On the Accuracy, Acceptability and Readability of Persian Translations of Idioms and Fixed Expressions in Saleh Hosseini’s Translation of Heart of Darkness

This qualitative study aimed to assess the translation quality of idioms and fixed expressions in Saleh Hosseini’s Persian translation of the short novel, Heart of Darkness. To this end, the current study used Nababan et al.’s (2012) translation quality assessment (TQA) scale, which considers accuracy, acceptability, and readability as three major quality indexes. The data collection procedure started with the identification, extraction, and tabulation of idioms and fixed expressions in the English text of Joseph Conrad’s short novel Heart of Darkness and its Persian translation by Saleh Hosseini. The results of the study revealed that almost four-fifths of the Persian translations of idioms and fixed expressions by Saleh Hosseini enjoyed a high level of quality as judged by native speakers of Persian, thus were accurate (staying faithful to the source text), and acceptable and readable (keeping loyal to the norms of the target culture). The study findings could be of great help to translation students, trainers, and especially translators in enhancing their translations concerning culture-specific idioms and fixed expressions.

On the Accuracy, Acceptability and Readability of Persian Translations of Idioms and Fixed Expressions in Saleh Hosseini’s Translation of Heart of Darkness Keywords:

Accuracy , Acceptability , Idiom , Readability , Translation Quality Assessment (TQA)