Equivalence and the Loss of Originality: A Comparative Study of English Translation of Selected Urdu Idioms

Abstract

This study attempts to examine the impact of equivalence and the loss of originality issues in the translated Idioms from Urdu to English. Equivalence is considered a principle concept in translation theory but it is replete with problems. This paper aims to highlight the loss of originality in the selected translated idioms because these are considered as frozen patterns of language that allow a very little or almost no variation in form and their meanings cannot be taken from their individual components as per the compositionality principle. i.e. the meaning of a sentence can be deduced from the individual meaning of words. This idea of transferring the different meanings and objectives of a given text poses an important question that the researcher tries to answer in this paper. “Does translation responsible for the loss of originality for being unable to find suitable equivalents at inter-lingual situations”? After reviewing the relevant literature and analyzing different translated idioms from Urdu to English, it elucidates that the translator must be well-educated about both languages and especially for the target language in terms of its norms, social and cultural values in order to produce an accurate translation. This study is qualitative in nature. The data is collected by the observation technique and analyzed from the perspective of equivalence and loss of originality between two languages i.e. English and Urdu.