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- Using an idiom of similar meaning and form
- Using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form
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2.4.6 Idioms
As an interpreter trainee, I find it rather challenging to handle English idioms, such as (Baker, 2006: 65): (15) throw caution to the winds (16) storm in a tea cup (17) blow someone to kingdom come (18) like water off a duck’s back Idioms are “linguistic expressions or lexical items representing objects, concepts or phenomena of material life particular to a given culture” (Dastjerdi, 2011: 879). Gottlieb suggests that “an idiom is difficult to decode correctly for someone who only knows the normal meanings of its constituent elements” (1997: 260). Idioms can include many different cultural aspects such as religious beliefs, culture- specific items and superstitions. Every society perceives the world in a different way and that vision influences the language. As a result, the collocations and idiomatic expressions of the languages diverge from each other in most cases (Shojaei, 2012). This difficulty has not been in IS, but some authors have already carried out studies about the difficulty of translating idioms in TS. Even though it would be more relevant to list strategies for the interpreter, it would be interesting to see if the strategies that should be used by translators can also be used by interpreters, considering the specificities of this form of interlinguistic mediation. When the translator is faced with an idiom, he/she should investigate which strategy is more appropriate in dealing with the translation of the source idiom into the target language. Baker (1992) suggests four problem-solving strategies to help translators and also gives examples for each strategy: 1) Using an idiom of similar meaning and form: it is the least used strategy since languages radically differ in the way they identify a single concept. Teaching simultaneous interpreting page 35 However, it is considered as the ideal strategy for translating idioms as an exact equivalent is found in the target language. (19) the rain fell on the just and on the unjust > la pluie tombait aussi bien sur les justes que sur les injustes 2) Using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form: in this case, the meaning is the same, but the lexical items are different. (20) The serow, a type of wild mountain goat, is very much at home among the rocky outcrops of Sichuan > The serow, a type of wild mountain goat, is totally at ease in Sichuan’s many rocky levels (back-translation from Chinese) 3) Translation by paraphrase: this is the most commonly used strategy when the translator cannot find any equivalents for the source idiom. Presenting more clarifications on the idiom is a wise choice. However, there is a danger of losing the intended effect and the cultural significance (Baker, 1992: 74). (21) This is rather like shutting the stable door when the horse has bolted > c’est peut- être trop peu trop tard 4) Omission: this strategy is used to completely omit the idiom from the target text when there is no close match between the languages’ items or when the translator cannot find any equivalents. (22) It was bitter, but funny, to see that Professor Smith had doubled his own salary before recommending the offer from Fayed, and added a pre-dated bonus for good measure > It was regrettable, even funny, that Professor Smith had been able to double his salary twice before offering his recommendation to accept Fayed’s offer, and that he added to this a bonus, the date of which had been previously decided on (back-translation from Arabic) |
