Difficulties in Translating Medical Terms from English into Arabic

Abstract

This paper deals with the difficulties experienced by translators and the hurdles they face when translating medical texts. It starts by defining the “Term” and giving the difference between “Term” and “Terminology” as well as the way that scientific terms are coined. Moreover, it gives an overview of “Arabisation”, its issues and reasons and proves how “Standardisation” is very important. Furthermore, the research demonstrates the special language characteristics and shows the dissimilarity between the “Glossary” and “Dictionary”. Thus, the study was carried out on “Medical Terms” in which it reveals how the term is composed (the root, the prefix, the suffix and the linking letters) and what does each part mean. Besides, it shows how to analyse the medical term and indicates the strategies used for translating medical terms. Therefore, the research ends with analysing the translation of some medical terms taken from a book written by Professor Mike Dixon entitled (Understanding Breast Cancer) and translated by Hanadi Mazboud