Linguistic and Cultural Challenges in Translating Similes: A Case Study of So Much to Tell You into Arabic

Similes seem to be easily understood. However, their translation can be challenging, and they need careful attention. The aim of this study is to examine the translation of similes found in John Marsden’s novel So Much to Tell You into Arabic. The study follows both quantitative and qualitative research design. The analysis involved 53 sentences from the novel that included similes marked by "like" or "as". The study utilized a descriptive, and it used text-based data sources. The study follows the framework proposed by Pierini (2007) model for simile translation and Toury’s (2012) Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) model. The analysis in this study utilizes 53 similes to identify linguistic and cultural challenges in literary translation. The results indicate that literal translation is the most common strategy used in translating the similes in this novel. The results also indicate that image replacement and explicitation are less frequent in translating similes in the novel. Also, the study shows that translators mostly used foreignization strategies (75.4%) rather than domestication (24.4%), meaning they tried to keep the original culture and language of the text. The results also match well with Pierini’s (2007) framework, proving it works well for understanding how similes are translated from English into Arabic.