Collocation Errors in Translations of the Holy Qur’an

Abstract

The present study aims at identifying, classifying, and analyzing collocation errors made by translators ‎of the Holy Qur’an. Following the descriptive analytical research, analysis of collocation errors was ‎done based on Corder’s (1971) model. Four English translations of the Glorious Qur’an rendered by ‎Arthur John Arberry, Thomas Ballantyne Ivring, Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, and M.H. Shakir ‎were selected. The data were classified into three classes: typical or accepted collocation, ‎inappropriate collocation patterns, and no collocation patterns. Moreover, the categories of the ‎collocations of the source and target texts were determined. Findings indicated that some translators ‎made collocation errors which manifested their low and deficient competence in using collocations ‎within English language and across Arabic and English language. Such weak linguistic performance is ‎attributed to various reasons. Collocationally the most acceptable translation was done by Ivring but ‎the least appropriate translation was made by Pickthall. The results of the study can help tackle ‎collocation errors made by translators and also solve some other problems concerning collocational ‎patterns across languages.‎