Azərbaycan Respublikası “ÇAĞ” Öyrətim İşlətmələri

Materiallar 
                                                                                                                             02 may 2009-cu il
 
 
93 
THE INTERPRETATION OF IDIOMS 
Nurlana RAMAZANOVA 
Baku Slavic University Third Year Student 
Supervisor: 
 
Translation typically has been used to transfer written or spoken SL texts to 
equivalent written or spoken TL texts. In general, the purpose of translation is to 
reproduce various kinds of texts—including religious, literary, scientific, and philo-
sophical texts—in another language and thus making them available to wider readers. 
The translation of idioms takes us a stage further in considering the question of 
meaning and translation, for idioms, like puns, are culture bound. When two languages 
have corresponding idiomatic expressions that render the idea of prevarication, and 
so in the process of interlingual translation one idiom is substituted for another. 
So, 'Translation is an exacting art. Idiom more than any other feature of language 
demands that the translator be not only accurate but highly sensitive to the rhetorical 
nuances of the language.' 
THE INTERPRETATION OF IDIOMS 
As far as idioms are concerned, the first difficulty that a translator comes across is 
being able to recognize that s/he is dealing with an idiomatic expression. This is 
not always so obvious. There are various types of idioms, some more easily recog-
nizable than others. Those which are easily recognizable include expressions which 
violate truth conditions, such as It's raining cats and dogs, throw caution to the winds, 
storm in a tea cup, jump down someone's throat, and food for thought. They also 
include expressions which seem ill-formed because they do not follow the 
grammatical rules of the language, for example trip the light fantastic, blow someone 
to kingdom come, put paid to, the powers that be, by and large, and the world and his 
friend. Expressions which start with like (simile-like structures) also tend to suggest 
that they should not be interpreted literally. These include idioms such as like a bat 
out of hell and like water off a duck's back. Generally speaking, the more difficult 
an expression is to understand and the less sense it makes in a given context, the 
more likely a translator will recognize it as an idiom. Because they do not following 
text are easy to recognize as idioms (assuming one is not already familiar with them). 
Idiomatic and fixed expressions have individual collocational patterns. They 
form collocations with other items in the text as single units and enter into lexical 
sets which are different from those of their individual words. Take, for instance, the 
idiom  to have cold feet. Cold as a separate item may collocate with words like 
weather, winter, feel, or country. Feet on its own will perhaps collocate with socks, 
chilblain, smelly, etc. however, having cold feet, in its idiomatic use, has nothing 
necessarily to do with winter, feet, or chilblains and will therefore generally be 
used with a different set of collocates. 

«TƏRCÜMƏŞÜNASLIQ VƏ ONUN MÜASİR DÖVRDƏ ROLU»  II Respublika tələbə elmi-praktik konfransı 
 
94 
THE TRANSLATION OF IDIOMS: DIFFICULTIES 
Once an idiom or fixed expression has been recognized and interpreted correctly, 
the next step is to decide how to translate it into the target language. The difficulties 
involved in translating an idiom are totally different from those involved in inter-
preting it. Here, the question is not whether a given idiom is transparent, opaque, or 
misleading. 
An opaque expression may be easier to translate than a transparent one. The 
main difficulties involved in translating idioms and fixed expressions may be sum-
marized as follows: 
a) Idioms and fixed expressions which contain culture-specific items are not 
necessarily untranslatable. It is not the specific items an expression contains but 
rather the meaning it conveys and its association with culture-specific contexts 
which can make it untranslatable or difficult to translate. For example, the English 
expression he doesn't care a fig, is nevertheless closely paralleled in Azeri. Both 
expressions convey the same meaning. We have many others in Azeri like
:  
Mənə 
nə! Nə olur olsun! Cəhənnəmə ki! 
b) An idiom or fixed expression may have a similar counterpart in the target 
language, but its context of use may be different; the two expressions may have 
different connotations, for instance, or they may not be pragmatically transferable. 
To sing a different tune is an English idiom which means to say or do something 
that signals a change in opinion because it contradicts what one has said or done 
before. In Azeri  this idiom also normally refers to contradictory points of view, but 
has some different usage as “Özündən hoqqa çıxarır” 
c) An idiom may be used in the source text in both its literal and idiomatic 
senses at the same time. Unless the target-language idiom corresponds to the source-
language idiom both in form and in meaning, the play on idiom cannot be success-
fully reproduced in the target text. E.g. He was deaf to his father's advice.  In 
Azeri: “O atasının məsləhətini qulaq ardına vurdu” 
d) The very convention of using idioms in written discourse, the contexts in 
which they can be used, and their frequency of use may be different in the source 
and target languages. English uses idioms in many types of text, though not in all. 
E.g. take no thought for tomorrow. It means he doesn’t care for tomorrow or that 
person isn’t responsible. In Azeri we can say it like this: “Buğda yeyib, cənnətdən 
çıxıb” or “El elə getsin, sel selə” 
The translation of idioms: strategies 
The way in which an idiom or a fixed expression can be translated into another 
language depends on many factors. They are: the significance of the specific lexical 
items which constitute the idiom, i.e. whether they are manipulated elsewhere in 
the source text, as well as the appropriateness or inappropriateness of using idiomatic 
language in a given register in the target language. The acceptability or non-accep-
tability of using any of the strategies described below will therefore depend on the 

Materiallar 
                                                                                                                             02 may 2009-cu il
 
 
95 
context in which a given idiom is translated. The first strategy described, that of 
finding an idiom of similar meaning and similar form in the target language, may 
seem to offer the ideal solution, but that is not necessarily always the case. Questions 
of style, register, and rhetorical effect must also be taken into consideration. 
CONCLUSION 
It seems necessary for an acceptable translation to produce the same (or at least 
similar) effects on the TT readers as those created by the original work on its readers. 
A translator does not appear to be successful in his challenging task of efficiently 
rendering the culture-specific concepts and figurative language when he sacrifices, 
or at least minimizes, the effect of idioms in favor of preserving graphical or lexical 
forms of source language. In other words, a competent translator is well-advised not 
to deprive the TL reader of enjoying, or even recognizing, the idioms either in the 
name of fidelity or brevity. 
 
 
THEORETICAL PROBLEMS OF TRANSLATION 
Raşad ALIYEV 
Qafqaz University Translation Department IV 
Supervisor: Sheyda Souleymanova 
 
Firstly, I would ask you, can anyone give a definition for translation, what is 
translation? I would like give definition for translation; translation is ultimately a 
human activity that enables human beings to exchange ideas and thoughts regard-
less of the various tongues used. Although, there are a great number of translation 
problems, I would talk about some general and language problems that we can face 
everyday. Before starting my examples, can you give some translation problems 
which arise from source text and language? 
Problems with the source text: Changes made to the text during translation 
process, Illegible or difficult to read text, Misprinted or misspelled text, Incomplete, 
Text which written poorly, Obvious inaccuracies in the source text. These are prob-
lems which origin from source text. There are also other problems which emanate 
from language problems: Dialect terms and neologisms, Unexplained acronyms and 
abbreviations, Proper names of people, organizations, places and so on, Obscure 
jargon, Obscure idioms, Slang, Stylistic and other differences between languages. 
I think that one of the biggest problems of the translation is the problem of 
untranslatability. Nowadays, untranslatable words are given in specific lists. By the 
way what is untranslatability? Every language contains some expressions which refer 
to objects that do not exist in another language and these expressions are untransla-
table words. Some words are difficult to translate only if one wishes to remain in the 
same grammatical category. Sometimes we can not find corresponding words for 

«TƏRCÜMƏŞÜNASLIQ VƏ ONUN MÜASİR DÖVRDƏ ROLU»  II Respublika tələbə elmi-praktik konfransı 
 
96 
words in source language. However, in reality these incredibly culture-laden words 
are the easiest of all to translate, because it is standard practice to translate these 
kinds of words by the same word in the other language. 
Another translation problem is the problem which origins from common words. 
Common words are difficult to translate. For example, in all its various uses the verb 
‘to get’ covers nearly seven columns {the meanings of ‘to get’ in Azerbaijani; 1-
əldə etmək, almaq; 2-çatmaq, nail olmaq; 3-tutmaq,yapışmaq; 4-götürmək; 5-
durmaq, dayanmaq; 6-olmaq 7-gətirmək}. The same is true for most common words, 
such as “go”-seven columns, ”come”-four columns, and so on. Besides this every 
language contains expressions which refer to concepts that do not exist in another 
language. These expressions are dialects, archaic words and so on. In addition to these 
problems, in general, translation problems can be divided into two groups; Linguistic 
problems, Cultural problems 
The linguistic problems include grammatical differences, lexical ambiguity and 
meaning ambiguity. I can give gerund as an example for grammatical differences, 
in English we use gerund, but we do not have the same grammatical category in 
Azerbaijani. The cultural problems refer to different situational features. 
Ambiguity: When a word has more than one meaning, it is said to be lexically 
ambiguous. When a phrase or sentence can have more than one structure it is said to 
be structurally ambiguous. 
It is very difficult to find words that are not at least two ways ambiguous. This 
is not only problematic because some of the alternatives are unintended, but because 
ambiguities multiply. 
Let’s see one example; Fluids can be dangerous: One of these analyses will 
have “cleaning” as verb, and one will have it as an adjective. In the former case the 
sense is ‘to clean a fluid may be dangerous {mayeni təmizləmək təklükəli ola bilər}-
about an activity being dangerous. In the latter case the sense is that ‘fluids used for 
cleaning can be dangerous’ {təmizlik üçün işlədilən mayelər təhlükəli ola bilər}. 
Choosing between these alternative syntactic analyses requires knowledge about 
meaning. When there are words which can be either a noun or a verb, ambiguity is 
expected. I can give such kind of words such as button and use. Button as a noun can 
mean both familiar small round object used to fasten clothes {düymə}, as well as 
knob on a piece of apparatus {hər  hansısa bir cihazın üzərindəki, dəstək çıxıntı}. 
Whenever there is ambiguous word is sentence, this sentence can be said to be 
lexically ambiguous. For example; You must not use abrasive cleaners on the printer 
casing, The use of abrasive cleaners on the printer casing is not recommended 
In first sentence I give use as a verb and this sentence can be translated into 
Azerbaijani as; sən printerin üzərində təmizləyici maddələrdən istifadə edə bilməz-
sən. In second sentence I give use as a noun and this sentence can be translated into 
Azerbaijani as; printerin üzərində təmizləyici maddələrin istifadəsi məsləhət görülmür. 

Materiallar 
                                                                                                                             02 may 2009-cu il
 
 
97 
Multiword units-idioms: The problem with idioms is that it is not possible to 
translate them using the normal rules. For example; to take the bull by the horns 
{meaning ‘face and tackle a difficulty without shirking’ - ‘çətinliklə  çəkinmədən 
üzləşmək və onu həll etməyə başlamaq’} can be translated literally into Azerbaijani 
as ‘öküzü buynuzlarından tutmaq’, which has the same meaning. But, if we translate 
idioms in the way of the use of normal rules the result would be nonsense, instead 
we must treat with idioms as single units. 
One problem with sentences which contains idioms is that they are typically 
ambiguous. 
Other examples; to put a political cat among the pigeons {meaning ‘do or say 
something that causes a lot of argument politically- siyasi cəhətdən mübahisəyə 
səbəb olan bir şey etmək, ya da bir şey demək} this idiom can be literally translated 
into Azerbaijani as ‘göyərçinlərin arasına siyasi pişik qoymaq’-it is just a nonsense. 
To keep one’s chin up {meaning ‘to stay positive’ – ‘heç nəyə baxmadan ayaqda 
qalmaq, mübariz olmaq’} can be literally translated-bir kəsin çənəsini yuxarıda 
saxlaması. 
Idioms can have different forms. I can give an example-to bury the hatchet {‘to 
cease hostilities and becomes reconciled’-‘arada olan düşmançılığı götürmək və 
barışmaq’} 
Variations according to tense forms; 
He buries, buried, will bury the hatchet 
Variations according to persons; 
They bury, buried, will bury the hatchet 
That is all about theoretical problems of translation. In my report I gave all 
principle problems briefly, then I talked about ambiguity, lexical and structural 
mismatches, multiword units- idioms broadly,  because I consider them as the biggest 
problems of translation arise from those fields. 
 
 
THEORY OF TRANSLATION 
Refi QURBANOV 
Qafqaz University Translation Department II 
Supervisor: Sheyda Souleymanova 
 
Translation has always been associated with the development of economic, 
political, scientific, and cultural relationships among people where different languages 
are spoken. 
It is known that, every country has its administration, nation, culture and etc. 
Therefore, the main quality of a good translator is his endless love for his profession, 

«TƏRCÜMƏŞÜNASLIQ VƏ ONUN MÜASİR DÖVRDƏ ROLU»  II Respublika tələbə elmi-praktik konfransı 
 
98 
which is characterized by continuous search and non-stop work. While translating 
we must know two main things:first the source language style, second the target 
language style. 
SL-knowing the style that dominates the writing of articles in the SL enable us 
to know a large number of expressions not easily found in dictionaries e.g. loans 
from Latin and other languages. Being able to identify style marks also gives us a 
chance of concentrating on the information and not get lost in the labyrinth of con-
ventions that editorial rules could create. TL this is very much related to the above 
only that the problem here is seen the other way around. The TL, just like the SL, has 
its own style marks. 
According to P.NEWMARK when we are translating, we translate four levels 
more or less consciously in mind. 1) the source level-text level, level of language, 
where we begin and which we continually go back to. 2) referential level, the level 
of objects and events, real or imaginary, which we progressively have to visualize 
and build up and which is an essential part, first of the comprehension, then repro-
duction process. 3)the cohesive level, which is more general and grammatical, which 
traces the train of thought, the feeling tone and the various presuppositions of the 
source language text. 4)the level of naturalness, of common language appropriate to 
the writer or speaker in certain situation. Working on the text level, you intuitively 
and automatically make certain conversions; you transpose the source language 
grammar (clause and groups) into their ready translation language equivalents and 
translate the lexical units into the sense that appears immediately appropriate in the 
context of the sentence. The base level of translation is the text. This is the level of 
the literal translation of the source language into the target language, the level of 
translations you have to eliminate, but it also acts as a correction of paraphrases. So 
a part of your mind may be on the text level whilst another is elsewhere. Transla-
tion is primarily the occupation in which you have to be thinking of several things 
at the same time. Yu should not read a sentence without seeing it on the referential 
level. Whether a text is technical or literary, you have to make up your mind, sum-
marily and continuously, what it is about. For each sentence, when it is not clear, 
when there is an ambiguity, when the writing is abstract or figurative you have to 
ask yourself: what is happening here? And why? for what reason, on what grounds, 
for what purpose?can you see it in your mind?if you cannot, you have to supplement 
the linguistic level the text with the referential , the factual level with the necessary 
additional information from this level of reality, the fact of the matter. 
So, translator works continuously on two levels, the real and the linguistic, life 
and language,reference and sense, but you write you compose on the linguistic level, 
where your job is to achive the greatest possible correspondence, referentially and 
sentences of the source language text.However tempting it is to remain on that 
simpler, usually simplified level of reality (the message and its function) you have 
force yourself back, into the particularities of the source language meaning. Beyond 
the second factual level of translating,there is third,generalized,level linking the 

Materiallar 
                                                                                                                             02 may 2009-cu il
 
 
99 
first and the second level,which you have to bear in mind.This is the cohesive 
level; it follows both the structure and the moods of the text: the structure throught 
the connective words (conjuction, repetitions, articles, general words, referential 
synonyms) linking the sentence, usually proceeding from known information (theme) 
to new information (rheme); proposition, opposition, continuation, conclusion or thesis, 
antithesis, synthesis. thus structure of text follows the train of thought, determiners 
say the direction in a text; ensure that there is a sequence of time, space and logic in 
the text. The second factor in the cohesive level is mood. Again, this can be shown 
as a dialectical factor moving between positive and neqative, emotive and neutral. 
It means tracing the thread of a text through its value –laden and value-free passa-
ges which may be expressed by objects or nouns,as well as adjectives or qualities. 
You have to spot the difference between positive and neutral in,say “appreciate and 
evaluate”, ”tidy and ordered”; ”passed away and deid”. These differences are often 
delicate, particularly near the center, where most language have words like fair, 
moderate, whose values cannot always be determined in the context. The third level, 
this attempt to follow the thought through the connectives and the feeling tone and 
the emotion through expressions is admittedly, only tentative, but it may determine 
the difference between a misleading translation and a good one. This cohesive is 
regulator it secures coherence, it adjusts emphasis. At this level, you reconsider the 
lengths of paragraphs and sentences, the formulation of the title, the tone of the 
conclusion. 
Another fundamental problem in this regard is the role of the reader. We now 
that certain texts can be perfectly meaningful to some readers and difficult or non-
translatable to others. There are people who experience modern experimental poetry 
as an insult. At another level, a professional text on medicine or mathematics can 
be readily interpretable by a person with the proper background. Thus interpretabi-
lity is not only a function of the text. Interpretability is not an absolute, unchan-
geable and permanent quality of a text but is affected by the relation of the text to 
aspecific receiver or category of receivers.Very often the receiver must have an  
access to the situational context,either in its original form in connection with the 
speech  act or in a sufficiently complete and accurate reconstruction. Lose relations 
exist between interpretability and connexity. If we are to establish coherence rela-
tions between parts of a text, we must first interpret the text. We receive the text, we 
set up various hypotheses about its proper or best interpretation and on the basis of 
such interpretive hypotheses we then infer what relations there must be between 
parts of text, if that text is to convex. In this sense, text interpretation is a herme-
neutic process:we must have a whole,a universe of discourse,before we can see how 
its parts fit together and coherent. 
The socio-cultural aspect of language use must be futher explored to see the 
inseparaple relationship between language and social meaning . Some fuctional and 
critical linguistic studies reveal the close interaction and dynamism of language 
users. In so doing,these demonstrate how dialectal relationships are maintained and 
how they are translated into socio-cultural structures and social practice (discource).