Ecological features
Ecological features too differ in English and Arabic. Arabic, for instance, belongs to
an area of hot and very dry climate, whereas English belongs originally to an area of
cold and wet climate. A translator of English-Arabic texts may come across some
problematic ecological-based idioms and expressions. Some such items acquire
different connotations in the two languages. What may be a connotatively favourable
expression in Arabic could have a negative sense in English, and vice versa. Some
Arabic expressions that are associated with coldness have a metaphorical sense such
as ‫قرة العين‬, which literally designates ‘coolness of the eye’, whereas the equivalent
ecological English expressions that have favourable connotations are usually
associated with warmth, e.g. ‘He was given a warm welcome’ or ‘He is a warmhearted person’ meaning ‘kind’. In Arabic expressions whose basic (literal) sense
denotes warmth typically have a negative secondary metaphorical sense such as ‫سخنت‬
‫عينه‬, which literally signifies: ‘May your eyes be hot’, i.e. may harm be done to you.
In Arabic ‫خبر يثلج الصدور‬, which literally means ‘news that freezes the breast’, is in fact
happy news. The English equivalent is perhaps: ‘to warm the cockles of one’s heart’.
According to Nida and Taber (1969: 92), “the nature of the surroundings has its effect
on the connotations of terms used by people”. When translators come across such
expressions, they have to select a suitable equivalent in order to give an exact
rendering”.