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THE PROBLEMS OF TRANSLATING IDIOMS AND FIXED
EXPRESSIONS AND STRATEGIES TO PREVENT THEM
Gulkhayo Toshkhujaeva
Student of the group 20B, English faculty 2, Uzbekistan State World
Languages University
In the period in which English is flourishing and developing as a global
language, it is essential to be able to speak fluently and appropriately to excel at it
and accomplish a wide range of educational opportunities and economic growth. As
long as it is impossible to conduct English communication without fluent speech,
learners are required to be devoted to translating and learning the idioms and fixed
phrases as well as applying them in their speech correctly and translators are in
charge of this procedure.
First and foremost, translators should be aware of the exact definition and
usage of the idioms and fixed phrases while translating them from the source
language to the target language. Baker (1992) considers idioms as the frozen
patterns of language carrying the united meaning of several words and keeping the
same variation or with little changes.
There are two main procedures while translating set expressions such as
equivalence and non-equivalence. Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) explain the former as
a proc
edure that “replicates the identical circumstance as the original, but with the
entirely different terminology”. Additionally, they claim that when the equivalence is
accomplished in the translation, the stylistic impact of the source language is kept in
the text in the target language. In most cases, it is impossible to achieve the full
equivalence as Jakobson (in Bassnett, 1991) and Armstrong (2005) argue that it is
not always available to apply direct equivalent but the translator has to find the
nearest possibility.
When cultural, stylistic, grammatical, and lexical differences are experienced
during the translation process, non-equivalence appears. According to Bassnett
(1991), it can be present when “the absence in the target culture of a relevant
sit
uational feature for the source language text”. The example of “snow” is provided
by Sapir and Whorf (1964) which perfectly illustrates the phenomenon. The
mentioned word has many alternatives in European countries as they have more a
year, whilst in Arabic countries, it only means the single type of snow.
A translation problem is a burden that stops the translator from interpreting the
source-language text as there are grammatical, stylistic, lexical, or cultural translation
problems. Complicated source language grammar, differences in grammar, and word
order in the target language cause grammatical translation problems. The translation
of the conditional, verbal or nominal sentences; verbs such as “be”, “have” and modal
verbs, and translation of tenses can be the perfect example of grammatical problems.
In case there is an obstacle with misunderstanding or not understanding entirely the
expression or word. According to Ghazala (1995), the major issues include
monosemy and polysemy, synonymy, and collocations. A style means how the text
or sentence is written and challenges concerning it are vital in the transmission of the
meaning. For example, we have formal vs informal, simple vs complex, or fronting.
Culture and its impact on the translation create an obstacle to translating correctly
also since every nation or cultural group has different perspectives of the world. For
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example, The French use the pronoun “vous” when they are with an important person
in formal situation and when it is informal and with their friends or family members,
they use “tu”.
There are various strategies available to solve the difficulties that occur during
the translation process. According to Baker (1992), the main ways that help to deal
with the problem of lexical equivalence at the word level are the following:
– Translation by using neutral or less expressive words; it overcomes the
differences in the meaning and when there is no direct equivalent, it is preferable to
provide neutral or more formal words;
– Translation by a superordinate (a general term); with the help of this
translation strategy a general term to refer to the specific one can be given by a
translator;
– Translation by the loan words; is the translation strategy that can be used
with modern concepts and culture-
specific items. According to Campbell (1998), “a
loan word is a lexical term which has been borrowed from another language, a word
which originally not a part of the vocabulary of the recipient language but was adopted
from some other language and made part of the borrowing language’s vocabulary”;
– Translation by omission; As Baker (1992) states omitting does not change
the original meaning of the text, the translator can simply omit the words if there is
no equivalent.
Throughout this scientific work, some problems related to translating the idioms
and expressions were discussed and analyzed with relevant examples. The main
features that a translator should take into consideration are different
– grammar, word
order, culture, or style between the source language and target language. The
translation strategies such as using omission, a superordinate, loan words, or the
less expressive words are widely used to overcome the translation problems
mentioned above in case there is no direct equivalent in the target language.
REFERENCES:
1. Armstrong N. (2005). Translation, Linguistics, Culture: A French-English
Handbook. USA: Cromwell Press Ltd.
2. Baker M. (1992). In other words: A Course Book on Translation. London:
Routledge.
3. Bassnet S. (1991). Translation Studies. London: Routledge.
4. Campbell L. (1998). Historical Linguistics: An Introduction. U.K: Edinburg
University Press, G.B.
5. Ghazala H. (1995). Translation as Problems and Solutions: A Course Book
for University Students and Trainee Translators. Valetta: ELGA Publications.
6. Jakobson R. (1959). On Linguistic Aspect of Translation. Brower, R.A.
On Translation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
7. Sapir and Whorf (1964). Language Thought and Reality. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press.
8. Vinay J.P. and J. Darbelnet (1995) Comparative Stylistics of French and
English: a Methodology for Translation, translated by J.C. Sager and M.J. Hamel,
Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.