424_2061_A.B.

One of the difficulties is that too oftentranslators are not sufficiently sensitive to thepossibilities of idiomatic expressions, andhence the end result is a weakening of thefigurative force of the translation, since theydo not compensate for the loss of certainidiom by the introduction of others.( Nida, 1964: 106)Gain can be achieved mostly on the stylistic/rhetorical levelthrough the following strategies, among others:1.Adopting a TL-oriented strategy so as to reproduce a naturaland original piece of literary art, implementing the principle :“the best translation is the one that does not sound as atranslation” ;2. Repudiating the formal equivalence which produces literal,wooden and unnatural translation towards a functional,dynamic one;3. Introducing an idiom or a rhetorical device in the TT fora non-existent one in the ST . Here are some examples.In translating the poem by Jamil bn Mu’amar or JamilButhayna, Nicholson likens Jamil’s pure, Platonic love forButhayna to rain, echoing Shakespeare’s similitude of mercyto rain when Portia addresses Shylock to show mercy toAntonio:The quality of mercy is not strainedIt droppeth as gentle rain from heaven94