English idioms and their Russian equivalents

(ii) That is mere blossoms, we'd like to show you the fruit and how it grows. "The Cause You Serve" by Y. German, F.L.P.H., Moscow, p. 105

(iii) This is only child's play to what is ahead of us. "Volokolamsk Highway" by A. Bek, F.L.P.H., Moscow, p. 91

We have to say (in all fairness) that the last (iii) translation compensates the lack of rhythm (and rhyme) in it considerably by using two English expressions: (1) "to be child's play" and (2) "to be (or: lie) ahead (of smb)". The phrase 'to be ahead' has a neutral colouring. Its synonym 'to be in store (for smb)' is a bit more idiomatic to suit our aims:

"This is only child's play to what is in store for us."

Now, if we ensure proper rhythm in it, the translation may sound proverbial:

"It's child's play to what's in store."

This translation seems almost satisfactory. Yet, we can do more. We can try to make it rhymed:

"It is child's play: it's not as bad compared to what lies ahead."

Stop! That won't do. The words 'compared to' are bookish. They spoil the beans. Let us make another try:

"It's child's play: it's not as bad as what lies ahead."

The stylistic means are correct here. But the rhythm leaves much to be desired, to put it mildly. Besides the translation is too long. Let us make still another try:

"It's-only child's play to what is on the way."

Now, we can call it a day. The translation is all right. In other words, we have managed to arrange rhythm and rhyme.

We wouldn't say that these translation variants are absolutely tiptop. Yet, they are better than those quoted above. And they can be an example of several methods of translating used in complex: rhythm and/or rhyme, colloquialisms and English phrases. All of these taken together help to provide our translation with the necessary idiomatic background, that is, to make it figurative.

A rhythmically arranged translation of a proverb might be still in need of a preliminary 'introduction' like "as the saying goes", "as we in Russia say", etc. (Such an 'introduction' is, in fact, an "appeal" to the listener or reader: "Please understand that this is said figuratively!"). And a rhymed translation may nоt need this at all.

Epigrams and translation.

"А ларчик просто открывался" (which is a quotation from the fable "Ларчик" И. А. Крылова) is a stylistic device termed an epigram. Such quotations from writers' works have become proverbs. Consequently, this permits us to treat epigrams as proverbs in the process of translation.

This means 1hat our translations of epigrams should be rhymed and have rhythm as proverbs often should (and be brief as proverbs should, too, because proverbs are used mostly in monologues and dialogues and not in author's narration). And this is why we have to foresee the possibility of translating epigrams in the form of two-line rhymed verses.

For instance, the translation

Нельзя ли для таких прогулок Подальше выбрать закоулок?

Could you not choose, When forth you sally, Some more remote And proper alley?

...is the translation of the epigram made as a verse and not proverb-like. (It is too long in space to be used in one's interpreting, say, a conversation or speech without difficulty.) We have to make it sound brief and, thus, proverbial. For instance, the variant:

"It's no place for your parades. It's no place for promenades."

...may satisfy us because the epigram really means "Never choose this place for your promenades" or "It's net a proper place for your promenades," or the like. However, this epigram sounds sarcastic ("Нельзя ли...") and this effect should be reproduced in our translation:

"It's no place for your parades, nor for Sunday promenades."

Another specific point in translating epigrams is that 'transposition' itself may not convey the idea of the epigram in full for the reason that a Russian listener takes in not merely what an epigram says but what is behind it, what it means being a small part of a bigger context.

One of K. S. Stanislavsky's ideas was that an actor (i.e. a translator, in our case) should know well not only the words he had to say (i.e. the meaning of the epigram's components,, in our case) but also what events had taken place behind the stage (i.e. the situation that had given life to the epigram) prior to the moment he started acting accordingly. And this may be applicable to our translating epigrams more often than not.

Hence, our proverb-like translation should better convey the highlights of the general situation in which the epigram gets its specific meaning. For instance, life shows that one might translate the epigram:

"Раззудись, плечо! Размахнись, рука!"

...as (a) "Don't hustle, don't bustle, But strain every muscle!"

This is sure to convey the idea of the epigram's components, of the words ("Strain every muscle") neglecting the situation of 'cutting hay' as is actually described in the whole verse (and which the English listener, unlike the Russian one, will never presuppose nor understand upon hearing the epigram's words only). This is why we suggest the variant:

(b) "Swing and sway -- Cut the hay!"

We could not ignore the bigger context ('hay-cutting') which is always presupposed by the Russian people when they use this epigram.

Classification of translations

As far as the results of our translation process are concerned, they can be classified as follows.

(1) Translation by an English absolute monoequivalent. Галперин И.Р., Информативность единиц языка. М., 1974, с. 85

Example:

время -- деньги - time's money

(2) Translation by an English relative equivalent.

Example:

семь бед -- один ответ - we might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb

(3) Translation by a synonymous equivalent.

In the original: выносить сор из избы.

In translation: to tell tales out of school;

(4) Translation by a translator's equivalent.

(a) being an innovated English proverb, example:

Ларчик открывается просто.

It's easy to open this poke and see the pig.

(b) based on English phrases or/and their components; example:

-- Молодец! -- сказал Цветков.-- Люблю парня за ухватку. Сразу видно, что молодец среди овец. (Ю. Герман, Я отвечаю за все)

"Good chap," Tsvetkov said. "I like a good chap for his brave ways. I can tell right away that you'd be brave as a lion with a lamb."

(c) based on an English proverb's structure; example:"

Всяк кулик свое болото хвалит.

Every snipe praises its own bog.

(d) arranged rhythmically or/and rhymed; example:

На войне, чтобы обмануть врага, чтобы нанести ему неожиданный удар, придется совершать марши подлиннее и потяжелее, чем этот. Это -- цветочки, а ягодки будут впереди. (А. Бек, Волоколамское шоссе)

In war, to surprise the enemy, and to deal him a blow from an unexpected quarter, we will have to make much longer and more difficult marches than this one. It's only child's play to what is on the way.

(e) by metaphorical explanation; example:

Вот уж воистину голодной лисе всё куры снятся!

This is really a case оf a hungry fox dreaming about chickens.

Translating by English equivalents

Translating by English equivalents (being relative more often than riot) seems to be the most productive way of making our proverbs' translations figurative.

When using this method, translators and interpreters have to observe that an equivalent is properly selected from the dictionary, that is, the chosen equivalent:

(a) should be able to convey the Russian proverb's indices for interpretation: meaning, usage, overtones and style;

(b) it should particularly answer the obligatory requirement that its meaning could be understood even by those who hear the English proverb for the first time.

(c) Besides, it is preferable that the equivalent itself should not be archaic,

(d) and its image should be as close to that of the Russian proverb as possible.

(e) The equivalent should not have undesirable connotations.

Chapter 2. The Development of Students Language Awareness on the Base of Using Idioms in Classes

2.2.1 Pedagogical implications

This paper offers some suggestions (including sample exercises) for the teaching of idiomatic language. First, the relation between non-idiomatic and erroneous language in foreign language learning is examined, and it is concluded that non-idiomatic sentences do not so much break categorical rules as venture into the grey area of weak combinatorial probabilities between linguistic items. Idiomaticity is thus seen as a scale, but less idiomatic is not necessarily to be equated with less acceptable, since both conventionalised and original language have their place in discourse. Crucial is the issue of appropriateness in context. Full-blown idioms represent firm collocations whose meaning is conventionalised and metaphorical. Where this meaning takes on an aphoristic quality we have proverbs. The underlying principle of metaphor provides a structural systematicity to the lexis, which extends far beyond full idioms into all but the most core uses of lexical items. It is suggested that exercises of a problem-solving nature will help learners to unearth these pervasive metaphors in idiomatic language, and some exercises are presented.

This has important pedagogical implications. Bartlett Bartlett , F . C . Remembering : A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . 1932 . (1932) established in a whole series of experiments in which subjects were presented with incomplete or inconclusive drawings or narratives that subjects sought to impose meaning on the item by fitting it into their own meaning structures. Thus, stories which contained references to unfamiliar cultural practices were modified in memory so as to fit in with subjects' own cultural expectations. Bartlett called this essential characteristic of human cognitive processing "effort after meaning". The very fact that idiomatic language and proverbs are so semantically opaque makes them excellently suited to a problem-solving approach in teaching which can exploit learners' innate cognitive drive to make sense out of their environment. The exercises presented below are intended to be purely indicative of the approach I am advocating, rather than being a recipe for success. There is nothing cut and dried about them. Rather, they are intended merely as guidelines whereby the teacher can stimulate cognitive activity. They are intended to be used not as a testing instrument but as a teaching aid to provoke discussion and brain-storming. Comparisons with the L1 should be encouraged so that learners become aware in which respects their language resembles English in the underlying conceptual metaphors it employs and where it differs. In multi-cultural classes interesting patterns of similarity and difference emerge here, and clearly this is a field which has been hardly researched. Students will become highly motivated to translate their language's metaphor into English so as to impart to the class their own culture's method of metaphorical encoding. Sometimes reasons for similarities and differences among languages can be adduced from obvious cultural differences (e.g. metaphors deriving from the Bible in Christian cultures, or differences concerning gastronomy, climate, geography), but some- times differences are not explicable. I have also found that students react evaluatively to different metaphors in different languages, such as English a bull in a china shop compared to German an elephant in a china shop. One can debate which the «better» metaphor is.

Sample Exercises: A

Task: 1) Try to work out the meaning of these idioms.

2) Do you have idioms in your language which have the same meaning as some of these?

a storm in a teacup

to have your heart in your mouth

to have a bone to pick with someone

to cut off your nose to spite your face

to drink like a fish

to kill two birds with one stone

to be like a cat on hot bricks

to make a mountain out of a molehill

to pull someone's leg

once bitten twice shy

Comment: This exercise should be done in groups. The teacher should
first make sure that the literal meaning of each lexical item is known to the class. (Dictionaries should not be used). Otherwise students are not in a position to employ inferencing strategies. Often L1 idioms will help students to arrive at the solution. Sometimes there will be false friends, however. This is all to the good, since when the teacher goes through the solutions, it is the incorrect guesses which will be focused on so as to aid retention in memory of the correct solution, which the teacher will first try to coax from students and, if all fails, will explain.

In the above form the exercise is suitable for advanced students. Much interesting discussion and exchange of information will arise from inter-lingual comparisons in a multilingual class, as students work hard to literally translate their own L1 equivalent idiom. This promotes the sort of cognitive analytic activity which will help to build a separate store of L2 idioms linked by meaning associations to the much richer L1 store. All students will benefit from the realisation that different languages may use different conceptual metaphors.

For less advanced classes the task can be facilitated by means of line drawings of the idioms' underlying metaphor which students first have to match to the appropriate idiom. Next, they may match idiom and drawing to a jumbled list of definitions which the teacher has prepared.

For even weaker classes some vestige of cognitive activity can still be maintained while employing a rather spoon-feeding method of presentation. Exercise B is an example of this (using different idioms). Here, students do not even have to match idioms to a jumbled list of definitions. The idiom is followed by its definition, but a key word is missing. Key words are presented separately in jumbled order and the exercise operates on a cloze principle. This exercise is suitable for individual work. Experience has shown me that the idioms are better retained in this way than if they had merely been presented with definitions already complete.

Exercise B

Task: 1. Complete the blanks below with the correct word. Use each word only once.

2. Do you have equivalent idioms in your language for any of these meanings? "Translate" your native idioms into English. See if the person next to you understands.

Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.

This means: DON'T BE OVER- -----

He is like a bull in a china shop.

This means: HE IS VERY- -----

His bark is worse than his bite

This means HE IS ----- THAN HE LOOKS.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

This means: THERE IS SOME ----- IN EVERY BAD EVENT.

Hold your horses.

This means: ----- A MOMENT.

She is down in the dumps.

This means: SHE IS -----

He couldn't keep a straight face.

This means: HE COULDN'T KEEP HIS FACE -----

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