AAFU-Volume 40-Issue إبریل - یونیه- Page 631-673

Strategies for translating English colour – related idoms into Arabic
Strategies for Translating English Colour-Related

Idioms into Arabic
Amal Abdel Sattar Metwally, Neveen Hassan Khalil,

PhD.
Faculty of Arts, Department of English language and
literature
Ain Shams University
Summary
This paper is to focus on the translation of English colour-related
idioms as culture-specific expressions and is to question the validity of
the notions of foreignisation and domestication brought to the fore of
translation studies by Venuti (1995). However, it is not intended here
to question the quality of Venuti’s advocacy of foreignising
translation, but rather to apply the notions of foreignisation,
domestication, mainly paraphrase as a conceptual framework for the
translation of idioms as a case of cultural transfer. This will be done
by providing translations and analysing already existing translations of
a number of English colour-related idioms.
More particularly, this paper will examine whether it is possible to
observe any form of consistency in the strategies used for the
translation of such culturally-bound expressions. This paper is an
attempt to suggest strategies for the translation of such cultural
expressions, e.g. foreignisation, domestication, and paraphrase (a
domestication-biased strategy). This study is to be more descriptive
than prescriptive; it will describe already existing translations in order
to make generalisations about translation methods. Such
generalisations may be taken as guidelines for the translation of
English colour-related idioms.
This study will answer the following questions: Which strategy is
more appropriate as far as colour-related idiomatic expressions are
concerned? Which strategy can help the translated idiom has its
intended effect in the target language? Can domestication and
foreignisation complement each other? Are there situations where
foreignisation is more appropriate, and vice versa? And are there
130 )2102 ‫ (إبريل – يونيه‬40 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬
Amal Abdel Sattar Metwally, Neveen Hassan Khalil, PHD
situations where paraphrase is preferable and why?
Methodology and Methods of Data Collection and Data Analysis
This paper offers a descriptive content analysis of colour-related
idioms as culture expressions. It is intended to examine and propose
ways of translating English colour-related idioms. More specifically, it
will contrast the application of the foreignisation and domestication
strategies to the translation of such culturally-bound expressions. To
this end, this paper will make use of many theories, concepts and
previous studies. The study will use as its tools the linguistic relativity
hypothesis introduced by the anthropologist Edward Sapir and his
colleague and student Benjamin Whorf. The principle of translation
equivalence, Skopos theory, and characteristics of idioms, are all to be
used as methods of analysis.
The corpus data required for this study will consist of a list of
English colour-related idioms collected mainly from the Cambridge
International Dictionary of English, Oxford English Dictionary and
AL-Mawrid English Dictionary.
The proposed paper will employ the two modes of translation
distinguished by Venuti (1995), foreignisation and domestication. The
former is a parallel word-for-word translation that aims at rendering
the form of the SL into the TL and the latter is a sentential translation
that aims at conveying the meaning of the SL rather than the form. As
pointed out earlier, the theoretical framework will make use of the
skopos theory, which incorporates strategies ranging from the most
literal (foreignising) to the freest (domesticating). paraphrase will be
also discussed with reference to the translation of idioms. The key
features of idioms as culture-specific expressions will be explained in
terms of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis with special reference to colour
terms. In addition, the principle of translation equivalence and the
work of Berlin and Kay on colour language differences among
cultures will be utilised.
Conclusion and Recommendations
As a background for the whole argument, the relation between
translation and culture was highlighted to show how cultural
differences affect translation. Language and culture are in a mutually
influential relationship, so the cultural dimension is very significant
when two languages are involved in any type of interaction. Colours,
)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 132
as a cultural aspect, were used as examples to conclude that different
translation strategies should be adopted in the process of translating
between two distant cultures.
This study argues that the field of translation studies should not be
rent by dichotomies of the nature of domestication and foreignisation.
The difficulty of translating culturally-bound expression as colour-
related idioms lies in the fact that they can be quite different across
cultures and languages. So that, the field of translation studies should
exert efforts to enhancing the performance of translators in order to
bolster inter-cultural communication and the ability to appreciate
diversity. This conviction is borne out by the argument raised in this
paper about the interrelationship between language, culture and
translation.
In a nutshell, it can be inferred from this study that domestication
strategies, including paraphrasing and translation using equivalents,
and foreignised translations complement each other. Moreover,
translation by paraphrase is one of the possible ways in coping with
problematic items in translation. “Paraphrase” could be recommended
as a powerful tool to be adopted in translating different fields of
knowledge simply because it can achieve a high level of precision in
specifying the meaning of an expression or a concept that poses
difficulties in translation.

Foreignisation
Domestication
0991
Paraphrase

Domestication Foreignisation
Paraphrase

Introduction

The focus of the present paper is to explore the notions of
foreignisation and domestication and their application to several
translations of English colour-related idioms into Arabic. Paraphrase,
as a domestication-biased technique is to be thoroughly explored to
prove how much it is effective in handling such culture-specific
expressions. Using colour-related idioms as a basis for the analysis,
the study will propose, identify and explicate these translation
strategies. Hence, this paper will examine some of the issues involved
in the intercultural transfer of idiomatic expressions.
The present paper attempts to explain how culturally-bound
expressions as colour-related idioms can be translated. English colour-
related idioms will be analysed and studied in such a way as to ensure
how culture and language are closely related. The paper is based on
Venuti’s model of the translator’s invisibility, Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis, and skopos theory, which are all concerned with the
interrelationships between language, culture, and translation.
It is generally acknowledged that translation hovers between two
poles: source and target cultures, foreignisation and domestication,
word-for-word and sense-for-sense translation, and literal translation
and free adaptation (Bernal, 2006:1). Translators engaged in literalism
have been willing to sacrifice the formal elements of the target
language and even its intelligibility for the sake of preserving what
they regard as the integrity of the source text; however, those who
favour free translation have quite often chosen to sacrifice the form of
the source language for the sake of elegance and intelligibility in the
target language (Zhao, 2008:1).
One of the main notions on which the present paper is based is
Venuti’s notion of the translator’s invisibility. The terms
‘foreignisation’ and ‘domestication’ have been coined by Venuti
(1995) to provide a general classification of translation procedures. It
needs to be stressed here that the origin of these concepts, although
generally attributed to Venuti, can in fact be traced back to the work
of Schleiermacher (Ramiere, 2006:11).
The foreignisation-domestication model has been acclaimed as a
powerful tool to conceptualise the interface between the source
culture, seen as the 'Self', and the target culture, seen as the 'Other'
(Ramiere, 2006:2). Venuti claims that “[t]ranslation wields enormous
power in constructing representations of foreign cultures” (1998a: 67).
It is also stated in Baker (1992: 240-244) that domesticating strategies
have been implemented at least since ancient Rome, when translation
was a kind of conquest, and translators into Latin not only deleted
culturally specific markers but also added allusions to Roman culture
and replaced the names of Greek poets with those of their own,
passing the translation off as a text originally written in Latin
(Xianbin, 2005: 2). To Venuti, domestication, or translator invisibility,
consists in translating in a fluent, intelligible and transparent way
which tends to erase the foreignness of the source text and to conform
to the needs and values of the domestic target culture (Ramiere,
2006:2).
Foreignisation, on the other hand, takes the target reader towards
the source text with a defamiliarising effect and consists in
“preserving linguistic and cultural differences by deviating from
prevailing domestic values” (Venuti, 1998b:240). Following
Schleiermacher (1813) and Berman (1985), Venuti claims that the
foreignising method “mak[es] the translated text a site where a
cultural other is not erased but manifested” (1998b: 242).
One of the key issues in recent translation theories has been on
whether translation should domesticate or foreignise the source text.
Venuti (1995) defines domesticating translation as a replacement of
the linguistic and cultural difference of the foreign text with a text that
is intelligible to the target-language reader. Foreignising translation is,
however, defined as a translation that indicates the linguistic and
cultural differences of the text by disrupting the cultural codes that
prevail in the target language.
Venuti (1995) uses the term invisibility to describe the translator
situation and activity in Anglo-American culture. He discusses
invisibility along with the two translation techniques; domestication
and foreignisation. He considers domestication as dominating the
Anglo-American translation culture. Venuti bemoans the phenomenon
of domestication since it involves reduction of the foreign text to the
target language cultural values. This entails translating in a
transparent, fluent, invisible style in order to minimise the foreignness
of the target text (TT). Venuti believes that a translator should leave
the reader in peace, as much as possible, and he should move the

author toward him.
On the other hand, foreignisation, according to Venuti, entails
choosing a foreign text and developing a translation method along
lines which excluded by dominant cultural values in target language.
Venuti considers the foreignising method to be an ethno deviant
pressure on target language cultural values to register the linguistic
and cultural difference of the foreign text, sending the reader abroad.
According to him, it is highly desirable in an effort to restrain the
ethnocentric violence translation. The foreignising method of
translating, a strategy Venuti also terms ‘resistancy’ , is a non-fluent
or estranging translation style designed to make visible the persistence
of translator by highlighting the foreign identity of the source text
(ST) and protecting it from the ideological dominance of the target
culture.
In his later book ‘The Scandals of Translation’ (1998), Venuti
insists on foreignising or, as he also calls it, ‘minoritising’ translation,
to cultivate a varied and heterogeneous discourse. As far as language
is concerned, the minoritising or foreignising method of Venuti’s
translation comes through in the deliberate inclusion of foreignising
elements in a bid to make the translator visible and to make the reader
realise that he is reading a translation of the work from a foreign
culture.
A notion which is particularly related to the domestication
strategy, when dealing with culture-specific terms is that of translation
by paraphrase. Translation by paraphrase is another of the possible
ways to deal with such problematic items in translation as colour-
related idioms. The main advantage of this method is that it can
achieve a high level of precision in specifying the meaning of a word
or concept that poses difficulties in translation (Misiaczek, 2005: 3).
Paraphrasing as a domestication-biased strategy is prompted by the
lack or inappropriateness of TL equivalent idioms for stylistic reasons.
This, however, negatively affects the force or ‘punch’ of the message
intended by the SL metaphor, for example, as it transfers the sense
rather than the image (Al-Qinai, 2000: 16). Another source of lexical
disparity between SL and TL is that words with strong connotations in
the SL may have only denotative equivalents with neutral
connotations in TL. For example, in the translation of Austin Rover
brochure for the 1989 Metro Sport model, the English idiom paint the
town red has been idiomatically rendered to ‫انطلق إلى عالم المرح‬, losing
the connotation of ‘red’ as the traditional colour of trendy sports cars
(Al-Qinai, 2000: 17).
1. The Relationship between Translation and Culture
The present paper is one of the translation studies that investigate
the relationship between translation and culture. Translation is
eventually a human activity which enables human beings to exchange
ideas and thoughts regardless of their different tongues and cultures.
Hermans (1990) believes that translation should be recognised as a
cultural practice. Gerding-Salas (2000) suggests that the main aim of
translation is to serve as a cross-cultural bilingual communication
vehicle among people of different tongues and cultures. Moreover,
Bahameed (2008) mentions that the question of intercultural
translation has been raised in modern social linguistic theories. Such
views may support the idea that translation has the potential to foster
intercultural communication and mutual understanding. Translating a
target language in a meaningful sense requires understanding the
cultural context of that target language. This means that knowing the
complications resulting from differences between cultures helps the
translator to produce quality translation. Along with this point, Pena,
(2007) argues that cultural equivalence should be considered in
translating process. According to Nida (1964:130), “Differences
between cultures may cause more serious problems for the translator
than do differences in language structure”. Hence, it could be
demonstrated that both language and culture should be highly
considered in the act of translation, (Badawi, 2008: 1) especially in the
process of translating such culturally-bound expressions as colour-
related idioms.
Central to culture and communication is translating culture-bound
expressions. Nida (1964) argues that translation problems are likely to
happen depending on both cultural and linguistic gaps between the
two concerned languages. Accordingly, equal importance to both
linguistic and cultural differences between the SL and the TL must be
taken into consideration. Newmark (2001: 328) stated that “Now
whilst some see culture as the essence of translation, I see culture as

the greatest obstacle to translation, at least to the achievement of an
accurate and decent translation”. Significantly, Armellino (2008)
mentions that one of the most challenging tasks for a translator is to
translate culture-bound expressions.
Reviewing literature pertinent to translation reveals that the
difficulty of translating cultural aspects has led to ‘culture
marginalisation’ during the 1960s and 1970s. It has been long taken
for granted that translation deals only with linguistic aspects.
However, cultural elements have never been brought into discussion.
Catford, for example, (1965: 20) defines translation as “the
replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent textual
material in another language”. For Nida and Taber (1969) the process
of translation consists of reproducing in the receptor language the
“closest natural equivalent” of the source language message, firstly in
terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. Similarly, Brislin
(1976: 1) defines translation as “the transfer of thoughts and ideas
from one language to another, whether the languages are in written or
oral form”.
It is clear that the previous definitions focus on changing
expressions from one language to another targeting the closest
equivalent in the target language. Hence, culture is not taken into
account except in the definitions of Nida and Taber who implicitly
refer to culture via “closest natural equivalent”. Unfortunately, culture
marginalisation continues in the 1980s. Newmark (1981:7) does not
mention anything of any relevance to culture in his definition to
translation “Translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a
written message and/or statement in another language”.
In essence, translating culture-bound expressions is an integral part
of translating culture. Culture-bound expressions involve; metaphors,
proverbs, idioms and collocations. Idioms in particular constitute a
core portion of authentic communications among native English
speakers. Translating cultural meanings associated with idioms
represent real translation problems especially among non-natives
(Badawi, 2008:3). Armellino (2008) maintains that it is impossible to
replace culturally-bound words or idioms in one language by the same
words or idioms in another because the meaning which lies behind this
kind of idioms is always linked to the specific cultural context where
the text originates or with the cultural context it aims to recreate.
2.1 Idioms as Culturally-bound Expressions
A traditional definition of an idiom runs roughly as follows: “An
idiom is an expression whose meaning cannot be inferred from the
meaning of its parts” (Cruse, 1986:37). According to Crystal
(1988:189), an idiom is “a sequence of words which is semantically
and often syntactically restricted, so that they function as a single unit.
From a semantic viewpoint, the meanings of the individual words
cannot be summed to produce the meaning of the ‘idiomatic’
expression as a whole. From a syntactic viewpoint, the words often do
not permit the usual variability they display in other contexts, e.g. It’s
raining cats and dogs does not permit *it’s raining a cat and a
dog/dogs and cats, etc. Because of their lack of internal contrastivity,
some linguists refer to idioms as “ready-made utterances”. Moreover,
Idioms are not syntactically-independent because they cannot always
work as a full sentence, but as a part of it, as it can be seen from the
expression Red herring ‫( ذر الرماد في العيون‬Vivanco, 2007:1).
Idioms are linguistic clichés which use fixed expressions.
Longman Idioms Dictionary (1998) defines the idiom as “a sequence
of words which has a different meaning as a group from the meaning
it would have if you understand each word separately” (p. vii). Lewis
provides another concise dictionary-like definition: an idiom, he
states, is “a multi-word lexical item where the meaning of the whole is
not directly related to the meanings of the individual words” (Lewis,
1998:217). Cowie and Mackin (1975: viii) also stress the multi-word
nature and semantic opacity of the idiom: an idiom, they write, “is a
combination of two or more words which function as a unit of
meaning.”
Mona Baker (1992) on the other hand, studies idioms and fixed
expressions as both types of multi-word units represent “frozen
patterns of language which allow little or no variation in form, and in
the case of idioms, often carry meanings which cannot be deduced
from their individual components”. The speaker or writer, she adds,
“cannot normally do any of the following with an idiom:
- change the order of the words in it;

- delete a word from it;

- add a word to it;
- replace a word with another;
- change its grammatical structure.” (Baker, 1992: 63)
A comparable set of characteristics to describe the idiom is given
by Carter (1999:66); to him, idioms are “non-substitutable or fixed
collocations, usually more than single word units, semantically
opaque”. Carter (1999) adds, “But the different degrees of possible
fixity or “frozenness”, both syntactic and semantic, should be noted”
(p. 66).
Despite recent developments in the field of translation theory,
idioms still cause problems that relate to two main issues: recognising
and interpreting them correctly and rendering their intended meaning
into the target language (Baker, 1992: 68). There are various types of
idioms, some more easily recognisable than others. Those which are
easily recognisable include expressions which violate truth conditions
that are when, for example, inanimate objects are used in place of
animate ones, as in the colour-related idiom the pot calling the kettle
black )to say something about someone else which is actually true of
you yourself). Some idioms include expressions which seem ill-
formed because they do not follow the grammatical rules of the
language (Baker, 1992: 64), as in the colour-related idiom red hots
(kind of candy), in which the adjective hot is used as a noun in the
plural form. In fact, there is no rule for translating the meanings
expressed by this group of idioms except knowing the cultural
equivalent of each in the target language regardless of the linguistic
forms they take (Baker, 1992: 65).
Moreover, an idiom may not have an equivalent in the target
language. Like single words, idioms may be culture-specific (Baker,
1992: 68). A formula such as Blue Monday, which is directly linked to
the English social pattern and thus gives the meaning of the most
depressing day of the year, provides a good example. For such
culturally-bound expressions, the study is to propose the adoption of
the foreignisation strategy of translation along with a paraphrase of the
expression. So, the translation of this expression could be ‫االثنين األزرق‬.
)‫(أكثر أيام العام كآبه طبقًا للثقافة اإلنجليزية‬
2.2 Colour-Related Idioms
Colour words are loaded with attributive, connotative meanings,
many of which are realised in conventional linguistic idiomatic
expressions such as to feel blue (very sad), to be in the pink (in good
health), and to see red (angry). Colours have received much attention
in linguistics because of their apparently universal character. All
humans with normal vision can see colours and it follows that names
will be given in order to make reference to them. But not all cultures
name all colours, and the ways in which the colour spectrum itself is
divided change from language to language, culture to culture (Philip,
2006: 1).
In this paper, it will be demonstrated that in the translation process,
the same colour term may be maintained, replaced with a different
colour term, or lost altogether. For example, the colour term is
maintained in the translation of As white as the driven snow ‫ناصع‬
‫( البياض‬lit. very white), replaced with a different colour term in Born
with a silver spoon in one’s mouth ‫( ولد وبفمه ملعقة من ذهب‬lit. born with a
gold spoon in one’s mouth) and lost altogether in As white as a sheet
‫( شاحب الوجه‬lit. pale).
Because of its sheer scope, Berlin/Kay’s (1969) survey of colour
terms provides a platform for most linguistic and anthropological
research involving colours. The aim of their study was to identify the
basic colour terms for each of the languages studied, and the order in
which these come into use, with a view to developing a picture of the
acquisition of colour terms in languages as a whole (Berlin/Kay 1969:
5ff).
It is interesting and beneficial at the same time to refer to the study
of colour terms as presented by Berlin and Kay. Berlin/Kay (1969: 4)
identified black and white as the most basic of the basic colour terms,
occurring as they do in all languages before any other colour term.
Black absorbs all light – Democritus (cited in Aristotle 350 B.C. b)
asserted that black is related to roughness – and its relationship to
darkness, both literal and figurative, is immediate. All sorts of ill
deeds occur under the cover of night, when they go easily unseen, and
for this reason irregular dealings are typically linked to this colour: the
black market ‫ السوق السوداء‬,black sheep ‫ ابن البطة السوداء‬and to have a
black mark ‫ في سجله عالمة سوداء‬are common to both languages. Black
humour ‫ الفكاهة السوداء‬has malicious undertones although it is ultimately
intended to be laughed at. Black, as extreme metaphorical darkness, is

the colour of evil and, by extension, of the Devil and the supernatural
in general, as in black magic ‫السحر األسود‬. Black magic uses the
supernatural for personal gain, paying no heed to the harm – often
death and great suffering – that it causes. It therefore links together
darkness and evil with suffering, misery and destitution (Philip, 2006:
2).
While the connotative values attributed to black are similar in both
English and Arabic cultures, it becomes immediately obvious that
these similarities are often lexicalised differently. It is interesting to
note that black ‫ أسود‬is the colour of depression in Arabic, while blue
‫ أزرق‬is preferred in English. For instance, to feel blue (very sad) is
rendered as ‫ في غاية اآلسي‬and Blue Monday (the most depressing day of
the year according to the British culture) is rendered as ‫االثنين األزرق‬
)‫(أكثر أيام األسبوع كآبه طبقًا للثقافة اإلنجليزية‬.
Although white occurs with comparable frequency to black in the
English data, the proportion of colour-related idioms involving this
colour appears to be considerably lower, displaying a far more
restricted range of connotative meanings. Plato (360 B.C.a) writes that
“[w]hite is a colour suitable to the Gods”, and sets out an extended
symbolism in which good, beauty and obedience relate to white. The
religious connotations of white remain to this day, the colour being
typically associated with goodness and purity. These values are
reflected in a white lie ‫أكذوبة بيضاء‬, which is benign untruth, white
magic ‫ السحر األبيض‬which is magic performed with the intent of doing
good, and A white revolution ‫ ثورة بيضاء‬standing in stark contrast to
the malicious, black variety.
The remaining expressions found in the corpora relating to white
are not derived from the colour’s symbolic values, but are more
simple metonyms. The original, literal, white elephant ‫مشروع يحتاج‬
‫ الكثير من العناية مقابل مردود ضئيل‬was presented as a gift, and turned out to
be extremely costly to maintain, as well as being of little practical use;
by extension, the term is used as a criticism for anything that is overly
costly and of questionable utility, especially if these are perceived as
inappropriate use of public spending by local or national government.
As was true of black, white shares common connotative ground in the
two languages, but this does not entail the use of similar expressions.
Grey, on the other hand, can both temper the negativity of black
and detract from the positive values associated with white, and this
means that it serves as a mid-way point between extremes. A grey area
‫المنطقة الرمادية‬, for example, is something that is unclear and open to a
variety of interpretations. In translating such an expression, the study
is to propose the adoption of the foreignisation strategy along with a
paraphrase of the expression. So, the result will be )‫المنطقة الرمادية عديدة‬
‫ (غير واضح ويحتمل تفسيرات‬.
Of all the basic primary colours, red is the one that is most
favoured in the coining of metaphorical idioms in English. Extreme
anger can lead to crimes of passion, and murderous intent clearly lies
at the origin of the phrase catch someone red-handed ‫متلبس بالجريمة‬,
bloody hands serving as evidence of the perpetrator’s guilt )Philip
2006:20). As Itten observes (1961:134), red is also the colour of
revolution, because of its links with political fervour and spilled
blood. In this way, the connotations extend outwards from anger of the
individual to that of the collective, giving us the origins of red as the
colour of revolutionaries, most notably manifested in the Communist
red flag. On a less revolutionary note, someone who goes out to paint
the town red ‫ انطلق إلى عالم المرح‬intends to cause metaphorical havoc in
the course of enjoying an evening (Al-Qinai, 2000: 17). Anger is not
restricted to humans, however. The apparent brutality of the animal
kingdom, and the fight for the survival of the fittest, is expressed by
red in tooth and claw ‫شديد الوحشية‬. In addition, the folk belief that bulls
are angered by the colour red is recalled in the British and American
equivalent idiomatic expressions like a red rag to a bull and like a red
flag before a bull ‫ بمثابة راية حمراء أمام ثور هائج‬. Neither of these
expressions is reflected in the Arabic culture, although their meaning
is transparent and easily appreciated by the non-native. Red is, also,
the colour of danger and warnings. Thus a red flag ‫ راية حمراء‬can be
hoisted or waved to indicate danger, such as rough seas on a bathing
beach; and a red alert ‫ اإلنذار األحمر‬is the most serious of all alerts in
military parlance. Unrelated to the emotions is the adoption of red as
the colour of importance and royalty and, by extension, bureaucracy.
Importance is conferred by rolling out the red carpet ‫استقبال حافل‬for
someone – literally giving him/her a royal welcome. Red tape ‫الروتين‬
‫ الحكومي‬is culturally restricted to the United Kingdom, as it refers to
the pinkish-red ribbon which is traditionally used to bind official

documents, and has taken on the extended negative meaning of overly
constrictive bureaucracy (Philip, 2006:21).
Another metonymically-motivated meaning associated with red is
found in finance, where credits are notated in black ink, and debits in
red, the two distinct colours serving to differentiate and highlight the
contrasting sides of the account. The expressions in the red ‫مثقل‬
‫بالديون‬and out of the red/ into the black ‫ غير مدين‬have arisen as a result
of this practice. Red ink ‫الحبر األحمر‬was also used to indicate festivities
in the ecclesiastical calendar, thus red letter day ‫يوم حافل باألحداث السعيدة‬
have no etymological connection with stamps and envelopes, but refer
instead to the metonym whereby festivities were annotated in red. Red
herrings ‫ ذر الرماد في العيون‬do not exploit colour symbolism, but, like
white elephants, are metonymically motivated and culturally
restricted. Smoked herring, which are a reddish-brown in colour, give
off a strong odour, and are used to put blood-hounds of the scent of
their prey; so by extension, a piece of misleading information is a red
herrings.
The English preference for green as the colour of envy and
jealousy is worth noting. In Arabic, jealousy is symbolised by the
colour yellow as in the expression ‫أصفر العين‬, but green takes its place
in English (green with envy, and the green-eyed monster in
Shakespeare’s Othello). Yellow, however, is used in English to refer
to cowardice. English has the idiomatic expressions yellow-bellied
and yellow streak ‫شديد الجُبن‬. The English use of yellow to talk about
print ‫ الصحافة الصفراء‬has no connection with the connotative meanings
of the colour. By extension, the term came to mean scandalous
journalism, much akin to what is now termed the gutter press.
The environmental and ecological meaning of green is based on
the more transparent and immediate relationship between the colour of
plant life and nature in general. The connection between green and
plant life is also present in English colour-related idioms to have green
fingers and to have the rub of the green ‫لديه موهبة الزراعة‬, used to
describe people who have a special ability in cultivating plants. To be
green can, also, give the meaning of to be young and inexperienced ‫قليل‬
‫ الخبرة أو غض‬. This is derived from the metonymic link with green
wood – young wood that is greenish in colour and very supple and
flexible (Philip, 2006:23).
English has one basic term for blue. Unexpected events can be said
to come like a bolt from the blue or simply out of the blue, and are
thus compared to a lightning bolt appearing, quite unexpectedly, when
the sky is calm and clear; this concept of sudden and unsettling change
is expressed in Arabic with ‫على نحو غير متوقع‬. Metonyms stemming
from blue phenomena include once in a blue moon ‫نادر الحدوث‬, used to
describe very rare and unusual events, recalling a similarly infrequent
and noteworthy phenomenon when the moon appears to turn blue.
Another example is the expression to be caught between the devil and
the deep blue sea which refers to finding oneself in a no-win situation,
where either course of action is as risky and undesirable as the other.
The Arabic equivalent, again evoking very different imagery ‫بين المطرقة‬
‫والسندان‬, “to be caught between the anvil and the hammer”; the
pragmatic effect is similar to the English, but no connotative value is
present. Again, blue blood ‫ العرق الملكي‬is not blue, but the expression
recalls the sight of blue veins appearing through white skin, this lack
of exposure to the sun being the real sign of nobility.
The English use of pink in the language often refers to health and
good fortune, as it indicates the colour of a healthy, peaches-and-
cream complexion: in the pink ‫ في صحة جيدة‬, tickled pink ‫في غاية السعادة‬.
Mild embarrassment causes individuals to go pink (in the face) rather
than red ً‫ –مال لون وجهه إلى الحمرة ارتباكًا وخجال‬an illustration of the way in
which the tempered colour reflects the tempered emotional state
(Philip, 2006:28). Arabic, however, prefers ‫ أحمر أو وردى اللون‬to
describe both a healthy complexion and mild embarrassment.
In English, purple is imbued with the notion of sumptuousness,
though often taken to the extreme and thus tinged with negative
connotations: purple prose ‫أسلوب إنشائي منمق‬, and the related
expressions purple passage and purple patch, all of which refer to
excessively ornate passages in literary prose (Philip, 2006:29).
The correspondences between conventional linguistic expressions
and the various meanings attributed to colours observed have a dual
function in language and culture. First of all, it is evident that colour
metaphors are heavily influenced by metonymy, as Niemeier (1998)
points out, because most of the connotative meanings assigned to
colours seem to be grounded, to some extent, in reality. Secondly, the
connotative values of colours that are demonstrated in conventional

linguistic colour-related idioms consolidate folk beliefs about colour
meaning: the language user can appeal to his or her linguistic
knowledge to support a belief such as red means violence, because he
or she can quote linguistic expressions, such as see red and red with
anger ‫ احمر وجهه من شدة الغضب‬as evidence (Philip, 2006:30).
In fact, while the etymology of an idiom can inform us about its
origin, it does not give any indication of how the expression is used,
and in what kind of texts. Some idea of this has been given in this
study. For example, caught red-handed ‫ متلبس بالجريمة‬is not used to talk
about murder or bloody crimes in particular.
3. Sapir–Whorf hypothesis (SWH)
An important principle by which the present paper will be

influenced is the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis (SWH), also known as the
“linguistic relativity hypothesis”. The hypothesis postulates that the
structure of a human being's language influences the manner in which
he or she understands reality and behaves with respect to it (Gullette,
1975: 1). Empirical studies done on the linguistic relativity hypothesis
can generally be divided into three different types: the structurally
centered, the domain centered and the behaviour centered. The
structurally centered approach is what Whorf adopted in his
comparison of Hopi and English in his article “Relation of Habitual
Thought and Behaviour to Language” (1939), which begins with an
observed difference between languages, and then explains the
interpretations of reality that are implicit to the two compared schools.
It then seeks to find evidence for the language’s influence on thought.
Although languages can clearly differ, the structural approach is weak
in its inability to establish a neutral basis for comparison as it is open
to unexpected interpretations of reality (Peek, 2006: 2). Starting from
a domain of experienced reality which can be determined
independently of language, the domain centered approach compares
how various languages select, name and organise it. Behaviour
centered approaches stem from a difference in a behaviour in the
native language. The behaviour observed has clear implications for the
parties involved: in Whorf’s study the final pages are about the
habitual behaviour features of Hopi culture, which according to Whorf
differ significantly in their inner preparations and concentrations.

Most studies carried out on colour categorisation can be attributed to
the domain centered approach, in which the aim is to divide different
colour sensations into classes corresponding to the colour- connoting
words in particular languages. Even though colour categorisation is so
avidly studied, it does not really provide an adequate refutation of the
linguistic relativity hypothesis, since it is limited to a clear cut section
of language that can be easily mapped to human physiology (Peek,
2006: 3).
According to Berlin and Kay (1969) "there appears to be a positive
correlation between general cultural complexity and complexity of
colour vocabulary" (Dedrick, 1998: 2). Berlin and Kay did research on
78 different languages and found that there are universals in the
semantics of colour (Peek, 2006: 3), making linguistic relativity seem
quite plausible. However, there is nothing in the physics of light that
suggests drawing boundaries between colours at one place rather than
another; in this sense our segmentations of the colour spectrum are
arbitrary (Surakat, 2006:22). In the present work, it will be shown that
both colour terms and idioms are two significant manifestations of
culture.
4. The Principle of Translation Equivalence
An important principle that will be employed in this study is the
principle of translation equivalence, which is indispensable to any
discussion of the translation of culturally-bound expressions
(Leonardi, 2000:1). Equivalence can be said to be the central issue in
translation although its definition, relevance, and applicability within
the field of translation theory have caused heated controversy.
The notion of equivalence is undoubtedly one of the most
problematic and controversial areas in the field of translation theory.
This term has been analysed, evaluated and extensively discussed
from different points of view and has been approached from many
different perspectives (Leonardi, 2000:9). The theory of equivalence
has been interpreted by many innovative theorists as Vinay and
Darbelnet, Jakobson, Nida and Taber, and Baker. They have studied
equivalence in relation to the translation process, using different
approaches and have substantially divided it into three main groups.
The first group are those scholars who are in favour of a linguistic
approach to translation and who seem to forget that translation in itself

is not merely a matter of linguistics. In fact, when a message is
transferred from the SL to TL, the translator is also dealing with two
different cultures at the same time. This particular aspect seems to
have been taken into consideration by the second group of theorists
who regard translation equivalence as being essentially a transfer of
the message from the source culture to the target culture (Leonardi,
2000:2). However, the third group of translation scholars seem to
stand in the middle, such as Baker for instance, who claims that
equivalence is used “for the sake of convenience—because most
translators are used to it rather than because it has any theoretical
status” (Kenny, 1998:77).
The study of equivalence in translation has been greatly enriched
by Vinay and Darbelnet's classic course book Comparative Stylistics
of French and English: a Methodology for Translation (1995).
Through the authors’ methodological approach, those who work in the
field of translation have learned to appreciate and respect "le génie de
la langue" or the "culture specific nature" (Vinay and Darbelnet, 1995:
278; cited in Leonardi, 2000:3) of languages. Vinay and Darbelnet
view equivalence-oriented translation as a procedure which ‘replicates
the same situation as in the original, whilst using completely different
wording’. According to them, equivalence is therefore the ideal
method when the translator has to deal with idioms, proverbs, clichés,
nominal or adjectival phrases and the onomatopoeia of animal sounds
(Leonardi, 2000:3).
With respect to equivalent expressions between language pairs,
Vinay and Darbelnet claim that they are acceptable as long as they are
listed in a bilingual dictionary as “full equivalents” (Kenny,
1998:255). However, later they note that glossaries and collections of
idiomatic expressions ‘can never be exhaustive’ (Kenny, 1998:256).
Indeed, they argue that even if the semantic equivalent of an
expression in the SL text is quoted in a dictionary or a glossary, it is
not enough, and it does not guarantee a successful translation (Kenny,
1998:255).
Jakobson (1959: 234), on the other hand, claims that from a
grammatical point of view languages may differ from one another to a
greater or lesser degree, but this does not mean that a translation
cannot be possible, in other words, that the translator may face the
problem of not finding a translation equivalent. He acknowledges that
‘whenever there is deficiency, terminology may be qualified and
amplified by loanwords or loan-translations, neologisms or semantic
shifts, and finally, by circumlocutions’ (Leonardi, 2000:2). There
seems to be some similarity between Vinay and Darbelnet's theory of
translation procedures and Jakobson's theory of translation. Both
theories stress the fact that, whenever a linguistic approach is no
longer suitable to carry out a translation, the translator can rely on
other procedures such as loan-translations, neologisms and the like
(Leonardi, 2000:3).
Nida (1964:159) argued that there are two different types of
equivalence, namely formal equivalence, which in the second edition
by Nida and Taber (1982) is referred to as formal correspondence and
dynamic equivalence. Formal correspondence ‘focuses attention on
the message itself, in both form and content’, unlike dynamic
equivalence which is based upon ‘the principle of equivalent effect’.
In the second edition (1982) of their work, Nida and Taber provide a
more detailed explanation of each type of equivalence (Leonardi,
2000:3). Formal correspondence consists of a TL item which
represents the closest equivalent of a SL word or phrase.
Nida and Taber make it clear that there are not always formal
equivalents between language pairs. They therefore suggest that these
formal equivalents should be used wherever possible if the translation
aims at achieving formal rather than dynamic equivalence. The use of
formal equivalents might at times have serious implications in the TT
since the translation will not be easily understood by the target
audience (Fawcett, 1997). Nida and Taber (1982) defined dynamic
equivalence as “a translation principle according to which a translator
seeks to translate the meaning of the original in such a way that the TL
wording will trigger the same impact on the TC audience as the
original wording did upon the ST audience”. Nida and Taber
(1982:200) argue that “Frequently, the form of the original text is
changed; but as long as the change follows the rules of back
transformation in the source language, of contextual consistency in the
transfer, and of transformation in the receptor language, the message
is preserved and the translation is faithful”.
An extremely interesting discussion of the notion of equivalence

can be found in Baker (1992) who offers a more detailed list of
conditions upon which the concept of equivalence can be defined
(Leonardi, 2000:7). She explores the notion of equivalence at different
levels, in relation to the translation process, including all different
aspects of translation and hence putting together the linguistic and the
communicative approach. She distinguishes between different kinds of
equivalence; equivalence that can appear at word level and above
word level, when translating from one language into another.
Baker acknowledges that, in a bottom-up approach to translation,
equivalence at word level is the first element to be taken into
consideration by the translator. In fact, when the translator starts
analysing the ST s/he looks at the words as single units in order to find
a direct ‘equivalent’ term in the TL. Baker gives a definition of the
term word since it should be remembered that a single word can
sometimes be assigned different meanings in different languages and
might be regarded as being a more complex unit or morpheme. This
means that the translator should pay attention to a number of factors
when considering a single word, such as number, gender and tense
(Baker, 1992:11-12).
As for grammatical equivalence, she notes that grammatical rules
may vary across languages and this may pose some problems in terms
of finding a direct correspondence in the TL. In fact, she claims that
different grammatical structures in the SL and TL may cause
remarkable changes in the way the information or message is carried
across. These changes may induce the translator either to add or to
omit information in the TT because of the lack of particular
grammatical devices in the TL itself. She, moreover, demonstrates that
textual equivalence is used when referring to the equivalence between
a SL text and a TL text in terms of information and cohesion. It is up
to the translator to decide whether or not to maintain the cohesive ties
as well as the coherence of the SL text. His or her decision will be
guided by three main factors, that is, the target audience, the purpose
of the translation and the text type. Moreover, she used pragmatic
equivalence, when referring to implicatures and strategies of
avoidance during the translation process. Implicature is not about what
is explicitly said but what is implied. Therefore, the translator needs to
work out implied meanings in translation in order to get the ST
message across cultures (Leonardi, 2000:8).
5. The Skopos Theory
It is well-known that translation must be oriented by a certain
purpose. In the process of translation, an appropriate strategy should
be mainly determined by the skopos, or purpose of the translation. If a
translation is intended to widen the target addressees’ visions and to
introduce the source culture into the target culture, the translator may
choose foreignisation (Zhao, 2008:3). On the other hand, if the skopos
is to provide a smoother translation without many difficulties for
common readers, the domesticating methods should be used. In other
words, “the end justifies the means” (Reiss and Vermeer, 1984: 101
cited in Zhao, 2008:4).
Under the framework of skopotheorie, foreignisation and
domestication may not contradict with each other. Since any
translation generally involves various purposes, different strategies
have to be taken in order to achieve each of them. The two strategies
can be combined by adopting paraphrase; a domestication-biased
technique. It is to give the meaning of the idiom clearly and
intelligibly in the target language. In this strategy, the meaning would
not be an exact equivalent. For example, the idiom to keep one's finger
on the pulse is paraphrased into Arabic as ‫( راقب الوضع بدقة‬to watch the
situation very carefully). Another example is the idiom to mend the
fence which is paraphrased into Arabic as ‫(سوى الخالفات‬to settle
differences with) (Abu-Ssaydeh 2004: 119).
6. Data analysis:
This paper is an attempt to prove that the most important task for
the translator is to eliminate cultural conflicts, which may impose
obstacles to communication and result in misunderstanding.
Therefore, foreignisation, domestication and paraphrase should be
employed with reference to such culture-bound expressions as English
colour-related idioms. In English culture, there are many colour-
related idioms which relate to all trends of life. Idioms in general form
a very important part of the lexis for they have different functions in
different context. The selected idioms are analysed to show which
strategy is more appropriate and which strategy can help the translated

idiom have its intended effect in the target language. The corpus data
consists of a list of English colour-related idioms collected mainly
from the Cambridge International Dictionary of English, Oxford
English Dictionary and Al-Mawrid English Dictionary. Below, there
is a detailed discussion on each translation strategy and an analysis of
the colour-related idioms that can be translated using each strategy.
(1) Foreignisation (SL-oriented translation):
The term foreignisation (SL-oriented translation) can be translated
into )‫ التغريب (إضفاء الطابع األجنبي‬.This strategy, which translates an
idiom by the nearest equivalent idiom in the target language, works in
two modes: a mode in which there happens to be a TL replica of a SL
idiom and a mode in which the SL idiom is translated literally without
being unintelligible. Occasionally, one might encounter an Arabic
idiom that is a replica of an English idiom. Arabic and English have
the idiom white lie ‫( أكذوبة بيضاء‬lit. a lie told to be polite or to stop
someone from being upset by telling him the truth). The effect of this
strategy, when applicable, is to preserve the impact of the SL idiom
since the translation retains not only the lexical constituents, the
semantic content and the brevity of the SL idiom but also the effect it
may have on the text receiver (Abu-Ssaydeh, 2004:5).
The English Data analysed below are mainly from the Cambridge
International Dictionary of English Language and Oxford English
Dictionary. In addition, some data have been taken from Al-Mawrid
English Dictionary.
1.a Colour-related idioms of English origin that can be
translated using the foreignisation strategy:
Examples are provided in numerical order. The data (1-39) are
taken mainly from Cambridge International Dictionary of English
Language:
1. Wave a white flag (which has the literal meaning of: to give up) is
better translated using the foreignisation strategy into ‫رفع الراية‬
‫ البيضاء‬instead of )‫(استسلم‬.
2. Give the green light (which has the literal meaning of: to give
permission) is translated into ‫ يعطي الضوء األخضر‬using the
foreignisation strategy instead of)‫ (يسمح‬.
3. Black Mark (something you have done that makes people consider
you bad in some way) is translated into ‫نقطة سوداء‬using the
foreignisation model.
4. Black Market (which has the literal meaning of: things bought and
sold, money changed, etc. illegally) has the Arabic replica ‫السوق‬
‫السوداء‬.
5. Black Hole (which has the literal meaning of: an imaginary place
where things are lost) is translated into ‫الثقب األسود (ثقب خيالي حيث تُفقد‬
)‫ األشياء‬using the foreignisation model with providing a paraphrase
of the expression.
6. Black Ice (which has the literal meaning of: a dangerous type of ice
on roads which is so thin that it is the same colour as the road and
cannot be seen by a driver) is translated into ‫الثلج األسود (ثلوج على‬
)‫ الطريق ال يراها السائق بسهوله ولذا فهي في غاية الخطورة‬using the
foreignisation model with providing a paraphrase of the expression.
7. Black comedy or black humour (which has the literal meaning of:
amusing way of looking at something that is serious or sad) is
translated into ‫ الكوميديا السوداء‬using the foreignisation model.
8. Black Death (plague) is translated into )‫ الموت األسود (الطاعون‬using
the foreignisation strategy.
9. Black economy (lit: the income of those people who avoid paying
taxes) is rendered into ‫االقتصاد األسود (أموال وممتلكات من ال يدفعون‬
)‫ الضرائب‬following the foreignisation strategy with providing a
paraphrase of the expression.
10. Black Magic (which has the literal meaning of: a type of magic
that is believed to use evil spirits to do harmful things) is rendered
into ‫ السحر األسود‬using the foreignisation model.
11. Black Spot (lit. a place on a road that is considered to be
dangerous because several accidents have happened there or a
place where something is particularly bad) is translated into ‫البقعة‬
‫ السوداء‬using the foreignisation model.
12. Blueprint (lit. an early plan or design which explains how
something might be achieved) is translated into )‫)مخطط أو برنامج عمل‬
‫ الطبعة الزرقاء‬using the foreignisation model with providing a
paraphrase of the expression.
13. Blue Cheese (lit. cheese with strong flavor i.e. Roquefort) is
rendered into ‫الجبن األزرق‬.

14. Green card (a document giving a foreigner permission to live and
work in the US) is translated into ‫البطاقة الخضراء‬using the
foreignisation model.
15. Black sheep (which literally means outcast, especially of a family
as a single black sheep among a family of white sheep) is
foreignised to render the Arabic equivalent ‫الخروف األسود‬or the
slang expression ‫ابن البطة السوداء‬.
16. Blacklist is translated into ‫ القائمة السوداء‬following the foreignisation
strategy.
17. Black belt (the highest awarded belt in the martial arts) is translated
into ‫ الحزام األسود‬using the foreignisation strategy.
18. Black box (literally a small machine that records information about
an aircraft during its flight, and which is used to discover the cause
of an accident) is translated into ‫ الصندوق األسود‬using the
foreignisation strategy.
19. To paint a black picture of a situation (to describe it as extremely
bad is translated into ‫يرسم صورة سوداء للموقف‬using the foreignisation
strategy.
20. Blue-collar workers (laborers) is translated into ‫أصحاب الياقات الزرقاء‬
using the foreignisation strategy.
21. If someone is/turns/goes red (blood goes to his/her face because of
anger or embarrassment) is translated into ‫احمر وجهه غضبا أو خجال‬
22. Like a red rag to a bull (angry or violent reaction) is translated into
‫ بمثابة بساط أحمر أمام ثورٍ هائج‬using the foreignisation strategy.
(translation mine)
23. Red alert (the state of being ready to deal with a sudden dangerous
situation) is translated into ‫ إنذار احمر‬using the foreignisation
strategy.
24. White-collar workers (employers) translated into ‫أصحاب الياقات‬
‫ البيضاء‬using the foreignisation strategy.
25. White knight is translated into ‫ الفارس األبيض‬using the foreignisation
strategy.
26. White magic (magic used only to do good things) is translated into
‫ السحر األبيض‬using the foreignisation strategy.
27. Golden age is translated into ‫ العصر الذهبي‬using the foreignisation
strategy.
28. Golden opportunity is translated into ‫ فرصة ذهبية‬using the
29. Silver jubilee (a date that is 25 years after the date of an important
event) is translated into ‫ اليوبيل الفضي‬using the foreignisation
strategy.
30. Green paper (a document prepared by the British Government for
anyone interested to study) could be rendered into ‫الوثيقة الخضراء‬
using the foreignisation model.
31. White heat (the very high temperature at which metal gives out a
white light) could be rendered into‫ الحرارة البيضاء‬using the
foreignisation model. A paraphrase could be provided as well to
clarify the meaning: ‫درجة حرارة مرتفعة يصدر بسببها ضوء أبيض‬.
32. The White House is translated into )‫البيت األبيض (مقر الرئيس األمريكي‬
33. Yellow fever is translated into ‫ الحمى الصفراء‬using the foreignisation
model.
34. White pages is translated into )‫ البيان األبيض (تقرير حكومي رسمي‬using
the foreignisation strategy along with a paraphrase of the
expression.
35. Golden Rule is translated into ‫القاعدة الذهبية (التي تقول أن على المرء أن‬
)‫ يعامل الناس كما يحب أن يعاملوه‬using the foreignisation model along
with a paraphrase of the expression.
36. White paper (a government report on particular subject giving
information and details of future planned laws) could be translated
into‫ البيان األبيض‬using the foreignisation model with providing a
paraphrase to the expression ‫تقرير حكومي رسمي‬.
37. To kill the goose that lays the golden egg (to destroy something
that provides a steady, long-term gain for the sake of a quick
reward) is translated into ‫ يقتل اإلوزة التي تبيض ذهبًا‬using the
foreignisation strategy the following examples (40-50) are mainly
from Oxford English Dictionary:
38. Blue Book (lit. register or list of prominent persons, information
issued by the government or school examination booklet) is
translated into ‫سجل بأسماء‬-‫الكتاب األزرق (كتاب تصدره الحكومة حول قضية ما‬
)‫دفتر امتحانات أزرق الغالف‬-‫ المشاهير‬using the foreignisation strategy
with providing a paraphrase of the expression.

39. Grey area (lit. unclear and easily disputed, a context or section, as
of a law, which is easily disputable; a ‘murky are’) is rendered into
its replica ‫ المنطقة الرمادية‬using the foreignisation model.
40. Green belt (Chiefly British: a belt of trees) is rendered into ‫الحزام‬
‫ األخضر‬using the foreignisation model.
41. To put (someone) on a blacklist (in disgrace or out of favor with
someone) is translated into ‫ يُدرج (شخصَا ما) في القائمة السوداء‬using the
42. White man’s burden could be translated into ‫عبء الرجل األبيض (ادعاء‬
)‫ يزعم أن من واجب الشعوب البيضاء أن تتولى تثقيف الملونين وتمدينهم‬using the
foreignisation strategy with providing a paraphrase of the
expression.
43. White supremacy is translated into )‫تفوق البيض (المزعوم على الملونين‬
using the foreignisation model.
44. White slavery is translated into ‫ الرق األبيض‬using the foreignisation
model.
45. To be shown the red card is translated into ‫اظهرت له البطاقة الحمراء‬
46. Yellow journalism/press is translated into ‫ الصحافة الصفراء‬using the
47. Black Friday (the Friday after the U. S. Thanksgiving Day holiday.
A major Christmas shopping day and so-called “because it's the
day retailer balance sheets move out of the red and into the black”
(CNN.com, Nov. 29, 2002). Hence, it should be translated into
‫ الجمعة السوداء‬using the foreignisation strategy. A paraphrase of the
meaning should be provided to explain the expression to the Arabic
language receiver:
‫(الجمعة السوداء أو (البالك فرايدي) كما تسمى في أمريكا تأتي بعد عيد الشكر الذي يوافق‬
‫الخميس األخير من نوفمبر من كل عام حيث تقدم المحالت التجارية تخفيضات هائلة سعيًا‬
.)‫إلى جذب اكبر عدد ممكن من المستهلكين‬
48. Black Thursday (Oct. 24, 1929) is translated into ‫ الخميس األسود‬using
the foreignisation model but a paraphrase of the expression should
be provided as well: ‫الخميس األسود (يوم انهيار بورصة وول ستريت في الرابع‬
)0929 ‫ والعشرين من أكتوبر‬the following examples (51-53) are taken
from Al-Mawrid English dictionary:

49. White Plague could be translated into )‫ الطاعون األبيض (داء السل‬using
the foreignisation model.
50. Yellow book is translated into ‫الكتاب األصفر (تقرير رسمي أصفر الغالف‬
)‫ تصدره الحكومة عن قضية سياسية‬using the foreignisation strategy along
with a paraphrase of the expression.
(2) Domestication (TL-oriented translation):
Although idioms are thought of as being bound to cultures, many
idioms have equivalents across many different languages. The
divergent historical affiliations of English and Arabic in addition to
the cross-cultural differences they involve will make the number of
English and Arabic idioms that demonstrate full correspondence very
limited. In many cases, the lexical constituency of an idiom in SL may
differ from its counterpart in TL though the semantic content of the
idiom may be identical across the two languages (Abu-Ssaydeh,
2004:5). In such cases, domestication can provide an appropriate
translation.
The term domestication (TL-oriented translation) can be translated
into )‫التوطين (إضفاء الطابع المحلي‬. Like foreignisation, the domestication
strategy works in two modes: a mode in which there is an equivalent
idiom in the TL and a mode which provides a paraphrase of the
expression. For example, the English idiom Purple Heart (American
medal given to soldiers who have been injured in war) when translated
into Arabic using the foreignisation strategy will produce ‫القلب‬
‫األرجواني‬, which will be unintelligible to the Arabic-speaking receiver.
In its first model, the domestication strategy will, however, produce
‫وسام جرحى الحرب‬, which is more appropriate. In such cases an English
idiom can be translated by applying the domestication strategy, i.e.
finding an idiom in the TL which is semantically equivalent to the
English idiom and creates the same impact on the receiver of the
translated text (Abu-Ssaydeh, 2004:6). Other original English colour-
related idioms that can be translated following the domestication
model are listed below.

domesticated:
The data (1-20) are taken mainly from Cambridge International

Dictionary of English Language:
1. Red herring (a topic thrown into a discussion in order to
mislead):‫ ذر الرماد في العيون‬instead of ‫سمكة رنجة حمراء‬.
2. If you don’t give a red cent for something, you don’t give it any
value. This expression is translated into ‫ ال يعطي له باال‬using the
domestication strategy.
3. White wedding is translated into ‫ حفل الزفاف‬using the domestication
strategy instead of ‫زفاف أبيض‬.
4. White goods (large electrical goods for the house) is translated
into ‫ األجهزة الكهربائية‬using the domestication strategy instead of
‫بضائع بيضاء‬.
5. To scream/ shout blue murder (to make a lot of noise and
complain loudly) is translated into ‫ يحدث ضجة‬instead of ‫يصرخ جريمة‬
‫زرقاء‬. (translation mine)
6. Be browned off (tired and annoyed) could be rendered into ‫خائر‬
‫القوى‬. (translation mine)
7. To brown bag (Am. is to have a meal in the middle of the day esp.
with other people usually in a brown paper bag) can be translated
into ‫يتناول وجبه سريعة‬.
8. Silver-tongued (lawyer): speaking in a way that charms or
persuades people could be translated into ‫ بليغ وصاحب حجة‬using the
domestication model instead of ‫ذو لسان فضي اللون‬. (translation mine)
9. Greenhouse could be rendered into ‫ الصوبة الزراعية‬using the
domestication strategy instead of ‫بيت أخضر‬.
10. Pink-collar (refers to a particular class of jobs once only filled by
women) could be translated into ‫وظائف نسائية‬.
11. White tie )the most formal evening dress code in Western fashion(
can be translated into ‫لباس سهرة رسمي للرجال‬
12. Scarlet (Grossly offensive) is translated into ‫ داعر أو فاسق‬instead of
‫قرمزي اللون‬.
13. White water (frothy water as in waterfalls) is translated into ‫المياه‬
‫ المُزبدة‬instead of ‫المياه البيضاء‬.
14. Golden handcuffs (Rewards and penalties designed to discourage
key employees from leaving a company) is translated into ‫الشرط‬
‫الجزائي‬instead of ‫األصفاد الذهبية‬. (translation mine).

15. Golden parachute/ handshake (a clause in an executive’s
employment contract specifying that he/she will receive large
benefits in the case of the employment termination) is translated
into ‫ مكافأة نهاية الخدمة‬instead of ‫المنطاد الذهبي أو المصافحة الذهبية‬.
16. Golden boy, girl (someone who is successful and admired) is
translated into ‫ الطفل المعجزة‬instead of ‫الفتى الذهبي أو الفتاة الذهبية‬.
17. Black marketer is translated into ‫المتعاملون بالسوق السوداء‬.
18. Blue-black could be rendered into ‫ أزرق داكن‬using the
19. Blue chip could be rendered into )‫ السهم المربح (في البورصة‬by
adopting the domestication model.
20. Black Maria (dated-a police vehicle used to transport prisoners) is
translated into ‫عربة السجناء‬.
The data (21-36) are taken mainly from Oxford English Dictionary:
21. Between the devil and the deep blue sea is translated either into ‫بين‬
‫( المطرقة والسندان‬literally: between the hammer and the anvil) , ‫بين‬
) ‫شقي الرحى‬literally: between the two blocks of the grinding stone (
, ‫ كالمستجير من الرمضاء بالنار‬, (literally: like someone who seeks fire
to avoid scorching heat) : instead of ‫بين الشيطان والبحر األزرق‬.
22. Red-handed (in the middle of an illegal act): ‫ متلبس بجريمة‬instead of
‫أحمر اليدين‬.
23. Coal-black or As black as coal (very black) ‫ أسود كالفحم‬using the
24. Pitch-black (completely black) is translated into ‫أسود حالك‬using the
25. Born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth is translated into ‫ولد وبفمه‬
‫ ملعقة من ذهب‬using the domestication strategy.
26. In a brown study (absorbed in one's thoughts) ‫استغراق عميق في التفكير‬
instead of ‫دراسة ذات لون بني‬.
27. Every cloud has a silver lining (be hopeful because difficult times
always lead to better days) could be translated into ‫في كل منحة محنة‬
using the domestication model. )translation mine)
28. Not worth a red cent (Informal: a cent considered as a trivial
amount of money) can be translated into ‫ال قيمة له‬.

29. Red eye (Am. Flight taken at night) can be translated into ‫رحلة‬
‫ طيران ليلية‬following the domestication model.
30. If someone looks through rose-coloured glasses (with an attitude
that things are better than they really are) is translated into ‫يرى‬
‫الحياة بلون وردي‬.
31. If someone starts to go grey (his hair is becoming grey) is
translated into ‫ اشتعل رأسه شيبا‬using the domestication strategy
instead of ‫أصبح رماديًا‬. (translation mine)
32. The pot calling the kettle black (a worse offender citing the guilt
of a lesser offender) could be rendered into the Arabic idiomatic
expression ‫( الجمل ال يرى حدبته‬the camel doesn't see his own hump)
by adopting the domestication strategy.
33. Blue-sky law is translated into ‫ قانون ينظم بيع األسهم المالية‬using the
domestication model.
34. True blue (Loyal, faithful) is translated into ‫وفي أو مخلص‬.
35. Brown shirt (Fascists or Nazis) is translated into ‫ النازي‬instead of ‫ذو‬
‫القميص البني‬.
36. Yellow dog is translated into ‫ مقاوم لنقابات العمال‬using the
domestication model.
The data (37-40) are mainly from Al-Mawrid English Dictionary:
37. Blue movies, joke (with explicit sex) is translated into ‫فيلم إباحي‬
using the domestication strategy instead of ‫فيلم أزرق‬. (translation
mine).
38. Bluenose (A puritanical person) is translated into ‫المؤيد لقانون أخالقي‬
‫صارم‬instead of ‫ذو األنف األزرق‬.
39. Yellow dog contract is translated into ‫ عقد يتنصل فيه العامل‬:‫العقد التنصلي‬
‫من أي صلة بنقابة العمال‬.
40. White feather is translated into ‫رمز الجبن‬using the domestication
strategy.
(3) Paraphrase (domestication-biased strategy):

The second mode of domestication, “paraphrase”, is defined by
Baker (1992: 71-78) as “expressing the meaning of an item in other
words because no match can be found in the TL or because of
differences in stylistic preferences of the SL and TL”. This is by far

the most common way of translating idioms when a match cannot be
found in the target language or when it seems inappropriate to use
idiomatic language in the target text because of differences in stylistic
preferences of the source and the target languages (Baker, 1992:74-
75). According to Baker (1992, 71-72), the way in which an idiom can
be translated into another language depends on several factors:
whether an idiom with a similar meaning is available in the target
language, how significant are the specific lexical items which
constitute an idiom, etc. In a target-text oriented translation idioms can
be paraphrased, omitted or replaced with idioms of similar meaning.
In a source-language oriented translation a source language idiom can
be inserted in the text or calqued. Thus, whenever the two cultures and
the language pair in question are very different, paraphrasing tends to
be the safest and the most commonly used strategy (Abu-Ssaydeh,
2004:6).
translated into Arabic using paraphrase:
The data (1-46) are taken mainly from Cambridge International
Dictionary of English Language:
1. In the red (burdened with debts): ‫ مثقل بالديون‬instead of‫في األحمر‬.
2. White elephant (a project that needs a great deal of care but on
which return is very low): ‫مشروع يحتاج الكثير من العناية مقابل مردود ضئيل‬
instead of‫ فيل أبيض‬.
3. Purple prose (a style of writing or speaking which is unnecessarily
complicated and contains too much details): ‫أسلوب إنشائي منمق‬
instead of ‫نثر أرجواني اللون‬.
4. Green back (a US Dollar): ‫ورقة نقدية أمريكية‬instead of ‫الظهر األخضر‬.
5. Red tape (bureaucratic seemingly time-wasting paperwork): ‫الروتين‬
‫ الحكومي‬instead of ‫الشريط األحمر‬.
6. Blue ribbon/ Blue riband (first rate prize): ‫الجائزة األولى‬, instead of
‫الشريط األزرق‬.
7. Black and blue (literally, an injury caused by a blow to the body,
making a mark on the skin) is translated into ‫ كدمة‬using the
paraphrase strategy, as in for example: Her face was badly black
and blue in the crash. ‫اسفر االصطدام عن حدوث كدمات في وجهها‬.
8. Black and white can be translated into ‫ شديد االختالف‬following the
paraphrase strategy when it is used in a context to mean (clearly

distinct or different as in as different as black and white)
Moreover, the same colour-related expression can be paraphrased,
as well, to render ‫) بوضوح‬obvious and clear, as in print( as in ‘there
it is, in black and white’.
9. Black mood is translated into ‫ مزاج سيء‬following the paraphrase
strategy instead of ‫مزاج أسود‬.
10. Blackboard jungle (the way of life and activity connected with
schools, esp. when it is seen as difficult and confusing) could be
translated into ‫ المناهج الدراسية المعقدة‬using the paraphrase strategy.
(translation mine)
11. Blue blood (born into a family which belongs to the highest social
class, or of a royal origin) is translated into ‫ العرق الملكي‬using the
paraphrase strategy instead of‫ دم أزرق‬.
12. Blue law (a law that limits activities, such as shopping or working
on Sundays) is translated into ‫القانون الذي يوصي بتقليل النشاطات التجارية‬
‫ في أيام األحد‬using the paraphrase strategy instead of ‫القانون األزرق‬.
13. Blue-eyed boy (Am. Fair-haired boy: liked and treated well) is
translated into ‫الفتى المدلل‬using the paraphrase strategy. (translation
mine)
14. Bluestocking (an intelligent highly educated woman and therefore
not approved of by some men) is translated into ‫امرأة مثقفة شديدة الذكاء‬
using the paraphrase strategy.
15. Green with envy (envious) is translated into ‫حسود‬using the
paraphrase strategy.
16. Greenhorn (trainee, beginner) is translated into ‫ مبتدأ‬using the
17. In the pink (in good health) is translated into ‫ في صحة جيدة‬using the
18. Pink slip: (a termination notice from a job) is translated into ‫إخطار‬
‫بالفصل من وظيفة‬using the paraphrase strategy. (translation mine)
19. Pink elephants (when someone has Pink elephants he imagines
seeing something because he is drunk (humorous). This expression
could be translated into ‫ خياالت أو توهمات‬using the paraphrase
strategy.
20. Green ban (when a trade union prevents building on any area of
land of environmental importance) could be translated into ‫حظر‬
‫البناء على األراضي الزراعية‬.
21. Black out (to lose consciousness- loss of electricity-hiding
information) could be translated, according to the context, into
either ‫انقطاع التيار الكهربائي –يفقد الوعي‬- ‫ كبت الرأي أو الخبر‬using the
22. in the black (to be out of debt) can be translated into ‫غير مدين‬.
23. As black as thunder (very angry) is translated into ‫شديد الغضب‬.
24. Black coffee is translated into‫ قهوة سادة‬using the paraphrase model.
25. Black country (industrial area in the West Midlands of England) is
translated into ‫ المنطقة الصناعية بإنجلترا‬instead of ‫بلدة سوداء‬.
26. Red hot )exciting) translated into ‫ ملتهب انفعاالً أو حماسة‬using the
paraphrase strategy instead of ‫ ساخن أحمر‬.
27. Red-letter day (specially happy, memorable and important day) is
translated into ‫ يوم حافل باألحداث السعيدة‬using the paraphrase strategy.
28. As white as a sheet (pale) is translated into‫ شاحب اللون‬using the
29. White horses (Br.) / white caps (Am.) (waves white at the top) is
translated into ‫ أمواج مُزبدة‬using the paraphrase strategy.
30. Golden goose (something which is to your financial advantage) is
translated into‫ مشروع تجاري يدر الربح الكثير‬.
31. White stick (Br.) / white cane (Am.) (a white-colored stick that
people who are blind use) is translated into ‫ عصا الكفيف‬using the
32. Yellow ) cowardly( is translated into ‫ جبان‬using the paraphrase
strategy.
33. Once in a blue moon )very rarely) is translated into ‫نادرًا وبصورة‬
‫استثنائية‬.
34. Out of the blue (suddenly) can be rendered into ‫على نحو غير متوقع‬.
35. The blues (a type of slow mournful music, originally from the
southern US) can be translated into ‫أغنية كئيبة زنجية األصل‬.
36. in a blue funk about something (in a state of anxiety, fear and
confusion) can be paraphrased ‫في حالة خوف وترقب‬.
37. Black look (is one that is full of anger and hate) is translated into
‫ نظرة غاضبة‬following the paraphrase strategy.
38. If a person goes over a piece of writing with a blue pencil, he
removes some words to improve it or make it acceptable, can be
translated into ‫ يعيد صياغة الشيء أو ينقح‬instead of ‫يعيد الكتابة بقلم أزرق‬.

39. Whiter than white (means never doing anything wrong) is
translated into ‫ شديد النقاء‬using the paraphrase strategy.) translation
mine)
40. Roll out the red carpet )to give an important person a special
welcome) can be paraphrased to the Arabic expression ‫استقبال حافل‬.
41. Having a green thumb or finger (able to make plants grow well)
could be translated into ‫ حدائقي جيد‬using the paraphrase strategy.
42. Blackleg (replacement workers used during a strike) is translated
into ‫ مفسد اإلضراب‬using the paraphrase strategy.
43. Purple in the face (dark red colour face because of being angry) is
translated into ‫ احمر وجهه من شدة الغضب‬using the paraphrase strategy.
44. Whitewash (gloss over) is translated into ‫تبرئة بإجراء تحقيق شكلي أو‬
‫بتقديم بيانات محرفة‬.
45. White hope (a person or thing which people hope will be very
successful in the near future) is translated into ‫ينتظره مستقبل باهر‬.
46. White Christmas (in which there is a layer of snow on the ground)
is translated into ‫عيد الميالد الذي تتساقط فيه الثلوج‬. (translation mine)
The data (47-66) are taken mainly from Oxford English
Dictionary:
47. Grey matter (the substance of a person’s brain and refers to the
ability to think, informal: intelligence) is translated according to the
context into, either ‫ مادة الدماغ‬or ‫الذكاء‬, using the paraphrase strategy.
48. Tickled pink (very happy) is translated into ‫ في غاية السعادة‬using the
49. Born to the purple is translated into‫ ينتمى إلى أسرة عريقة‬using the
paraphrase strategy. (translation mine)
50. White sale (the selling of towels, bed linens, sheets and similar
goods at a reduced price) is translated into ‫تخفيضات على أسعار‬
‫ المنسوجات القطنية‬using the paraphrase strategy.
51. Brown out )partial loss of electricity so named as it typically
causes light to dim( can be rendered into ‫تعتيم جزئي‬.
52. Brown- nose)flattering someone in a position of power in order to
obtain favours( can be translated into‫ يتملق‬instead of ‫أنف بني‬.
(translation mine)
53. As brown as a berry (having the skin tanned brown by the sun) is
translated into ‫ذو بشرة برونزية اللون‬. (translation mine)

54. To look green around, about or at the gills )looking or feeling ill or
nauseous) is translated into ‫( تبدو علية عالمات المرض‬translation mine)
55. Redneck (a slang term used in reference to poor white farmers in
the Southern United States) ‫ المزارعون في جنوب الواليات المتحدة‬instead
of ‫رقبة حمراء‬.
56. To see red (to be extremely angry) is translated into ً‫استشاط غضبا‬.
(translation mine)
57. Paint the town red (informal go out and enjoy oneself flamboyantly)
could be rendered into ‫ انطلق إلى عالم المرح‬using the paraphrase
strategy.
58. Look on the black side (seeing only the bad features of something)
is translated into ‫ يرى الجانب المظلم‬using the paraphrase strategy.
59. Yellow bellied (extremely timid, not brave) could be translated
into ‫شديد الجُبن‬.
60. Grey to mean old could be translated into ‫ عتيق‬using the
paraphrase model.
61. Red-faced (embarrassed) is translated into ‫ يشعر بالحرج‬using the
paraphrase model.
62. Red-hot enthusiasm is translated into ‫ حماس متوهج‬following the
paraphrase model.
63. As good as gold (well-behaved and obedient) is translated into
‫ مهذب للغاية‬using the paraphrase model.
64. With flying colours (with distinction): ‫ بتفوق‬instead of ‫مع ألوان طائرة‬.
65. Grass is always greener on the other side (life is always better
anywhere else): ‫ الحياة دائمًا أفضل فى مكانٍ آخر‬instead of ‫العشب أكثر‬
‫اخضرارا على الجانب اآلخر‬.
66. To talk a blue streak (to talk very much and very rapidly) is
translated into ‫ يثرثر‬using the paraphrase strategy.
The data (67-78) are taken mainly from Al-Mawrid English
Dictionary:
67. To be green: (immature or inexperienced) is translated into ‫غض أو‬
‫ قليل الخبرة‬using the paraphrase strategy.
68. Give/lend colour to could be translated into ‫ يضفى‬using the
69. Green-eyed (jealousy) is translated into ‫ تأكل قلبه نار الغيرة‬using the

70. Yellow Peril (the exaggerated fear of the large population of
China and its population growth rate) could be translated into ‫الخطر‬
‫ األصفر (التخوف من الزيادة السكانية) في الصين‬using the paraphrase
strategy.
71. Blue (literally sad) is translated into ‫حزين أو كئيب‬using the
paraphrase strategy instead of ‫أزرق‬.
72. Black Dog day (melancholy, depression) is translated into ‫يوم حزين‬
using the paraphrase strategy.
73. To blue one’s money (spendthrift) could be translated into ‫ينفق‬
‫بتبذير‬.
74. Bolt from the blue is translated into ‫مفاجأة وغير متوقع البتة‬.
75. Raised to the purple (refers to appointment as a Cardinal in the
Roman Catholic Church) is translated into ‫ تقلد رتبة الكاردينال‬.
76. White-hot (to describe the strength of feeling) is translated into
‫شديد التوهج‬.
77. White-livered is translated into ‫أو جبان رعديد‬.
78. White way is translated into ‫شارع يبهر العيون بأضوائه الساطعة‬using the
The above analysis thus shows that such complex and culture-
specific multi-word units as colour-related idioms can be translated
through a variety of strategies, depending on the idiom itself, its
cultural background and the relationship between the source language
and the target language. Long debates have been held to discuss when
to paraphrase, when to use the nearest local equivalent by adopting
domestication and when to translate literally by adopting
foreignisation. However, the above analysis has shown that along with
foreignisation and domestication, culture-bound expressions as colour-
related idioms are smoothly translatable by adopting “Paraphrase”.
As far as data collection is concerned, the study of the translation
of colour-related idioms of English origin has depended on the
comparison between the translation strategies adopted in terms of their
equivalence and competence. The above sample included 173 English
idioms collected mainly from the Cambridge International Dictionary
of English, Oxford English Dictionary, and Al-Mawrid English
Dictionary.. This dictionary have been particularly chosen because
they it is widely known reliable dictionary usually referred to by
English and Arabic native speakers.
The results of this data analysis show that:
1- Fifty English colour-related idioms have been translated by
adopting the foreignisation strategy as Black magic, Blue cheese and
Green card; twelve of these translations needed to be supported by
providing a paraphrase of the expression as in White man’s burden,
Black Friday, and Golden Rule. By applying this strategy, a source
language idiom is replaced by a target language idiom or replica that
serves the same purpose in the target language culture.
2- Forty English colour-related idioms have been translated by
adopting the domestication strategy as in the translation of Red-
handed, in a brown study, bluenose and silver-tongued.
3- Seventy eight English idioms have been translated using the
paraphrase strategy as in to blue one’s money, yellow bellied, as good
as gold, and with flying colours.
The above analysis shows that different strategies could be
adopted in translating colour-related idioms of English origin. Besides
foreignisation and domestication, paraphrase has the power of
transmitting the meaning from the SL to the TL in a comprehensible
form to the target language receiver.
7. Conclusion
The present paper has journeyed through colour-related idioms of
English origin and their translations. In this study, different translation
strategies have been explored to find out which strategy is more
appropriate in translating English colour-related idioms. Culturally-
bound expressions as colour-related idioms are among prominent
translation problems, especially when translation occurs between two
distinct languages like English and Arabic which diverge both
linguistically and culturally.
If language were just a classification for a set of general or
universal concepts, it would be easy to translate from any SL to any
TL. In this regard, Culler (1976) believes that languages are not
nomenclatures and the concepts of one language may differ radically
from those of another, since each language articulates or organises the
world differently, and languages do not simply name categories; they
articulate their own (p.21-2). The conclusion likely to be drawn from
what Culler (1976) writes is that one of the troublesome problems of
translation is the disparity among languages. The bigger the gap

between the SL and the TL, the more difficult the transfer of a
message between the two languages is.
This paper offers a descriptive content analysis of English colour-
related idioms. It explores the translation of a number of colour-
related idioms within the overall context of Venuti’s domestication
and foreignisation dichotomy. It is a practical attempt to demonstrate
that “Paraphrase” as a mode of domestication is a powerful strategy in
translating English colour-related idioms that can be applied when no
equivalent is found in the TL because of cultural divergences.
“Paraphrase”, is proved to be the most common way of translating
idioms when a match cannot be found in the target language. For
example, the English idiomatic binomial expression Blue ribbon
should be paraphrased into ‫ الجائزة األولى‬instead of rendering it literally
into ‫ الشريط األزرق‬using foreignisation.
To conclude, it can be inferred from this paper that domestication
strategies, including paraphrasing and translation using equivalents,
and foreignised translations complement each other. In other words,
applying different translation strategies is one of the tools translators
use to overcome translation problems.
The paper, thus, has come to the conclusion that: along with the
two translation strategies presented by Venuti, paraphrase is verified
as a significant strategy when translating English colour-related idiom.
“Paraphrase” as a TL-biased technique has the effect of creating a
liberal translation of the SL. It has been reached that whenever the two
cultures represented in the two languages in question are very
different, translation by paraphrase is the most acceptable strategy.
References
Primary Sources:

Cambridge International Dictionary of English
Oxford English Dictionary
Al-Mawrid English Dictionary
Secondary Sources:
Abu-Ssaydeh, A.F. (2004). Translation of English idioms into Arabic.
Available:<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?
bookid=Babel50:2&artid = 237052692> Retrieved: December 31, 2008
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Corresponding Author:
Amal Abdel Sattar M. Metwally
Bachelor of Arts, Department of English Language Literature and Simultaneous
Interpretation, Faculty of Humanities, Al-Azhar University, Cairo
Phone no. 01000 690 18 - 2 409 64 25
Address: 36, Zahraa Nasr City, First Stage, Apt. 31, Cairo, Egypt.
Email Address: amal_metwally@yahoo.com

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Strategies for translating English colour – related idoms into Arabic

Strategies for Translating English Colour-Related

Amal Abdel Sattar Metwally, Neveen Hassan Khalil,

133 )2102 ‫ (إبريل – يونيه‬40 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 130

131 )2102 ‫ (إبريل – يونيه‬40 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 131

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 136

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 101

- change the order of the words in it;

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 102

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 100

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 101

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 106

An important principle by which the present paper will be

109 )2102 ‫ (إبريل – يونيه‬40 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 111

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 112

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 110

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 111

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 116

119 )2102 ‫ (إبريل – يونيه‬40 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬

2.a Colour-related idioms of English origin that can be

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 111

110 )2102 ‫ (إبريل – يونيه‬40 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 112

(3) Paraphrase (domestication-biased strategy):

113 )2102 ‫ (إبريل – يونيه‬40 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 110

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 111

116 )2102 ‫ (إبريل – يونيه‬40 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 116

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 161

160 )2102 ‫ (إبريل – يونيه‬40 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬

)2102 ‫ يونيه‬- ‫ (إبريل‬01 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬ 162

163 )2102 ‫ (إبريل – يونيه‬40 ‫ اجمللد‬- ‫حوليات آداب عني مشس‬

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