Sports Idioms and Duality of Meaning in Translation

Abstract

There have been many terms incorporated into English as idiomatic expressions as a result of the mass media's mania for games and sporting events. Moreover, regarding the increasingly important role of games and sports in the development of global interactions and understanding among the world's nations, a mastery of terminology involved in every one of the sports seems indispensable. Sports terms, on the other hand, can present a challenge in the process of translation so that a translator has to be very familiar with the regulations and jargon for different kinds of sports both in SL and TL. Sports terms and idioms can mostly embody duality of meaning. That is, sports terms and idioms can be interpreted as not only being related to the sporting event itself, but also as having something to do with non-sports situations such as business and social interactions. This duality of meaning is the main focus of the present study. If a translator understands the sport, the game and the way it is played, he/she will understand better the idiomatic expressions derived from these games and henceforth can produce a more successful translation out of the texts.