Analysis of Idiom Translation Strategies

The aim of the work is to compare English, Russian and Lithuanian idioms in general, to present the problem of no equivalence in the target language, to look through main translation strategies used in translation of idioms and examine the choice of translation strategies used by translators. The theoretical part is mostly based on M. Baker's, R. Moon's, P. Newmark's and G. Toury's theories. The analytical part is based on A. Christie's novels and their translations from English into Russian and from Russian into Lithuanian. Analysis provides a general overview of the most prevailing translation solutions used in all the translations from English into Russian and from Russian into Lithuanian. The research has shown that there is a lack of equivalent idioms in Russian language. More important, the research has shown that the translation made not from the source text but from the already translated text is very distant from the original one, the meaning of idioms is very vague or even lost, in some cases omitted. In addition, the most prevailing translation strategy turned out to be paraphrasing both: stylistic and explanatory.

Auteur

Margarita Istigeceva, MA (Applied English Linguistics) studied English Philology since 2001 at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania; defended her master thesis in Applied English Linguistics in 2007. Former English teacher at Kaunas University of Technology. Now work with EU projects, teaches English for adults.