English idioms and metaphors

[Tom Carter]

Hey! I am studying English, and I wonder if there are textbooks or scientific papers that study and define what English idioms and metaphors are, explaining the translation of verses or other scriptures.

 

[GoesStation]

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[jutfrank]

I've no idea what you're asking, Tom. How can you explain a translation? A translation from what into what? Which idioms and metaphors are you talking about? What do you want to do with them?

 

[Tdol]

And that is before we get to the scriptures.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

And that is before we get to the scriptures.

Or scientific papers.

 

[5jj]

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Has that been done yet?

 

[GoesStation]

No.

 

[probus]

How can you explain a translation?

Translations sometimes require explanation. I read a short essay on the difficulties of tranlating Dostoevski into English. In one of his works Dostoevski had used a real address in St. Petersburg. The translator pointed out that the address would convey a great deal of information to someone who knew that city, but of course nothing to most people. (The best solution in that case might be to use an asterisk next to the translation directing the reader to a footnote.)

 

[GoesStation]

At one point in the hilarious French film The Dinner Game, a character sitting in front of the TV watching a soccer game/football match yells "Allez Auxerre!" The English subtitle reads "Go Marseilles!" The name of the team was immaterial, so the translator picked a city that an American audience would have heard of.

 

[Rover_KE]

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No.

Thread closed so we don't waste any more time on this.