UNIVERSITATEA DUNĂREA DE JOS , GALAȚI

FACULTY OF LETTERS
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SPECIALISATION OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION

TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS

Coordonator Stiintific,

Professor Dr. Candidat,

MARIANA NEAGU FLORIN FERARU

Structure

 Chapter One – Variety of the English language and culture

 Chapter Two – Translation as cross-cultural communication

 Chapter Three – Lexical equivalence in translation

Chapter One

 The importance of the English language in the maintenance of a society

 Varieties of the English language and culture and the importance of its influence on other
cultures (notably on the Romanian culture)

 The future of the English language and the implications for teaching a language that has
become global

 The relation between idioms and culture

 Approaches of different Western scholars in the field of Translation Studies regarding the
topic

Chapter Two

 Traditional definitions of translation and the translator s job (cross-cultural communication)

 Problems arisen when translating culture-bound phrases in another language (Romanian

language)

 Description of translation settings and techniques (cultural mediation)

Chapter Three

 Selection of English idioms containing animal names (the most interesting ones and those that
created difficulty in translation)

 The origins of these expressions (both in English and in Romanian)

 Lexical and morpho-syntactic aspects involved in the process of translation

Three categories of idiomatic expressions:

 Expressions that were translated almost literally into Romanian, meaning that the animal
name in the SL expression was preserved into the TL expression (e.g. when pigs fly→când o
zbura porcul );

 Expressions that got translated using animal name in the TL other than the one in the SL
expression (e.g. dogs do not eat dogs → corb la corb nu-și scoate ochii );

 Expressions in which the animal name in the SL expression didn’t get translated at all in the
TL (e.g. to rain cats and dogs→ a ploua cu găleata)

Denominations used when referring to these idiomatic expressions:

 Idiom - ”an expression whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words”
(MacMillan, 2002: 710);

 Phrase - ”a group of words that are used together in a fixed expression” (MacMillan 2002:
1062)

 Idiomatic expression - ”construction containing idioms or consisting of an idiom”

(MacMillan, 2002: 710)

 Cultural-specific term&culture-bound item - ”words or expressions relating to the culture

of a particular group, country or society” (MacMillan, 2002: 338)

The analysis will be conducted as follows:

 Presentation of the English expression and its equivalent in Romanian

 Etymology of the SL phrase

 Etymology of the TL phrase (if any)

 Discussion on the eventual lexical and morpho-syntactic changes involved in the process of
translation

To go on a wild goose chase→ a umbla după cai verzi pe pereți

 idiomatic expression that was translated into Romanian by a different image that has the same
sense;

 meaning - to run after something that is unlikely to be caught;

 its origin goes back to 16th century England, where a kind of horse race was invented. This
consisted of a lead horse going off in any direction the rider chose; other riders had to follow
at precise intervals, like wild geese following their leader. At first the saying implied an erratic
course taken by one person and followed by another, and was so used by Shakespeare, but the
meaning changed over the years to take on the current one of a useless or hopeless quest.

 William Shakespeare introduced this expression to the English language. The first recorded
citation is from Romeo and Juliet, in 1592:

”Nay, if our wits run the Wild-Goose chase, I am done: For thou hast more of the Wild-Goose in one
of thy wits, then I am sure I have in my whole life.”
  The allusion in our present understanding of this is of something that is probably fruitless, that
is as difficult to catch as a wild goose

 Shakespeare may well not have ment what we currently understand by the term though. The
earlier meaning related to a horse race, in which horses followed a lead horse at a set distance
- like geese flyig in formation. So, a wild goose chase there ment a chase that mimicked wild
geese.

 origins of the Romanian equivalent - the expression is recorded for the first time in George
Alexici’s Texte din literatura poporană română (1899). In this sense we have to take into
account the phrasing used by Liviu Rebreanu when speaking about one of the main characters,
Titu Herdelea, a poet who liked to engage also in political disputes: ”Bă, în loc să umbli după
cai verzi, mai bine ți-ai căuta și tu vreun post pe undeva, că ești cât muntele și vezi bine câte
greutăți avem pe cap” (Ion, vol. II, ch. VII) ( I tell you that much, instead of going around on
wild goose chasing, you’d better find yourself a job; not to mention you’re a strong grown-up
man and you know pretty well that we can hardly manage by the day ).

 lexical and morpho-syntactic changes - the use of lexical items is equal in both languages: one
verb, one preposition, one adjective and two nouns

 The original construction was preserved, a thing which happens rarely without change or loss
of meaning, making the TL equivalent to have the same impact in the Romanian culture as it
had on the English one.

Difficulties

Finding the origins of the Romanian equivalents proved to be harder than expected, since most of
them come from unwritten folkloric sources. For some of them I couldn’t find any written evidence
that can prove their existence or entrance in the Romanian language (e.g. Pearls before swine→ nu
arunca mărgăritare înaintea porcilor; nu strica orzul pe gâşte) and some of them were loan
translations that weren’t relevant in the Romanian culture.

Conclusions

 The present paper had two main purposes: first, to make a brief look at the origins of both the
English and Romanian expressions, in order to see how they entered the language and if their
meaning changed in time; for that, numerous folkloric sources had to be consulted, as well as
all historical English and Romanian writings that were available. The second purpose was to
analyze the different strategies used in translating these culture-bound items and the various
changes implied, drawing again, on Baker ̛s and Newmark s̛ models.

 The analysis proved that a text which is embedded in its culture is both possible and
impossible to translate into other languages. The degree of its closeness to its source culture
and the extent to which the meaning of the ST can be retained is very much determined by the
purpose of the translation. In what the translator is concerned, his/her skill and intervention are
most needed in this respect because above all translation is an act of communication. It plays
an important part in making communication between people of different cultures possible.

Pearls before swine→ nu arunca mărgăritare înaintea porcilor; nu strica orzul pe gâște

The expression suggests that you shouldn’t waste time, effort or ideas on people who won’t or can’t
appreciate what you are offering; it also extends the situations where, in response to your approach,
people would abuse and denigrate you or your proposition because of their own ignorance or self-
importance.
The saying originally appears in the Holy Bible (Matthew VII:vi). It is a metaphor based on the notion
of presenting or giving pearls to pigs, which are plainly not able to recognize or appreciate such
things. The full verse from the Bible is, ”Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye
your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” .
This offers a fuller lesson, meaning that offering good things to irresponsible uncivilized people is not
only a waste of effort, but can also provoke them to attack you.

While likening people to pigs is arguably a little harsh, the expression is a wonderful maxim for
maintaining one’s self-belief and determination in the face of dismissal or rejection, especially in sales
and selling, or when battling for approval of new ideas or change within an organization, or when
seeking help with your own personal development. The important lesson from the Pearls Before
Swine analogy is to forget about those who can’t or won’t take the time to appreciate you and what
you are saying and trying to offer; instead move on to people and situations that will apreciate you and
your ideas, which often means aiming higher – not lower – in terms of the humanity and integrity of
those you approach.

The results of my searching for the origins of this expression proved unsatisfactory, since I haven’t
found any clear evidence that could back up its existence in the Romanian culture and practice.
However, I found it mentioned in Anton Pann’s ”Povestea vorbii” : ”E anevoie când ajungi să
cumperi orz de la gâște” (Pann 1908) (engl. It’s not a good thing if one ends up in buying barley
from geese).

A more complex expression no longer in use in the common vocabulary is nu strica orzul pe gâște
când îi iarba la genunchi (Zanne 1895-1912: 165-495), (literally translated Don’t waste your barley
on geese when the grass is knee-high), meaning not to make any effort or spending if it is not
necessary.

In this regard Dumistrăcel tells a story about a foreign colleague trying to learn Romanian who
thought that orz (engl. barley) stood for precious stones or minerals, and that the expression was the
equivalent of the Latin saying margaritas ante porcos. (Dumistrăcel 2001: 286).

This expression is very interesting in the sense that the construction in English, which is a noun
phrase, got translated into Romanian by a verb phrase. The equivalent was rendered by using a
different image in the TL culture that had the same meaning. Thus, swine got translated by gâște.
Great attention needs to be paid to the fact that the English phrase is an oxymoron, by associating two
opposite ideas: that of filth, represented by swine, and that of glitter, represented by pearls. The
association barley – geese doesn’t seem to have the same impact as its original equivalent, since geese
do happen to eat barley, whereas pearls are not eatable. Moreover, the implied verb in the English
version is expressed overtly in the TL, by the verb a strica, used in the imperative mood, in a negative
sentence.

There is another Romanian version of this expression, nu arunca mărgăritare înaintea porcilor,
which is almost the literal translation of the original, but some argue that this is only a translation of
the Latin saying ”margaritas ante porcos”. (Dumistrăcel 2001: 286).