• An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not
predictable from the usual grammatical rules
of a language or from the usual meanings of its
constituent elements. (Random House Webster’s
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Idiom
• Feature
• Culturally relative: An idiom is generally a colloquial metaphor—a term requiring some foundational knowledge, information, or experience, to use only within a culture, where conversational parties must possess common cultural references. Therefore, idioms are not considered part of the language, but part of the culture.
fish in the moat.
• 路遥知马力，日久见人心
译文：As a long road tests a horse’s strength, so a
long task proves a person’s heart.
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• 初生牛犊不怕虎
译文：New-born calves make little of tigers.
College Dictionary )
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Translation of idiom
• Foreignizing translation:
– retaining the cultural flavors of the SL
– enables the reader to have an alien reading experience
• 口蜜腹剑
译文：to be honey-mouthed and dagger-hearted
• 声东击西
译文：to shout in the east and strike in the west
• 望梅止渴
译文：quench one’s thirsty by thinking of plums
• 画饼充饥
– developing the readers awareness of cultural difference
• Domesticating translatห้องสมุดไป่ตู้on:
– minimizes the foreignness of the SL text by changing the heterogeneous elements into what is familiar to the TL text
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• 异化：主张直译原文的语言形式（即便 这种语言形式不完全切合译语习惯）， 保留构成原语言的文化因子（主要是形 象）。
• 归化：主张以纯熟地道的译语和相关联 的文化因子进行翻译。
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Translation of idiom (C-E)
• Foreignizing translation
• 剖腹藏珠 出自《资治通鉴·唐纪·太宗贞观元年》： “吾闻西域贾胡得美珠，剖身以藏之，有诸？”
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Idiom
• An idiom is an expression not readily analyzable from its grammatical construction or from the meaning of its component parts. It is the part of the distinctive form or construction of a particular language that has a specific form or style present only in that language. (New International Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary )
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• 明枪易躲，暗箭难防
译文：It is easy to dodge a spear in the open, but
hard to guard against an arrow shot from
hiding.
• 城门失火，殃及池鱼
译文：A fire on city wall brings disaster to the
译文：to draw cakes to allay hunger
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• 刻骨铭心
译文：to be engraved on one’s heart and bones
• rip open the stomach and hide a pearl—sacrifice life for money
• 你自己手里拿着这个，岂不好？明儿再送来。——就 失了手也有限的，怎么忽然又变出这“剖腹藏珠”的 脾气来！（《红楼梦》）
• 译文：Wouldn’t that be better? You can send it back later. And even if want to “cut open your stomach to hide a pearl”?
Chapter Fifteen
Translation of Idioms
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Idiom
• Definition • An idiom is an expression, word,
or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made.