Problems of Translating English Proverbs into Modern Standard Arabic

Due to cultural differences among speakers of different languages, the comprehension of proverbs constitutes a real barrier in the process of translation. People of different cultures do not have the same norms of social, religious, political and economic views. Thus, their understanding and comprehension of foreign proverbs differ accordingly. The cultural content of some proverbs is universal and found in most cultures and thus, their comprehension and translation are easy; others are culture-bound and language specific and their comprehension and translation are somehow difficult, which leads to problematic areas in translation.