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Chapter3Equivalenceabovewordlevel3.1.CollocationWhenwediscussedlexicalmeaninginChapter2,wemadeabriefreferencetocollocationunderpresupposedmeaninganddefineditas:①Semanticallyarbitraryrestrictionwhichdonotfollowlogicallyfromthepropositionalmeaningofaword②Tothinkofcollocationintermsofthetendencyofcertainwordstoco-occurregularlyinagivenlanguageThepatternsofcollocationarelargelyarbitraryandindependentofmeaning.Differencesincollocationalpatterningamonglanguagesarenotjustaquestionofusing,say,adifferentverbwithagivennoun;theycaninvolvetotallydifferentwaysofportrayinganevent.3.1.1.CollocationalrangeandcollocationalmarkednessRangeherereferstothesetofcollocates,whicharetypicallyassociatedwiththewordinquestion.Twomainfactorscaninfluencethecollocationalrangeofanitem:(1)itslevelofspecificity;(2)thenumberofsensesithas.Itisthecollocationalpatterningofawordthatdeterminesitsdifferentsenses.Eitherway,itisclearthatthereisastrongrelationshipbetweenthenumberofsensesawordhasanditscollocationalrange.Collocationalrangesarenotfixed.Wordsattractnewcollocatesallthetime:theydosonaturally,throughprocessesofanalogy,orbecausespeakerscreateunusualcollocationsonpurpose.Amarkedcollocationisanunusualcombinationofwords,onethatchallengesourexpectationsashearersorreaders.Tosumup,wecreatenewcollocationsallthetime,eitherbyextendinganexistingrangeorbydeliberatelyputtingtogetherwordsfromdifferentoropposingranges.3.1.2.CollocationandregisterRegister-specificcollocationsarenotsimplythesetoftermsthatgowithadiscipline.Theyextendfarbeyondthelistoftermsthatonenormallyfindsinspecializeddictionariesandglossaries.3.1.3.CollocationalmeaningCollocationalmeaningdependslargelyonitspatternofcollocationandisnotsomethingthatthewordpossessesinisolation.3.1.4.Somecollocation-relatedpitfallsandproblemsintranslation3.1.4.1.TheengrossingeffectofsourcetextpatterningConfusingsourceandtargetpatternsisapitfallthatcaneasilybeavoidedoncethetranslatorisalertedtothepotentialinfluencethatthecollocationalpatterningofthesourcetextcanhaveonhimorher.Agoodmethodofdetachingoneselffromthesourcetextistoputdrafttranslationasideforafewhours.3.1.4.2.Misinterpretingthemeaningofasource-languagecollocation3.1.4.3.Thetensionbetweenaccuracyandnaturalness3.1.4.4.Culture-specificcollocations3.1.4.5.Markedcollocationinthesourcetext3.2.Idiomsandfixedexpressions3.2.1.Idioms,fixedexpressionsandthedirectionoftranslationNativeknowledgeisdefinedastheabilitytospeakandwritealanguagesofluentlythattheexpressionofthoughtisstructurally,grammaticallyandidiomaticallycorrect.Themainproblemthatidiomaticandfixedexpressionsposeintranslationrelatestotwomainareas:①Theabilitytorecognizeandinterpretanidiomcorrectly②Thedifficultiesinvolvedinrenderingthevariousaspectsofmeaningthatanidiomorafixedexpressionconveysintothetargetlanguage.3.2.2.Theinterpretationofidioms①Someidiomsaremisleading;theyseemtransparentbecausetheyofferareasonableliteralinterpretationandtheiridiomaticmeaningsarenotnecessarilysignalledinthesurroundingtext.②Anidiominthesourcelanguagemayhaveaveryclosecounterpartinthetargetlanguagewhichlookssimilaronthesurfacebuthasatotallyorpartiallydifferentmeaning.3.2.3.Thetranslationofidioms:difficultiesAnidiomorafixedexpressionmayhavenoequivalentinthetargetlanguage:①Expressagivenmeaningbymeansofasingleword②Expressitbymeansofatransparentfixedexpression③ExpressitbymeansofanidiomAnidiomorfixedexpressionmayhaveasimilarcounterpartinthetargetlanguage,butitscontextofusemaybedifferent;thetwoexpressionsmayhavedifferentconnotationsortheymaynotbepragmaticallytransferable.Anidiommaybeusedinthesourcetextinbothitsliteralandidiomaticsensesatthesametime.Theveryconventionofusingidiomsinwrittendiscourse,thecontextsinwhichtheycanbeused,andtheirfrequencyofusemaybedifferentinthesourceandtargetlanguages.3.2.4.Thetranslationofidioms:strategies3.2.4.1.UsinganidiomofsimilarmeaningandformItistouseanidiominthetargetlanguagewhichconveysroughlythesamemeaningasthatofthesource-languageidiomand,inaddition,consistsofequivalentlexicalitems.3.2.4.2.Usinganidiomofsimilarmeaningbutdissimilarform3.2.4.3.Translationbyparaphrase3.2.4.4.Translationbyomission