Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 26 TYPES OF PROBLEMATICS THAT AFFECT UNDERGRADUATES’ COMPETENCE IN TRANSLATING ENGLISH COLLOCATIONS AND PHRASAL VERBS Fahima Mohamed Bannur1*, Dalya Abdullah Akkila2, & Fawzia Mohamed Elwafi3 1,2,3University of Tripoli, Faculty of Education, department of English, Tripoli, Libya. 1,3University of Alhadera, department of English, Tripoli, Libya. *f_mohb@yahoo.com ABSTRACT This study aims at exploring the Libyan undergraduates’ capability in comprehending English collocations and phrasal verbs and translating them into Arabic. It also targets investigating the types of obstacles that these students encounter when they translate English collocational expressions. The methodology used in this study was based on quantitative and qualitative methods where a translation test consists of two main parts was given to sixty two (62) female undergrad uates from English department, Faculty of Education, University of Tripoli. In-depth analysis of participants’ answers was performed and the results were reported. The study concluded that the participants faced difficulties in translating English collocations and phrasal verbs. In addition, the translation production reveals that grammatical, lexical, and cultural problems were the main problematic areas identified in students’ answers. These problems are related to the influence of LI (Arabic), lack of appropriate vocabulary, difficulty in understanding vocabulary use, lack of translation practice, the misuse of literal translation and translation teaching methods. However, though the cultural gap between L1 (Arabic) and L2 (English) is huge, it could be minimized and bridged by using new techniques in teaching collocations and translation as well as frequent practice in translation. Keywords: English Collocations, English Competence, Phrasal Verbs, Problems, Translation. INTRODUCTION As collocations and phrasal verbs play a vital role in the translation domain, they need to be taken into serious consideration by trainee translators and students. They also need to be well-defined during translation courses as this will affect the quality of the translation production itself. Therefore, this study purports to determine the extent to which English language major undergraduates can comprehend and translate English collocations and phrasal verbs appropriately and identifying the problems that they usually face in translating collocations and phrasal verbs. It is well known that translation has contributed in the spread and development of language cultures. It has also become a focus of recent research as it tries to bridge the gaps that exist across languages, particularly cultural and linguistic ones. In general, as stated by Ghazala (1995), translation refers to all the procedures and methods adopted to transfer the meaning of the source language (SL) into the target language (TL). The process of translating texts from English into Arabic involves the use of equivalent terms, new words for which http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 27 there is no Arabic equivalent, foreign words written in Arabic letters, and foreign words modified to fit Arabic pronunciation, spelling, and grammar. In addition, Ghazala (2008), states that the main focus in translation is meaning which is a set of linguistic elements that includes grammar, vocabulary, style, and phonology. According to him translation difficulty refers to any barriers encountered during translation that causes language users to halt and seek assistance. Grammar, vocabulary, style, and sounds may be the core of the issue. For Arab learners and Libyans among them, the translation of collocations is problematic due to the differences between the two languages in terms of grammar, semantics and culture. These differences appear as a result of the different origins of the two languages: Arabic as a Semitic language and English as a Western language. The word collocation is composed of sections that contain the words “col” (meaning “together, with”), “loc” (meaning “to place or put”), “ate” (a verb suffix), and “ion” (a noun suffix). Collocations, in other words, are words that are grouped together (Nation, 1990:32). Hence, collocation is defined as a common combination of terms in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Shammas, 2013:107). Collocation is a type of word pairing that is characterized as a set of words that work well together. Since the middle of the twentieth century, researchers have begun to focus their emphasis on teaching vocabulary, which is seen as more essential than grammatical structures (Pawley and Syder, 1983). Wang and Shaw (2008: 103) go on to say that “while learning another language, it is obvious that we must acquire both grammatical accuracy and idiomatic preference.” Furthermore, teaching vocabulary using memorization and exercises in isolation is less effective than teaching words in chunks or context. Collocation, according to McCarthy (1990:12), is “an organizing element in the lexicon of every language.” In other words, collocations must be taught, especially when the language to be taught is a foreign one. In this regard, Lewis (2000:132) defines collocation as “the way in which words co- occur in natural text”. Further, Richard and Schmidt (2002:.87) define collocation as “the way in which words are used together regularly”. Hence, collocation refers to the words used frequently together. Yet, Pecina (2009) asserts that “there is no commonly accepted definition of collocation.” In reality, collocation is the combination of two words where elements are chosen on the basis of meaning. In terms of collocation types, different types were categorized. According to Lewis (2000) and Ghazala (2008), collocations can be lexical or grammatical. Lexical collocations are collocations that combine two content words, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. For example: verb- noun, e.g. (run accompany: شركة يدير ) adjective-noun, e.g. (Warm reception: حار استقبال ), noun-noun e.g. (nerve cell: عصبية خلية ), adjective-adjective, e.g. (right and proper: حال أحسن في ), Adverb- Adverb, e.g. (willy nilly: أبى أم شاء ), and Noun-Verb, e.g. (doors creak: واباالب صرير ). Grammatical collocations are types derived from the combination of one open class word i.e. noun, verb, adjective and one closed class which is mainly a preposition. They can be: noun – preposition e.g. (a protest against: على احتجاج ), preposition- noun, e.g. (in advance: ً سلفا ً أو مقدما ), adjective- preposition, e.g. (fond of: ب مغرم ), verb- preposition, e.g. (long for: إلى يشتاق ), and adverb - adverb collocations, e.g. (wholly and heartedly: ( الكمال و بالتمام ). http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 28 Collocations are crucial for fluency and the use of them can highlight the difference between native speakers and non- native language learners since natives have already learnt and profited from such ready-made collocational units, whereas EFL learners tend to convey their thoughts using long sentences (McCarthy, 1990). Hence, learners' lack of understanding of collocations prevents them from using the collocational expressions properly. Therefore, when teaching English as a foreign language, collocations must be emphasized since collocational input improves students' fluency and expands their mental vocabulary. Unfortunately, both students and teachers place little attention to collocations, making them one of the most difficult areas of vocabulary to master and use (Martynska, 2004). In both translation domain, teaching of vocabulary and use of collocations, it is obvious that EFL learners encounter various problematic areas in dealing with collocations. Collocational use has hindered learners' ability to express themselves in English. In their speaking and writing activities, they have significant difficulties with many sorts of collocational patterns. In a study conducted by Sadeghi & Panahifar (2013), they demonstrate that different forms of collocations pose difficulties for Iranian EFL students. The most problematic categories were prepositional collocations in general and verb preposition in particular. This indicates that collocations are hard to be used by EFL learners and need specific attention to be taught and practiced in context. Zarei (2002) highlights the significance of collocations in achieving native-like English proficiency. He observed that prepositional collocations are the most problematic patterns. Boonyasaquan (2006) used a translation test to assess the collocational ability of 32 Thai EFL students from Bangkok University. The adjective-noun pattern was found to be the most difficult to work with. In a comparative study, Wang and Shaw (2008) demonstrate that the most common collocational mistakes done by Chinese and Swedish English learners were verb- noun collocations with “have, do, take and make” because learners were unfamiliar with the real patterns. In general, when EFL learners produce a foreign language, they make various mistakes. When dealing with collocations, the problem becomes more complicated and numerous collocational mistakes are done. Research has shown that English learners use certain techniques to learn collocations. Because L2 vocabulary development is usually impacted by their native language (L1), the most common approach is language transfer (Swan, 1997). Learners may also use the synonymy method, repetition, guessing and overgeneralization. Based on this, Doughty and Williams (1998:26) state that learning a new language is impacted by the student’s previous linguistic knowledge in a principled, if not direct, contrastive way. When a learner's understanding of L1 improves his capability to comprehend L2, this impact can be positive. On the contrary, negative transfer indicates that the learner's ability to comprehend L2 is affected negatively by his knowledge of L1. Many researchers believe that language transfer is a main cause of mistakes among foreign language learners. As a result, mistakes caused by transfer have an impact on phonological, syntactic, and semantic elements of language (Corder, 1971). As a matter of fact, learners’ native language (L1) influences how they comprehend and utilize collocations (Nisselhauf, 2003). However, transfer from the learner's L1 results in adequate production when http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 29 collocations in both languages are identical (Ellis, 2008). In Arabic and English, for example, the phrase "in reality" appears to be possible. As a consequence, Arab students will be able to transfer this collocation from L1 to English easily, (Mahmud, 2005). In other words, aberrant collocational structures arise when collocations in the native language and the target language do not match. Huang (2001) found that L1 interference in the collocational output of EFL Taiwanese learners who were given a sentence completion test was apparent. There were collocational patterns created, such as “black horse” for “dark horse.” In reality, when it comes to collocational use, it is noticed that students depend heavily on their L1 knowledge (Koya, 2003). Similarly, Fan (2009) examined the written products of ESL students and native students. He concluded that the first group's essays were impacted by their use of L1, particularly for collocational patterns. In addition, Sadeghi (2009) found that first language interference was also a noticeable factor of the disparity in collocational use between Persian and English learners. Furthermore, Boonyasaquan (2006) requested a group of Thai students to translate some of phrases from their first language to English. In this regard, Ellis (1994: 300) claims that where the two collocations in SL and TL were identical, learning could take place easily through positive transfer of the native like form. On the contrary, if the two collocations were different, learning difficulty arose, and errors resulting from negative transfer were likely to occur. As a result, language transfer may lead to a performance gap in EFL students’ collocations production. In other words, it is the main source of students’ collocation problems. Regarding the misuse of collocations, many researchers reported that synonymy has seemed to be as a popular learning technique. Research has shown that Arab EFL students usually depend on substituting a foreign word by its synonym which leads to ungrammatical collocation. Another important element in translation is the translation of phrasal verbs. Phrasal verb is usually known as a verb which consists of a verb and a particle. When they combined together, they create one meaning. Phrasal verbs have the same properties of English language verbs. They are very common and many people use them spontaneously without even realizing their meaning. According to Payne (2011), the main distinction between other kinds of verbs and phrasal verbs, is that phrasal verbs consist of two or three parts: the verb plus a particle or two. Phrasal verbs can occur in different syntactic structures and represent various semantic situations. They are in different types; verb-adverb combination e.g. (take off, cut out), verb-preposition combination (go with, look after), and verb-adverb- preposition combination (come up with, put in for). Besides, phrasal verbs can be classified in four different types; first, transitive phrasal verb such as (look after, carry on, switch on). This type of verbs requires an object to give a complete meaningful sentence. Second, intransitive phrasal verb such as (break down, run away, grow up). This type of phrasal verbs does not require an object in the sentence to make it sound complete. Third, separable phrasal verb; in this type, the verb and preposition can be separated. In other words, this phrasal verb can be used as an in-joined form as well as in the separated form, for example, (switch off the lights or switch the lights off). Forth, non - http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 30 separable phrasal verb; this type of phrasal verbs cannot be separated for using it in different places in the given sentence and the two parts remain together, for example, (stay away, give up). However, understanding the structure and meaning of phrasal verbs is an important part in learning English as a foreign language. According to Ghazala (1995), phrasal verbs are difficult and challenging for Arab learners to be translated from English into Arabic because they are misleading and are usually confused with prepositional verbs. For him, what makes phrasal verb translation challenging for Arab learners is that they are generally unpredicted and unfamiliar to them. As a result, Arab learners and Libyans among them struggle when they translate English phrasal verbs into Arabic and they usually avoid using them and instead they prefer to use single-word verbs. In reality, many phrasal verbs users, both native and non-native, have no idea what they mean and they use them naturally. However, phrasal verbs may have negative impacts on language interpretation by combining the meanings of two or three words into a single unit with a totally different formula and semantic meaning. Beneatha (2015) investigates the role of translation from English into Arabic as a learning strategy that may assist EFL students in appropriately understanding and using English phrasal verbs. The findings of the study demonstrated that students recognized the valuable role of phrasal verbs expressions in learning English. The study also revealed that translation had a negative impact on learning how to use English phrasal verbs. Aldahesh (2008) investigates the challenges faced by Arabic professional translators and Arabic translation students while translating the idiomatic category of English phrasal verbs into Arabic. In his study translating idiomatic English Phrasal verbs into Arabic, translation tests were used to determine the kinds of mistakes and translation difficulties encountered by the study participants. The findings of the study revealed that there are several challenges in translating English phrasal verbs into Arabic, including literal translation, mistranslation, idiom reduction to meaning, and violation of the Arabic language, along with various errors in translation. Saleh (2011) examines the semantic and syntactic issues that prevent students from understanding phrasal verbs in English. To achieve this, a test is administered to fourth-year English language students at Tikrit University to assess their understanding of phrasal verbs and identify any difficulties they may face in recognizing and comprehending their exact meaning. The study findings reveal that students encounter many challenges, the most common are idiomaticity, i.e. the unexpected nature of phrasal verbs, and transitivity, i.e. the word order of phrasal verbs can change depending on the object. Thus, it can be concluded that EFL students encounter different challenges in understanding, producing and translating collocational expressions and phrasal verbs. Collocations and phrasal verbs can be regarded as one of the most complicated area in the foreign language learning and teaching domain. Based on the previous literature, it can be said that mastering a foreign language (FL) needs more than learning a basic understanding of its grammatical and semantic principles. Learners must obtain a deep understanding of how native speakers use language in everyday natural situations by using variety of prepared forms such as collocations and phrasal verbs. http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 31 A native speakers’ understanding of their own language allows them to recognize when one collocation is logical and when another is not. Unfortunately, Libyan learners’ limited English knowledge may not be sufficient to produce the appropriate translation of the collocation. Moreover, it is observed that Libyan undergraduates have different difficulties in translation where the majority of them encounter challenges in translation especially when they are not allowed to use dictionaries during the translation exams. Many Libyan students deal with translation as a complicated task and depend heavily on the literal translation which is ineffective in translating collocations and phrasal verbs. As a result, mistakes in translating collocations and phrasal verbs frequently hinder the Libyan learners’ speech and writing where collocational expressions need specific understanding and cultural background to be translated appropriately. Therefore, the following hypothesis is put forward; Libyan undergraduates at the English department, Faculty of Education, University of Tripoli may come across various types of problems in translating English collocations and phrasal verbs due to different factors. Hence, the study seeks to find answers to these two questions; firstly, what kind of problematic areas do Libyan undergraduates encounter in translating English collocations and phrasal verbs? Secondly, what are the factors that affect students’ collocation translation performance? and how students can be assisted to overcome these problems? Accordingly, this research aims at exploring the Libyan undergraduates’ capability in understanding English collocations and phrasal verbs and translating them into Arabic. It also examines the types of problems that these students encounter when they translate collocational expressions into Arabic. METHODS The study adopted quantitative and qualitative methods where the data obtained from test results were in quantitative and qualitative form. It was conducted at the department of English, faculty of Education, University of Tripoli. The following table summarizes the socio-demographic data of the study participants: Table 1. Socio-demographic data of the study participants (N=62) Variable Response Frequency Percentage Faculty Education 62 100% Department English 62 100% Gender Female 62 100% Male 0 0% Age 20-25 years 62 100% Semester 4th, 5th, 6th, & 7th 62 100% Nationality Libyan 62 100% First language (L1) Arabic 62 100% As it is shown in table (1) above, all participants are Libyan female students aged between 20-25 years. Their native language is Arabic. They study translation as a http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 32 compulsory subject in the English department, faculty of Education, University of Tripoli. Students were from fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh semesters. To achieve the research objectives and find answers to the research questions, a translation test was designed and used as a main tool to collect data. The test was composed of two parts. In the first part, students were asked to translate seventeen (17) collocations and five (5) phrasal verbs from English into Arabic, while in part two; students were asked three open-ended questions to probe their perceptions regarding English collocations and phrasal verbs. The test time was allocated and the test rubrics were reviewed carefully. It was direct, clear and used common collocations and phrasal verbs. It considered the test takers’ language abilities and individual differences. It was administrated to students who have studied the translation course and have background about translation. Before the test administration, students were given clear instructions about the purpose of the test and how they should perform throughout the test items. Students were asked to answer the test items without using dictionaries. The test papers were collected and corrected by the researchers. Test results were used to answer the research questions and to report the final conclusions. Data obtained from the test papers were examined, classified and organized manually in tables. Each collocation and phrasal verb were organized in a separate table. Students’ translation of each collocation and phrasal verb were grouped together to identify the type of problem they made about each expression. Then, students’ answers were arranged again in tables to be analyzed systematically. To perform the analysis process, data collected from the translation test were finally organized in two main tables (see table, 2 &3 below). Data obtained were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Comments are provided below each table. It is important to know that explanations provided about each collocation and phrasal verbs are supported by samples extracted from students’ incorrect answers in terms of grammatical, lexical and cultural problems with many Arabic spelling mistakes. RESULTS Analyzing students’ translation of English collocations This section presents data obtained from students’ answers based on their translation of seventeen (17) English collocations. The collocations were simple, common and they have equivalents in Arabic. Table (2) displays students’ responses in terms of correct, incorrect, and left answers. It also reflects the number and type of mistakes the participants committed. Most importantly, comments below the table contains some example that have been taken from students’ incorrect answers about each collocation in terms of grammatical, lexical and cultural mistakes based on Arabic language. These examples demonstrate the difficulties of comprehending and interpreting the collocational expressions. http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 33 Table 2. Analyzing Students’ Answers in Translating English Collocations Regarding the collocation “Heavy rain”, it seems that this collocation wasn’t difficult for most of the participants because it has an equivalent in their L1. The number of correct answers was forty eight 48 (77.5%), incorrect answers were eleven (11) (17.7%) and three (3) answers were left (4.8%). There were four (4) answers classified as grammatically wrong in terms of Arabic grammar where students translated “Heavy rain” as (أن يجب تجرًي , من وابل and eight (8) lexical and cultural mistakes where students translated the collocation (االمطار literally as ( االمطار من وابًل , , خفيف مطر ثقيل مطًر ).This indicates that students couldn’t use the exact Arabic equivalent of this collocation. For the collocation (snakes hiss), all students translated it incorrectly where fifty five (55) answers (88.7%) were incorrect and seven (7) answers (11.3%) were left. None of the answers was correct. As it is noticed from the table above students’ answers contained many mistakes. These mistakes were grammatical mistakes such as ( , تعابين, سم مثل يتلوء, أفعى صوت فتنه, األفعاء ) and lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( مثل يتلوء, أفعى صوت, سامة أفعى, الثعابين همسة األفعى حفيف, فتنه, األفعاء ). In checking students’ answers in translating the collocation (commit a mistake), it is found that twenty (20) students ( 33.3%) provided correct meaning of the collocation but P a rticip a n t s Collocation Correct Arabic Translation Participants’ Answers Types of Problems Correc t Incor rect Left Gramm atical Lexical Cultura l 62 Heavy rain غزيرًةًأمطار 48 11 3 4 8 8 Snakes hiss األفاعيًفحيح 0 55 7 20 24 32 Commit a mistake خطًأًيرتكب 20 42 0 24 54 54 Bread and butter ملحا ًًوًخبزا ً 10 48 4 8 44 44 Pay a visit بزيارةًيقومً/يزور 8 47 7 12 30 45 Have a heart رحيما ًًكن 17 42 3 17 38 39 Know by heart قلًبًظهرًعنًيحفظ 5 49 8 21 28 47 In a heartbeat تردًدًدونًبسرعة 0 57 5 30 56 57 A big cheese ًًوًمسؤولًشخص مهًم 0 59 3 42 59 59 Brain drain ًاألدمغةًهجرة العقول\ 1 53 8 43 48 54 Bright victory باهرًانتصار 46 10 6 7 10 10 Form and content المضموًنًوًالشكل 6 49 7 47 49 49 Trees rustle الشجًرًحفيًف 5 48 9 35 48 48 Means and ends الغاياتًوًالوسائل 0 55 7 16 55 55 Pass a law قانونا ًًيسن 0 58 4 43 55 56 Raging storm هوجاًءًعاصفة 14 38 10 4 38 36 Draw a sward سيفا ًًيستل 6 45 11 29 40 43 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 34 these answers contained grammatical mistakes where they translated this collocation as ( خطأ ارتكب ) in the past instead of ( خطأ يرتكب ) in present, forty two (42) students (70%) provided incorrect answers. The incorrect answers contained grammatical mistakes as for example, ( اخطاء, أخطاء يصحح, ذنب اقترف ), lexical and cultural mistakes as ( تراكم, الخطأ على علق الخطأ على علق, أخطاء يصحح, كثيرة أخطاء, األخطاء ). However, there was no left answer. As it is shown in table (2) above, concerning the collocation (bread and butter), only ten (10) students (16.1%) provided correct answers ( ملحا ً و خبزا ً and ملح و عيش ), forty eight (48) answers (77.4%) were incorrect and four (4) answers (6.5%) were left. Moreover, in analyzing the type of students’ mistakes, it is found that eight answers (8) had grammatical mistakes such as ( ساهل, ملح العيش ) and forty four (44) lexical and cultural problems as ( و الخبز جدا ً سهل, سهل و صعب, الزبدة ). In investigating the answers related to the collocation (pay a visit), students’ answers showed that only eight (8) answers (12.9%) were correct though some of them were correct in meaning but they were ungrammatical where two students provided answers in the past بزيارة قام ) ), while forty seven (47) answers (75.8%) were incorrect where students committed compound mistakes; i.e. grammatical mistakes as ( الزيارة فرصة, بالصدفة زيارة ), lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( بسح ألة, زيارة ادفع, الزائر يدفع, طيبة زيارًة ) and seven (7)answers (11.3%) were left. For the collocation (Have a heart), it is clear that students depended on literal translation. Forty two (42) answers (67.7%) were incorrect, seventeen (17) answers (27.4%) were correct, and three (3) answers (4.8%) were left. Students’ incorrect answers contained various types of mistakes. For example, in terms of grammatical mistakes students provided answers such as ( قلبا ً امتلك, ضمير يملك, ضمير لديه ), and lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( قلب وجع, االحساس عديم, القلب اتدق, عالي احساس ). Regarding the collocation (know by heart), it seems that students found it hard to be translated. Only five (5) answers (8.1%) were correct where the participant translated it as ( قلب ظهر عن ). On the other hand, forty nine (49) answers (79.0%) were incorrect and eight answers (12.9%) were left. It is obvious that this collocation was a challenge to all students. Different mistakes were pointed; grammatical mistakes such as ( بالقلب تعرف ,قلب ظهر عن عرًف بعقله ليس و بقلبه يعلم ) as well as lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( يعرف, عالي احساس, دليلي قلبي بالفطرة يعرفه, القلب بواسطة ). For the collocation (in a heartbeat), it was translated incorrectly by all participants. The incorrect answers were fifty seven (57) (91.9%) and five (5) answers (8.1%) were left. The translated answers reflected students’ misunderstanding of this collocation where different types of mistakes were identified; grammatical such as ( قلبك اعماق من, حياته في, القلب دقات في ,) lexical and cultural such as ( القلب نوايا القلب دقات من ,الحساس الهدف, القلب نبضات فًي .) Hence, all answers were far away from the real meaning of this collocation. It is observed that the collocation (a big cheese) was also hard for all participants. All students translated it incorrectly where they depended on literal translation. Fifty nine (59) answers ( 95.2%) were incorrect, three (3) answers (4. 8%) were left. Students provided answers with various types of mistakes. These mistakes were classified as grammatical such http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 35 as ( كبير جبن, األكبر راختيا ) and lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( ابتسامة, كبيرة حصة, عظيمة فرصة جميل نصيب, كبيرة ). The collocation (Brain drain) was also hard to be translated for the participant. Only one answer (1.6%) was correct where the participant translated it as ( األدمغة هجرة ). On the contrary, fifty three (53) answers (85.5%) were incorrect and eight (8) answers (12.9%) were left. The incorrect answers contained three types of mistakes which are grammatical, lexical and cultural. Students provided incorrect translation as ( , العقل فقدان, المهجور العقل, جنون فارغ دماغ , بحكمة تصرف, جاف لعق .) It is observed that the collocation (Bright victory) was not that hard for the majority of the participants. Forty six (46) answers (74.2%) were correct, ten (10) answers (16.1%) were incorrect and six (6) answers (9.7%) were left. Grammatical mistakes such as ( انتصار العظيم نصر, ساحق النصر, قاضية ), lexical mistakes such as ( , الصاحق النصر المع انتصار ) and cultural mistakes such as ( معال انتصار, العظيم نصر, قاضية انتصار ) were detected. Regarding the collocation (Form and content), six (6) answers (9.7%) were correct, forty nine (49) answers (79.0%) were incorrect and seven (7) answers (11.3%) were left. The majority of students understood and translated the word (content) as (محتوى), but as a collocation they couldn’t translate it correctly. Grammatical mistakes such as ( و القاعدة المحتويات, المعنى صيغة, المحتويات ) were noticed, lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( قاعدة, الهيكل المعنى صيغة, االتصال و شكل, محتوى ) were also detected. For the collocation (Trees rustle), only five (5) answers (8%) were translated correctly, forty eight (48) answers (77.4%) were translated incorrectly and nine (9) answers (14.5%) were left. This indicates that this item was hard to be translated by students. Different types of mistakes were counted. These mistakes are grammatical mistakes such as ( , حفيف األشجار متفرعة الشجر ), lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( صوت, األشجار جذور, األشجار غبار, العائلة شجرة األشجار أوراق ). Referring to the collocation (Means and ends), it is found that all students were unable to translate it correctly. Fifty five (55) answers (88.7%) were incorrect and seven (7) answers (11.3%) were left. The provided answers were far from the intended meaning and different mistakes were categorized. All the incorrect answers contained grammatical, lexical and cultural mistakes where students provided answers such as ( معاني, النهاية في العبرًة نهايات و معاني, نهايات و بدايات, نهاية و طريق ,النهايات ). For the collocation (Pass a law), it is observed that all participants were incompetent to translate it. Fifty eight (58) incorrect answers (93.5%) and four (4) answers (6.5%) were left. The mistakes were clear and reflected students’ poor understanding the target meaning. Their answers contained grammatical mistakes such as ( قانون ذعوا, القانون مخالف, القانون تمرير ) as well as lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( يكسر, منخفض تمرير, القانون عن خارج, نونقاال اختراق القانون تمرير, القانون ). This indicates that students know the word (law) and they do not know the meaning of the collocation (pass a law) as one unit. The provided answers showed that students depended on guessing more than realizing the exact meaning of this collocation in Arabic. In examining students’ answers for the collocation (Raging storm), it is clear that this item wasn’t difficult to be understood by the majority of participants. It is noticed that two http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 36 (2) answers ( هوجاء عاصفة ) were correct (3.2%) and another thirty six (36) (58.1%) were acceptable because students gave nearer correct translation such as ( , عنيفة عاصفة, قوية عاصفة شديدة اصفةع ). On the other hand, fourteen (14) answers (22.6%) were incorrect and ten (10) answers (16.1%) were left. Students provided answers that contained grammatical mistakes such as ( عاصفة تحتدم ) and lexical mistakes such as ( الشديد الغضب, وهجاء عاصفة ) and cultural mistakes as ( غضب ثورة, عنيفة عاصفة, الشديد الغضب ). Regarding the final collocation given in the translation test (Draw a sward), it is noticed that only six (6) answers (9.7%) were near the correct answer where students translated the item as السيف يسحب) ) and no one translated it as ( سيفا ً يستل ). This indicates that the participants have a cultural gap even in their first language (Arabic) where they do not know the word (يستل) as well as the Arabic collocation ( سيفا ً يستل ). It seems that even this item was difficult were forty five (45) answers (72.6%) were incorrect and eleven (11) answers (17.7%) were left. Grammatical mistakes such as ( سيفا رسًم, خطة لرسًم ), lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( سيفا ً رسم, سيفا ً ارسم ,سيفا ً يسحب ) were observed. Analyzing students’ translation of English phrasal verbs This section displays data obtained from students’ answers based on their translation of five (5) English phrasal verbs. These phrasal verbs were clear and common. Table (3) displays students’ responses in terms of correct, incorrect, and left answers. It also shows the type and number of grammatical, lexical, and cultural, mistakes that were committed by the participant. However, students’ answers contained many Arabic spelling mistakes as it is shown in the comments below. Table 3. Analyzing Students’ Answers in Translating English Phrasal Verbs Regarding the phrasal verb (Slow down), it seems that it wasn’t hard for the majority of students though many of them used the word (يبطئ) in their translation which is not the exact meaning of the collocation. Forty three (43) answers (69.4%) were correct, seventeen (17) answers (27.4%) were incorrect and only two (2) answers (3.2%) were left. Though the majority of participants figured out the meaning but grammatical mistakes such as (بطء, اهدأ ببطء، لألسفل ) as well as lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( بتأني, ببطئ ينزل, أبطا ) were found. P a rticip a n ts Phrasal verb Correct Arabic Translation Participants’ answers Type of problem Correc t incorre ct Left Gram matica l Lexica l Cultura l 6 2 Slow down 17 16 8 2 17 43 تمهل /تأن /السرعة خفف Think up 46 46 8 4 46 12 فكرًة كون - اخترع Figure out حل-قرر - اكتشف- يستنتًج -ستخرجا 7 50 5 9 46 48 Go on 9 10 4 1 11 50 استمر / تابع Come up with فكرة يقترًح - ابتكر – أدرك حل او خطة او 6 48 8 8 45 48 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 37 Though the phrasal verb (think up) wasn’t difficult, many students translated it as an infinitive verb (يفكر).There were twelve (12) correct answers (19.3), forty six (46) incorrect answers (74.2%) and four (4) answers (6.5%) were left. Students did some grammatical mistakes such as ( أعتقد,التفكير أرفع ), lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( التنبؤ, خمم, بفكرك ارتقي ). These mistakes indicated that students were able to translate the verb (think) but they were unable to translate the phrasal verb (think up) as one unit. In analyzing students’ answers of the phrasal verb (figure out), it is noticed that this phrasal verb was harder than other phrasal verbs included in the test. Only seven (7) answers (11.3%) were correct, fifty (50) answers (80.6%) were incorrect and five (5) answers (8.1%) were left. Grammatical mistakes such as ( اكتشاف, معرفة, يشير, بتعرف ), lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( يتعرف, فكر, مدة ) were detected. Considering the phrasal verb (go on), it is observed that this item wasn’t difficult because it is a part from students’ language use in class where teachers and lecturers use this phrasal verb regularly. Fifty (50) answers (80.7%) were correct, eleven (11) answers (17.7%) were incorrect and only one answer (1.6%) was left. However, grammatical mistakes such as ( ابتعد, بعيدا ً يذهب ), lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( ابتعد بعيدا ً يذهب, ينفذ, تجاوز ) were identified. As it can be clearly seen, the phrasal verb (Come up with) was hard to be translated. Only six (6) answers (9.7%) were correct. On the other hand, forty eight (48) answers (77.4%) were incorrect and eight (8) answers (12.9%) were left. Grammatical mistakes such as ( شيء ابعاد, مرافقة, اتفقا ) which are far away from the exact meaning were noticed. Further, lexical and cultural mistakes such as ( معه تعال, مع اتفق, مع تعال, مع أنجز ) were also observed. This phrasal verb reflected how students depend on the literal meaning and their lexical competence is poor. Analyzing students’ open- ended questions Based on the data extracted from students’ answers from the translation test part two which consists of three open-ended questions, data revealed that students have their views about English colocations and phrasal verbs. Data obtained from the first question in part two: Do you think that translation of English collocations and phrasal verbs is a difficult task? Why? The majority of students, fifty nine (59) of them, answered with (Yes) and only three students said (No). Moreover, to justify their answers, students provided and reported different reasons such as, “...many English words have multi meanings and they can’t be translated easily and literally”, “English collocations and phrasal verbs are complex because they have different and difficult meaning”, “Collocations are difficult because we don’t use them in class and we don’t know the real meaning of expressions” and “Collocations need practice and experience because they are not easy”. The study participants also claimed that they didn’t study English collocations and their use in the vocabulary development subject and they don’t have sufficient knowledge and background about English collocations and phrasal verbs. Students are aware of the fact that English collocations are related to English culture and need to be understood to be translated properly. They reported that collocational expressions need special knowledge and must have solid language and culture background. http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 38 Regarding the second question in part two of the test: What kind of problems do you usually face when you translate from English into Arabic and translation of English collocations and phrasal verbs specifically? Students reported many problems such as, “The English word may have a specific meaning but it has different meaning in the collocation expression and I cannot use the exact meaning efficiently”, “I face difficulty in finding the real meaning of the English words and understanding how native speakers use them in their life”, “I have a problem in recognizing and understanding compound words and phrases”. Additionally, students also stated that they can’t find the intended meaning of collocations easily, they don’t use collocational expressions a lot in their daily life, collocations cannot be found in standard dictionaries, collocations and phrasal verbs are unpredictable, it is difficult to find the exact equivalent meaning for some collocations, they find difficulties in understanding the meaning of some collocations and phrasal verbs, and lack of background in terms of the real meaning of collocations in a foreign language and other’s culture. Concerning the third question in part two: How can Libyan EFL learners overcome translation problems that related to collocations and phrasal verbs? Students reported some ways to overcome the collocation and phrasal verbs problems for example, “...reading different English sources can help in understanding English expressions and culture.”, “Focusing on using idioms, collocations and phrasal verbs regularly in class.”, “We need to practice how to use dictionaries that explain the meaning of collocations.” Likewise, most of the participants insist on “practice” as a key to overcome the translation problems. They emphasized the fact that collocations need to be practiced as possible as they can. Students reported other solutions as intensive reading, exposure to different types of texts, translating stories, magazines and legal contracts. In addition, some students said that collocations should be listed and learned by heart to memorize them. They also said that they are in need for specialized dictionaries which deal with collocations, phrasal verbs and idioms. Students were aware of the importance of collocation use where they emphasized that they should use them in their daily life by communicating with foreigners to learn their culture. They also highlighted the importance of the role of teachers where they said “instructors should pay more attention and give more time for collocations and phrasal verbs use in teaching”. DISCUSSION Based on the data analysis section, it is clear that Libyan undergraduates who participated in this study encounter various problems in understanding the real meaning of English collocations and phrasal verbs. Since the meaning is the target element of the translation process and students ignore the meaning and actual use of these collocations, they commit various mistakes in their translation outputs of the given collocations and phrasal verbs items. Data obtained to answer the research question what kind of problematic areas do Libyan undergraduates at the University of Tripoli encounter in translating English collocations and phrasal verbs?, indicates that students encounter different serious problems where their answers contained many mistakes. Moreover, many answers were left without any translation trials. This indicates that these expressions were hard for students who confronted challenges in translating the provided collocations and phrasal verbs. As indicated earlier, these mistakes were classified as grammatical, lexical and cultural which http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 39 caused incorrect translation production, (see figure 1). In addition, many answers contained Arabic spelling mistakes which affected the quality of the translation output. Figure 1. Types of the Participates’ Translation Problems Data gained from the translation test has shown that the majority of students have poor competence in translating English collocations and phrasal verbs. Hence, in inspecting the question what are the factors that affect students’ collocation translation performance? and how students can be assisted to overcome these problems? It can be stated that there are many reasons that affect students’ poor translation competence and performance. These factors are due to; first, the misunderstanding of collocational meanings which is mainly affected by the huge negative interference and transfer of students’ native language (L1) which is Arabic on L2 (English). This matches the study that conducted by Huang (2001), Koya, (2003) and Fan (2009), which indicated clearly the L1 interference in collocational production of EFL students. Accordingly, the major reason of Libyan students’ erroneous production of language lies in their L1 knowledge and ignorance of collocation meaning and use. Therefore, the majority of them translated the collocations literally and others ignored totally the equivalents. Second, it is obvious that the main problem in translating collocations and phrasal verbs is due to the lack of practice and use of these expressions. Many Libyan undergraduates do not know the collocational use because they do not learn and use them in their both productive contexts (spoken and written) regularly. This results in deficiency in real use of language in general and the use of collocations in particular. http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 40 Hence, Libyan learners cannot achieve the native like competence of language and their miss-collocational use still represents a constraint from expressing and using of these expressions. Third, it is observed that participants’ instructors neglect teaching collocations neither in translation texts nor in vocabulary development courses. It has been noted that there was no methodology implemented to teach vocabulary regarding collocations to enrich students’ knowledge about word combinations and phrases. However, it is clear that translating phrasal verbs was easier than collocations due to two reasons; first, students studied phrasal verbs in grammar subject, second: phrasal verbs were easy to be guessed in meaning because students know the meaning of the first part (verb). For example they know that think means (يفكر) and think up as a phrasal verb can be inferred. Hence, this lack of emphasis on teaching collocational use in vocabulary course leads learners to make unlimited mistakes in translation because they depend on guessing and literary translation to create the meaning instead of using the real target meaning of collocations. Furthermore, it is obvious that students’ responses to the test items reflect the misuse of cultural expressions not only in English but also in Arabic where students in many answers understood the meaning of collocational expressions and provided similar meanings but their production had many mistakes in terms of lexical and cultural mistakes due to their poor background not only in English but also in the formal Arabic expressions. Though many students guessed some words’ meaning but lexical and cultural choice of Arabic words caused problems in translation. Students’ answers contained compound mistakes where many answers contained grammatical and lexical mistakes or lexical and cultural ones. There is a correlation between lexical and cultural mistakes. In other words, students make mistakes because of lexical misunderstanding as well as poor cultural background in their mother tongue. Collocations such as (snakes hiss and trees rustle) cannot be classified as hard collocations to be understood or translated but the problem is that students do not recognize the exact meaning of sound in Arabic. This is a huge cultural problem which effects the translation production. CONCLUSION It is apparent that Libyan students encounter challenges in translating English collocations and phrasal verbs where they commit enormous language mistakes due to various factors and influences. Lack of translation interest, misunderstanding and misuse of collocations can be regarded as a core cause of translation problems among Libyan students’ which affects their translation competence and performance. The majority of Libyan students depend on guessing and the use of literal translation which affects negatively their cognitive translation capability. Additionally, there is a clear cultural gap in both English and Arabic because even when students got the meaning of collocation they couldn’t provide the correct expression in their mother tongue. Consequently, the problematic areas refer not only to their incapability in translation and understanding of English collocational expressions, but also to their poor performance in choosing the Arabic words where many test answers contained mistakes in Arabic grammar and spelling. There is an urgent need to find solutions that will assist students to improve their language use ability. http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 41 It seems that when students got the meaning of the collocation, they can give the equivalent in their mother tongue which emphasizes the important role of culture in translation. When expressions are bounded to culture, this will facilitate the translation process. The majority of students' cultural background and experience in translation are poor and require more attention and follow-up. There is a huge gap in understanding and applying of the translation methods and techniques where many students used the literal translation method. Some of them even left some collocations unanswered, and this indicates their incapability to translate these collocations. Furthermore, translation teaching methodology affected students’ performance where they reported that they are still in need for using dictionaries in translation. Many Libyan EFL instructors and teachers neglect teaching collocations as a part of translation and vocabulary courses and they allow their students to use dictionaries in the translation tasks. Therefore, students find difficulties in translating collocational expressions since they have specific meaning and they cannot be found in standard dictionaries. Thus, students are in need to know the meaning and how to use collocational expressions by recognition and memorization of them within a context. To conclude, Libyan students find the translation of collocations and phrasal verbs a hard task and in fact, their ignorance of real meaning and use of collocational expressions hinders them from achieving the translation product competently. SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Collocations and phrasal verbs are important parts in vocabulary and translation subjects. Learning how to use them efficiently helps in enhancing students’ language knowledge, cognitive ability and use. Thus, some suggestions may be provided: Libyan instructors, researchers and language curriculum designers in higher education need to pay more attention to collocations for the sake of diminishing collocational errors among Libyan EFL learners and enhancing collocational and vocabulary learning and use. Due to the complexity of translating collocations and phrasal verbs, lecturers and teachers should facilitate the teaching of translating phrasal verbs and collocations. They need to come up with some new ideas and techniques to teach collocations, phrasal verbs and other idiomatic expressions properly. Learners' awareness and cognitive ability should be developed and activated by practicing translation of word combination, idioms and phraseological units. Thus, posters, videos, films, spoken dialogues novels, stories, advertisements, news, cards, drawings, transcriptions and peripheral learning drawings that are well designed need to be presented with an emphasis on new vocabularies, phrases, clauses and sentences that emphasize the language use (chunk or context) rather than words or forms or sentences in isolation. Therefore, collocation expressions and phrasal verbs will become part from students’ vocabulary knowledge and use. Cognitive ability and memory are important elements in the field of translation; hence, students should be encouraged to read different texts and literary works where they will meet different collocational expressions and phrasal verbs that are used in real written or spoken contexts by native speakers. More importantly, learners need to be taught at early stages how to be creative and teachers and instructors ought to search for different idiomatic http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 Copyright © The Author(s) Vol.2, No. 4, October 2021 e-ISSN: 2723-4126 p-ISSN: 2776-8880 42 and collocational expressions to make them as a part of their students’ knowledge and culture. Finally, translation and Arabization should be emphasized among Libyan learners because of their importance in enhancing language teaching and learning. When students practice translation and Arabization, they will meet different texts and their competence in comparing between the source text (ST) and the target text (TT) will be enriched and then the translation process will become easier and more enjoyable. 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The influence of the mother tongue on second language vocabulary acquisition and use. Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy, 156-180. Wang, Y. & Shaw, P. (2008). Transfer and universality: Collocation use in advanced Chinese and Swedish learner English. ICAME journal, 32, 201-232. Zarei, A. (2002). What is wrong with collocations? An Investigation of the Iranian Advanced Learners' Problems with English Collocations. Journal of Humanities of University of Sistan and Balouchestan, 7(18), 240-280. http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689 http://u.lipi.go.id/1593190689