X. Translation of Phraseological Units

The science of phraseology is connected with the lexical vocabulary of the language. In common, phraseology means studying stable expressions.

The specificity of the Phraseological units lies in their peculiarity to represent micro-texts. These texts include all types of information, which are typical for representing situation in their content. In the Phraseological units they are introduced as a pattern that is ready for using.

Textual nature of the Phraseological units gives them a status of specific language signs. It explains their suitability to the function, which characterizes the fact that they serve for explaining factors of a subject, the speaker’s or listener’s intentions that are useful for understanding the Phraseological units’ meaning. The factor of an object means identification of the components, which serve as impetus for expressing those intentions.

It is the nature of the Phraseological units that conditions a necessity of their studying, as «a human factor in a language» is in the center of attention.

The Phraseological units are the most appropriate material for studying the problem of influencing human evaluative and emotional attitude to the surrounding world that explains a role of «a human factor in a language». They accumulate not only knowledge about perception of the world and all types of the subject’s relations to it, but stipulate for using of these language substances and transferring the stereotypes of the national culture.

The issues of Phraseology and common problems of the Phraseological units’ combination are essential for the theory and practice of translation as they represent the big difficulties linked with various semantic and stylistic functions the words of the same semantic meaning carry out in different languages and with different word-combinations, such words are united in.

Thus, the translation of the Phraseological units is one of the most difficult and interesting problems developed within the framework of modern theory of translation. The difficulties of the Phraseological units translation are explained by the complication of their semantic structure. The Phraseological units are original «micro-texts» that absorb various kinds of information about the real objects. They does not only name the real objects, but pass information about the psychological and emotional state of a speaker and his emotional attitude toward the object of the speech.

It is necessary to stress on the definition of the Phraseological unit as it is a very complicated language phenomenon that is conditioned by specific relation to the objects or typical situations which are defined, by the character of inward figurative basis and their completely or partially re-comprehended meaning.

The Phraseological unit is defined as a language unit that has the Phraseological meaning that is the meaning which consists of a figurative conception of metaphorical, analogical or comparative type by the way of which a denotation is designated and its connotative characteristics are introduced.

Thus, the rate of combining words in the Phraseological units can be different. In some expressions the elements had lost their previous meaning and combine extraordinary closely. Only special analysis can help to trace and define their origin.

In a great number of the Phraseological units the words acquire the figurative meaning. In such Phraseological units the meanings of separate words are not enough comprehensible and, at a particular sense, they motivate common meaning of the Phraseologiсal unit. The connection between words is not so close.

And, finally, there are many Phraseological units in the English language, which are characterized by the particular independence of their elements. They can be renewed by the other words and some of their elements can be replaced by synonymous words or constructions. Predominantly, these Phraseological units are used in a written language.

In translation of the Phraseological units the peculiarities of cultural specificity must be taken into account. It is explained by the fact that translation is an important means of intercultural communication. Not all the elements of cultural resources of one community are presented in a cultural reserve of another one. Besides, language devices of the other nation can describe not all the elements of cultural resources of one community. That is the reason why transference of cultural specificity of the target language is a very difficult task.

Phraseological units are characterized by the following features:

1) Re-production (Phraseological units are ready units).

2. Semantic unity (Phraseological units have the meaning of the whole).

3. Impossibility of word-by-word translation.

a) Figurativeness; emotional and expressive colouring.

b) Rhythm.

The most important feature of the Phraseological units, such as «untranslatability» or «untranslatability in the literal meaning» is distinguished. «The literal meaning» that is the direct nominative meaning of a word is not perceived by the language speakers in the result of losing its motivation.

The choice of the way of translation of the Phraseological expressions may be predetermined by the source language context, as well as by the existence or absence of contextual equivalents for the stable expression in the target language.

The Phraseological units are foremost considered as a semantic phenomenon and are classified into:

Phraseological cohesions.

Phraseological unities.

Phraseological combinations.

1) The Phraseological cohesions differ from the Phraseological unities by the semantic cohesion of the components. The basic linguistic factor that determines the extent of semantic cohesion of the Phraseological units’ components is an absence or presence of the figurative validity of their meanings.

Thus, the Phraseological cohesions are the Phraseological units with integral, generalized and figurative meaning that is not reasoned by the lexical meaning of the components that form it.

For example:

The real McCoy	Чудова річ; дещо вельми цінне
The Peeping Tom	Людина з нездоровою цікавістю
Skeleton in the cupboard	Сімейна таємниця; неприємність прихована від сторонніх

If the figurative motivation of the Phraseological units’ meaning is available, its lexical meaning is well perceived as separate words, the role of which is sharply realized for forming integral, generalized and figurative meaning of the whole Phraseological init.

If the figurative motivation of the Phraseological units’ meaning is unavailable, its components at greater extent lose their lexical properties, and the real distinction that divides them are erased forming the united «cohesion» that represents a plan of expression of the corresponding Phraseological cohesion.

2) Phraseological unities are the Phraseological units with its integral, generalized and figurative meaning that is motivated on the basis of the lexical meaning of the components that form the Phraseological unit.

For Example:

To tear one’s hair	Рвати на собі волосся
To pour oil on the flame(s)	Підливати масла у вогнище
To live cat and dog life	Жити як кішка з собакою

Their high connotation is conditioned by the Phraseological image or its internal form, i.e. by evident presentation, the «picture» on the basis of which the integral, generalized and figurative meaning is comprehended.

Theoretically, availability of the Phraseological units identical on meaning and internal forms may be explained by the definite commonness of figurative and conceptual associations that appear in different languages and nationalities as a result of similarity in their life experience.

When pigs fly	Нікóли; коли риба почне співати
To carry coals to Newcastle	Займатися марною й непотрібною справою; потикатися в чужий монастир зі своїм уставом

For example:

The given Phraseological unities are absolutely identical on their meaning and stylistic colouring (mostly, they belong to the colloquial style of language, but may be used in popular language as well).

However, they are not identical on images that motivate their meaning as each one has its unique nationally conditioned character.

3) Phraseological combinations are fixed expressions, one component of which has phraseologically combined meaning and is understood only in relation to strictly defined frame of concepts and their verbal notation.

These restrictions are formed by laws of connection of the verbal meanings that are peculiar to the given language. Such combinations are not equivalents as each of their components has different meaning.

For example:

To keep one’s distance	Знати своє місце; триматися поодаль
To keep one’s ears open	Бути на сторожі; бути напоготові
To keep oneself to oneself	Бути нетовариським, відлюдкуватим; триматися окремо; цуратися людей

In the examples given above, the word «to keep» cannot be substituted by any other word closely related to its meaning, as it will lead to incongruity of the words and distortion of the Phraseological units’ meaning.

There are several ways of translating the Phraseological units:

1. Translation by Choosing Absolute Equivalents:

This is a way of translating by which every component part of the source language Phraseological unit is kept in the target language. The words also create the main images, the expressiveness and the figurative meaning. Translating by equivalents is used when the Phraseological units, which originate from the same source in the both languages, are translated.

The Phraseological word-combinations may originate:

1. From Greek mythology:

A labour of Sisyphus	Сізіфова праця (важка але марна праця)
Cassandra’s warning	Застереження Каландри (правдиві застереження, яким не вірять)
Pandora’s Box	Скринька Пандори або Пандорина скринька (джерело бід)

2. From ancient history or literature:

The golden age	Золотий вік
The die is cast	Жереб кинуто
To cross the Rubicon	Перейти Рубікон (приймати важливе рішення)
I came, I saw, I conquered	Прийшов, побачив, переміг

3. From the Bible or based on biblical plot:

A lost sheep	Заблудла вівця
Ten commandments	Десять заповідей
The thirty pieces of silver	Тридцять срібняків

4. From the contemporary literary or historical source relating to different languages (mainly to French, Spanish, Danish, German, Italian, Arabic):

French	After us the deluge	Після нас хоч потоп
One’s place in the sun	Місце під сонцем
The game is worth the candle	Гра варта свічок
Spanish	Blue blood	Блакитна кров
The fifth column	П’ята колона

5. From the works of prominent English and American authors:

To bury a hatchet	Закопати томагавк/укласти мир (F.Cooper)
Cowards die many times before their deaths	Боягузи вмирають багато разів (W. Shakespeare)
To reign in Hell is better than to serve in Heaven	Краще панувати в пеклі, ніж слугувати в раю (J. Milton)

2. Translation by Choosing Near Equivalents:

The meaning of a considerable number of the Phraseological units originating in both languages from a common source may sometimes have, unlike absolute equivalents, one or even most of their components different, than in the target language.

In broad daylight	Серед білого дня
As pale as paper	Блідий мов стіна
One’s own flesh and bone	Рідна кровинка
Baker’s/printer’s dozen	Чортова дюжина
As short as a dog’s tail	Короткий, як осінній день
Measure twice, cut once	Сім раз відміряй, один раз відріж
To make a long story short	Коротко кажучи

3. Translation by Choosing Genuine idiomatic Analogies:

The Phraseological units are in most cases easily given corresponding analogies in the target language. As a matter of fact the Phraseological units are usual­ly very close in their connotative meaning in English and Ukrainian languages. These common and similar traits of the Phraseological units serve a proof of their be­ing genuine analogies.

To have the ready tongue	За словом у кишеню не лізти
Like mistress, like maid	Яблуко від яблуні недалеко падає
To keep body and soul together	Ледь зводити кінці з кінцями
There is no use crying over spilt milk	Що з воза впало, те пропало

The choice of an analogy is translator’s decision and is predetermined by the style of a text.

Not for time or money	Ні за що в світі / ні за які гроші
Don’t cross the bridge before you come to it	Не кажи «гоп», доки не перестрибнеш
He that lies down with dogs must rise up with fleas	З ким поведешся, від того й наберешся

4. Translation by Choosing Approximate analogies:

The meaning of the Phraseological units can be expressed by means of only approximate analogies, i.e. in a descriptive way.

To lose one’s breath	Кидати слова на вітер
King words butter no parsnips	Годувати байками солов’я
To make a cat’s paw of something	Чужими руками жар вигрібати

5. Descriptive translation of idiomatic and set expressions:

The meaning of a considerable number of the Phraseological units can be conveyed through explication only i.e. in a descriptive way. Depending on the complexity of the meaning contained in the source language unit, it can be conveyed in the target language as follows:

By a single word	Red blood	Мужність, відвага, хоробрість
To set a limit to smth	Обмежувати, стримувати
Out of a clear blue of the sky	Раптом, зненацька
By a free combination of words	Short odds	Майже рівні шанси
To sell someone short	Недооцінювати когось
To shoot Niagara	Вдаватися до ризикованих дій
By a sentence or a longer explanation	To cut off with a shilling	Залишити без спадщини

Thus, the aim of translating of the Phraseological expressions is to fully con­vey their lexical meaning in the target language and where possible, to convey the structural peculiarities, the figurativeness, the expressiveness, and the connotative meaning of the source language Phraseological units.

Besides, it is necessary to take into account that modern linguistics is formed as anthropological science, which includes research of the linguistic phenomena and language processes in indissoluble connection with the necessities of human communicative activity that is accompanied by the realization of cognitive processes.

In accordance with positions of cognitive science, a man must be studied as a system of processing information, and person’s behaviour should be depicted and explained in the terms of the internal states, which are physically shown, or are found under observation and are interpreted as getting, processing, storing and mobilization of information for the rational decision of language tasks.

The system of senses that falls into the sphere of individual knowledge or beliefs is formed as a result of cognitive activity. Knowledge, which is got in practice directly, are re-interpreted on the basis of the available empirical experience, that influence upon displaying information by one language user and perception it by the other one.

National and cultural components of the lexical meanings of words can represent the way of life, culture peculiarities, traditions, and beliefs etc. of language users and is the cause of different associations they have.

The Phraseological units are formed on the basis of such a figurative presentation of reality that represents daily empirical, historical or mental experience of language group that is certainly related to its culture and traditions, as the subject of nomination and linguistic activity is always the subject of national culture.

Thus, when analyzing the features of cultural connotation, it is necessary to take into account that the system of images fixed in the Phraseological structure of language serves for accumulation of world views and is definitely related to the material, social or mental culture of the given language association and therefore testifies to its cultural and national traditions.

The figurative basis serves the way of embodying the cultural and national specificity of the Phraseological units, while interpretation of the figurative basis in sign, cultural and national «space» of the given language group serves the way of pointing at that specificity.

Such way of interpretation makes cultural and natural connotation.

Thus the basis of cognitive foundation for translating the Phraseological units is made up by the semantics that stipulates understanding of specific devices connected with using language and those means by which they interact with the other aspects of functioning the thought.

A very important role is given up to the emotional position of a language user. This emotional position serves as a sort of communicative intention.

The cognitive sphere of the meaning includes stylistic one, which is linked with the communicative situation fixed in a language speaker or listener’s memory. The expressive effect the Phraseological unit has stipulates knowledge that the denotant of a given expression takes place in the world and acts as internal and external base for subject of cognition. This knowledge serves as a premise of the whole cognitive process. The expressive function of a language is a means of setting relations between intentions of language subject and his knowledge of the real events that happens in the world, of language coding rules and stylistic usage of language devices.

Thus, the expressiveness of the Phraseological units is a category that relates to the cognitive aspect of language as its base includes cognitive intentions with the aggregate of user’s relations to the denotation. The basic intention for the Phraseological units’ expressiveness can cover feeling of encouraging or discouraging, agreeing or disagreeing, honesty or dishonesty etc. For example, the meaning of a lexeme «black» means «bad», «terrible»:

Devil is not so black as he is painted	Не такий страшний чорт, як його малюють
To depict in black colours	Представляти в поганому світлі
To look black	Мати незадоволений, похмурий, злий вигляд
Black conscience	Чорна, нечиста совість

The lexeme «white» can be used for denoting cowardice and at the same time for designating purity and innocence, as in the given examples:

A white liver	Малодушність, боягузтво
A white feather	Боягузтво
To show the white feather	Злякатися, виявити малодушність
A white man	Порядна, добре вихована людина
A white lie	Невинна брехня, брехня заради порятунку
To put on a white sheet	Каятися, визнавати прилюдно свої помилки

The expressiveness the Phraseological units is oriented at the cognitive plan of the language and mental activity as the latter one indicates signals about intentions of a language subject which include evaluating and emotive attitude to the denotation. This relation is subjective in a listener’s language consciousness dependently on his ability to «reproduce» mental structures that are identical to communicative intent.

The specifics of using language devices and conformities of their functioning as well as their influence on people’s behaviour are considered by the pragmatics. The analysis of the pragmatic aspect of any utterance must take into account the following positions:

Terms of communication.

Purpose of communication.

Communicative intentions.

The pragmatic analysis includes operating by such notions as:

A sender of language message and receiver.

Pragmatic situation that is defined as complex of external terms of intercourse which are presented in a speaker’s consciousness from the moment of realizing the linguistic act and to the result of pragmatic effect.

Illocutive act that represents executing a certain action (request, question, gratitude etc.).

Perlocutive act that defines influence the receiver get in the situation of communication.

The illocutive intent, which can be attained in a communicative act, is considerably determined by the semantics of words that are chosen for using by a language user.

The Phraseological units are one of the most productive devices of forming second denominations that have such an important feature as to «impose» a particular understanding of the world.

Synthesizing the character of processes of creation of the secondary meanings is connected with purposeful activity of its subject.

This activity is oriented not only on filling the nominative and conceptual effects, but also on filling up pragmatic influencing, that is caused by the Phraseological unit in the mind of a recipient. Evaluating events that take place in the world is indispensable attribute of human activity.

Thus, the meaning of the Phraseological unit must include evaluation as the process of their forming is accompanied by defining the denoting subject.

In the act of interlingual communication, a bilingual-mediator takes part except the Source and Receptor. A translator’s task is to form the target language text that will become the identical replacement of the source language text.

Therefore, the specifics of pragmatic relations in the process of translation is linked either with the necessity to reproduce the pragmatics of the source language text in the target language text or with the special pragmatic position of a translator. In the process of translation, the special attitude to a text is formed in the translator’s mind. A translator tries to get and pass information of the source language text objectively and faithfully.

The pragmatics of the source language text is the most important part of its content, that’s why its reproduction is an obligatory condition of achieving faithfulness of translation.

A translator’s aim is to «neutralize» his personal attitude to the events described and to provide the most objective evaluation of the source language text pragmatics from the position of neutral Receptor. A translator consciously tries to mark off an influence from personal attitudes and emotions and to reproduce the pragmatic factors of the source language text as a cognitive operation.

However, it does not mean that personality of a translator (his ethics, professional views etc.) have no any relationship to his practical activity. On the contrary, all these factors are very important and define translator’s successful work. This peculiar pragmatic attitude to the text translated, is fully oriented to its complete reproduction and makes the most important aspect of its pragmatics. In the process of translation, the personality of a translator, his professional interests to the work and satisfaction by its results are determined by the semantics and source language text pragmatics as well as his ability to decide tasks of translation properly. For example, a translator can feel positive emotions when he successfully reproduced the author’s thoughts and feelings even if his attitude to the author is negative.

Thus, the pragmatic orientation on the source language text is the most important but not the single aspect of the pragmatics of translation. In many cases, the orientation of a translator on the participants of communicative act (Source and Receptor of translation) influences on its process and result, when he appears as the full fledged participant of an act of intercourse and solves his personal pragmatic orientation.

There is a list of the widely spread Phraseological units in English and Ukrainian languages below: