University of Sulaimani

School of Languages

Evening Department of English

Academic Year: 2014-2015

The Translation of English Collocations into Kurdish:

Problems and Solutions

Zana Ibrahim Hama Amin

Supervisor: Ghareeb S. Salih

MA in Translation and Interpreting

Research submitted to the University of Sulaimani

for the degree of Bachelor May 2015

I

All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to her;

my beloved mother

II

Abstract

Collocation is a combination of two or more words which always arbitrarily come together in

different contexts in language. This research deals with the translation of English collocations

into Kurdish. The aim of this study is to introduce those problems that Kurdish students

encounter when they translate English collocations into Kurdish and then how to solve them.

This paper is divided into two main sections. The first section discusses categorizations of

collocation and its translation into Kurdish: problems and solutions. In the second section,

there is an empirical study to hypothesize that Kurdish students face difficulties in translating

English collocations into Kurdish. This research uses qualitative and quantitative methods.

The test involves twenty students of fourth year in the Department of English-College of

Languages-University of Sulaimani for the academic year 2014-2015. The results of the test

come up with the hypothesis of the study.

Keywords: Collocation, Categorization of collocation, Translation of collocations,

Problems and solutions

III

Acknowledgements

I privileged that God almighty, supported me to finish this research and overcame the

obstacles which I encountered through the processes of the research.

I would like to thank my supervisor, Mr. Ghareeb S. Salih, for his kind help, valuable

advice and support. Also, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all respondents at

the University of Sulaimani. Their participation in such a difficult task is invaluable to me.

IV

Table of Contents

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….II

Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………......III

Table of Contents………………………………………………………………….....IV

List of Abbreviations………………………………………………………………...VI

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………..1

1.2 Aims of the Study……………………………………………………………….1

1.3 The basic questions which this study attempts to answer are…………………...2

1.4 The Significance of the Study…………………………………………….……..2

1.5 Methodology……………………………………………………………….……3

Chapter Two: Literature Review

2.1 Collocation……………………………………………………….……………..4

2.2 Types of Collocation…………………………………………………….……...5

2.2.1 Adjective + noun collocation………………………………………….…..6

2.2.2 Verb + noun collocation…………………………………………….……..7

2.2.3 Noun + verb collocation……………………………………………….…..8

2.2.4 Noun + noun collocation…………………………………………….…….9

2.2.5 Verb + adverb collocation…………………………………………….….10

2.2.6 Adjective + preposition collocation………………………………….…..10

2.2.7 Verb + preposition collocation……………………………………….......11

2.3 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….….....11

V

Chapter Three: Data Analysis

3.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………12

3.2 The Results of Quantitative Data Analysis………………………………...….12

3.3 The Results of Qualitative Data Analysis………………………………..........14

3.4 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….19

Chapter Four: Conclusion

4.1 General Problems……………………………………………………………...20

4.2 General Solutions……………………………………………………………...20

4.3 Suggestion………………………………………………………………….….21

References…………………………………………………………………...........22

Appendix……………………………………………………….……………….....24

VI

List of Abbreviations:

L1: First language

L2: Second language

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

1

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Introduction

Translating English collocations into Kurdish language is a major problem for

translators. Collocation is the way of how words sound natural and idiomatic (McCarthy &

O‟Dell, 2005). There are no certain rules exploring the reasons of overcoming problems in

second language learning for students of English. The native English speaker instinctively

makes the right collocation, in the view of lifetime's experience of listening to and reading

the words in set mixes. The non native speaker has more limited experience and may

frequently pick words up in a manner that sounds weird to English native speakers. That is

why learning collocation is a critical piece of taking in the vocabulary of a language. The

present research falls into four major chapters. Chapter one shortly gives some introductory

remarks about the notion of collocation, aims, the significance, the research questions and the

methodology of the study. Chapter two is literature review divided into two parts. The first

part introduces the notion of collocation, the definitions of collocation and types of word

combination identified. The second part will focus on translating English collocations into

Kurdish. It also presents what problems students face when they translate English

collocations into Kurdish and how to find out solutions to those difficulties. Chapter three is

especially devoted to the data analysis which has been done according to quantitative and

qualitative methods. Chapter four includes conclusion consisting of general problems, general

solutions and suggestion.

1.2 Aims of the Study

Not so many studies have been carried out about this subject; linguistic works and

writings about collocation have not been made in the Kurdish language sufficiently. This

research aims at investigating the translation of English collocations into Kurdish and shows

2

the problems and solutions. It also provides a clarification of the concept of collocation and

presents types and classification. Then the concept will be examined throughout the various

examples selected in Kurdish, demonstrating the equivalent and non-equivalent types.

1.3 The basic questions which this study attempts to answer are:

What is collocation?

What are the most common problems non-English learners/translators encounter

in translating English collocations into Kurdish?

What are the solutions of non-equivalent collocations in translating English into

Kurdish?

1.4 The Significance of the Study

It is widely accepted that misinterpreting collocations are a serious problem for Kurdish

students. Therefore, one of the major responsibilities of language teachers is to deal with

students‟ collocational problems (Lewis, 1997). Studying collocation is very important for

non-native speakers both teachers and students. Although many teachers who are aware of

this issue devote much time to teaching collocations, students naturally make collocational

errors in their translation from English into Kurdish. Therefore, investigating the major

problems and strategies in the translation of collocation is one of the major factors for

reducing the rate of students‟ collocational errors in the translation. This study is possibly

beneficial for the Department of Translation at the University of Sulaimani to take practical

steps to prioritize teaching collocations and to enhance students‟ skills in translating

collocation. The present study can also help Kurdish students to be aware of the problems and

strategies when they face in translating English collocations into Kurdish.

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1.5 Methodology

The present study was conducted at the University of Sulaimani. The instructional setting

was the fourth year class in the Department of English Language and Literature which is a

faculty of the College of Languages. The participants were 20 Kurdish college seniors (10

male and 10 female) randomly selected. Their ages are between (21-25) and their level of

English proficiency was expected to be between intermediate and advanced. Sixteen

collocations were selected and included in the collocation test. These collocations were

selected on the basis of parts of speech (i.e. collocation types), and frequency. Students were

required to translate sixteen English collocations into Kurdish. Also, they were not allowed

to get benefit from dictionaries. The collocations have been taken from Baker (2011),

McCarthy and O‟Dell (2005), Benson (1986a). This survey helped the researcher to prove

that there are a lot of problems Kurdish students/translators encounter when they translate

English collocations into Kurdish.

Unfortunately, many errors in the questionnaire were unexpected. In short, they showed

that the respondents generally relied on literal transfer from the second language.

Consequently, due to this survey, the researcher could get a clear idea about the reasons for

failure in translating and/or using collocations in English. This study shows the results of

both quantitative and qualitative data analyses.

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Chapter Two: Literature Review

2.1 Collocation

Collocation is two or more words which co-occur together consistently in different

contexts in language. They are predictable phrases or groups of words which are typically

used together. They play a major role in the coherence of the structure of English language.

The word collocation is taken from the Latin word (collocare: com = together + locare = to

place) that means coming together. The problems of collocations rise when there are not

equivalent collocations in the target language. This misleads the translator; s/he cannot

translate it randomly because the types of collocations and those rules that combine the words

depend on the grammatical group of word classes according to their occurrence together in

the use of language. So it has to be translated regularly. Moreover, the translation of

collocations is an eternal struggle to correspond the proper adjectives with the proper nouns,

the proper verbs with the proper nouns, or the proper nouns with the proper verbs. The

students are, therefore, required to be extra sensitive to collocations, and highly interested in

finding the proper collocation in Kurdish, when available. For instance, that is, a certain noun

occurs with a certain adjective, e.g. “net weight” ( کێشی تەواو) ; a verb with a noun, e.g. “pay

visit” (سەردان کردن); a noun with a verb, e.g. “lion‟s roar” (نەڕەی شێر); etc.

The term „to collocate‟ means to typically appear very near each others; hence a

„collocation‟ is an existence of one word in close proximity with another, for instance,

„pretty‟ and „handsome‟, pretty collocates with „girl‟ and handsome collocates with „boy‟

(Dickins et al., 2002, p. 71).

A collocation is a couple or some words that are often occurred together. That seems

natural to native speaker, but English learners must try to learn them because they are often

5

difficult to guess. Some combinations seem wrong to native speaker of English. For example,

the adjective „fast‟ comes with car, but not with a „glance‟ (McCarthy & O‟Dell, 2005, p. 6).

Baker (2011, p, 20) states that collocation is specific words co-occur regularly in a given

language. They play a vital role in the language, hence it is important for the translator to find

a proper collocation which has a same beauty of the English text.

2.2 Types of Collocation

There are several types of collocation. Therefore, many scholars have grouped

collocations into grammatical collocations and lexical collocations (Lewis, 2000; Hill, 2000;

Benson, Benson and Ilson, 1997; Conzet, 2000). According to Benson et al. (1986a)

collocation can be classified systematically into two main groups: lexical collocations and

grammatical collocations. A lexical collocation is made up of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, or

verbs, as shown in (table 1). On the other hand, a grammatical collocation could be made up

of a main word, such as an adjective, a verb, or a noun, and a preposition or grammatical

structure like an infinitive or a clause.

Table1: Types of collocation based on Benson et al.

Type Pattern Example

L1 Adjective + Noun Strong tea

L2 Verb + Noun Set a record

L3 Noun + Verb Bomb went off

L4 Noun + Noun Ceasefire agreement

L5 Verb + Adverb Whisper softly

L6 Adverb + Adjective Fully aware

L1= lexical collocation type 1, etc.

6

All types of collocations are seemingly important for producing native-like language.

However, some of them are more common and likely than others. Hill and Lewis (1997) in

the dictionary of selected collocations made a list of the most significant collocations (see

Table 2). They believe that keeping these chosen collocations in the memory is one of the

most important ways to build an effective vocabulary and to make your English sound

natural. Cowie (1981) defines a collocation as “a composite unit which permits the

substitutability of items for at least one of its constituent elements” (p.224).

Table 2: The most significant and common collocations according to

Hill & Lewis (1997)

Collocation Type Example

Verb + Noun Do homework

Noun + Verb Lions roar

Adjective + Noun Regular exercise

Adverb + Adjective Completely satisfied

Verb + Adverb Place gently

In conclusion, from the appearance of the concept of collocation, some researchers

have oriented themselves to one particular definition or classification of collocations and

word combinations, whereas some others have combined different types of 6 definitions and

categorizations or even have come up with new ones. These types are stated in the following

points:

2.2.1 Adjective + noun collocation

e.g.:

1- “net weight” (کێشی تەواو)

2- “black market” ( بازاڕی ڕەش)

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3- “express mail” ( پەلە پۆست)

4- “green tea” ( چای سەوز)

5- “green onion” ( تەڕە پیاز)

Many examples can be found in both English and Kurdish for the most popular

type of collocation. Above-mentioned English collocations have identical Kurdish

collocations (noun + adjective) except “express mail” and “green onion” which have

(adjective + noun) structure in Kurdish. Students should be fully aware of finding the

equivalent collocation in Kurdish because there are collocations in English which do

not have identical equivalents in Kurdish,

e.g.:

1-“a rough estimate” (مەزەندەکردن بەنزیکەیی)

2-“a heavy smoker” (ئالودەبون بەجگەرە)

3-“heavy traffic” (قەرەباڵەغی ڕێگەوبان)

4-“peaceful death” (مردنێکی بێوەی)

The Kurdish versions are not collocation, they can be called semi-collocations, or

just translations.

2.2.2 Verb + Noun collocation

e.g.:

1-“do the dishes” (قاپ شۆردن)

2-“commit a murder” پیاوکوشتن) )

3-“arrange an appointment” ژوان دانان) )

4-“teach a lesson” وانە وتنەوە) )

5-“have a haircut” (سەر تاشین)

This type of collocation is (verb + noun) lexical collocation. It is more mutually selective

in context than other structural types, i.e. they are more contextually predictable. The main

8

characteristics of lexical collocations are that their meanings mostly reflect the meaning of

their lexical constituents and that the sequences of lexical items often co-occur, even though

most native speakers of English are not aware of collocations. Thus, it is not extraordinary

that to most native speakers of English the word commit (collocator) will leap to mind readily

when they use murder (base) in a certain context.

Direct translation is one of problems which students confront in translating English

collocations into Kurdish. Some students remembered only the Kurdish translation of the

word. Hence, they depend on direct translation to produce collocations like the following

examples:

1-“submit a report” (پێذانی ڕیپۆرت) instead of (پێشکەشکردنی ریپۆرت)

2-“compose music” پێک هێنانی مۆسیقا) ) instead of (دانانی مۆسیقا)

3-“revoke a license” (کارپێنەکردنی بڕوانامە) instead of (هەڵوەشانذنەوەی بڕوانامە)

2.2.3 Noun + Verb collocation

e.g.:

1-“bomb went off” (تەقینەوەی بۆمب)

2-“doors creak” (جیڕەی دەرگا)

3-“bees buzz” (گیسەی هەنگ)

4-“lions roar” نەڕەی شێر) )

5-“dogs bark” (وەڕینی سەگ)

In translating a text, a translator usually faces many types of difficulties, including the

problem of translating collocation in his attempt to transfer meaning from one source

language into another receptor language since every language has its own naturalness, which

is special and different to another. The distinction of a language means that each language has

a certain system that does not necessarily exist in other languages.

9

These collocations are not hard to translate into collocations in Kurdish. The difficulty

for the translators is that they must have the capacity to perceive the sound of the creature,

insect, or thing needed in Kurdish. The solution is that they must know the name of the sound

being referred to in the target language, which is appropriate for translators. No other solution

is acceptable.

There are some collocations which have the same structure, but they are different from

above collocations in translating,

e.g.:

1-“prices fall” دابەزینی نرخ) )

2-“temperatures rise” بەرزبونەوەی پلەی گەرمی) )

3-“volcanoes erupt” تەقینەوەی بورکان) )

2.2.4 Noun + Noun collocation

e.g.:

1-“ceasefire agreement” ئاگربەست) )

2-“radio station” ( وێستگەی ڕادیۆ )

3-“surveillance camera” کامێرای چاودێری) )

4-“death sentence” سسای مردن) )

5-“flock of birds” پۆلێک باڵنذە) )

This structure forms a noun phrase. The second noun is the base and the first is the

collocator. For example " پۆلێک باڵنذە " instead of ". هەنذێک باڵنذە" Another example, the word

a bunch of) ''چەپکێک گوڵ'' So we can say .(flower) ''گوڵ'' collocates with (a bunch) ''چەپکێک''

flowers), but we cannot say ''کۆمەڵێک گوڵ'' although the word ''کۆمەڵێک'' indicates a group of

something as ''چەپکێک''.

The main problem for students here is to know the proper equivalent collocation in

Kurdish, especially for difficult English collocations like “ceasefire agreement”. The solution

10

is to avoid literal understanding as much as possible, and at the same time to do their best to

understand the English collocation properly and translate it into its Kurdish equivalent, using

all available sources.

2.2.5 Verb + Adverb collocation

e.g.:

1-“sleep soundly” خەوتن بەباشی) )

2-“remember vividly” بیرکەوتنەوە بەڕونی) )

3-“sleep lightly” خەوی سوک) )

4-“whispered softly” چپانذن بەسوکی) )

5-“walk briskly” ڕۆشتن بەگورجوگۆڵی) )

The first words are the verb (intransitive) lexical collocation and the second are adverbs

of manner that collocate with verb, intransitive verbs are the verbs which do not take a direct

object considered collocable to those adverbs of manner, those collocations have common

meaning or in the simplest way that intransitive verbs can go together with adverb of manner.

There is a mistake which translator encounters is approximate translation: Approximate

translation is a process of paraphrasing the thought from native language to L2. Sometimes

students depend on their intuition to create collocations of their own and choose approximate

translation as another strategy other than literal translation.

2.2.6 Adjective + Preposition collocation

e.g.:

1-“happy about” دڵخۆشە بە) )

2-“suitable for” گونجاوە بۆ) )

3-“responsible for” بەرپرسیارە لە) )

4-“disappointed with” غەمبارە بە) )

5-“bored of” بێسارە لە) )

11

Translators should be careful with the direct translation of the preposition. It is not

acceptable to say (دڵخۆشە لەسەر) instead of (دڵخۆشە بە) in Kurdish. The problem here,

then, is to find the suitable preposition after the noun in Kurdish. It needs to be done

regardless of the preposition in English. The solution is that students should try to

study more about Kurdish prepositions.

2.2.7 Verb + preposition collocation (prepositional verb)

e.g.:

1-“try out” تاقیکردنەوە) )

2-“bring up” بەخێوکردن) )

3-“call on” سەردان کردن) )

4-“break down” لەکارکەوتن) )

5-“leave out” تەرک کردن) )

Baker (1992) states that phrasal verbs like these resist direct translation. The problem

here is the meaning of the phrasal verbs which have to be translated with more care by the

students. Literal translation is unacceptable here. Students tend to translate the meaning

word-for-word from L1 to L2 when they cannot succeed in finding equivalent collocations.

They use the strategy of literal translation to create either acceptable or unacceptable

collocations.

2.3 Conclusion

This chapter showed the types of collocations and how they are translated from English

into Kurdish. Translating collocation is not always easy for a translator because it has a

diversity of meanings, it can mislead a translator in conveying into the target language since

it has not only first meaning, but also second meaning. Another problem is literal translation

which some students remember only the Kurdish translation of the word. Hence, they depend

on direct translation to create collocations.

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Chapter Three: Data Analysis

3.1 Introduction

This paper aims at analyzing EFL learners‟ (at undergraduate level) errors in translating

English collocations into Kurdish equivalent collocations. The test consists of (16)

collocations and also it includes twenty students. They were given a brief description to the

subject to make them familiar with what is meant by collocations. They were asked to find

the identical equivalent collocations to the English collocations. This chapter presents the

results of both quantitative, i.e. statistical, and qualitative, i.e. analytical data analyses

performed to address this issue. Every collocation in the questionnaire is examined one by

one in detail. In addition, those problems the students encountered in translating the

collocations identified then.

3.2 The Results of Quantitative Data Analysis

The (16) items have been grouped into six areas covering the six types. They were

divided into types from the most common to the less common collocations. The results

indicate that 75% of the respondents have not achieved the pass mark, whereas 25% of them

have achieved it.

The students‟ answers were marked out of (16) that represent the highest mark whereas

the lowest mark is (0). The result of each item will be compared to a theoretical mean that is

8 (the pass degree). Thus the theoretical mean is

The higher degree – the lower degree

2

16 – 0

2

13

The students‟ answers have been tabulated in a descending order in the

following table:

Students‟ Scores in the Areas of the Test

Noun

+

Noun

Adjective

+

Noun

Noun

+

Verb

Verb

+

Adverb

Verb

+

Noun

Adverb

+

Adjective

Total

1 5 1 0 1 2 10

1 4 1 1 1 1 9

2 4 1 0 1 1 9

0 4 1 1 1 1 8

2 3 1 1 1 0 8

1 2 1 0 1 2 7

2 2 1 0 1 1 7

1 3 1 0 1 0 6

1 1 1 1 1 0 5

1 3 0 0 1 0 5

1 2 1 0 1 0 5

1 2 1 0 1 0 5

1 3 0 0 1 0 5

1 1 1 0 1 0 4

0 2 1 0 0 1 4

0 2 0 0 1 1 4

0 2 0 0 1 1 4

0 1 1 0 1 0 3

0 1 1 1 0 0 3

0 1 0 0 1 0 2

16 48 15 5 18 11 113

40%

30%

75%

12.5%

90%

27.5%

35.31%

The number of items in the test is (16) multiplied by the number of respondents

(20), so the result is (320). The correct answers are (113) representing 35.31% of the

total number of answers.

The percentages (40%, 30%, 75%, 12.5%, 90%, and 27.5%) at the bottom

of the table show the percentage of the correct answers in each area of the test

compared with the total number of each type. For instance, the total number of

noun + noun collocations in the test is (40) items, the correct answers are 16 in

14

this type representing 40% like that (16 X 100= 40%). Thus, 40% of the students

40

could answer correctly in the type of noun + noun collocation.

3.3 The Results of Qualitative Data Analysis

The main problem for students is to find the proper Kurdish equivalent collocation. The

solution, however, is not difficult to find if the students are prepared to exert some effort to

find it in Kurdish. “Collocational restriction” is a linguistic term used in morphology. This

term refers to those phrases which consisting two words, and the meaning of one of them is

restricted to that particular phrase. For instance, in question number one “dry wine”, the

adjective dry can only mean „not sweet‟ in combination with the noun wine (Carstairs-

McCarthy, 2002). The grammatical structure of this collocation consists of adjective + noun,

among (20) students only (2) students could transfer the source meaning into the target

meaning peacefully and naturally. This means that approximately 90% of students are

incapable of translating basic collocation. They translated it as (شەمپانیا) instead of (شەرابی تاڵ).

There is a difference between collocations in everyday language and collocations in

specific registers. For example: in question number two “biased error”, in statistics which is

very familiar and fair, but if translator is not familiar with the register of statistics may

wrongly translate it (Baker, 2011, p.56). The structure of this collocation is (adjective + noun)

in English, the students could keep the right grammatical structure of it in Kurdish, but it has

been mistranslated by the majority of them. Thus, they could not find the proper Kurdish

equivalent collocation. They translated it into Kurdish as “ هەڵەپشتگیری کردنی شتی ” not

"کەموکورتی لە توێژینەوەدا" which is the most acceptable. Sinclair (1966 quoted in Baker 2011)

explains that dull highlights and vigorous depressions may seem weird in everyday English

but are common collocations in the fields of photography.

It is very important to recognize collocations in the process of translation because there

are some words which have primary meaning and secondary; Its primary meaning is different

15

from its secondary meaning. Therefore it cannot be translated word-for-word into target

language. In collocation of the question number three: “dry voice”, when the word dry comes

alone, its primary meaning has a different meaning that means something is not wet. But if it

comes with the word of cow as in dry cow, and the word voice as in dry voice, it has a second

meaning which is different from primary meaning. Dry cow means a cow which does not

give milk, and dry voice refers to a voice which is cold and does not show any emotion

(Baker, 1992, p. 53). The grammatical construction of this collocation in Kurdish is the

contrast with English which is (noun + adjective). Just one student could find its Kurdish

equivalent and translated it as “دەنگێکی ڕەق”, but the other students translated as “ دەنگێکی

.”وشک

As Sinclair explains (1987a, p. 320) “To some extent, the nature of the world around us

is reflected in the organization of language. … Things which occur physically together have a

stronger chance of being mentioned together”. The problem in the translation of the

collocation of question number four “pay a visit” is that meaning does not always decide on

words that collocate. For instance, English speakers typically pay a visit/ a call/or attention,

and are unlikely perform a visit/ a call /or attention. Hence, the meaning of the verb pay

cannot change and decide on the meaning of the noun visit (Baker, 1992). Thus, some

students translated it as “تێچوی سەردان کردن” instead of “سەردان کردن” which is acceptable.

The collocation of question number five is a fixed phrase. In such a collocation students

cannot designate the proper word in Kurdish. They can use the generic word (کۆمەڵ) or

to precede a group of anything countable (i.e. people, animal, insects or things), but (هەنذێک)

here is wrong: Therefore “flock of sheep” is preferable to be translated as “ڕانە مەڕ”. Thus,

just eight students could convey the meaning from the source language to the target language

naturally. It means that about 60% of them could not translate it fluently because it is difficult

16

to find equivalent for the English fixed phrases. “Collocations are generally considered to be

problematic to learners of foreign language” (Devenyi, 2009, p.7).

The collocation of example number six “a handsome boy” is mistranslated due to in

Kurdish there are some adjectives which are restrictedly used with some nouns. The noun is

the base and the adjective is the collocator. For example, " جوان" and "قۆز" have the same

meaning (beautiful), but ''جوان'' is restrictedly used with female human being: ''کچێکی جوان'' (a

beautiful girl), ''ژنێکی جوان'' (a beautiful woman). Whereas, ''قۆز'' is used with male human

being: ''کوڕێکی قۆز'' (a handsome boy). Similarly, ''ترش'' and ''کەڕوکردو'' have the same meaning

(spoiled), but with ''ماست'' (yoghurt), ''ترش'' is used ''ماستی ترش'' (sour yoghurt) and with ''نان''

(bread), ''کەڕوکردو'' is used ''نانی کەڕوکردو'' (spoiled bread). Its grammatical structure is

(adjective + noun) in English but is (noun + adjective) in Kurdish. Consequently, some

students did not know anything about that.

Although direct translation might be sometimes applied to some collocations, the

students must be careful that some of them have different words in Kurdish as “heavy rain” in

example seven. It has been translated as "بارانی قورش" by most of the students when there are

three collocations in Kurdish as "لێسمە باران" "شەستە باران" , and "بارانی بەخوڕ" . Therefore, literal

translation is destructive. One of the problems many students involve in translating of

collocations which is literal translation.

The collocation of question number eight is again a fixed phrase. It is “flock of birds”,

and the grammatical structure of this collocation is (noun + preposition + noun). This

structure forms a noun phrase. The second noun is the base and the first is the collocator.

Among twenty students, twelve students did not know how to translate this collocation

acceptably, and they distorted the meaning of it. For this reason, they translated it as " هەنذێک

"باڵنذە instead of "پۆلێک باڵنذە" . Another example, the word ''چەپکێک'' (a bunch) collocates with

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کۆمەڵێک '' but we cannot say ,(a bunch of flowers) ''چەپکێک گوڵ'' So we can say .(flower) ''گوڵ''

.''چەپکێک'' indicates a group of something as ''کۆمەڵێک'' although the word ''گوڵ

The English collocation in example number nine “a stale joke” has different grammatical

structure from Kurdish one. Such collocations cause a problem to students when they

translate them into Kurdish because it is difficult to find equivalent for the English adjectives.

The grammatical structure of this collocation in English is (adjective + noun), whereas the

Kurdish collocation is (noun +adjective). Seventeen students who are 75% of the respondents

could not translate this collocation and they wrote "نوکتەی بەبایەخ" , whereas they must translate

as "نوکتەی کۆن" . Zughoul, (1991) also finds that wrong collocations are mostly the result of the

learners‟ lack of reading in English and heavily depending on bilingual dictionaries in

translating collocation.

In the example of number ten “green onion”, just some students had a competence to

translate this collocation. They translated it very directly as "پیازی سەوز" instead of "تەڕە پیاز" ,

hence they could not find the identical Kurdish equivalent collocation. Moreover, they could

not also transfer the right grammatical structure (adjective + noun). Thus, direct translation

poses some problems to students in translating English collocations into Kurdish.

In the example eleven, the collocation "essay bank", poses the major issues which

learners of English language confront when they translate this type of collocation into

Kurdish. All respondents translated this collocation wrongly, and It has been translated as

At the point when not able to discover a superior ."بانکی زانیاری" instead of "بانکی وتار"

solution, students may go to a blind direct interpretation. The significant difficulty for

students here is to know the identical collocation in Kurdish, particularly for such

troublesome English collocation. The main solution is to stay away from exacting

interpretation as much as possible, and in the meantime students ought to try their hardest to

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comprehend the English collocation legitimately and make an interpretation of it into its

Kurdish equivalent.

In question number twelve “lions roar”, the linguistic structure of this collocation is

(noun + verb), but is difference in Kurdish (verb + noun). In this structure, the verb is the

base and the noun is the collocator. Some students did not know the sound of lion what it is

called in Kurdish, therefore, they translated it as "دەنگی شێر" instead of "نەڕەی شێر" . Every

animal‟s noise has a specific name, for example "وەڕینی سەگ" (dogs barking), "میاوانذن" is the

noise which is related to the animal "پشیلە" , and also "زەڕین" is the noise that is related to the

animal "گوێذرێژ" .

The collocation of the example thirteen “fully aware”, among twenty students who

participated in the questionnaire just eleven students could translate it accurately. This means

45% of them could not acceptably transfer its meaning from the source language to the target

language and translated as "شارەزا" instead of "تەواو بەئاگا" . The grammatical structure of this

collocation is (adverb + adjective).

The problem in translating “sleep soundly”, in example number fourteen, into Kurdish is

that all students may have been confused because „sound‟ actually happens to have a few

different meanings which are in fact different words or used to be. „Sound‟ can mean „noise‟

hence every student translated it as "پرخە پرخ لەخەودا" , whereas „Sound‟ can mean

„well/deeply‟, therefore, the natural translation is here to translate it as "خەوتنێکی قوڵ" or

"خەوتن بەباشی" . The right grammatical structure of the collocation is (verb + adverb). Thus, no

one of the students could translate it naturally.

In question the number fifteen “elegantly dressed”, just three students knew the meaning

of this collocation, but no student could translate it as "شیک پۆش" , and they translated it as

"بەجوانی خۆگۆڕین" . 85% of the respondents even knew nothing about this collocation. The

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grammatical structure of this collocation in English is (adverb + adjective), whereas in

Kurdish is (adjective + verb) or (adverb + verb).

The final collocation of the questionnaire is “remember vividly”. Eight of students could

render it into Kurdish, and it indicates 60% of students could not interpret it normally they

translated it as "بیرکەوتنەوە" instead of "بیرکەوتنەوە بەڕونی" . Hence, the students must be aware

of collocations and recognize them. Also, they have to learn collocations as single blocks of

language. When they learn a new word, they must write down other words that associate or

collocate with it. For example: (remember distinctly, remember vaguely, or remember

vividly…).

3.4 Conclusion

This chapter showed the results of both quantitative and qualitative data analyses.

Lamentably, numerous errors in the survey were unforeseen. To put it plainly, they

demonstrated that the respondents for the most part depended on strict exchange (literal

translation) from the foreign language. In some of these errors, students did not watch the

syntactic standards of the target language in any case – which demonstrate other layer of

shortcoming in the target language all in all. Due to this questionnaire, the researcher figured

out how to reach a point regarding the purposes behind disappointment in grasping and/or

utilizing collocations as a part of English – and at times in the native language, Kurdish.

These reasons can be compressed in the accompanying: 1. Absence of information of the

collocations being referred to; 2. Deficiency or even shortage of Kurdish-English or English-

Kurdish collocation lexicons; 3. Absence of awareness of the part of collocation in

communicating "signifying" as expected in setting; 4. Absence of focus on collocation in

EFL or translation classes at Kurdistan colleges or schools.

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Chapter Four: Conclusion

4.1 General Problems

The translation of English collocations into Kurdish poses four major problems:

1- Literal translation: It is one of the problems which encounter students who translate

English collocations into Kurdish. For instance, they translate dry voice as " دەنگێکی

"وشک instead of "دەنگێکی ڕەق" .

2- A lack of collocational competence: It is a main problem facing students in translating

collocations because students have a little knowledge about collocation in English and

they only get the meaning of words in isolation. Therefore, they make a lot of

mistakes when translating English collocations into Kurdish.

3- The cultural collocation: It is another problem encountering students. There are some

collocations which are restricted to English culture and people. “Common collocates

of hair in English include dry, oily, damaged, permed, fine, flyaway and brittle,

among others. These collocations reflect cultural reality in the English-speaking

world.” (Baker, 2o11: 65).

4- Finding equivalent collocation: Sometimes, it is very difficult to find equivalent

collocation in Kurdish. Therefore, students are obliged to think deeply until they find

an appropriate collocation in Kurdish.

4.2 General Solutions

There are four main solutions to overcome the difficulties in translating English

collocations into Kurdish:

1- Paraphrasing: It is one of the best strategies if there is no equivalent collocation in

Kurdish. For example, biased error it has not equivalent collocation in Kurdish. Thus,

it can be translated as "کەموکورتی توێژینەوە" .

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2- Finding identical collocation: The most of English collocations have identical

collocation in Kurdish. Hence, students should be fully aware of that and they will be

careful when translating English collocations into Kurdish.

3- Literal translation: It is right that it is sometimes unacceptable, but in some situations

it is useful to use literal translation like a handsome boy "کوڕێکی قۆز" .

4- Memorizing collocations: It is the best strategy to learn collocations and remember

collocations in translating English collocations into Kurdish. That strategy improves

collocational competence.

4.3 Suggestion

The researcher suggests to the students of English language especially the University of

Sulaimani / Translation Department what that research paper can be useful to use as a good

reference in learning and translating collocations from English into Kurdish. The researcher

suggests to analyze and to translate the other types of grammatical and lexical collocations

and then they could find the other problems and solutions facing students in translating

English collocations into Kurdish.

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Appendix: Questionnaire

Dear Respondent,

This is a questionnaire meant to serve part of my research on “The Translation of

English Collocations into Kurdish: Problems and Solutions.”Your cooperation in

translating the English collocations into Kurdish equivalent collocations would be

highly appreciated. You are kindly requested to rely only on your own knowledge

without consulting any translator, linguist, dictionary, or the internet. If you happen

not to understand a certain collocation in the source language, or not to know the

equivalent or the translation of a collocation in the target language, please skip or

ignore it. All information provided will remain confidential. Finally, please hand, send,

or e-mail your reply at your earliest convenience.

1. Dry wine

2. Biased error

3. Dry voice

4. Pay a visit

5. Flock of sheep

6. A handsome boy 7. Heavy rain

8. Flock of birds

9. A stale joke

10. Green onion

11. Essay bank

12. Lions roar

13. Fully aware

14. Sleep soundly

15. Elegantly dressed 16. Remember vividly

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