Investigating  Iraqi  Translation  Students ' Mastery  of Translating Cultural Terms, Arab Headdress  Articles  As a Case Study

Culture specific terms are problematic in translation as they are normally laden with a host of cultural associations and contextual components rendering them challenging and difficult to translate. Hence, the current research attempts to identify and address this problem through a quantitative and a qualitative analysis of the research sample`s renderings of Arab headdress articles` terms (AHDATs) into English. The research sample consists of 25 4th grade translation students in translation department / Faculty of Arts / Wasit university. Each student is asked to translate sentences containing such terms in order to assess their renderings, diagnose the reasons of failure(if any) in grasping the intended meanings and in conveying the cultural associations involved. The researcher designed a 10-item translation test and students are asked to translate them based on the knowledge and experience they have obtained. Later the translations are collected to be scrutinized and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively so as to identify the frequency of usage and the rate of occurrence of different renderings . This would assist in figuring out the types of problems faced and what remedies and solutions can be suggested for improving their performance. The present study attempts to figure out the erroneous translations and shortcomings in the rendering of Arab Headdress Articles terms (AHATs) into English and the sources and causes of difficulty faced by students in conveying the SL intended meaning along with their culture- specific associations. As such, it can be identified what applicable measures and practical steps should be taken to enhance translation students` ability to overcome the arising challenges and what recommendations can be made. It is concluded at the end that such challenges and shortcomings can be addressed through including sufficient material and theorization illustrating the techniques and strategies proposed by theorists in dealing with culture – specific terms as well as exposing students to texts containing this kind of terms.