Навчально-методичний посібник для практичних занять та самостійної роботи студентів Полтава 2012

1. Fleet Street misses no effective opportunity, it is true, to attack Russia; but it knows also that the British reader has no natural animosity to Russia and has no natural appetite for these attacks.

2. Maria, in her excitement, jammed the bedroom and bedroom closet doors together...

3. Right-wing trade union policy is expressing itself in a bankrupt helpless dithering before this capitalist offensive.

4. Thompson and Stein were fugitives from punitive measures inflicted by a fascist-minded judge on the basis of a verdict rendered by an intimidated and hand-picked jury and sustained by a reactionary Supreme Court majority.

5. The great demonstrations and actions against the Tory cuts in the Budget by the miners and other workers prepared the way for this electoral victory of the Labour Movement,

6. “Workers of Britain! In the Municipal elections elect Labour candidates and inflict an even more crushing defeat on the Tories than they suffered in the county council elections”.

7. Paris underground and bus transport services were stopped today by a 24-hour warning strike called by the C. G. T. (French T.U.C.) with the support of other unions.

8. The preoccupation with selling papers against fierce competition leads to the American practice of an edition every thirty seconds. This mania for speed, plus the man-bites-dog news formula, works to corrupt and discourage the men who handle news.

9. Finch keeps a hats-cleaned-by-electricity-while-you-wait establishment, nine feet by twelve, in Third Avenue.

But we must bear in mind that these units quite often acquire a certain additional modal meaning and only the context will help to translate them adequately: for that matter стосовно цього, у цьому відношенні, власне кажучі, можна сказати, по суті, фактично, etc.

V.Komissarov includes into this group phrases like to take a fancy, to have a rest, to have a shave, to break silence, to take heed, to take into account, etc. But the translator still should remember the difference in the combinability of words in different languages: to jump at conclusions робити поспішні висновки, to bear resemblance бути схожим.

The stable expressions like phraseological combinations or standardized collocations, according to V. Vinogradov's classification, have mostly a transparent meaning and are easier to translate than regu­lar idioms. It is simply impossible to guess, for example, the meaning of the English idiom Hobson's choice from the seemingly transparent meanings оf its component parts. A philological inquiry and context only help establish the meaning of the name and the real meaning of the idiom – nо choice whatsoever, acceptance of what is offered. Ya.Retsker emphasized the possibility of mistaking a free word-combination for a phraseological one and vice versa.

There exist different classifications of phraseological word-combinations the most widely used groups are phraseological unities and phraseological fusions.

Phraseological unities are the word-combinations where the meaning of the whole is not the sum of the meanings of its components but it is based on them and the motivation is apparent. They are often metaphoric and their metaphoric nature is easily seen. They may vary in their semantic and grammatical structure, not all of them are figurative. Here we find professionalisms, trite phrases, alliterations, coupled synonyms, etc. A.Kunin divides phraseological unities into figurative and non-figurative and introduces an intermediate group between phraseological unities and phraseological fusions though other scientists do not do that. Examples of phraseological unities are: apple of discord, Pyrrhic victory, a drop in the ocean (bucket), birds of feather, bird`s eye view, to catch at a straw, to dance on a tight rope, to fish in troubled waters, to hold a trump card, to ride a hobby horse, sharp as a needle, cold as charity, to go to bed, in the twinkling of an eye, at hand, far and away, in full swing, through thick and thin, etc.

Phraseological fusions are the word-combinations where the meaning of the whole is not the sum of the meanings of its components and it cannot be derived from them. These phrases are semantically indivisible stable combinations; they are the most synthetic phraseological word-combinations; their meanings look unmotivated though sometimes we may find them by way of historical/etymological analysis. In other situations it is useless to try and recreate the image of the fusion because it may not be clear even to the native speaker. Examples of phraseological fusions are: devil`s advocate, to blow one`s own trumpet, white elephant, Dutch courage, Dutch bargain, Dutch treat, Dutch feast, to dance attendance to, to show the white feather, gray mare, to cry wolf, above board, at 6s and 7s, on the nail, spic and span, etc.

Many English and Ukrainian idioms, proverbs and sayings, preserving national literary images and reflecting the traditions, customs, the mode of life due to absence of similar idioms in the target language, can be con­veyed by way of regular explanation sometimes with the help of a single word: an odd/queer fish дивак, Canter­bury tale небувальщина, вигадка, blue bonnet (синій берет) шотландець, ніде курці клюнути crammed, зубами тре­тяка вибивати to freeze. Most often, however, the meaning of this kind of phraseologisms is conveyed with the help of free word-combinations: to dine vith Duke Humphrey залиши­тись без обіду (нічого не ївши), to cut off with a shilling позбавити когось спадщини, ноги на плечі to go quickly (or very quickly) on one's feet, зуби з'їсти на чомусь to have great experience in something, кивати/на­кивати п'ятами to run away quickly, hurriedly.

A number of phraseological units due to their common source of origin are characterized in English and Ukrainian by partial or complete identity of their components, their component images, the picturesqueness and expressiveness (and consequently of their meaning). These phraseologisms often preserve a similar or even identical structure in the source language and in the target language. So they are understood and translated without difficul­ties: to cast pearls before swine кидати перла перед свиньми; to be born under a lucky star народитися під щасливою зір­кою; to cherish/warm a viper in one's bosom пригріти гадюку в пазусі.

One of the peculiar features of such phraseological expres­sions is their international character. Only few of them have phraseological synonyms with national flavour. They are restricted to corresponding speech styles whereas inter­national phraseologisms mainly belong to the domain of higher stylistic level:
Genuine Internationalisms National Colloquial Variants

an apple of discord a bone of contention

яблуко розбрату, чвар

strike the iron while it is hot make hay while the sun shines

куй залізо, доки гаряче коси коса, поки роса

neither fish nor flesh

ні риба ні м`ясо ні пава ні гава
Therefore national colloquial variants of international phraseological equivalents always differ considerably in their picturesqueness, expressiveness and in their lexical meaning. They are analogous only semantically to genuine equivalents which may sometimes lack absolute identity in the source language and in the target language too (cf. to cross the Styx канути в Лету).

As can be seen some international phraseological units slightly differ in English and Ukrainian either in their stru­ctural form and lexical meaning or in the images making up the idioms. So the phraseological expression to fish in troubled waters has the plural of waters whereas in its Ukrai­nian equivalent the component to fish is specified and ex­tended to ловити рибку/рибу у каламутній воді. Slight divergences are also observed in some other Eng­lish and Ukrainian international equivalents: the game is worth the candle гра варта свічок, a sound mind in a sound body у здоровому тілі здоровий дух.

There exists in each language a specific national layer of phraseological expressions com­prising proverbs and sayings. These phraseological ex­pressions are based on the component images found in the national language only. They are dis­tinguished by the picturesqueness, the expressiveness and the lexical meaning of their own. Due to their specificity the phraseologisms have no traditionally established lite­rary variants in the target language. As a result their stru­ctural form and wording in different translations may often lack absolute identity. In the word-for-word variants of translation they mostly lose their aphoristic/idiomatic nature and thus need a literary perfection: the moon is not seen when the sun shines місяця не видко, коли світить сонце, it is a great victory that comes without blood велика та пере­мога. яку здобувають без пролиття крові.

Still we find in different languages a number of phraseological expressions which are mainly of the sentence type and have common component parts. Hence their lexical meaning nothing to say about their component images, their pictures­queness and their expressiveness, is identical as well. This is predetermined by their common source of origin in Eng­lish and in Ukrainian: if you run after two hares, you will catch neither якщо побіжиш за двома зайцями, не впіймаєш жодного; a drowning man will catch (snatch) at a straw пото­паючий хапається за соломинку, Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune Вакх утопив більше людей, ніж Нептун (вино загубило більше людей, ніж море).

Taking into account all above-mentioned, the following ways of adequate conveying of phraseological (idiomatic) expres­sions are to be used:

Translation by Absolute Equivalents.

This is a way of translating by which every component part of the source language idiom is retained in the target language as well as the main images, the expressiveness and the figurative (connotative) meaning. Translating with the help of equivalents is resorted to when dealing with phraseological expressions which originate from the same source in both languages.

The phraseological expressions may originate:

1. 
   from Greek mythology: Augean stables авгієві стайні (занедбане,
   

A great many of absolute equivalents originate from 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, the fair sех прекрасна стать, the game is worth the candle гра варта свічок, more royalist than the king більший рояліст, ніж сам король, to pull the chestnuts out of the fire вигрібати каштани з вогню, one's place in the sun місце під сонце; Spanish: blue blood блакитна кров, the fifth column п'ята колона, to tilt at the windmills воювати з вітряками; Italian: Dante's inferno Дантове пекло; Arabic: Alladin's lamp лампа Алладіна, etc.

Some belle mots belonging to prominent English and Ameri­can authors have also turned into idiomatic expressions. Due to their constant use in belles-lettres they have become known in many languages. Especially considerable is the amount of Shakespearian mots: better a witty fool than a foolish wit (W. Shakespeare) краще дотепний дурень, ніж дур­ний дотепник, cowards die many times before their deaths боягузи вмирають багато разів, something is rotten in the state of Denmark (W. Shakespeare) не все гаразд у Дат­ському королівстві, vanity fair (J. Bunyan) ярмарок марнославства/суєти, to reign in hell is better than to serve in hea­ven (J. Milton) краще панувати в пеклі, ніж слугувати в раю, the last of the Mohicans останній з могікан, to bury a hatchet (F. Cooper) закопати томагавк (укласти мир), the almighty dollar (W. Irving) всемогутній долар, the iron heel (J. London) залізна п'ята (ярмо), gone with the wind (M. Wilson) пішло за вітром, the cold war (W. Lippman) холодна війна.

Only minor alterat­ions may happen but they do not change either the denotative meaning, or the component images, the picturesqueness, the expres­siveness or the connotative meaning of phraseologisms: appetite comes while eating апетит приходить під час їди, kings go mad and the people suffer from it королі божево­ліють, а народ страждає, the last drop makes the cup run over остання краплина переповнює чашу, let the cock crow or not the day will come співатиме півень чи ні, а день на­стане, money is the sinews of war гроші – м'язи війни, of two evils choose the least з двох лих вибирай менше, out of the mouths of babies speaks the truth (wisdom) устами немовлят говорить істина/мудрість, the pen is mightier than the sword перо могутніше за меч, etc.

conveyed through explication only i.e. in a descriptive way. Depending on the complexity (or otherwise) of the meaning contained in the source language unit, it can be conveyed in the target language as follows:

1) by a single word: out of a clear blue of the sky раптом, зненацька, to pall and peel (to peel and pall) грабувати, poor fish йолоп, бевзь, нікчема, red blood мужність, відвага, хоробрість, to sell smoke піддурювати, обманювати, to set a limit to smt. обмежувати, стримувати, to set at large звільнити (випустити на волю);

2) undoubtedly the most frequent is conveying the sense of phraseological/set expressions with the help of free com­binations of words like to run amock нападати на першу-ліпшу людину, school miss соромлива, недосвідчена дівчина, to sell someone short недооцінювати когось, to sham Abraham удавати з себе хворого, to shoot Niagara вдаватися до ризикованих дій, short odds майже рівні шанси, to sit above the salt сидіти на почесному місці, the sixty-four dollar question найважливіше, вирішальне питання, a stitch in time своєчасний захід, своєчасна дія, straight from the tin/horse's mouth з перших рук;

3) when the lexical meaning of a phraseological or stable ex­pression is condensed or when it is based on a nationally specific notion/structural form alien to the target languages, the expression may be conveyed by a sentence or a longer explanation: a wet blanket людина або обставина, що роз­холоджує, well day (well-day) день, коли у хворого не по­гіршувався стан здоров'я (час між приступами гарячки , малярії тощо), wise behind млявий, що погано міркує, white elephant подарунок, якого важко позбутися/те, що приносить більше турбот, ніж користі, yes тaп (yes-man) людина, що тільки підтакує (підтакувач).

It must be added in conclusion that some English phra­seological/set expressions have a rather transparent lexical meaning and are easy for our students to translate into Uk­rainian: to treat one like a lord щедро частувати когось, цяцькатися з кимсь, with all one's steam/with all speed що-духу, дуже швидко, with a wounded air ображено, з вигля­дом ображеного, with flags flying тріумфально, переможно, with good reason не без підстав, недаремно.

Depending on the speech style от the passage/work, in which the phraseological expressions are given, and on the nature of the phraseologisms (literary, colloquial, historical) some changes of the above-given kinds of translating and even new ones may be suggested. Nevertheless the aim of translating will always remain the same: to fully con­vey in the target language the lexical meaning and, where possible, the structural peculiarities, the picturesqueness, the expressiveness, and the connotative meaning (if any) of the source language phraseological/idiomatic or stable expressions.
Translation of Nationally Coloured Phraseologisms and Stable Expressions.
From the point of view of national colouring which must be taken into consideration in translating phraseological units can be roughly divided into the following groups:

1. 
   international word-combinations: to pass the Rubicon, to shed crocodile
   

2. 
   neutral word-combinations: to strike the iron, while it`s hot ,to wash dirty
   

3. 
   specific national word-combinations: to fight like Killkenny cats, to send
   

The phraseological and stable word-combinations of the first two types can be translated with the help of the above-mentioned methods while the units of the third group pose certain additional problems in the process of translation. These problems are connected with preservation of their national colouring. The translator should follow some rules dealing with these units:

1. 
   word-for-word translation can be used only when the English/
   

known to our readers/listeners and the image in translation will be absolutely clear to them;

2. 
   translate English/ Ukrainian/ Russian nationally coloured word-com-
   

3. 
   never use in translation of English nationally coloured word-combi-
   

The translator should always bear in mind that his aim is to create an adequate translation.