The Problems of Translating Religious Texts: A Study on Senior EFL Learners of King Khalid University

Abstract

Undergraduate English majors take three translation courses to learn the principles and techniques of translating Arabic texts into English and vice versa. It has been observed that students translate general subjects at some ease, but they undergo various syntactic and semantic obstacles when translating religious texts, as these texts contain unique applications of Arabic language and various layers of meaning. To investigate these hurdles of translating religious texts, an empirical study was conducted on one hundred male students of the four-year Bachelor of English program, at the College of Science and Arts, King Khalid University. The study aims at locating, analyzing and understanding the nature of the problems students may encounter, examining the reasons behind their fear of translating and framing out a list of recommendations for the learners as well as for teachers. It is expected that the outcomes of the research will enable learners to overcome the syntactic and semantic ambiguities of translation courses. Moreover, the study will help course teachers to apply effective methods, techniques and materials to make the courses more enjoyable and motivating to learners.