Translation of idioms from arabic into malay via google translate: What needs to be done?

Abstract

Arabic idiomatic expressions, a type of figurative language which is different from its denotative meaning, need to be translated using suitable methods. Its wide use in everyday language including the newspapers and social media, poses a major challenge for Malay readers who use Google Translate (GT) tool to translate as they need to know how to use the tool optimally. Hence, the objectives of this study are to analyse and compare the translation results of Arabic-Malay idiomatic expressions of GT and dictionary translations according to idiomatic translation methods; and to summarise the Arabic-Malay idiomatic translation techiques using GT. This study applies the qualitative method through text analysis. Data were extracted from 35 idioms found in the Arabic-Arabic Contrastive Idiomatic Expressions Dictionary (KKUI) and Malay-Malay Kamus Frasa Idiomatik dan Ertinya (KFIADE) which are being used in the Al-Ghad (02) Jordan in the ArabiCorpus. A total of 105 data were translated using GT, and subsequently, detailed analysis was made on the translation results through comparison with the Malay-Malay KFIADE. The findings showed that the quality of GT translation is better when an idiomatic expression is translated within the sentence context, compared to being translated outside the sentence context. On the contrary to the main weakness of GT which translates literally, GT is able to produce good idiomatic translations in different sentences. The analysis also found that four methods for translating idioms have also been identified based on the adaptation of the Newmark (1988) Metaphorical Translation method. The most common method used by both the Malay-Malay KFIADE and GT is ‘changing idioms into meanings’. In addition, the flexi method is also found to be advantageous in the translation of idioms by the Malay-Malay KFIADE compared to GT. However, accuracy of GT can be improved by 5.7% by manipulating its translation data. Suitable Arabic-Malay idiomatic translation techniques using GT are proposed.