IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS IN TRANSLATION: CORPUS-BASED STRATEGIES

Abstract

Idiomatic expressions present persistent challenges in translation due to their non-compositional meanings, cultural specificity, and varied equivalence across languages. This corpus-based study analyzes translation strategies for idioms across 2,000 English-Spanish translated text pairs, examining how professional translators handle idiomatic language. Using computational linguistics methods combined with qualitative analysis, the research identifies seven primary translation strategies and investigates factors influencing strategy selection. Results indicate that translators prioritize communicative function over formal equivalence, with contextual factors such as text type, target audience, and idiom transparency significantly affecting strategic choices. The study develops a decision-making model for idiom translation and discusses implications for translation practice, pedagogy, and automated translation systems.