Translation of Onomatopoeia: Somewhere between Equivalence and Function

Abstract

English-Persian translation of novels deals with the challenges of understanding and transferring different linguistic aspects such as those of onomatopoeias. These elements are expected to create difficulties for translators as they are realized differently in English and Persian. Although some studies have been done to identify onomatopoeias in different languages, they are less debated in the area of translation. This study concentrates on English translation of 125 onomatopoeias in the novel A Tale of Two cities written by Charles Dickens and their Persian translations done by two translators. It aims at identifying English onomatopoeias in the corpus and the translation techniques used for translating them by the two translators. Furthermore, taking prospective approach, it comparatively assesses the two translated versions in terms of their success of translation of onomatopoeias from English into Persian. Finally this study aims at proposing a guideline which helps the translators to translate onomatopoeias in English Novels into Persian.