8. The principles of description of phraseological equivalents

What was said about occasional equivalents goes for phraseological equivalents. Phraseological units or idioms may also have permanent or variable equivalents. Such English idioms as "the game is not worth the candle" or "to pull chestnuts out of the fire for smb." are usually translated by the Russian idioms «игра не стоит свеч» and «таскать каштаны из огня для кого-л.», respectively. These equivalents reproduce all the aspects of the English idioms semantics and can be used in most contexts. Other permanent equivalents, though identical in their figurative meaning, are based on different images, that is, they have different literal meaning. Cf. "to get up on the wrong side of the bed" —«встать с левой нога», "make hay while the sun shines" —«куй железо, пока горячо». Now an English idiom may have several Russian equivalents among which the translator has to make his choice in each particular case. For instance, the meaning of the English "Do in Rome as the Romans do" may be rendered in some contexts as «С волками жить - по-волчьи выть», and in other contexts as «В чужой монастырь со своим уставом не ходят». But here, again, the translator may not infrequently prefer an occasional equivalent which can be formed by a word-for-word reproduction of the original unit: «В Риме поступай так, как римляне».

There are 3 types of equivalents of phraseological units to the original

Type 1 – all the meanings of the SL unit are preserved. In the TL we have a phraseological unit which coincides with the SL unit in its direct and figurative meaning. We find such equivalents among the international phraseologisms

The game is not worth the candle

The sword of Damocles

These were borrowed from the third language

Type 2 – the similar figurative meaning is rendered in the target language with the help of another image, while preserving all the components of the semantics of the phraseologism in the source language

To get up on the wrong side of the bed

To turn back the clock

But the phraseologisms in TL must not have national specifics

Type 3 – by way of blue-print translation of a foreign unit

To put the cart before the horse

The image in the SL must be clear for the translator to guess its figurative meaning. But the translation is impossible if there is a semantic fusion in the middle of phraseological unit, in this case one should describe the figurative meaning of the word combination in TL.