ахиллесовапята
The phrase "ахиллесовапята" (tr.: 'the Achilles' heel') is easier to dial with, for it exists only as an idiom. The phrase means: 'The weak or vulnerable spot in a man's character or a state's (company's, etc.) affairs.' (According to the legend, Achilles, with the exception of one heel, was protected against every weapon his enemies might use.) And 'the Achilles' heel' as a phrase has the definite article and the apostrophy to be observed and not to be 'bruised'. Example:
Но увы! и у него была ахиллесова пята, и он имел слабости... Подсохин любил писать. (И. Ламечников)
But alas! He had the Achilles' heel, too. Yes, he also had his own weakness... Podsokhin was fond of writing.
метатьгромыимолнии
The phrase "метатьгромыимолнии" exists only as an idiom but its happens to be misleading. This phrase does not necessarily mean 'to frighten smb.' as one might wrongly guess. It means 'to be furious at smb.'
One can try and select a synonym (like 'to go off the deep end about smth.') out of the group of English synonyms but... the Russian context may oppose it, for these English phrases may turn out to be too colloquial to be used, say, in the translation of a newspaper text.
It seems, therefore, that in most of the cases we may safely use the method of translating this Russian phrase, 'literally and metaphorically', for a metaphor itself shows its colouring and intention in a flexible way: it is understood from the context, and the stronger the language of the context is the stronger the metaphor will sound. And the suggested metaphor is 'to hurl thunderbolts at smb. (or smth.)'.
This metaphor seems sufficient but it requires a material object for the action, that is, for 'hurling thunderbolts' at something worth 'hurling thunderbolts' at. In other words, one cannot 'hurl thunderbolts', say, at a 'fact' or an 'idea'. One can always do so at a 'person' as well as at something which is a 'state', 'company', 'newspaper' or the like. And in such cases as when there is no material object for our metaphorical action, one may resort-to the idiom 'to blow one's top' and say, for example, 'He blew his top... at the fact that...' or '...when he heard that...', which would mean just 'to be fuming'. The phrase 'to blow one's top' is used in the English press and is not very negative though it is quite expressive.
2.1.3 Synonymous Statements and Emphasis
The translation of the Russian idiomatic phrase "взять (брать) себявруки" (or: "держатьсебявруках") depends on the context, that is, on what the author means:
(a) "Взятьсебявруки" when one is under a moment's strain usually means 'to pull oneself together' and... stop crying or being panicky, or the like. Example:
...Клавдия, не приготовившая сложения и вычитания, громко заплакала посреди урока арифметики. Катя постучала карандашом о кафедру:
- Возьми сейчас же себя в руки, Клавдия. (А. Толстой)
...Klavdia, who had not done her addition and subtraction, burst out into loud sobs during the lesson, Katya knocked her pencil on the teacher's desk:
"Pull yourself together this moment, Klavdia."
(b) "ВЗЯТЬсебявруки" when someone is under a more or less permanent strain and is worrying about something usually means 'to take oneself in hand'. Example:
- Вообще-то надо тебе взять себя в руки,— порекомендовал Женя.— Если по-дружески, как мужчина мужчине, то ты, разумеется, способнее меня, но разбрасываешься, дружок. (Ю. Герман)
"By and large, I'd say take your- self in hand," Yevgeny said. "To be quite honest, as man to man, you're a lot cleverer than I am, but you can't stick to one thing at a time."
However, in the following extract, the man in love seems to believe t hat his nervous strain has a permanent nature though his friends who think the opposite advise him that he rather 'pull himself together' and not 'take himself in hand':
...Я, говорит, в своих чувствах не волен, моя любовь сильнее меня. Мы, конечно, с Сергеем Андреевичем рекомендовали ему в руки себя взять — куда там! Унего, видители, сдерживающиецентрыотказали. (Ю. Герман)
..."I can't help my feelings," he said, "my love is stronger than my will." Sergei Andreyevich and I naturally advised him to pull him- Self together—but he wouldn't listen. He said his control centres had snapped! How d'you like that?
(с) "Держатьсебявруках" and never show signs of fear or other emotions usually means 'to hold (or: keep) oneself in hand'. However, we must admit that this expression does not point to the amount of will power or, say, extreme efforts taken by the person in question for keeping control of himself. But precisely this can be conveyed by the phrase 'to keep a (tight) hold on oneself'. For instance, chain smokers and drunkards who try to abstain would undoubtedly say that they 'keep a tight hold on themselves'.
We have seen above that the phrase 'держатьсебявруках' can be expressed by several English phrases in different contexts. Why is it so?
We know, for instance, that one Russian word may correspond to two or more English words (e.g., "Нога" - 'leg' or 'foot', "палец'' - 'finger', 'thumb' or 'toe'). We would translate "Ондержалврукахкнигу" as 'He held a book in his hands' but "Онадержалаврукахребенка" as 'She held a baby in her arms'. Firstly, one language makes it possible not to express the difference between certain notions whereas the other language makes it obligatory to express it. In other words, the difference between languages lies in not what they can express (any thought can be expressed in any language) but in what they cannot help expressing.[13] Secondly, one can see that the words "hands" and "arms" have their own (different) meaning. But they perform the same function in the action "держатьвруках". Their meaning in this action comes to us from their function. The function (cause) is primary. The meaning (effect) is secondary. Thus, it is the function that has to be translated first thing and never mind by what means. Here, ends justify the means (lexical, grammatical, etc.).
Let us consider now some of the possible contextual functions of the phrase "смотретьсквозьпальцы" and how each particular function can be translated into English:
(а) "Смотретьсквозьпальцы" and 'to turn a blind eye (to smth.)' may perform one and the same function of 'ignoring on purpose',
(b) The function of 'pretending not to see smth. embarrassing or ;ht with danger' may be expressed by both "смотретьсквозьпальцы" and 'to shut one's eyes (to smth.)'.
(c) When a person who "закрываетглаза (начто-л.)" is criticized for it because he is believed 'to be irresponsible enough to overlook someone’s grave misconduct', one can say that the irresponsible person simply ‘turned a blind eye (to it)', which is, in fact, negative attitude in criticism in.
(d) The phrases "смотретьсквозьпальцы" and 'to look through one's fingers' (or. 'to wink at smth.') may be used in the function of 'to pretend (for some reason) not to see an error, piece of misconduct, etc'.
(e) And finally, "смотретьсквозьпальцы" may have the function of 'neglecting as being indifferent', that is, of 'not caring a damn (about smth.)' or simply 'not troubling'.
Thus, we can see that two phrases (in two different languages) that minim the same functions[14] can meet each other, shake hands and lake a junction as allies and brothers-in-arms.
Let us see now whether this rule is also good for sуnоnуms we to deal with.
It is common knowledge that two or more phrases are synonymous if and when some of their functions coincide. For instance, the Russian phrases "смотретьсквозьпальцы" and "закрыватьглаза (начто-л.)" are synonyms, for they may perform the same functions, namely, functions "b" and "c". And consequently, it means that both of the phrases performing function "b" can be translated by the English phrase 'to shut one's eyes' as well as bоth of them performing function "c" can be translated by means of 'to turn a blind eye'.
The Russian language has a tendency of not letting a thought be expressed somewhat partially, for it hates preservations and hints. It prefers to dot the "i's" and cross the "i's". For instance, a Russian speaker would seldom use an idiom (e.g., "уменязубназубнепопадает") without adding anything more specific (e.g., "яоченьпродрог") which is to explain what the speaker exactly means. If, on the other hand, the Russian speaker says "яоченьпродрог", he is often inclined to add "зубназубнепопадает" in order to draw the listener's attention to the significance of the fact.
The English language, on the contrary, has quite an opposite tendency. Just see the following example:
"Evidently," Mason said, "your detective is somewhat green at the game." (E. S, Gardner)
One can see that the English language does not insist that the speaker (Mr. Mason) should give an explanation of his idiom and say something like '[because] your detective doesn't know his work well.’
Conclusion: It is true that interpreters are normally expected to translate the information in detail. However they may, in cases of sуnonуmоus statements, translate only the idiomatic part of a pair of statements under the condition that the idea expressed in the idiom is 100% intelligible to the listener and the 'explanation' does not contain new information. Such a way of translation will suit the said requirements of the English language and, besides, will enable you to condense the-translated information in case you are interpreting it simultaneously.
2.1.4 Indices for Interpretation
Indices for interpretation: meaning and usage. Image as selected designation. Beware translating designations.
In physics, mathematics and other exact sciences, two or more phenomena are considered equivalent when they have authentic indices, that is, when all their indices coincide.
The same cam be said about two (Russian and English) idioms, except that interpreters are never able to deal only with absolute equivalents like "Привычка— втораянатура" = 'Custom is second nature'. We have to deal with relative equivalents whose indices, not all, but at least the main ones do coincide.
Idiomatic phrases have four main indices to their equivalency which are, to us, indiсеs for interpretation (переводческиепоказатели). They are: meaning (mng), conditions of usage (use), emotive overtones (o-t) and style (sty).
You can see that meaning, as an index for interpretation, describes the essence of the action (or event) whereas usage shows the conditions under which a given idiom may be used altogether, that is, the forms of the action, its aims, etc. For instance, in the phrase 'to pull the wool over smb.'s eyes' (mng: to deceive, to fool; use: when a person wants to do it by not letting smb. know smth.) the obligatory condition under which the phrase may be altogether used by a speaker, is 'by not letting smb. know smth.' (the form of the action).
If one takes, say, a number of synonyms (e.g., 'to throw dust in smb.'s eyes', 'to draw a red herring', 'to pull smb.'s leg', etc.) whose meaning is, naturally, the same (e.g., to deceive, to fool), one can see that most of them, if not all, differ by conditions of their usage. It is, then, the condition of the usage, the core of the idiom,[15] that may and, often, should be considered first.
Case 1
The easiest case is when an interpreter who deals with an idiom like “сводитьконцысконцами” finds, among its English synonyms (e.g., 'to live from hand to mouth', 'to keep the wolf from the door', 'to make both ends meet', etc.), one (e.g., 'to make both ends meet') whose main indices coincide with those of the Russian phrase. The job is done, then. The required English idiom is in the bag. Translation begins.
Case 2
In case both of the usage indices (the cores of the idioms!) coincide and meanings do not, one may try to alter the image of the English phrase and adjust its meaning to the requirements of the Russian meaning. Thus, "He такстрашенчерт, какегомалюют" becomes practically equivalent to 'The devil is not as terrible (instead of 'so black') as he is painted'.
In case meaning indices coincide and usage indices do not, the job of the interpreter is not a bed of roses. One is expected to know the items (i.e., every condition) of the Russian phrase's usage and be prepared to translate them idiomatically. Then, a descriptive translation of the idiom's meaning can be added to our idiomatic translation of the usage and placed after it as an 'explanation' of the English idiom (like 'explanation' in a pair of cause-and-effect relation statements) if the meaning is not clear from the context itself.
For instance, the phrase "пускатьпыльвглаза" (mng: to deceive, to hoodwink) has at least three permanent items of its usage.
We have not been able to avail ourselves, in this case, of the English phrase 'to throw dust in smb.'s eyes' though its dust-in-the-eyes image is similar to the "пыльвглаза" image of the Russian phrase. The usage of this English phrase differs from that of the Russian idiom:
'to throw dust in smb.'s eyes'
use: to deceive by preventing a person from seeing the true state of affairs (as if by impairing a person's vision so that he cannot see things clearly).
Had one translated the phrase "пускатьпыльвглаза" by means of ‘to throw dust in smb.'s eyes' (tr.: сбиватького-л. столку) it would have been an error which can be generally considered typical of inexperienced interpreters and translators.
2.1.5 Proverbs Figurativeness and Its Means
Translators are faced with formidable problems. Many writers and poets thought it necessary to voice their opinion of how one should approach proverbs. V. A. Zhukovsky[16] stressed that translators "should produce the effect of the original." Not a few writers likewise opposed literal, word-for-word translations of proverbs (and we know this to be true), the question however remains: how should they be translated? V. G. Belinsky said that "the internal life of the translated expression should correspond to the internal life of the original."[17] This is true again. It seems therefore that we should do this, that and the other. We agree to do this, that and the other... But, apparently, we must focus our attention on figurativeness when translating proverbs.[18] Thus, our translation of a proverb must either be, in fact, an English proverb or an idiomatic sounding metaphor. And this seems to be the right answer to the question of what we must do above all, especially because "The corresponding image as well as the corresponding phrase do not always present a visible adequacy of words."
The translation difficulties usually arise in cases when (a) there happens to be no corresponding English proverb that we can use for our translation or (b) when the existing "ready-made" equivalent (e.g., an English proverb) cannot be used as it is because, for example, the Russian proverb is innovated in speeсh and, thus, may convey a specific additional meaning.