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37'Oriental Art and Culture" Scientific-Methodical Journal - (3) III/2020
ISSN 2181-063X
A DESCRIPTIVE APPROACH OF TRANSLATING IDIOMS AND
PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS INTO TWO DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
Raximova Ilmira Marksovna Law college of Khorezm region
Abstract: This article deals with the importance of idioms and phraseological units in oral speech and presents some analyzed examples of phrasal units that are common in English and Uzbek language.
Keywords: idioms, phraseological units, cultural backgrounds, comparative idioms, body-part idioms, equivalency, spoken English, negative evaluation.
As a matter of fact to master language, learning idioms is an important way. They are a typical component of English, and a spoken English in particular, and are used more and more widely in everyday conversations. The image of human body parts is contained in large portion of idioms. English and Uzbek are two different languages with their own cultural backgrounds. Besides, language and culture are closely related. An understanding of common idioms will increase comprehension and make conversations more natural in both languages. However, while learning process, idioms present a problem to language learners. They find it hard to understand the meaning of idioms due to their unawareness of and confusion about the similarities and differences between English and Uzbek idioms. As a result, they instinctively avoid trying to produce idioms themselves.
In this article it is aimed to provide students and teachers with necessary information so that they can benefit in their learning and teaching process, particularly in the field of translation and cross-cultural communication. Furthermore, suggestions to solve the problem as well as implications for teaching idioms are also given.
At first, we are going to focus on what are body part idioms themselves? And people are familiar with their own bodies. A lot of idioms are from human body parts. Some common organ that are used in idioms are: head, eye, ear, mouth, arm, leg, etc. For instance, “keep a cool head” means “to keep calm in difficult and stressful situation”, “not see eye to eye with someone” means “not agree on something”, “keep your chin up” means “something that you say to someone in a difficult situation in order to encourage them to be brave and try not to be sad” and so on. Body-related idioms reflect the functions of major organs and are frequently used in daily life.
For interpreting reality, language is a tool. Body part images appear frequently in Uzbek and English idioms carrying simile and metaphor meanings and ontological
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'Oriental Art and Culture" Scientific-Methodical Journal - (3) III/2020
ISSN 2181-063X
metaphors are used widely. Ontological metaphor is one in which an abstraction, such as an activity, emotion, or idea, is represented as something concrete, such as an object, substance, container, or person. With the help of following examples we are going to elicit our ideas:
1. Get into someone’s head (to understand what someone thinks and feels so that you can communicate well with him or her) E.g. I want to get into my wife’s head indeed, and keep on getting along well with her.
2. Give someone their head (to allow someone to do what they want without trying to stop them) E.g. John has given his son his head to make up his mind on choosing the profession.
3. Fly in the face of something (to oppose or be the opposite of something is usual or expected) E.g. Such a proposal is flying in the face of common sense.
4. To have a face like a thunder (to have a very angry expression) E.g. He had a face like a thunder when he heard of his failing from the CEFR test.
5. To be all ears (to be very eager to hear what someone has to say) E.g. When Henry was speaking about his journey to Dubai I was all ears.
6. Not believe your eyes/ears (to be very surprised at something you hear/see)
E.g. I couldn’t believe my ears when he proposed me.
7. To open someone’s eyes (to make someone realize the truth, make someone aware of something) E.g. Your wife is lying to you, please, open your eyes.
An image underlying a phrase may express either approval or disapproval depending on how a body part functions: a functional use of a body-part suggests approval. On the contrary, if there is an inappropriate function of a body part, it creates disapproval. For instance:
The head is a container for the brain and head-idioms are evaluated positively as in “Get your head round something” (to be able to understand or accept smoothing); “Have a good head on your shoulders” (to be a sensible person), etc.
We have many hand-idioms denoting positive meaning, such as “To give someone a hand” (to help someone); “Be good with your hands” (to be skilful at making or doing things with your hands); “Hold someone’s hand” (to give someone support in a difficult situation); “An old hand” (someone who has done a particular job or activity for a long time and who can do it very well).
Some negative idioms carrying the image of nose are “Look down your nose at someone/something” (to behave in a way that suggests that you think that you are better than someone or that something is not good enough for you; “Poke/stick your nose into something” (to try to become involved in something that does not concerns you); “get up someone’s nose” (to annoy someone).
We also have mouth-idioms referring to negative meaning, such as “A big mouth” (if you have a big mouth, you talk too much, especially about things that
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'Oriental Art and Culture" Scientific-Methodical Journal - (3) III/2020
ISSN 2181-063X
should be secret); “Be down in the mouth” (to be sad); “Foot-in-mouth disease” (the tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time) and so on.
English and Uzbek are two different languages with different cultural backgrounds but human beings have similar process of thought. Talking about language and idioms in particular, we can recognize a great deal of equivalence between the two languages’ idioms namely in images and implied messages. Owing to the differences in culture, with the same values of content, the way of expressing ideas through comparative idioms varies among cultures. Such pairs of idioms have the same meaning but different images are used. Below are some examples which confirm the points that are given above.
- “To give someone the ax” (to fire someone) - “Pattasini qo’liga tutkazmoq”;
- “Easier said than done” (more difficult than you think) - “Aytishga oson”;
- “Right-hand man” (the most helpful assistant or employee” - “O’ng qo’li bo’lmoq”;
- “When pigs fly” (never) - “Tuyani dumi yerga tekkanda”;
- “To work like a dog” (to work very hard” - “Itday ishlamoq”;
- “To beat around the bush” (to talk around the subject; to avoid getting to the point) - “Aravani quruq olib qochmoq”;
- “You scratch my back and I ’ll scratch yours ” (if you do me a favor, I’ll do you a favor)1 - “Sizdan ugina, bizdan bugina”;
- “Now you are talking” (you are saying the right thing) - “Ana bu boshqa gap”;
- “To bite off more than one can chew ” (to take on more than one is capable of) - “Ikki oyoqni bir etikka tiqmoq”;
- “Like a chicken with its head cut off” (in a hysterical manner) - “Oyog’i kuygan tovuqday”;
- “To know one’s stuff” (to have expertise in a field) - “Ishni ko’zini bilmoq”;
- “Count one’s chickens before they hatch” (to plan how to utilize good results before they have occurred”2 - “Jo’jani kuzda sanamoq”
As for learners, the best time to address the complexity of idioms is at upper-intermediate and advanced levels, when they already have a certain grammatical and lexical foundation. According to the teaching experience of a linguist, there are three steps to bear in mind when learning a new idiom.3 First of all, it is advisable for learners to find equivalent Uzbek idioms of English ones. In this way, they can install the relation between the two languages; thus, can put them into their long-term memory. Second, learn how to use the idiom in a particular situation. Then, start using the idiom in conversation with others as soon as possible.
1 Amy Gillet. Speak English like an American. USA, 2004, p.60
2 Richard A, Spears, Ph.D. NTC’s American idioms dictionary. USA, 2000, p.94
3 Nurmatova M.R. Body Part Idioms in English and Uzbek: A Contrastive Analysis and Teaching Implications. Молодой ученый, 2016, c. 915-917
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'Oriental Art and Culture" Scientific-Methodical Journal - (3) III/2020
ISSN 2181-063X
Above the average expresses the meaning to be higher or better than the average. E.g. His intelligence is clearly above average. The Uzbek version is “Kichkina demang bizni ko’tarib uramiz sizni”
Chin up is used for somebody who has changed his character towards someone after having a great amount of money. E.g. It was impossible not having seen me at the street; I thought that she was chin up. Uzbek versions are: “Burni ko’tarilib qolmoq”, “Ko’zini shira bosdi”
As cool as a cucumber means to be calm and not agitated; with one’s wits about one. E.g. During the fire the homeowner was as cool as a cucumber. There are many variants in Uzbek language: “Yuragi daryodek keng”, “Dunyoni suv bossa o’rdakka ne g’am”. All of them express one meaning.4
All talk and no action is used for someone who talks about doing something, but never actually doing it. E.g. Bill keeps saying he’ll get a job soon, but he is at all talk and no action. In Uzbek we say: “Aravani quruq olib qochmoq”, “Qulog’iga lag’mon ilmoq”, “Qulog’iga tepmoq”
Hopefully this article can provide teachers with some suggestions and ideas so that they could take them into account to effectively teach idioms, raise the learners’ awareness of idioms so that they should develop a habit of noticing them in everyday situations, including reading and listening.
References
1. Nurmatova M.R. Body Part Idioms in English and Uzbek: A Contrastive Analysis and Teaching Implications. Молодой ученый, 2016, c. 915-917
2. Richard A, Spears, Ph.D. NTC’s American idioms dictionary. USA, 2000,
p.94
3. Amy Gillet. Speak English like an American. USA, 2004, p.60
4. Yo’ldosheva Z.K., Jumanazarova Sh.Z. The comparison of the lingua-cultural idioms that are commonly used in English, Uzbek and Russian languages. Молодой ученый, 2016, c. 730-732
4 Yo’ldosheva Z.K., Jumanazarova Sh.Z. The comparison of the lingua-cultural idioms that are commonly used in English, Uzbek and Russian languages. Молодой ученый, 2016, c. 730-732
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