Translation of figurative language and metaphor may inadvertently lead to many problems as every language has its own features, metaphors, and rhetorical devices. This paper attempts to uncover the types of metaphors used in Arabic sports headlines, and to which extent these metaphors are congruent with Leech's classification of metaphor. It also aims to identify the problems translators may encounter in attempting to translate sports metaphorical expressions from Arabic into English. In this regard, this paper investigated and discussed the strategies used for translating metaphorical expressions in Arabic sports headlines into English. The samples for the current study consisted of 30 sports headlines selected from two Jordanian newspapers, namely Alrai and Aldustour. The translations were analyzed qualitatively in order to determine the extent to which the metaphor is maintained in the translation process. In accordance to Leech's classification of metaphor; the concretive metaphor, the animalistic metaphor, humanizing metaphor, and synesthetic metaphor, the study has shown that the most commonly used metaphor in Arabic sports headlines is humanizing metaphor. The study also reveals that there are two main problems facing the translators: lack of awareness of connotative meaning, and unjustified omission. Finally, the study has shown that translators relied generally on seven strategies in order to translate sports metaphorical headlines into English, namely literal translation, paraphrasing, functional translation, substitution, addition, omission and transposition.
Keywords: Connotative Meaning, Leech's Classification, Metaphors, Sports Headlines.