Translation of English and Ukrainian idiomatic and stable expressions concerning the subject information

INTRODUCTION
 
This course paper is dedicated to contrastive analysis of translation of idiomatic and stable expressions concerning the subject “information” in English and Ukrainian. I am going to define the difference and similarities in idiomatic and stable expressions, which signify such notion as “information” or the process of the information transfer and examine different shades of meaning and equivalents of translating in English and in Ukrainian. The theoretical background to the practical findings will be provided in the first part of my course paper.
The aimof the present course paper is to research ways of translating idiomatic and stable expressions concerning the subject “information” into the English and Ukrainian language, taking into account different criteria, compare and contrast the results of investigation in order to discover differences and similarities in translating meanings, stylistic peculiarities and usage.
The research materials are the idiomatic and stable expressions concerning the subject “information” in the languages.
The objectives of my course research are: 1) to contrast idiomatic and stable expressions concerning the subject information; 2) to consider their structure and meaning.
The methods of research are: the overall selection ( used in gathering the research material), componential analysis ( used in considering the semantic nature of researched units).
I have analyzed idiomatic and stable expressions concerning the subject “information” in order to show their national colouring, since they are the reflection of culture, traditions, national character in both languages. It lays in the base of every nation to create idioms, which show the realia of its life, describe different sides of culture, habits, beliefs, everyday life. So making the following research I want to show all these peculiarities. Such an analysis is of great interest since it helps as well to learn more about the nature of researched languages.
       The structure of the presented course paper is the following:
    1)the introduction which describes the aim, the objectives, the research    material, as well as mentions the methods of translation;
    2) the theoretical part which presents the definition of the idiomatic and stable expressions concerning the subject “information”, dwells upon its nature and different approaches to its classification;
     3) the practical part which shows the ways of conveying the lexical meaning of expressions; describe the found equivalents ( full and partial) in the languages;
     4) the conclusions which summarize the research results given in the practical part of the presented course paper.
        The vocabulary of a language is enriched not only by words but also by phraseological units.
The stable expression or the idiom is a group of words whose meaning as a group is different from the meaning those words would have if you considered each one separately. Idiomatic unitsare word-groups that cannot be made in the process of speech; they exist in the language as ready-made units. N. M. Rayevska defines idiom (idiomatic phrase) as “a phrase, developing a meaning which cannot be readily analysed into the several semantic elements which would ordinarily be expressed by the words making up the phrase. It transcends the ordinary syntactic patterns and must be studied as an indivisible entity, in itself”.
Idioms make the language more picturesque. They make each language more individual, colourful and rich. Idioms reflect the past history of the nation, its traditions and customs, folk-songs and fairy-tales, as well as its culture.
The word “ information ” as the most frequent used now word denoting some facts or details about something / somebody, which in the course of time obtained a great number of different meanings and different translation. In combination withother words it can make up a vast range of stable phrases and idioms. This action and word is widely used in different communicative situations, styles and provinces of life. That is why it has acquired various shades of meaning and become the part of stable phrases, some idioms and expressions.
I have chosen this topic, because I think the process of transferring the information and the subject “information” are very important sense of human beings and in every language of the world there are expressions concerning the subject “information” and a great number of stable phrases and idioms to this word and notion. But as languages and cultures differ, these phrases are not absolutely the same. I find it interesting to look for information, to search for it in books or Internet, to become deeper into details and I am going never look back after finishing it.
Thus, these steps of analysis will aid in better understanding of the very essence of phrases denoting the subject “information” in general and in particular.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1. THEORETICAL PART
 1.1.      GENERAL STATEMENTS
 
1.1.1.      Idiomatic and stable expressions: meanings and definitions.
 
The presented work is aimed at conducting theanalysis of the idiomatic and stable phrases, concerning the subject “information” or the process of  the information transfer in English and Ukrainian. That is why it is essential toprovide research into characteristics of the idiomatic and stable expressions in English and Ukrainian .
Idiomatic or phraseological expressions are structurally, lexi­cally and semantically fixed phrases or sentences having mostly the meaning, which is not made up by the sum of meanings of their com­ponent parts1. An indispensable feature of idiomatic (phraseological) expressions is their figurative, i.e., metaphorical nature and usage. It is this nature that makes them distinguishable from structurally identical free combinations of words Cf.: red tape (free word-comb.) червона стрічка — red tape (idiom) канцелярський формалізм (бюрократизм); the tables are/were turned (free word-comb.) столи перекинуті/були перекинуті — the tables are fumed (idiom) ситуація докорінно змінилася; супротивники помінялися ролями/місцями; play with fire гратися з вогнем біля багаття (free word-comb.) гратися з вогнем — наражатися на небезпеку (idiom).
On rare occasions the lexical meaning of idiomatically bound expressions can coincide with their direct, i.e., not transferred mean­ing, which facilitates their understanding as in the examples like: to make way дати дорогу; to die a dog's death здохнути як собака; to receive a hero's welcome зустрічати як героя; wait a minute/a mo­mentзачекайте хвилинку/ один момент; to tell (you) the truth правду казати/правду кажучи; to dust one's coat/jacket витрусити пальто/ піджака -дати духопеликів (idiom).
/>Some proper names can also be endowed with figurative mean­ing and possess the
 
1     See: Кунин А.В. Фразеология английского язьїка. — М.: Международ.отношения, 1972. Martin H. Manser. A Dictionary of Contemporary Idioms. — Lon­don, Pan Books Ltd., 1983.
necessary expressiveness which are the distin­guishing features of idioms2: Croesus, Tommy (Tommy Atkins), Yan­kee, Mrs. Grundy, Jack Ketch, etc. These proper names have ac­quired their constant meaning and can not be confused with usual (common) proper names of people. As a result their transferred mean­ing is conveyed in a descriptive way. So Mrs. Grundy means світ, люди, існуюча мораль; Jack Ketch кат; Croesus Крез, надзвичайно багата людина; Tommy Atkins англійський солдат; Yankee (in Eu­rope) янкі/американець, etc.
Idiomatic/phraseological expressions should not be mixed up with different fixed/set prepositional, adjectival, verbal and adverbial phrases the meaning of which is not an actual sum of meanings made up by their constituent parts either: by George, by and by, for all of, for the sake of, cut short, make believe; or compounds like: topsy­turvy, higledy-piggledy; coordinate combinations like: high and dry, cut and run, touch and go; Tom, Dick and Harry, etc. These and a lot of other stable expressions can very often be treated as standardized collocations. Their meaning can be rendered in a descriptive way too, like that of genuine idiomatic expressions: fifty-fifty так собі; ні добре ні погано; О.К, все гаразд, на належному рівні; cut short обірвати, присікти/припинити щось (поїздку), обірвати (розмову).
Such and the like stable expressions, like most of other stand­ardized collocations, have usually a transparent meaning and are easier to translate than regular idioms (the so-called phraseological fusions). Meanwhile it is next to impossible to guess, for example, the meaning of the English idiom Hobson's choiceirom the seemingly transparent meanings of its componental parts. Only a philological inquiry helps establish the meaning of the name and the real sense of the idiom -«no choice whatsoever», «acceptance of what is offered» жодного вибору.
Many other English and Ukrain­ian picturesque idioms, proverbs and sayings, which have national literary images/> must also be similarly treated and they also reflect the traditions, customs, the way of con­duct or the mode of life of a nation. Their meaning, due to absence of similar idioms in the target language, can be rendered descriptively, i.e. through a regular explication. The latter, depending on the seman­tic
 
2    See: Collins V.N. A Book of English Idioms. — Л.: Учпедгиз, 1950. Англо-українськийфразеологічний словник. Склав К.Т. Баранцев. — Київ: Рад. шк., 1969.
 
structure of the source language idiom, may be sometimes achieved in the target language with the help of a single word. Cf.: English: an odd/queer fish дивак; Canterbury tale небувальщина, вигадка; blue bonnet («синій берет») шотландець; ніде курці клюнути crammed; зубами тертяка вибивати to be chilled. Most often, however, the meaning of this kind of idioms is conveyed with the help of free word-combinations: to dine with Duke Humphrey залишитись без обіду (нічого не ївши); to cut off with a shilling позбавити когось спадщини. Similarly in Ukrainian: ноги на плечі to go quickly (or very quickly) on one's feet; зуби з'їсти на чомусь to have great experience in something; кивати/накивати п'ятами to run away quickly/hurriedly.
It goes without saying that none of the phraseologisms above can be translated word-for-word since their constituent images would lose their connotative, i.e., metaphorical meaning in the target lan­guage. So, пообідати з герцоґом Гамфрі or  обрізати шилінґом could be understood by the Ukrainian language speakers in their literal meaning. The same can be said about our idiom ноги на плечі та й гайда, i.e., * with one's legs on the shoulders which would never be understood, when translated literally, by the English language native speakers. Therefore, the componental images, when mechanically transplanted to the target language, may often bring about a complete destruction of the idiomatic expression.
The choice of the way of translation of this kind of idioms may be predetermined by the source language context or by the exist­ence/absence of contextual equivalents for the idiomatic/stable ex­pression in the target language. Thus, in the examples below units of this kind can be translated into Ukrainian either with the help of a single word or with the help of a standardized phraseological expres­sion: to give a start здригнутися; to give heart to one підбадьорювати, морально підтримувати когось; the weaker vessel (facet) жінка (прекрасна стать; жіноцтво; слабша половина людства), the Holy Mother Богоматір.
Not infrequently the meaning of a standardized collocation (af­ter Acad. V.V.Vinigradov) like that of a regular idiom may have syn­onymous single word equivalents in the target language. The choice of the equivalent is predetermined then by the meaning of the stand­ardized collocation/phraseologism and by the style of the sentence where it is used: to make sure упевнитись (переконатися), забезпечувати; to make comfort втішатися; to take place відбуватися; траплятися; the world and his wife yci.
Similarly treated are also traditional combinations which have in the target language several stylistically neutral free equivalents (words or word-combinations) as: to run a risk ризикувати, йти на ризик, to apply the screw натиснути (на когось); to drop like a hot potato швидко позбутися когось, обірвати стосунки, раптово припинити знайомство.
Faithful translating of a large number of picturesque idiomatic/ phraseological expressions, on the other hand, can be achieved only by a thorough selection of variants having in the target language a similar to the original lexical meaning, and also their picturesqueness and expressiveness. This similarity can be based on common in the source language and in the target language componental images as well as on the structural form of them. As a result, the meaning of such idioms is mostly guessed by the students, which generally facilitates their translation.
A few examples will suffice to prove it. English: a grass widow (widower) солом'яна вдова (вдівець); not to see a step beyond one's noseдалі свого носа нічого не бачити; measure twiceand cutonce сім раз одміряй, а раз відріж; notfor loveor moneyні за які гроші/ ні за що в світі; Ukrainian: не знати/тямити ні бе, ні ме, ні кукуріку (not toknow chalkfrom cheese); вночі що сіре, те й вовк all catsare greyin thedark, який батько, такий син, яка хата, такий тин (яблучко від яблуні далеко не відкочується) like father, like son; not acat's/dog'schance жодних шансів/можливостей, (однієї) клепки бракує (he) hasnotallhisbuttons, etc.
It often happens that the target language has more than one semantically similar/analogous phraseological expression for one in the source language. The selection of the most fitting variant for the passage under translation should be based then not only on the se­mantic proximity of the idioms/phraseologisms but also on the simi­larity in their picturesqueness, expressiveness and possibly in their basic images. The bulk of this kind of phraseological expressions belong to the so-called phraseological unities. (Vinogradov). Here are some Ukrainian variants of the kind of English phraselogisms: either win the saddle or loose the horse або пан, або пропав; або перемогу здобути, або вдома не бути; many hands make work light це згода, там і вигода; гуртом і чорта побореш; гуртом і батька добре бити; громада — великий чоловік; a man can die but once від смерті не втечеш; раз мати народила, раз і вмирати; раз козі смерть; двом смертям не бути, а одної не минути; haste makes waste/the more haste, the less speed тихше їдеш — далі будеш, поспішиш — людей насмішиш, хто спішить — той людей смішить.
A number of phraseological units, due to their common source of origin, are characterized in English and Ukrainian by partial or complete identity of their syntactic structure, their componental im­ages, picturesqueness and expressiveness (and consequently of their meaning). Such kind of idioms often preserve a similar or even identi­