Abstract

Cohesion is one of the most important characteristics of good translation. Having a good translation is not achieved unless this factor is carefully observed. We may find students who have good mastery of spelling, grammatical rules and the skill of speaking but have noticeable weaknesses of using cohesive devices when they translate literary prose texts from Arabic into English. This study tries to examine the use of cohesive devices by University students when they translate literary prose text from Arabic into English. Texts used as a tool or instrument of data collection were given to some students to translate. The participants, in their translations, depended on certain devices ignoring the others. The subjects disregarded completely some categories of cohesive devices, such as the class of possessive pronouns, comparative reference, ellipsis, and substitution. Students sometimes misused the items, such as what happened with ‘the’. Many students were unable to vary the language (expressions) they used to express their ideas. Students sometimes succeeded in achieving cohesiveness but sometimes failed. A number of students did not end the sentences they wrote and started new ones.