An analysis of the translations of idioms, proverbs, and fixed expressions in Stefan Zweig's Schachnovelle within the framework of Mona Baker's translation strategies

Translation is an activity that has existed throughout human history. From the past to the present, translation practices have evolved and progressed alongside humanity. The absence of a single universal language and the presence of different languages among societies have made translation inevitable. Accordingly, as long as communication continues between different nations, it is evident that translation activities will also persist. This study examines the idioms, proverbs, and fixed expressions encountered in the Turkish translation of Stefan Zweig's Schachnovelle (Chess) from German, within the framework of Mona Baker's translation strategies. In every language and culture, idioms and proverbs—forms of expression that convey significant meaning with only a few words—constitute an essential part of both written and spoken communication. A qualitative research method was adopted for this study. Qualitative research emphasizes the exploration and understanding of social phenomena within their contextual environment. Furthermore, document analysis was employed as a research technique. Document analysis is a scientific research method that involves collecting, reviewing, questioning, and analyzing documents as primary sources of data. Within this scope, two main reference sources were used: Duden Band 11: Redewendungen published by Duden Verlag, and Atasözleri ve Deyimler Sözlüğü 1–2 by Ömer Asım Aksoy. Idioms and fixed expressions in both German and Turkish were examined from the April 2018 edition of Stefan Zweig's Schachnovelle, translated by Ogün Duman. The study analyzed a total of 112 German expressions from Zweig's Schachnovelle, their Turkish translations, and the translation strategies employed. The sample includes 60 idioms and 52 fixed expressions. No proverbs were identified in either the source or target texts. Partial equivalence (50%) emerged as the most frequently used strategy, indicating a preference for conveying the meaning of source expressions in a more elaborated form in the target language. Complete equivalence (38%) ranked second, often applied in instances where direct equivalents of terms or concepts were available. Translation by omission (5%) and translation by paraphrase (7%) were employed less frequently, likely due to the constraints of textual structure or context. In conclusion, it was found that partial and complete equivalence were