The current study is concerned with investigating the difficulties that Iraqi EFL learners of English may face when translating English collective nouns. Such collective nouns as committee, government, , jury , Parliament , etc. are considered singular when the concept of the unity as a group is emphasized , but when the concept of the individuals or numbers is emphasized they are treated as plural. A sample of twenty undergraduate students have been selected randomly to translate certain English collective nouns in some selected political texts in order to find out the difficulties they might face in rendering them into Arabic. It is hypothesized that most of the testees have used the singular form rather than the plural ignoring the notion of meaning of these nouns. Theoretically speaking, the most important conclusions that the present paper has come up with are: Firstly, English collective nouns may co-occur in the singular with either a singular or a plural form of the verb; secondly, in terms of form, three types of collective nouns can be recognized : (a) invariable singular collectives, (b) invariable plural collectives, (c) variable ( singular and plural); thirdly, in terms of meaning there are two types of collective nouns , i.e. human and non- human collectives. Empirically speaking, the paper shows the following conclusions: English collective nouns are problematic and difficult to translate due to the disparity between form and meaning of both languages , the inadequate knowledge of the function of some structural clues in determining the emphasized idea (i.e., singular or plural), and formal equivalence and literal translation are used by most testees.
Language plays a major role in all aspects of life. Communication is regarded as the most important of these aspects, as language is used on a daily basis by humanity either in written or spoken forms. Language is also regarded as the main factor of exchanging peoples’ cultures and traditions and in handing down these attributes from generation to generation. Thus, language is a fundamental element in identifying peoples’ ideologies and traditions in the past and the present. Despite these facts, the feminist linguists have objections to some of the language structures, demonstrating that language is gender biased to men. That is, language promotes patriarchal values. This pushed towards developing extensive studies to substantiate s
... Show MoreThe present paper respects 'inversion' as a habit of arranging the language of modern English and Arabic poetry . Inversion is a significant phenomenon generally in modern literature and particularly in poetry that it treats poetic text as it is a violator to the ordinary text. The paper displays the common patterns and functions of inversion which are spotted in modern English and Arabic poetry in order to show aspects of similarities and differences in both languages. It concludes that inversion is most commonly used in English and Arabic poetry in which it may both satisfy the demands of sound correspondence and emphasis. English and Arabic poetic languages vary in extant to their manipulation of inverted styles as they show changeable f
... Show MoreTranslating culture-specific proverbs (CSPs) is a challenging task since they often occur in a peculiar context. Further, CSPs are intended to imply meanings that extend far beyond the literal meaning of such a kind of proverbs. As far as English and Arabic are concerned, translators often encounter problems in translating CSPs due to cultural differences between the source language(SL) and the target language (TL) as well as what seems to be the lack of equivalence for some CSPs.
In view of this, the present study aims at investigating the translation of CSPs in three English-Arabic dictionaries of proverbs, namely Dictionary of Common English Proverbs Translated and Explained (2004), One thousand and One English Pr
... Show MoreThis study aims to discuss how English Language Textbook (ELT), used in Iraqi schools, can be developed. All Iraqi teachers in Iraq spend much time using ELT textbooks in classrooms, and most of the Iraqi students depend on these textbooks to learn and improve the English language, so choosing an appropriate ELT textbook is so essential. A suitable book must include critical components that fit teachers' and students' needs. The quality of ELT textbooks has been improved dramatically in recent years, even though these textbooks still do not meet students' needs, especially in language communication skills. This study seeks to investigate the most critical components that may make the ELT textbooks are more influential and interactive for Ir
... Show MoreThis research has discussed the origins of ESP, addressed key notions about ESP and examined issues in ESP syllabus design. The content of the paper was determined by a need identified based on my experience as an ESL instructor designing and delivering the content-based language program - Language Preparation for the Cadets and Employment in the Iraqi College of Police . These issues, where possible, have been supported by current and pertinent academic literature. It is my sincerest hope that these observations will lend insight into the challenges facing the ESL instructor acting as ESP syllabus developer.
With the spread of globalization, the need for translators and scholars has grown, as translation is the only process that helps bridge linguistic gaps. Following the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), a strong competitor has arisen to the translators, sweeping through all scientific and professional fields, including translation sector, with a set of tools that aid in the translation process. The current study aims to investigate the capability of AI tools in translating texts rich in cultural variety from one language to another, specifically focusing on English-Arabic translations, through qualitative analysis to uncover cultural elements in the target language and determine the ability of AI tools to preserve, lose, or alter the
... Show MoreThe main problem of the current study concentrates on applying critical discourse analysis to examine textual, discoursal and social features of reduplication in some selected English newspaper headlines. The main aim of the current study is to analyze the linguistic features of reduplication by adopting Fairclough's three-dimensional model (2001). This study sets forth the following hypotheses: (1) English headline – newspapers comprise various textual, discoursal and social features ;(2)the model of analysis is best suited for the current study.To achieve the aims and verify the hypotheses, a critical discourse analysis approach is used represented by Fairclough's socio-cultural approach (2001).The present study has examined the use of
... Show MoreThis study aims to document and describe the speech sounds and sound inventory that are present in Sorani which is dialect of Kurdish and compare the results with their English counterparts. The research concentrates on the voicing system and the quality of Sorani sounds which are measured by using the voice onset time (VOT) of the stop consonants, and the first three formants of the vowel sounds; the closure duration of voiceless stop consonants in medial position is measured as well.
Ten native speakers of the Sorani dialect (5 males and 5 females) participated in this experiment. All speakers are between 20 and 50 years of age, were born in Sulaimanyiah, migrated to the US, and remain in the US at the time of recording.
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