Bulletin UASVM-CN, 66(2)/2009 Print ISSN 1843-5254; Electronic ISSN 1843-5394

Translating Collocations. A Media-Based Corpus

Marcela FARCASIU1), Sanda CRISTEA2) Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, Str. Traian Lalescu nr. 2A, Timisoara, Romania; marcela.farcasiu@upcnet.ro 2) Faculty of Economy and Business Administration, University of the West, Timisoara, Str. H. Pestalozzi, nr. 16, Timisoara, Romania, slpopa@yahoo.com
Abstract. The aim of our paper is to analyse some collocations taken from English newspapers and magazines. Apart from the fact that we are going to categorise the collocations found in our corpus, we intend to present the problems that might arise when translating them into Romanian and the way they reflect the two peoples behaviour. Keywords: connotation. translation, collocations, idioms, socio-cultural differences, denotation,
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INTRODUCTION The present study aims at finding some collocations in newspapers and magazines and at translating them into Romanian, trying to explain the socio-cultural differences that might influence the translation. This study proved to be difficult since the concept of collocation is not very well-defined. Because of the fact that some collocations have figurative and opaque meanings, some researchers (David Crystal, 1987; Gramley and Ptzold, 1992) consider them as idioms. We shall begin our paper by defining the collocation and then we shall analyse the corpus of collocations we selected from magazines (Cosmopolitan, The Times Magazine) and newspapers (The Observer). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Definition of collocations. Simple collocations vs. idiomatic collocations The term collocation is used by different linguists to refer to what are often very different combinations of word forms. In their book, A Survey of Modern English, Gramley and Ptzold (1992: 61) classify collocations from a semantic point of view. According to them, a collocation is that combination of words where each lexeme makes an independent contribution to the meaning of the whole collocation or as Cruse (1986: 40) puts it, each lexical constituent is also a semantic constituent. We shall call this type of collocations simple collocations. In addition to this, David Crystal writes in the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language (1987: 50), that collocation is a kind of continuum, running from total predictability at one end to words having no predictability at the other. The more fixed a collocation is, the more we think of it as an idiom. Gramley and Ptzold (1992: 62) also refer to combinations of words like to paint the town red, where it is hardly possible to say what the individual 771

constituents contribute to the meaning of the combination as a whole, e.g.: to paint the town red does not actually mean to paint the town red but to celebrate wildly. They call such combinations idioms. In between these two clear-cut cases, the authors (1992: 62) mention the case of expressions which are at least partly idiomatic: e.g. to rain cats and dogs, where to rain is independently meaningful while cats and dogs is idiomatic and means heavily. Such combinations are called partial idioms. We shall call this type of collocations idiomatic collocations since Benson in his BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (1991) considers them as collocations and The Penguin Dictionary of English Idioms (1994) categorises them as idioms. In what follows, we shall analyse the collocations we found and we shall categorise them into what we called simple collocations (that will not raise so many problems in translation) and idiomatic collocations (that are more opaque and metaphorical, sometimes reflecting the worldview of the text producer and thus demanding greater processing effort). Corpus I Simple collocations. Analysis a. - STONE DEAF complet surd - IN BROAD DAYLIGHT n plin zi I was thinking, Oh, my God, what do I do now? If I shout at him, I will lose my job, but surely he cant seriously be assaulting me in broad daylight in his office. Cosmopolitan, April 2002 -VITRIOLIC REMARK remarc muctoare, biciuitoare - BROKEN HOME familie destrmat We come from broken homes, so its comforting to know that someone so close understands. Cosmopolitan, March 2002 - JUNK FOOD aliment cu valoare nutritiv sczut (aliment nesntos) I was a typical adolescent, with raging hormones and a rebellious attitude. Late in the summer of 1985, just at the end of the school holidays, I began stealing money from my parents room to buy junk food. Cosmopolitan, April 2002 These combinations of words are very plastic in English, associating concrete notions with abstract notions. For instance, stone deaf associates something material, tough (stone) with something immaterial (deaf). In Romanian, this degree of deafness is translated with an adverb used to form the superlative absolute (complet). The next example (vitriolic remark) follows the same pattern, i.e. the concrete notion (vitriolic) suggests the cause and it is translated differently into Romanian, by its effect (muctoare). Unlike the previous collocations, broken home is more faithful in translation to the original (familie destrmat) associating both in English and in Romanian something cosy and nice with something tough. Junk food combines something good (food) with something bad, ugly (junk meaning obiecte uzate, vechituri). The term junk in this context is translated into Romanian with an abstract notion (cu valoare nutritiv sczut). b. - A SPARK OF DECENCY un dram de decen - IN A FLASH ntr-o clipit, ct ai clipi din ochi

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They will direct you to some or other department and assure you that if you turn up with two passport size photographs and your gas bill it will all be dealt with in a flash. The Times Magazine, 15 June 2002 - A HORSESHOE CURVE o curb foarte periculoas - PITCH DARKNESS bezn de s-i bagi degetele-n ochi A pitch darkness engulfed the entire stadium[]. The Observer, 3 March 2001 Other collocations in the corpus have a visual element which the Romanian language does not have. Even if in the first example both spark and dram suggest the same idea, the English language uses a visual element (spark) while the Romanian language uses a unit of weight measurement (dram de). In the second example, the idea of quickness is expressed by both the English term (in a flash) and the Romanian one (ntr-o clipit). As in the example analysed above, the Romanian equivalent of the English flash (that suggests something visual) is clipit (a unit of time measurement). The following two examples, a horseshoe curve and pitch darkness contain a visual element (horseshoe, pitch) as opposed to their Romanian equivalents which express these elements effects (o curb foarte periculoas, bezn de s-i bagi degetele-n ochi). c. - TEDDY BEAR ursule de jucrie It looks like a teddy bear. It feels like a teddy bear. But Wabi Buddy is no simple teddy bear []. The Times Magazine, 27 April 2001 This collocation is different from the ones previously presented. It has a socio-cultural background, being linked to a story about President Theodore Roosevelt who is said to have saved a bear cub while hunting. Thus, for commercial reasons, a plush bear was born to mark the moment and was named after the President: Teddy. The Romanian language borrowed this combination of words because of the product it stood for, and replaced the name of the product (Teddy - which does not mean anything to a Romanian buyer) with a word expressing the reason for buying it (de jucrie). d. - SHELL-SHOCKED (lit.) ocat de suflul unei explozii; (fig.) impresionat n mod neplcut (fig.) uimit Im still shell-shocked. I cant believe Im going to Sidney[]. Cosmopolitan, April 2002 - ON THE ROCKS cu (cuburi) de ghea He was so handsome, sitting at the bar and sipping his whiskey on the rocks []. Cosmopolitan, April 2002 The first collocation is usually used in medicine, namely in psychiatry. As it can be seen in the example, the English use it in everyday language, too, but with a positive connotation. If we translate shocked with ocat the connotation will be negative (ocat means impresionat n mod neplcut, contrariat). That is why the Romanian term used is uimit (which means cuprins de o mare mirare, admiraie, emoie profund). The other example of collocation is on the rocks, where the ice usually used with whiskey is compared to rocks. The equivalent in Romanian is not metaphorical, cuburi de ghea.

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These last two examples make the transition to more opaque and figurative collocations, presenting more difficult translation problems. We listed them under the heading of idiomatic collocations.

Corpus II- Idiomatic collocations. Analysis - TO SPEAK VOLUMES a fi gritor We communicate physically as well as verbally our body language speaks volumes []. Cosmopolitan, April 2002 In spite of the fact that this collocation links the verb to speak to a noun that expresses a visual notion, its meaning is metaphorical in English as well as in Romanian. But the Romanian language is not as suggestive as to create this interesting combination and uses instead the metaphorical meaning. - THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG nceputul (unei probleme) (al unui lucru mai important) This, however, is just the tip of the iceberg according to experts working in counseling.[] Cosmopolitan, April 2002 As it is well known, this collocation is related to the fact that most of the iceberg is submerged, and only a part of it can be seen. The translation into Romanian aims at the abstract idea of this collocation. - A STORM IN A TEA POT furtun ntr-un pahar cu ap Unlike the example given above, here both the English and the Romanian express the figurative idea (making a big fuss over a trifle) of the expression a storm in a tea pot. The translation is different only in what concerns the word tea pot replaced in Romanian by pahar cu ap probably because of the strong relation between language and culture. Everybody knows that in Great Britain, people drink a lot of tea. - THE DOG DAYS zile caniculare This time of year is known as the dog days of summer. The Observer, 3 August 2001 This collocation has a historical background and it means very hot days. The ancient Romans believed that some days in late July and early August were the hottest days of summer. They considered that the heat was caused by the Dog Star, Sirius, rising with the sun and adding its heat to the day. They called these days Cuniculares Dies or the dog days. It is thus demonstrated once again that the English refers to the cause of the hot weather, whereas the Romanian refers to its effect. - NICK IN TIME la anc Spartans rebound in nick of time. The Observer, 3 March 2002 In the nick of time means at the critical or precise moment. The collocation is formed by adding time (abstract notion) to nick (a groove, a notch, as made with a sharp knife when one cuts a V in a stick of wood concrete notion). Nothing could express precision more accurately than a notch so formed, especially when applied to time. This figurative use of the collocation is transposed into the Romanian (la anc which means beior cu mai multe crestturi cu care se msoar laptele la stn sau uica n cazan). - TO TAKE A RAIN CHECK repetare a unei promisiuni amnate This collocation is specific to the American culture (rain check meaning a ticket issued at a game in case it stopped). Today it is used in its figurative meaning (expressing 774

deferral in a variety of forms). Its translation into Romanian refers only to its figurative use (repetarea unei promisiuni amnate) therefore not translating the term rain check since its proper meaning has no connection with our culture. CONCLUSIONS This paper has tried to present some of the problems that might arise when translating collocations. Besides the fact that they are universal, collocations cannot be translated literally into another language. We initiated this study having as a basis a corpus of real collocations found in English newspapers and magazines. The conclusions drawn after having dealt with the translation problems that appeared may be seen as personal and may not apply to all collocations. To conclude, we might say that: a. there is a very thin line between collocations and idioms; b. many of the analysed English collocations associate concrete notions with abstract notions while in Romanian this association is not possible (we all know that the English are a pragmatic people); c. some collocations reflect American and British realities that cannot be translated literally into Romanian. REFERENCES
1. Benson, M. et al.(1991). The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English. John Benjamins Publishing Company, San Diego. 2. Cruse, D.A. (1986). Lexical Semantics. CUP, Cambridge. 3. Crystal, D.(1987). Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language, CUP, Cambridge. 4. Gramley, S., Ptzold, K. M. (1992). A Survey of Modern English, Routledge, London. 5. Gulland, D., Hinds-Howell, D. (1994). The Penguin Dictionary of English Idioms, Penguin Books, London. 6. Hofstede, G. (1994). Cultures and Organizations. Software of the Mind. HarperCollinsBusiness, London. 7. Prlog, H., Teleag, M.(1999). Dicionar de colocaii nominale englez romn, Ed. Mirton. Timioara. 8. Prlog, H., Teleag, M. (coord.) (2000). Dicionar englez romn de colocaii verbale. Polirom, Iai. 9. ***. (1998). Dicionarul explicativ al limbii romne, Univers Enciclopedic, Bucureti. 10. ***, (1997). Encyclopaedia of Word and Phrase Origins. Robert Hendrickson. New York. 11. Cosmopolitan, March 2002 12. Cosmopolitan, April 2002 13. The Observer, 3 March 2002 14. The Times Magazine, 15 June 2002 15. The Times Magazine, 27 April 2001

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