The Problem of Translating Idioms and Phraseological Units

Abstract

This thesis examines the factors that can be highlighted especially and illustrates the difficult process of translation of idioms and phraseological units. It is worth emphasizing that these are freezing expressions whose figurative meaning does not correspond to the sum of the meanings of the single constituents. Such linguistic units function as a cry for translators. First, an idiom may not have an equivalent in the target culture, then there is the problem of translation equivalence, and finally idioms vary depending on which context they are used. The thesis focuses on the problems of translating idioms and particularly pays attention to peculiarities of their cultural conditioning, problems of lack of particular equivalents in other languages, and context usage. To cope with these issues, helpful solutions are proposed, including the use of equivalent target idioms, free translation, and so forth.