A Study of English Translation of Colloquial Expressions in Two Translations of Jamalzadeh: Once Upon a Time and Isfahan Is Half the World Elham Jalalpour English Department, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Iran Hossein Heidari Tabrizi English Department, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Iran Abstract—The purpose of this study was to explore the translation of one of the sub-categories of culture- bound items that is colloquial and slang expressions from Persian to English in two works by Jamalzadeh, Yeki Bud, Yeki Nabud translated by Moayyed & Sprachman and Sar o Tah e Yek Karbas translated by Heston. Applying Newmark’s (1988b) framework, the type and frequency of translation procedures applied by translators as well as the effectiveness of the translators in preserving the level of colloquialism of source texts were determined. The results of this descriptive study revealed that the translators had applied 6 procedures: synonymy (%51), paraphrase (%26.5), literal (%8.5), descriptive equivalent (%2.5 ), couplet (%2) , shift (%1), omission (%5) and mistranslation (%3.5). As for maintaining the informal style of the source texts, the co- translators of the book of Yeki, Sprachman (native English translator) and Moayyed (native Persian translator) have been more consistent and successful in preserving the tone of the original text than Heston (native English translator of Sar). This success can be partly justified by the acquaintance of Moayyed with Persian language and culture making the correct recognition and translation of expressions possible. Index Terms—translation, colloquialism, Newmark, culture, equivalent I. INTRODUCTION Colloquial expressions are among the cultural elements of a society that may get the translator into trouble while rendering them. How can he/she render them to redefine the author’s intended meaning successfully? Sometimes, the researcher has faced some translated texts that their colloquial expressions could be rendered in a better way to be more comprehensible for the target audience and could transfer the author’s intention in a more appropriate way. Conveying what the source language writer or speaker means is a crucial matter in translation studies. Based on the nature of some writings or even style of writers, a number of colloquial expressions may be found in various texts that make them specific from the translation point of view. Unfortunately, misunderstanding of colloquial expressions in different texts has resulted in bad and sometimes awful translations that could not meet the expectations of the target language reader and fall short of expectations of the critics. The purpose of the present study is to study the way the selected Persian-English translators have treated colloquial expressions, the degree to which they used Newmark’s procedures, and finally the effectiveness of the translators in transferring the colloquial/slang words and expression in terms of preserving both meaning and register that is the informal tone. II. LITERATURE REVIEW A. Language Varieties Ratnan Ingrum (2009, pp.37-39) has divided the language varieties into the following sub-categories: a. Standard Language: Standard language is mainly used for educational and governmental aims. Trudgill (1992, p.70 in Ratnan Ingrum, 2009) argues that “standard language is the variety of English which is usually used in printed from, is spoken by educated native speakers and which is normally taught in schools and to non-native speaker learning the language”. b. Cant: Cant is used for occupational and secretive purposes. Cant refers to the limited, technical words and expression of any specific group, commonly used by underworld group (criminal, tramps and beggar, etc). As a result, it is often called “thieves” or “underworld” slang. When the underworld wants to talk or to communicate among themselves secretly, they use a kind of language that is ‘secret language’. These expressions are not found in the slang language. c. Jargon: Jargon refers to a collection of expressions used by one social or occupational group that are not used and regularly not understood by the public. Hence, all professional terminologies, such as medical, law and engineering are ISSN 1798-4769 Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 1011-1021, September 2017 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0805.24 © 2017 ACADEMY PUBLICATION