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1- Introduction: In reading English texts or even in listening to English native speakers a learner might encounter some expressions such as "up to ears", "shoot the breeze", or "out of blue". In examining these expressions one would come to realize that they can not be inferred from the meanings of their individual words. This is one of the prominent features of what is called "idioms". An idiom is "a construction or expression having a meaning different from the literal one or not according to the usual patterns of the language" (New Webster's Dictionary,1993). Not too many studies have dealt with the transfer of idiomatic expressions among languages. This can be attributed to the fact that a learner of a language tends to express himself with a rather plain and simple language without using idioms. This research aims at displaying a brief background about idioms and then tackles linguistic and social approaches in understanding them. Then it will discuss the problems of misunderstanding and interlingual transfer for the Arabic learners and translators with suggested solutions and methods of teaching idioms. The value of this research can be estimated by looking at a result of an analysis of political debates, psychology texts, novels, and psychotherapy sessions where the use of figurative language (idioms) has been investigated. Results showed that "most English speakers utter about 10 million novel metaphors

Idioms

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1-Introduction:In reading English texts or even in listening to

English native speakers a learner might encounter some expressions such as "up to ears", "shoot the breeze", or "out of blue".

In examining these expressions one would come to realize that they can not be inferred from the meanings of their individual words. This is one of the prominent features of what is called "idioms".

An idiom is "a construction or expression having a meaning different from the literal one or not according to the usual patterns of the language" (New Webster's Dictionary,1993).

Not too many studies have dealt with the transfer of idiomatic expressions among languages. This can be attributed to the fact that a learner of a language tends to express himself with a rather plain and simple language without using idioms.

This research aims at displaying a brief background about idioms and then tackles linguistic and social approaches in understanding them. Then it will discuss the problems of misunderstanding and interlingual transfer for the Arabic learners and translators with suggested solutions and methods of teaching idioms.

The value of this research can be estimated by looking at a result of an analysis of political debates, psychology texts, novels, and psychotherapy sessions where the use of figurative language (idioms) has been investigated. Results showed that "most English speakers utter about 10 million novel metaphors per life time and 20 million idioms per week (Pollio et al, 1977:140).

This shows that idioms are used excessively by native speakers and for a learner to understand a native speaker he needs to be acquainted with these idioms. A misunderstanding might lead to misinterpretation in the side of the hearer; this might cause very serious and dangerous problems. (see Hwang,2008)

2- General Background:

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2.1- The Origin of the Word:The word 'idiom' is derived from a Greek origin; its

literal meaning is "I make my own" (Skeat, 1967).

2.2- Definition of the term:Among the various definitions of idioms are: (1)

language of people or country or people; specific character of this, e.g. one peculiar to a country, district, group of people, or to one individual; (2) phrase or sentence whose meaning is not obvious through knowledge of the individual meanings of the constituent word (Hornby, 1974). The focus of this research will be on the second concept in the definition.

It is worthy mentioning that idioms differ from slang. Idioms are widely used in official business, while slang could be defined as "currently widely used and understood language, consisting of new meanings attributed to existing words or of wholly new words, generally accepted as lying outside standard polite usage. It usually passes out of usage in time or is accepted onto standard usage" (New Webster's Dictionary, 1993).

2.3- Characteristics of Idioms:The structure of idioms varies from one idiom to

another and the clarity of meaning is not constrained to the grammatical structure. In general, idioms can be classified as follows:

A- Form irregular, meaning clear as in;(1) Give someone to understand(2) Do someone good

B- Form regular, meaning unclear, as in:(3) Have a bee in one's bonnet1.(4) Cut no ice2.

C- Form irregular, meaning unclear, as in:(5) Be at large.3

1 If someone is very excited about something, they have a bee in their bonnet.2 If something cuts no ice, it doesn't have any effect or influence.3 If a criminal is at large, they have not been found or caught.

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(6) Go great guns.1 (Seidle,2003:13).Most of the idioms belong to the second group of the

examples. Moreover, some idioms are fixed and can not be changed (except for the tense of the verb):

(7) To paint the town red.2

(8) At arm's length .3

Other idioms would allow variations in different aspects:

(9) To know one's onion/ stuff.4

(10) To take/ have/ enjoy forty winks.5 (Ibid).An important characteristic of idioms is

figurativeness. Even when an idiom has a possible literal meaning as in "she really has both feet on the ground," it is the figurative interpretation that conveys the true meaning of the utterance.

3-Understanding Idioms:3.1 Linguistic approach:The category of idioms has been a source of intrigue

due to the peculiar semantic character this group bears.Linguists viewed idioms for a long time as being non-

compositional items; that is the meaning is arbitrary and not related to the meaning of the constituent (Benczes,2002:17).

However, more recent research have shown that a large group of idioms seems to be partially compositional in nature, that is the meaning of the constituent is connected to the overall meaning of the idiom (Ibid).

3.1.1 The Non- compositional view of Idioms:Most linguists agreed on defining idioms as

expressions whose meaning is not related to the meaning of its constituents. In the light of this statement and considering the non- compositional view of idioms that

1 If something or someone is going great guns, they are doing very well.2 If you go out for a night out with lots of fun and drinking, you paint the town red.3 If something is at arm's length, it is a safe distance away from you.

4 If someone is very well-informed about something, they know their onions.5 If you take 40 winks, you have a short sleep.

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would mean when an idiom is learned there must be an arbitrary link between the idiom as a whole and its non- literal meanings (Ibid,18).

A large class of idioms is characterized by grammatical restrictions that made idioms syntactically frozen elements. This frozenness in syntax proved to be true for the semantics of idioms as well. The non- compositional view of idioms regards many idioms as 'frozen' or 'dead' metaphors.

According to Cruse (1991:42), the metaphorical interpretation of a sentence or an idiom is most likely to be sparked off by inappropriateness in the utterance's literal meaning. However, if a metaphor is used frequently with a particular meaning, then it loses its individuality and hearers store the metaphorical meaning as one of the standard senses of the expression. Thus the interpretation of the utterance no longer requires the activation of the metaphorical approach, but merely requires the "looking up, as it were, of a dictionary entry" (Ibid). The link between the metaphor and the literal meaning of the idiom is often lost.

3.1.2. From compositionality to conceptualityThere have been a number of attempts to describe

how idioms differ in their compositionality. Nunberg (1978) suggests a characterization of idioms based on how the constituents' literal word meaning contributes to the general meaning of the expression.

According to this system, idioms can be grouped into three classes: normally decomposable idioms (a part of the idiom is used literally, e.g. 'the question' in (11)"pop the question", abnormally decomposable idioms (the referents of an idiom's part can be identified metaphorically, e.g.' the buck' in (12) "pass the buck," semantically non- decomposable idioms (the meanings of the constituents do not contribute at all to the figurative meaning, e.g. (13) "kick the bucket."

Benczes (2002:20) mentions that a research has been done to detect the analyzability of idioms where subjects were asked to rate the degree to which the components in idioms contribute to the overall meaning.

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The results indicated that American speakers had no difficulties in grouping idioms on the basis of their decompositionality into three categories, which were similar to the categorization by Nunberg (1978) (Ibid).

The normally decomposable and the abnormally decomposable idioms were processed faster than their literal control phrase, but it took longer to process non- decomposable idioms than their literal counterparts.

These results show that people do try to analyze the relation between the whole and the literal meanings of idioms when understanding idiomatic phrases by giving independent meanings to the individual words and recognizing how the meaningful units make up the overall interpretation of the phrase (Ibid).

This investigation points to the idea that the meaning of constituents of idioms might be related to the concepts to which the idioms actually refer. This leads us to question about the kind of concepts that aid the understanding of idioms by speaker of English.

Lakoff (1987, cited in Benczes,2002:20) states that the conventional images; which are mental images shared by a cultural community, contribute to the way idioms are understood. These conventional images can help in forming new idioms as well as understanding old ones.

After asking many people about the images that come to their minds upon hearing expressions like (14)"keeping someone at arm's length", the result came to show that people systemized their thoughts concerning some details about the state of the hand; its state with respect to the body. Lakoff (1987) deduced from that idioms' meaning is motivated rather than arbitrary.

The conceptual view shows that idiomatic expressions seem to possess very particular figurative meanings that result from the entailments of the underlying conceptual metaphors (Benczes, 2002 :22).

For example, (15)"spill the beans" can not be paraphrased as "to reveal the secret" because the former implies details that the later can not display. The idiom says that the head resembles a container in which the beans inside it stands for information or ideas meant to

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be kept in the container, but accidentally these ideas are let out by the action of spilling (Ibid).

In this manner, the meaning becomes more specific, whereby the literal counterparts like "reveal the secret" can not be motivated by the same conceptual metaphors.

3.1.3. SummarySemantically, idioms have been viewed as non-

compositional items that have an arbitrary link between the overall meaning and the meanings of their individual words. Another view regards idioms as compositional items whose literal meaning contribute to the overall meaning ,while a conceptual view states that idioms are more understood as being related to conventional and conceptual metaphors.

3.2. Social ApproachIdioms in their special form in language carry a

considerable amount of cultural information, such as history, geography, religion, traditions and patterns of thinking. Therefore, they can tell very much about a culture once they are understood.

Wright (1999:10) says that "one of the reasons idiomatic language is difficult to translate is because it is the area of language closest to culture".

Tracing the social background of idioms can provide both an understanding of idioms deduced from their pertinency to the social customs and a close view to the cultural community in which these idioms are used.

Casas and Campoy (1995: 48) state that society has a great influence on a language especially in the way the people of this society associate meanings and concepts to a word. This can be clearly understood in viewing idioms.

Idioms do show this influence of the cultural values of society on language: the corpus of idiomatic expressions that conform a system is a reliable reflection of the way of thinking and behaving not just of the individual (microlevel) but also of the whole community (macrolevel). All this is part of the idiosyncrasy of such community

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supported by its historical and cultural heritage (emphasis original. Ibid).

The historical events that took place in England and the ensued discoveries with the expectations associated to them left a deep mark in the idiomaticity of English. An Englishman, for instance, would say that he/she is not (16)"one's cup of tea" or he would refuse doing anything (17)"for all the tea in China" (Ibid). The use of "tea" is a consequence of tea trade in the age of colonies.

Sometimes it appears that English idioms have identical equivalents in other languages in a surprising manner. Some of these equivalent idioms are found between Arabic and English. For instance, (18)"I am all ears" is an expression that has a similar idiom (in form and meaning) in Arabic which is "kullī āðānun sāγiyah". Another example is (19)"walls have ears" which has an identical equivalence that is ' al-judrānu laha āðān'. (cited in Awwad: 60). Such similarities arise a questioning about the general concepts that different societies own and share with each other, it also give a way for deducing how these idioms have transferred amongst languages through cross-fertilization between cultures.

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4-The problem of idiomaticity English is one of the flexible languages in the world,

and to understand its lexicon it is not only important to know the denotative meaning of words but also the connotative which includes the figurative language.

Idioms fall in the category of figurative language and because they bear cultural and historical information peculiar to a people it is sometimes difficult for a learner or a translator to understand them and consequently use them or find an equivalent for them. Besides, a learner must be aware of the idioms that are in the daily use by native speakers and of those which are out of style. For instance the idiom "It rains cats and dogs" has disappeared from everyday use amongst English speakers.

4.1. Difficulties in Translation:Idioms cause a serious problem for translators in both

Arabic and English due to the confusion that might result from misinterpretation of an idiom.

Awwad(1991, 60-64) shows in four categories how idioms show difficulty for a translator.

The first category is when the idiom is correspondent in its form and meaning to the other in the target language. In this case, the translator has no difficulty in rendering the meaning, e.g.

(20) To tell a white lie 'yakðibu kaðibatan baidā'. (he lies a white lie).

(21) Got the lion's share 'ħașala lā nașībi līasad'. (He got the lion's share)

(22) Foams at the mouth 'yurγī wayuzbid' (foams and let out the froth).

(23) Save one's hide 'yanjū bijildihi' (he survives with his skin).

(24) At death's door ' alā abwāb ilmawt' (on the doors of death)

(25) She's up to her ears 'hiya γāriqatun ħatta uðunahhā' (she is drowning up to her two ears)

The second category refers to a complete difference at the level of the expressions, while the functions are correspondent. If the translator fails to find a right idiom

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in the target language then he has to translate the meaning in the best way he can, e.g.

(26) Wet behind the ears 'γirr' (novice). (27) Dry behind the ears 'miħannak' (experienced). (28) A fox is not taken in the same snare twice 'lā

yuldaγu lmu minu min juħrin wāħidin maratayn'. (a believer is not stung twice from one hole)

(29) Between the devil and the deep blue sea 'bayna fakkay kammāšah' (between the two jaws of a pair of pincers)

(30) If you are Marconi I am Einstein 'in kunta rīħan faqad lāqayta ișărā' (if you were a wind then truly you faced a tornado)

(31) On the horns of a dilemma ' ala kaffi ifrīt' (on the palm of a devil)

The third category is recognized by a slight difference in the expressions but correspondence in function. These idioms do not require the translator to pay attention to the area of difference, e.g.

(32) To hold the rein 'yumsiku bizimāmi l umūr' (he holds the reins of things).

(33) He was the scape-goat 'kāna kabša lfidā ' (he was the ram of sacrifice).

(34) She was the apple of her father's eye 'kānat gurrata ayni abīhā' (she was the joy of her father's eye).

(35) Call a spade a spade 'qul lali war I war'. (say to the one-eyed man (he is) one eyed).

(36) Eat one's words 'yasħabu kalāmah'. (he withdraws his speech).

(37) He was a thorn in the flesh 'kāna šawkatan fi lħalq' (He was a throne in the mouth)

The fourth category recognizes difference in both expressions and functions. This category is considered to be extremely difficult for the translator. It requires a complete mastery in both the linguistic system of the language and the culture and way of life, e.g.

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(38) Talk through one's hat 'yatakallamu bidūn tafkīr'(talk without thinking)

(39) Work one's finger to the bone 'yabðulu qusāra jahdihi' (he exerts the utmost of his effort)

(40) Lip service 'mujarrad kalām' (no more than talking)

(41) She looked daggers at him 'jaharathu' (she looked at him very angrily)

(42) He is pushing up the daisies ' innahu mayyit' (he is dead)

(43) Pass the buck 'ya a u llawma ala lāxarīn' (he places the blame on others)

4.2. Interlingual TransferAnother serious problem which faces the Arab

learners of English idioms is the interlingual transfer. The term 'interlingual transfer' refers to the transfer from the mother tongue or any other previously learned language. Learners who fail to communicate using their linguistic means go back to their native tongue. Mahmoud(2002) says that the reason for interlingual transfer and the influence of the mother tongue are due to the fact that "students' exposure to the foreign language is confined to few hours per week of formal classroom instruction."

Kellerman (1977) did an experiment on Dutch native speakers' ability to translate English idioms related to the verb 'to break' (in Dutch breken). He deduced these three factors to be influential on the transfer of a linguistic item:

1- The learner's perceptions of the typological distance between the L1 and the L2 (psychotyplogy),

2- The learner's perceptions of the markedness of a given item in his own mother tongue (prototypicality), and

3- The learner's proficiency in the L2.

In another empirical study on second-year university students majoring in English Mahmmoud(2002) shows various results through his analysis of essays, paragraphs and term papers written by those students. The results

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show that 124 idioms were used in these texts; 25 out of them were grammatically, lexically, and contextually correct and 18 of these correct idioms were found to have equivalents, e.g.

(44) History repeats itself.(45) The black list.(46) Between the lines.

The other seven idioms appeared to be learned by students through other sources. The remaining 99 idioms were used in the right context but included 78 ones with grammatical or lexical errors.

Mahmoud(2002) grouped these incorrect idioms in the following categories:

(1) Same meaning, different form (66 idioms)

The difference in form ranged from a single grammatical or lexical item to a whole phrase. Most of the grammatical errors were in the areas of articles and prepositions.

[a] Grammatical errors

the eye by the eye (= an eye for an eye) the silence is from gold (= silence is golden) from the cover to the cover (= from cover to

cover) a drop in an ocean (= a drop in the ocean) in his face (= to his face)

[b] Lexical errors

gave me the red eye (= evil) from time to another (= time) a cat has seven lives (= nine)

The errors in this category could be attributed to negative transfer from Arabic. In all cases where the definite article "the " was incorrectly added, Arabic uses the definite article (al). In case of * a drop in an ocean , Arabic uses a zero article to indicate indefiniteness (nuqta fi moheet ). The preposition errors are due to translation from

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Arabic where the preposition (bi) is most cases rendered as "by " and (fi) as "in ". The use of the noun (thahab) in Arabic accounts for the use of the same grammatical class of the word in English (* silence is from gold ). In the Arabic equivalent of the English idiom "crocodile tears ", both nouns are plural (dumu attamaseeh). The lexical substitution in the above examples could also be attributed to negative interlingual transfer of the Arabic idioms which are identical to the English ones except for one word. A few of the incorrect idioms contained both grammatical and lexical errors reflecting the words and structure of the corresponding Arabic idioms as in :

took his right by his hand (= took the law into his hands)

the luck smiled to him (= fortune smiled on him) they added the fire wood (= added fuel to the fire) the chance of the age (= the chance of a lifetime)

In a number of cases of negative transfer, the error could be attributed to the fact that a completely different form is used in Arabic to express the same meaning of the English idiom as in:

in the seventh sky (= on cloud nine) he was an ostrich (= chicken-hearted) drink from the sea (= go and fly a kite) as their mothers born them (= in their birthday

suits) a ring in her finger (= under her thumb)

(2) Same form, different meaning (12 idioms)

There are cases where Arabic and English use similar words and structures to express slightly or completely different meanings. Transfer from Arabic, in this case, leads to formally correct but semantically incorrect use of idioms. The following are examples of idioms that were contextually incorrect. Most of them were related to the parts of the body.

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IdiomMeaning in English

Meaning in Arabic

day after day

every dayevery other day

red-faced

Embarrassed Furious

pull one's leg

(jokingly) say something untrue

let him talk

stretch one's legs

take a walk lie down

head over heels

completely (in love)

upside down

(3) Arabic Language-specific Idioms (21 idioms)

As in any language, there are language specific idiomatic expressions in Arabic reflecting the Arab culture and environment. Transfer of such idioms to English may result in comprehension problems if the listener or reader is not familiar with the Arabic language and culture. The following are some Arabic language-specific idioms detected in the written assignments examined:

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he paid in spite of his nose it was Osman's shirt clear and no dust on it tries to put ash in the eyes as if birds on their heads we left the camel with the load (Mahmoud,2002).

Baker (1992, cited in Mahmoud,2002) says that the fact that Arabic students do not use idioms is attributed to the influence of written formal Arabic where idioms are avoided. Another fact stressed by Mahmoud (2002) is that "student's exposure to idioms is further reduced due to the fact that the written academic or scientific discourse they read is usually not idiomatic."

5- Conclusion and Pedagogical Implications

This research gives a general background and definition of English idioms, showing their characteristics that single them out as unique linguistic items. The scarcity of studies that deal with idioms and their transfer among languages is attributed to the fact that learners would avoid expressing themselves with an idiomatic language. This study presents linguistic and social approaches towards understanding the nature of idioms. Then it shows through empirical data the problems of learners in interpreting idioms with shedding some light on difficulties that are faced by translators as well.

Teaching the use of English idioms for learners of English is very critical. It is not only necessary for them to learn idioms but to be able to use them in the right context while writing or speaking English. One of the methods suggested is teaching through context. Context plays a central role in language learning. It is common that learners do not understand the various meanings of new words in different context and consequently can not use them in various contexts. The same applies to idioms; the more the idiom is surrounded with contextual cues the more it is understandable. Stories are a very good context; relating events and themes to idioms aids the learners to remember them better (Wu, 2008).

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Another useful way could be the use of illustrations accompanied with idioms. Many dictionaries of idioms today provide illustrations of the literal meaning of the idiom and associate it to the idiom itself. Mayer (1999, cited in Wu,2008) found that words and pictures presented together helped students recall better than alone.

Mahmoud (2002) suggests that cases of positive and negative transfer could be discussed with learners by letting them know when to transfer and when not to. He also stresses the fact of the importance of the excessive reading and listening of English that enables the learner to understand the cultural idiosyncrasy of the English society. He also recommends categorizing frequently used English- Arabic idioms depending on the structure and the form of the idioms.

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Baker, M. (1992) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. London: Routledge.

Benczes, R. (2002) "The Semantics of Idioms: a cognitive linguistic approach".

Casas, R. M. & J. M. H. Campoy. (1995). "A Sociolinguistic Approach to the study of Idioms: Some anthropolinguistic sketches". Caudernos de Filologia Inglesa. Vol.4.

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Wu, Su-Yueh. (2008). Effective Activities for Teaching English Idioms to EFL Learners. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XIV, No. 3, March 2008.

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Wu-TeachingIdioms.html

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