Investigating Translation Strategies and Translatability of Fixed Expressions in The Blind Owl by Hedayat

Translation is a way of connecting two languages with different cultures. Fixed expressions are often challenging issues in the realm of translation. This article has investigated applied strategies and translatability of fixed expressions in The Blind Owl (Boof­e koor). Therefore, two well-known English translations by Costello (۱۹۵۷) and Bashiri (۲۰۱۳) were examined. The data were analyzed to find applied strategies and investigate the translatability and untranslatability of fixed expressions. Two hundred ninety fixed expressions were collected of the corpus and its English translations. It was found that a few fixed expressions are untranslatable due to linguistic and cultural differences. Moreover, the author’s style in the book has impacted the translation. In addition, by the comparative study of the translators, it was found that the performance of Bashiri as a native translator is almost better than Costello as a non-native translator. Hence, the translator’s familiarity with language and culture of source language could be affected in translation.

Keywords:

Fixed expressions , Native translator , The Blind Owl , Translatability , Untranslatability