Conclusions
Translation of idioms may be regarded as one of the problems that may be faced by the prose translators due the following factors: idioms may contain some kind of ethnic features or culture-related phenomena, which are characteristic and well-known only to a particular culture; image, associations or feelings that are evoked by idioms may be unfamiliar to the target culture; idioms are subjected to ambiguous interpretation; the linguistic differences between the languages may be an obstacle in the translation process. Usually, each culture/language has its own idioms; for this reason, the translator has to be extremely careful when dealing with this stylistic device.
When translating prose, the translator may use idioms in the translation although they do not appear in the corresponding place of the original text. Thus it is possible to compensate the loss of figurativeness which may be caused due to the untranslatability of some source text elements. Since the Latvian language is very rich in phraseologisms, it is possible to increase the figurativeness of the prose text if the translator is skilful enough and has a huge body of knowledge. However, the readers must also have specific knowledge in order to comprehend the ideas, which are covered by idioms or phraseologisms.
The hypothesis, which was put forward at the beginning of the research, is proved – during the process of prose translation, the translator should focus on the maintaining of the same idea rather than form of the source text unit, thus retaining the expressivity of the text.
The results of this research may be considered as significant contribution in the field of translation since they have practical significance – the may be used in educational purposes by translation students, as well as by those translators who would like to turn to the prose translation. The analysed examples demonstrate how the translator has dealt with complicated translation situations and what methods are used as the solutions.
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