Persian Translators and English Phrasal Verbs: Challenges and Strategies

Phrasal verbs are unique structures in English carrying semantic, syntactic, stylistic, idiomatic and pragmatic peculiarities together. The combination of all these layers of meaning and characteristics makes the translation of phrasal verbs into any other language a difficult task. In this study, the researcher examines challenges that Persian translators face as well as the strategies they use while translating English phrasal verbs into Farsi. To reach this purpose, first the characteristics of English phrasal verbs that turn them into dangerous translation traps are specified, then translation strategies used by three Persian translators while dealing with them are identified. As the data of the study, the researcher extracts all English phrasal verbs in the Lord of the Flies by William Golding as well as their equivalent expressions in three Persian translated versions of the book. The findings of the study show that idiomatic and pragmatic meanings of English phrasal verbs are at much risk to get lost in the process of translation into Farsi and that most English phrasal verbs are translated into Farsi compound verbs besides six less frequent strategies used by translators. This study also posits that besides inevitable differences between lexical systems in English and Farsi, the loss of features attached to English phrasal verbs can be resulted from translator s lack of linguistic knowledge.