Some practice in translation

Phraseological Collocations are motivated word combinations but they are made up of words possessing specific lexical valency which accounts for a certain degree of stability in such word groups. They are translated by corresponding Collocations in Russian, e.g. to make faces – строить рожи; to make amends – приносить свои извинения; to make a fortune – составить состояние; to make a bed – застелить постель; to make allowances – делать скидку. As seen from the above examples it is always the key word which determines the choice of the Russian verb. Lexical transformations can be reduced to five distinct types which have a purely Linguistic Basis. These 5 types are the following: Concretization, Generalization, Antonymic translation, Metonymic translation, Paraphrasing.
	SL Phraseological Unities	SL Phraseological Unities sometimes have synonymous TL equivalents, the choice is open to the translator and is usually determined by the context, e.g. Between the devil and the deep sea – между двух огней, между молотом и наковальней, между Сциллой и Харибдой, в безвыходном положении. In the absence of a correlated phraseological unity the translator resorts to interpreting translation, e.g. a skeleton in the closet (cupboard) – семейная тайна, неприятность, скрываемая от посторонних. TL equivalents possessing national colouring though expressing the same idea should be avoided as they cannot be considered true equivalents because they introduce alien associations and alien national colouring, e.g. to carry coals to Newcastle should not be translated by the Russian proverbial saying – ездить в Тулу со своим самоваром. In such cases two solutions are possible: a) to preserve the image of the English phraseological unity – никто не возит уголь в Ньюкасл; b) to resort to interpreting translation – заниматься бесполезным делом. The same principles are applied to the translation of Phraseological Unities in the form of simile: cold as ice – холодный как лед; as old as the hills – стар как мир; brown as a berry – загорелый, бронзовый.