an analysis of translation errors committed by efl undergraduate students in iran

The multilingual and multicultural nature of the world increases the need for effective and successful communication. there must be effective communication and mutual understanding between the nations of the world for solidarity, peaceful co-operation, security, and progress. in this age, translation has become the main communication tool. this is because ties are unavoidable for international exchange, tourism, commerce, and investment, or any other bilateral relationships between nations, organizations, agencies, states, etc. therefore, translation is very critical because it has become a true variable in micro and macro societies. to preserve the intended meaning, the translator should be equipped with linguistic and sociolinguistic information and other types of information. this paper explored the problem areas of translation based on the experience of the author as an english language translator, as well as the translations produced by iranian undergraduate students examined. analyzing the translation products, the author highlighted the sections that seemed to her troublesome. the results have shown that the translators have made errors in cultural, stylistic and linguistic fields.