students to a larger poll of FL idiomatic terms and cultural expressions, with their definitions and specific contexts, in which students are encouraged to process and comprehend as many idioms as possible.Also, our study suggests that additional courses, such as literary and idiomatic translation, should be incorporated into translation course syllabi to promote more instructional practice for EFL students to process and translate English idioms and culture-bound expressions.Given our study focus, Saudi female students, in particular, need to be motivated and encouraged to read more Arabic and English literary and non-literary texts so that they can be exposed to a wider range of culture-specific and idiomatic expressions in both the source and target languages.

Limitations and Recommendations
However, this study is not without its limitations.First and foremost, our sample represented only female participants enrolled, at the time, in an academic translation course in a Saudi university program.Due to access and student availability constraints, we were not able to include male students in our study participants.Hence, we suggest that future studies on idiomatic translation considers incorporating the gender variable in their scope and design.Second, our study findings are limited to our focus and design in applying Newmark's (1998) and Baker's (1992) strategies to examine participants' difficulties in idiomatic processing and their translation strategies, as measured by two main instruments (a translation test and a questionnaire).Here, interviews were not used to collect and triangulate our study data, due to some practical administrative and logistic difficulties in arranging for and holding individual meetings with our participants after administering the study instruments.Similarly, we suggest that researchers adopt mixed-methods designs that aim at triangulating data collected and maximizing data validity, reliability and generalizability of future study findings.
Other limitations in our study also include our participants' language proficiency levels which were not measured in our study.Hence, we suggest that participants' language proficiency is assessed to determine if this variable has an impact on the frequency and quality of student translators' written products in future studies.Furthermore, we suggest that future studies in foreign language contexts look considerably into students' translations of those idioms that are related to specific domains (e.g., in politics or economy) in order to observe how student translators process English idioms in different settings.Furthermore, to the best of the researchers' knowledge, idioms in English literary texts have been considerably lacking, predominantly in EFL contexts.Hence, future studies carried out in this domain might produce valuable research and pedagogical findings, particularly to Saudi EFL classrooms.
21.The government says that the economy is robust, but if you look at employment data and read between the lines, you realize that the situation isn't that rosy.
22. When he started giving excuse for not completing the assignment in time, the teacher lost her temper.
23.The government brought the angry leaders to the negotiating table by twisting their arms by starting investigate their illegal business deals.24.Sales is not my cup of tea.
25. Waiting for the results of my medical tests, I was like cat on a hot tin roof.26.While I was sick in bed, Mark went to the store and bought me some needed supplies.He's a good example of the saying "a friend in need is a friend indeed".
27.I asked one of my employees why he was always late for work, but instead of giving me a straight answer, all he did was beat around the bush.
28.I have to say, you really hit the nail on the head with this paint color for your house.

Table 1 .
Overview of the study participants' demographic data

Table 2 .
Overview of the sources of the English idioms selected in the translation test

Table 4 .
Participants' answers to questions in the questionnaire

Table 5 .
Frequency of each strategy type

Table 6 .
Participants' translation strategies for item 14 in the translation test

Table 7 .
Participants' translation strategies of item 30 in the translation test It looks better than I imagined.