An Analysis of the Strategies Used in English Translation of Lexical Collocations in Divan-e Hafiz

Abstract

The translation of poetry,as a special type of aesthetic function of language, is always regarded as more perplexing than the translation of any other texts. There has always been much dispute about methods that can be employedto preserve the poet`s message and the uniqueness of the style in order to generate equivalent effects in the target language. Someof the numerous problems a translator encounters during the processare due to the application of linguistic tools which areundeniably intertwined withlanguage and culture. Poetryentails linguistic subtleties such as collocations with sublime concepts prone to effacementthrough translation. The point is that collocations are structurally and conceptually language and culture specific and a translator should deal with them precisely so as to maintain cultural and aesthetic values. The present study sought to comparelexical collocations in selected poems from Divan-e Hafiz and the corresponding translations made by Arberry (1905–1969); Clarke (1840-1905)in order todiscover the most common techniques the two translators employedand to reveal the merits and flaws pertaining to each technique.This paper explored that religious, cultural and semantic collocations are respectively the most difficult types of word combinations for translators to accomplish the process. It further illustrated that the most frequent approach taken by the two translators were word for word translation and,in some cases, reduction of the lexical relationship to minimize distorting the form, stylistic and semantic features of poems while creating equivalent effects in the TL.