Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University

Faculty of Humanities

Topic: Problematics of translating idioms and phrases

Lecturer: Irina Gvelesiani

Student: Mari Singhi
 Abstract
English is a language particularly rich in Idioms and phrases. Without idioms or phrases
English would lose much of its variety and humor both in speech and writing. Learning
idioms must be considered an integral part of vocabulaty learning.
People may not realize this but idioms and phrases are not the same in each language and cannot
directly be translated. Being a fluent speaker or even a native speaker you can sometimes find
these confusing, so a machine translator would be baffled. Idioms and phrases cannot simply be
translated word for word as the context does not transfer; we need knowledge of the original
language to understand it and knowledge of the target language to find the equivalent.

Key words: idioms, phrases, research, translation, problematics, equivalence.

Translation demands a deep understanding of both grammar and culture. Translators need to
know the rules of a language as well as the habits of the people who speak it. And even for the
most experienced professionals, confusion and frustration are familiar feelings.
Some of the most common challenges of translation include:
1. Translating Language Structure
Every language sits inside a defined structure with its own agreed upon rules. The complexity
and singularity of this framework directly correlates to the difficulty of translation. A simple
sentence in English has a subject, verb, and object — in that order. For example, “she eats pizza.”
But not every language shares this structure. As a result, translators frequently have to add,
remove, and rearrange source words to effectively communicate in the target language.
2. Translating Idioms and Expressions
Idiomatic expressions explain something by way of unique examples or figures of speech. And
most importantly, the meaning of these peculiar phrases cannot be predicted by the literal
definitions of the words it contains. Many linguistic professionals insist that idioms are the most
difficult items to translate.
3. Translating Compound Words
Compound words are formed by combining two or more words together, but the overall meaning
of the compound word may not reflect the meaning of its component words.
4. Multiple Meanings In Translation
The same word may mean multiple things depending on where it’s placed and how it’s used in a
sentence. This phenomenon typically follows one of two patterns. There are homonyms, which
look and sound alike but are defined differently. And then there are heteronyms, which look alike
but are defined and pronounced differently.
5. Translating Sarcasm
Sarcasm is a sharp, bitter, or cutting style of expression that usually means the opposite of its
literal phrasing. Sarcasm frequently loses its meaning when translated word-for-word into
another language and can often cause unfortunate misunderstandings.
Idioms have gained much attention in formulaic language research due to their peculiar nature.
They do not function as single units though they consist of multiple words. Besides, idioms are
difficult to define or describe in exact terms. For example, the idiom "a bird told me that", which
means that "I have known this piece of information in my way, and since nothing further is said,
implies an unwillingness to reveal the source if there is one or that the source is to remain a
mystery, cannot be perceived literally as if the bird was the agent. Hence, the meaning of the
idiom has nothing to do with the separate lexemes of “bird, or tell”. However, one view holds
that an idiom usually starts as a phrase having a literal meaning, and which then it gets used
figuratively. In other words, this view holds that there is a relationship between the components
of idioms and their idiomatic or figurative meaning.
Idioms are not a common phenomenon. There are several definitions of idioms. Joelene and
Maureen(2003) define idioms as “non-literal phrases whose figurative interpretations cannot be
derived from their literal meanings”. However, Marlies (1995) defines an idiom as “an
expression whose overall figurative meaning cannot be derived from the meaning of its parts”.
Cain et al. (2005) define idiom as a figurative expression that may be interpreted literally, but it
takes a nonliteral meaning when used in a specific context. Overall, idioms are such a
complicated phenomenon to characterize or describe in precision, as there is no universal
definition of an idiom and its characteristics. Some scholars consider idioms as such a broad
term, which includes metaphors, similes, proverbs, and even individual words.
Translating idioms and phrases is one of the most difficult tasks for translators. The main
problems consist in recognizing an idiom or phrase, understanding it and distinguishing
idiomatic from nonidiomatic usage.
One of the most important aspects of English is idioms. They are frequently used in a wide
variety of situations, from friendly conversations and business meetings to more formal and
written contexts.
An idiom is a group of words which has, as a whole, a different meaning from the meaning of its
constituents (The Longman Pocket Dictionary: 2001). In other words, the meaning of the
idiomatic expression is not the sum of the words taken individually.
According to Langacher (1968:79), “an idiom is a kind of complex lexical item. It is a phrase
whose meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the morphemes it comprises”. This
definition shows two basic characteristics of the idiom; it is a complex lexical item, and its
meaning cannot be inferred from its parts.
In his turn, Carter (1987:65) defines idioms as special combinations with restricted forms and
meanings that cannot be deduced from the literal meanings of the words which make them up.
Accordingly, an idiom is learned and used as a single unit. It should not be analyzed into its
constituents; it is unchangeable and always carries a figurative meaning.
Technically, an idiom or phrase is a kind of lexical unit in which the whole meaning of the
expression is not apparent from the meanings of its components. Idioms are special expressions
which are almost known and agreed by all the members of a particular community. For example,
How are you doing? (Expression used to ask someone about his health), Once in a blue moon
(rarely, infrequently).
Idiomatic expressions in English, usually, do not respect the English word order. For example, It
may be well ahead of time (normal word order), It may well be ahead of time (probably):
idiomatic expression.
The main feature that characterizes idiomatic expressions is that the words are used
metaphorically. Therefore, the surface structure has a little role to play in understanding the
meaning of the whole expression. For example, in ‟to bury the hatchet‟, meaning „to become
friendly again after a disagreement‟, the meanings of the words „to bury‟ and‟ the hatchet‟ are
different from the meaning of the whole expression.
Phrasal verbs are the most common type of idioms in English. Many of them carry idiomatic
meanings that cannot be inferred from the form, unless the phrase is already known.
For example: After war began, the two countries broke off diplomatic relations (discontinue),
Most automobile companies bring out new modals each year (to show or introduce).
The main feature that leads to the difficulty in translating idioms is their culture specificity. An
idiom, as the Oxford Dictionary (1983) defines it, is” a form of expression peculiar to a
language”. The term‟ peculiar‟, in this definition, means that idioms are meaningful or they have
sense in only one language or one culture. Therefore, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find such
an idiom in another different language. Some idioms, however, as metaphors and proverbs, have
direct equivalents and hence, they can be easily translated into other languages.
Having a wide knowledge of the cultural references, as well as the context of use is the key for
better understanding and interpreting idioms, and mastering their different uses. In this respect,
Ponterotto (1994:3) states that “it is necessary to understand metaphoricity and its culture-
specific connotations in order to correctly interpret even simple texts.”
Translating idioms is one of the most difficult tasks for translators. It involves far more than the
replacement of lexical and grammatical items between languages, and it may involve discarding
the basic linguistic elements of the text.
The first difficulty that a translator comes across, while translating idioms, is the ability to
recognize and distinguish idiomatic from non-idiomatic usage. Recognition is difficult, and
sometimes impossible, since many idioms can be slightly modified, while others can be
discontinuously spread over a clause. Those which are easily recognizable include expressions
which violate truth conditions, such as: "it’s raining cats and dogs, throw caution to the winds,
storm in a tea cup, jump down someone’s throat, and food for thought."
Expressions which seem ill-formed, or which do not follow the grammatical rules of the
language are also included here, like for instance, „trip the light fantastic, blow someone to
kingdom come, put paid to, by and large‟.
Expressions which begin with „like‟ (like structuresimile), as ‟like a bat out of hell‟ and „like
water off a duck‟s back‟, also suggest that they should not be interpreted literally. As a rule, the
more difficult an expression is to understand and the less sense it makes in a given context, the
more likely a translator will recognize it as an idiom.
Language is a system of communication that is used by a particular community ofspeakers.
Metaphors constitute a large part of this everyday language. They have been recognized as
rhetorical devices that compare two seemingly different objects. . For example, „the words are
clear as crystal‟ is an idiom that expresses the similarity between the words and the crystal in the
degree of clarity.
Moreover, both idioms and metaphors have a power of likening i.e. they cannot be understood if
they are taken literally. The difference between the two, however, can be marked through a
separate existence of a basic correlation. The latter is due to the fact that idioms in the past have
an old reference which represents systematic metaphors.
Fixed expressions like „having said that, as a matter of fact, ladies and gentlemen, as well as and
all the best‟ are similar to idioms in the sense that they allow a little or no variation in form.
Fixed expressions, however, are different from idioms in the way that they have almost
transparent meanings. Hence, the meaning of „as a matter of fact‟ for example, can easily be
inferred from the meaning of its constituents, in contrast to idioms like „pull a fast one‟ or „fill
the bill‟, where the meaning of the whole expression is different from the meaning of its parts.
But in spite of its transparency, the meaning of a fixed expression, as that of an idiom, is
sometimes more than the sum meanings of its components. Similar to idioms, meeting any fixed
expression brings up in the mind of the reader all the aspects of experience associated with the
different contexts in which the expression is used. This feature is the leading cause to the
widespread use of fixed and semi-fixed expressions in any language.
According to Baker (2018), there are some challenges in translating idioms that have nothing to
do with the nature of idioms. Put in other words, these difficulties are faced in translating
idioms. These problems are:
1. Lack of equivalence: some idioms are culture-specific, and therefore, they do not have
equivalents. This capitalizes on the fact that culture and language are two faces of the same coin.
As regards translation, culture is an inseparable component of the translation process. Translation
is not only decoding and recoding of lexemes, but it is also a process of decoding and recoding
culture.
2. The very convention of using idioms in written discourse, the contexts in which they can be
used, and their frequency of use may be different in the source and target languages. For
example, English makes large use of idioms in written discourse, which is not the case in Arabic
and Chinese.
Baker (2018) postulated that some strategies could be followed in translating idioms.
1. Using an idiom of similar meaning and form: this involves using an idiom in the target
language, which has roughly the same meaning as the source language and consists of equivalent
lexical items.
2. Using an idiom of similar meaning but different form: this involves using an idiom in the
target language which has roughly the same meaning as the source language. However, it does
not have similar lexical items. For instance, the English idiom "One good turn deserves another "
is equivalent in meaning to the French idiom "À beau jeu, beau retour" (‘a handsome action
deserves a handsome return), though the lexical items in the source language and target language
are different.
3. Translation by paraphrase: Another common strategy of translation is a translation by
paraphrase, whereby a translator paraphrases the source language idiom.
4. Compensation: A translator sometimes seeks to omit or play down some features of the idiom
in the source text, which occurs at a specific point in the test, and present it somewhere else in
the target text.
Idioms always cause a lot of problems to learners of a foreign language. Students usually find
difficulties in recognizing an expression as idiomatic or not, and then understanding its exact
meaning. This is mainly due to the fact that idiomatic expressions carry a metaphorical sense that
makes the comprehension of an idiom difficult if not impossible. In other words, the meaning of
an idiom cannot be deduced from the meaning of its constituent parts. In addition, the source and
the target cultures have a great influence on the comprehensibility as well as the translatability of
idioms. Hence, better understanding and using idioms needs both knowing their historical
background and familiarity with both the source and the target cultures, and having a clear idea
about their different situational context.

Refferences:

1. Problems of idioms in translation.

https://bu.umc.edu.dz/theses/anglais/MEZ1146.pdf

2. Common Challenges of Translation

https://www.smartling.com/resources/101/common-challenges-of-translation/

3. Lost in translation: The challenges of translating idioms for localization

https://www.locale.to/translating-idioms/

4. Translation of Idioms and Fixed Expressions: Strategies and Difficulties

http://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol02/06/18.pdf