Comparing the Performance of Iranian Non-Academic Translators and Academic Translators: A case of Persian Translation of “A man called Ove” novel

This study aimed to compare the translation performance of Iranian non-academic and academic translators in translating "A Man Called Ove" novel by Asadolah Haghani and Farnaz Teymorazof. The researchers analyzed the whole novel, studied the Persian translations, and compared and contrasted the selected erroneous sentences. The errors were reported based on Vinay and Darbelnet’s theory and Keshavarz’s translation error model using four categories of errors: interlingual errors, interlingual and developmental errors, and transfer of training errors. The findings revealed that academic translators made fewer errors and had a better understanding of the text while non-academic translators made more errors, particularly in interlingual and developmental error types. The results of this study highlight the importance of academic degrees in providing translators with the necessary skills and knowledge to cope with the complexities of texts. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion of the importance of academic education in the field of translation and provides insights into the factors that can impact translation performance in different contexts. It is hoped that the findings of this study will be beneficial to translation trainees and trainers, leading to a better understanding of the role of academic background in the act of translating.