Mostovi 2002 Dealing with Word Combinations
David Limon
Dealing with Word Combinations
Povzetek
Besedne zveze in njihova obravnava
Članek obravnava težave, povezane s prevajanjem besednih zvez, kot na primer fraznih gla¬
golov, kolokacij in idiomov, iz slovenščine v angleščino in obratno. Avtor tudi oceni vrednost
prevajalskih orodij in predlaga primerne prevajalske strategije.
Abstract
Dealing with Word Combinations
The article addresses problems associated with the translation of word combinations such as
phrasal verbs, collocations and idioms between Slovene and English. The author evaluates the
use of various translation tools and recommends appropriate translation strategies.
Introduction
Corpus evidence has confirmed that language
is strongly patterned with words occurring re-
peatedly in lexico-grammatical patterns. Many
multi-vvord expressions or word combina¬
tions (besedne zveze) function as structural or se-
Multi-word verbs
One characteristic feature of English is the fre-
quent use of multi-word lexical verbs. The most
common can be characterised as phrasal verbs
and prepositional verbs. Phrasal verbs contain
an adverbial particle (e.g. out, in, up, dovvn, on,
°ff, etc.) which has an extended meaning be-
yond its usual core spatial or locative meaning.
The difference can be illustrated by the follovv-
ing example:
look up [into the sky] = prepositional verb
look up [in a dictionary] = phrasal verb
mantic units n English, and many of these show
a strong degree of fixedness (stalne besedne
zveze). Different multi-word expressions can be
distinguished according to their invariability
and idiomaticity, as we shall see below.
In addition, we also find phrasal-preposi-
tional verbs (V + adv particle + prep) such as 'get
away with' and multi-vvord verb constructions,
such as 'take a look at' (V + NP + prep), 'take into
account' (V + prep phrase) and 'make do' (V + V).
The meaning of such multi-vvord lexical verbs
is not always transparent, nor is it necessarily
clear that they are functioning as single seman-
tic units. Moreover, confusion can result from
the fact that ali the structural patterns we have
mentioned above can also occur as free combi-
35
David Limon Mostovi xxxvi, št. i, 2002,35-44
nations (proste besedne zveze) where each ele¬
ment has separate grammatical and semantic
status. And it is hard to make the distinction be-
tween fixed and free: we are not dealing with an
either/or situation here, but rather a cline from
relatively free to relatively fixed. This means
that such patterns can pose a problem when
translating from English to Slovene, particular-
ly as such units are often difficult to locate in or-
Collocations (kolokacije)
These are simply associations betvveen lexical
words so that the words co-occur more frequent-
ly than they would by chance; they are statistical
associations rather than fixed expressions. The
individual words in a collocation retain their
own meaning. Words with similar meanings are
often distinguished by their preferred colloca-
tions, for example:
small [amount, matter, part, print, quantity,
sum, size, world]
little [air, baby, bit, boy, girl, kid, kiss, kitten,
mistake, smack, thing, while]
Collocations are defined by the BBI Combina-
tionary Dictionary of English (BBI) as recurrent
semi-fixed word combinations. They can be
divided into grammatical collocations, which
consist of a dominant word (noun, adjective/par-
ticiple, verb) plus a preposition or grammatical
construction (clause, infinitive), and lexical col¬
locations, where there is no dominant word.
Lexical collocations consist of nouns, adjectives,
verbs and adverbs; they usually do not contain
prepositions, infinitives or clauses. In a free lexi-
cal combination, the two elements do not repeat-
edly co-occur, they are not bound together in any
way, tvhereas we recognise the elements of a col¬
location as somehotv 'belonging together’. Thus
we distinguish between 'condemn murder' as a
free combination and 'commit murder' as a col¬
location.
In the BBI, grammatical collocations are listed
under the dominant word. Here are examples of
the different patterns represented:
N + prep:
apathy totvards, interest in, excitement about, a
policy on, respect for
dinary dictionaries or simply do not merit a sep¬
arate entry. When translating into English they
probably represent an even greater problem:
many translations are marked by their prefer¬
ence for single tvord verbs, where a similar Eng¬
lish text would contain many multi-word verbs.
The best approach to take in the circumstances
is to treat such patterns in the same way as col¬
locations or idioms, which we shall turn to now.
N + to + infinitive:
they had the right to do it, he made an effort to
do it,
N + that clause:
reach an agreement that, take an oath that
prep + N:
by chance, by accident, in advance, at the ready,
on the alert, on somebody's advice, to some-
body's advantage
adj + prep:
angry at, fond of, hungry for, tired of, deaf to
[pleas]
pred adj + to + infinitive:
it was necessary for them to, it was designed to
operate at
adj + that clause:
concerned that, afraid that, delighted that, sur-
prised that
There are also a large number of verb pat¬
terns (too numerous to go into here, but includ-
ing phrasal and multi-word verbs, as well as dif¬
ferent patterns of complementation) which are
listed under the verb.
As far as lexical collocations are concerned, the
search procedure is complicated by the lack of a
dominant word. The first step to take is to look
under the noun if there is one; if there are two
nouns, look under the second noun; if there is no
noun, look under the adjective; and if there is no
noun or adjective, look under the verb . Here are
examples of the most common patterns:
V + N/proN (or prep phrase):
come to an agreement, make an impression,
reach a verdict, set an exam, sit an exam, pose a
question, issue a tvarning, impose a fine, give a
quote (predračun), confirm a suspicion, accept re-
36
Mostovi 2002 Dealing with Word Combinations
sponsibility, perform an operation, reverse a de-
cision, withdraw an offer, ease tension, renege on
a promise, squander a fortune, revoke a license
adj + N:
rough estimate, sweeping generalisation, best
wishes, chronic alcoholic, pitched battle, reck-
less driving, crushing defeat, land reform, house
arrest
N + V ('characteristic'):
bees buzz, alarms go off, blood flows, traffic cir-
culates, blizzards rage, demonstrators march
'unit' of N:
swarm of bees, flock of birds, bunch of flowers,
article of clothing, piece of advice/information,
act of violence
adv + adj:
strictly accurate, intimately acquainted, hope-
lessly lost, sound asleep, deeply absorbed, terri-
bly upset
Idioms (idiomi/frazemi)
These are relatively invariable expressions
with a meaning that cannot be predicted
from or is "not entirely derivable from the
meanings of their parts" (Biber et al 1999,
1024). Idioms are unique to a language (al-
though that does not mean we can not translate
them) and are institutionalised, i.e. the string
of words is recognised and accepted as a lexical
item of the language (Moon 1998). Idioms are
metaphorical to a greater or lesser degree, and
thus range from reasonably transparent (i.e. we
can 'guess' the meaning) to opaque (the mean¬
ing has to be explained). But hotvever transpar¬
ent they are, we have to learn their meaning as a
whole.
Idiomatic expressions are not complete!y in¬
variable; so, for instance, the verb in phrases
such as 'kick the bucket' (die) or 'beat about the
bush' (prevaricate) may vary for tense, number
and aspect. Hovvever, they are relatively fixed
with regard to content words: thus '*kick the
pail', “hit the bucket with your foot', “beat
about the shrub' are not idioms. Idiomatic
phrases can represent many different kinds of
structural units:
V + adv:
apologise humbly, affect profoundly, appreciate
sincerely, argue heatedly, discuss calmly
Collocations show differing degrees of fixed-
ness, from unrestricted where the lexical item is
open to partnership with wide range of items
(run a business /a car /a shop /a country /a risk),
to semi-restricted, where the number of items is
more determined (harbour a doubt /a grudge/an
escaped convict), to familiar or restricted (vi-
cious circle, innocent bystander, unrequited
love, unmitigated disaster, rancid butter, rotten
fish, amicable divorce, stark naked, pitch black);
we might also add here irreversible binomials -
pairs of nouns separated by 'and' whose order
cannot be reversed (cash and carry, ups and
downs, hit and miss, assault and battery). Howev-
er, there are no clear divisions between these cat-
egories, again there is more of a cline.
N phrase:
a piece of cake, a slap in the face, the last straw,
pecking order
V + N phrase:
miss the boat, face the mušic, bite the bullet, kick
a habit, keep an eye on, smeli a rat, throw the
book at, waste one's breath, grasp the nettle
adj + N:
red tape, green fingers, blue film, white ele-
phant, black market
prep phrase:
not on your life, at daggers drawn, at your finger-
tips, on the tip of one's tongue, in a nutshell,
from the horse's mouth, behind s.one's back
wh-questions:
What in the world ...? How on earth ...? What's
up?
According to the corpus-based Longman Gram-
mar of Spoken and Written English (Biber et al
1999) idioms are probably far less frequent than
we think. They are more common in fiction and
fictional dialogue than in real life conversation
or news or academic texts. Certain phrases, such
as 'bear in mind' and 'take into account' do ap-
pear frequently in expository writing; and collo-
quial idioms, such as 'miss the tram' and 'get on
37
David Limon Mostovi xxxvi, št. i, 2002, 35-44
the fast track' are used strikingly in news reports;
but in most fields the number of idioms we
might expect to encounter is limited. The same is
true of other fixed expressions such as proverbs
(pregovori), similes (primere) (as cool as a cucum-
ber; like gold dust) catch phrases or quotations
(An eye for an eye; Curiouser and curiouser; We
are not amused; Make my day), and social for-
mulae (How do you do? Long time, no see!
Cheers! Hip, hip, hooray! Ladies and gentle-
men.)
Translating fixed expressions
When translating fixed expressions, we may
find one-to-one correspondence at lexical,
structural and semantic levels, e.g. black sheep -
črna ovca; or semantic correspondence e.g. hot
potato - vroč kostanj; e.g. Kot ptiček na veji - As
free as a bird (recent article about an escaped
prisoner) or settle for descriptive correspond¬
ence, e.g. white elephant - prava zguba. In
translating from Slovene, the problem will
largely be one of stylistic marking: if the transla-
tor is unfamilar with appropriate fixed expres-
sions then the translation is likely to be much
less idiomatic than the original and thus be dif-
ferently received by the reader (for instance, in
tourist brochures and promotional texts idioms
are routinely used, often in a self-conscious way,
to create a hyperbolic effect). In translating
from English, the translator may be faced with
an extremely difficult problem, as in the follovv-
ing literary example:
'Pass the frying pan.'
'You've forgotten the magic word ,' said Harry
irritably.
The effect of this sirhple sentence on the rest
of the family was incredible ...
'I meant "please"!' said Harry quickly.
'I didn’t mean
(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,
J. K. Rovvling, p. 7)
"Prinesi mi ponev s slanino."
Harry je imel vsega dovolj.
"Bodi bolj vljuden, sicer te bom začaral v
krastačo ," se je razjezil.
Učinek tega stavka na Dursleyjeve je bil ne¬
verjeten ...
"Ne, ne, saj ga ne bi začaral," je hitro rekel
Harry. "Takoj grem po slanino".
38
(Harry Potter: Dvorana skrivnosti, pp. 5-6)
The 'magic word' in question is simply
'please', as in the idiom 'What's the magic
word?' used to teach children, and sometimes
adults, to be polite. The Slovene expression
Kako se reče? does not really help in this con-
text, as it could not be misinterpreted in the
same way. In the circumstances, the translator
has decided to make the threat an overt one (in
the original it is totally unintentional) which of
course changes the whole nature of the ex-
change and is somevvhat out of character for
Harry. It also leads to an odd inconsistency, vvith
him threatening to use magic on his cousin,
then saying he would not.
A further literary example shows a proverb be-
ing translated as if it were non-idiomatic:
Koenig je zdrsnil bliže k meni. "Bi rad kaj
spumpal iz mene, Bleichert? Bi tudi ti rad trosil
grde reči o Fritzieu?"
"Ne, samo radoveden sem."
"Radovednost je pokončala mačko . Zapomni
si to."
(Črna dalija, James Ellroy, DZS 2000, p. 130)
Readers unfamilar vvith the English proverb
'Curiosity killed the cat' might well react vvith
perplexity to this turn in the conversation and
the meaning of the exchange will be rendered
much less transparent. The translator vvould
have been better advised using a Slovene expres-
sion such as Ne vtikaj nosu v stvari, ki te ne briga¬
jo in plače of the two short sentences.
Outside of literary translation and subtitling,
such problems are probably relatively infre-
quent, so let us now return the far more com-
mon issue of how to deal vvith collocations.
Mostovi 2002 Dealing with Word Combinations
Translating and using
collocations
Before we can translate a collocation vre have
to be able to recognise it as such and establish its
meaning; vre then have to determine whether, in
the context in question, it is translatable by a col¬
location, by a single word, or by a free combina-
tion. For example, it may be the čase that a collo¬
cation in one language may be translated in
many contexts by a single vvord in the other: an¬
gleški jezik - English, rdeča barva - red, prioritetna
naloga - priority, gorski svet - mountains, spraviti
v red - tidy, skomigniti z rameni - shrug. Similarly,
when translating single vvords or combinations
of vvords vre have to establish vvhether or not the
translation solution might involve a collocation
(or idiomatic expression). So in particular con-
texts we may vreli find the follovving transla-
tions: birokracija - red tape, odnesti - make off
with, preložiti - put off, poslabšanje - turn for the
worse.
Tools
There are a number of tools that can help us
here. The most obvious are dictionaries, in par¬
ticular specialist dictionaries of collocations and
idioms (see References at the end of this article).
Dictionaries on CD-ROM, such as the excellent
Oxford English Dictionary, are more convenient
for searching, but of course most are stili una-
vailable in this format. The Collins Cobuild Eng¬
lish Collocations on CD-ROM (1995 version) fea-
tures 140,000 collocations and provides 2.6
million examples of actual use from The Bank of
English corpus. There are also of course, corpus-
es available online that can be accessed for free,
such as the Collins Cobuild Concordance and
Collocations Sampler (demo facility, 55 million
vvords of spoken and vvritten text) and the Brit-
ish National Corpus (SARA page, 40 million
words; for addresses and other links, see end of
article).
Using books and CD-ROMs
To see hovv these tools may be used, let us take
as an example the Slovene collocation hud
udarec, vvhich vre have found in an economic re-
port. We might be confident about the noun
'blow' as an appropriate translation in the con-
text, but what adjective should modify it? The
5lovensko-angleški slovar on CD-ROM offers:
"bad; evil; (čas, doba) hard; (rana) bad, (občutlji¬
va) sore; (jezen) angry; ZDA sore, mad" - none of
which seem appropriate. Let's take a look at the
BBI. This offers the follovving modifying adjec-
tives: "a body; crushing, hard, heavy, povverful,
resounding, severe, staggering, telling; decisive;
fatal, mortal; glancing, light This might be
enough to confirm an already held idea; on the
other hand it might leave us feeling equally be-
mused, as it offers no illustrative contexts for
this plethora of possibilities.
The Cobuild English Collocations on CD-ROM
is more helpful. It offers 8,765 collocates for
'blow', with the 20 most frequent containing
the adjectives 'major' (166 examples), 'serious'
(149), 'severe' (133), 'body' (110) and 'devastat-
ing' (108). Clicking on any of these will bring
up 20 examples vvith an immediate context of
around 12-15 vvords; a further click will display
a vvider context of about 40 vvords - more than
enough to make the exact use and text type
completely clear (the type of source is cited be-
lovv the quotation). The main selection criteri-
on should, of course, be similarity of context,
but information concerning relative frequency
can also be of value to the translator. When
translating from English a text concerned vvith
the economy, one may vvonder hovv stylistically
marked the collocation 'body blovv' is: the fact
that 'body' is the 4th most frequent adjective
and overall 12th on the list of collocates of
'blovv' suggests that the collocation is unlikely
to be restricted to only one particular field (such
as šport). Clicking on the first of the 20 exam-
ples gives us the follovving:
39
David Limon Mostovi xxxvi, št . i, 2002, 35-44
"... is grovving into a fear that tourism, like
many other sectors of the economy, is in for a
heavy body blow. For more than a month now,
the Federal Government has been in softening-
up mode, preparing Australia ...
Source: Journalism (Australian)"
Online searches 1
A single word search via the Collins Cobuild
collocation sampler (free demo facility) will of-
fer the hundred "statistically most significant"
collocates for the word in question, listed in or-
der of significance. Searching via the concord-
ancer will offer up to 40 lines of concordances;
the search can be restricted to one or more of
British text, American text or British transcribed
speech and can be further refined using "query
syntax". Thus word combinations with inter-
vening words can be sought, as well as inflected
forms (blows, blowing, blew etc.), word sets and
parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb,
article, past participle, -ing form, past tense).
Searching the BNC using the SARA facility will
provide you with a maximum of SO randomly-
generated sentences featuring the target
word(s); again the search can be refined using
special characters.
Such searches can be a useful way of check-
ing whether a Slovene collocation can be trans-
lated directly into English. For instance, one
may be tempted to translate stara celina by '[the]
old continent' and yet searching for this via
SARA brings only one hit: "I have brought you
folks here from ali over Scandinavia because
some of you are fresh from the States and this
little old continent is different from back
home"; this would suggest that 'old continent'
is not a collocation. Similarly, searching for 'sev-
enth art' (as a translation for sedma umetnost)
brings no Solutions at ali, while 'red thread' (for
rdeča nit) brings 5 results, ali of which are non-
idiomatic and have no connection with the idea
of a 'recurring theme’. Or perhaps you wish to
check vvhether it is chickens that lay golden eggs
in English, as they do in Slovene? A search
1 For a detailed discussion of the use of corpora as
article inMostovi 2001.
A look at other examples confirms that the
collocation is a regular one in such a context
and can thus be translated by a collocation that
does not carry any connotations beyond the
most obvious one.
quickly reveals that it is 'the goose that lays the
golden egg’. You need to translate the colloca¬
tion brez večjih incidentov: you search for 'with-
out + lincident*' (this allows for 1 intervening
word and the plural of the noun) and find that
'without incident' is the usual collocation, but
that the noun can be pre-modified by 'major' or
'serious' and that it is usually in the singular. If
translating the collocation po poročilih, a search
will confirm that the usual preposition is 'ac-
cording to' and that the noun can be either sin¬
gular (a/the report) or plural (reports). Similar-
ly, searching for alternative translations for po
podatkih, reveals only one occurrence of 'ac-
cording to data', but a large number of results
for 'according to figures'. A closer look at the 40
lines displayed shows that this pattern is most
often followed by: the preposition 'from' plus
the name of the source of the figures; a past par¬
ticiple plus 'by' (released by, compiled by, pub-
lished by, prepared by); or by the preposition
'out' followed by a time adverbial, e.g. 'out yes-
terday'.
It is likely that the same collocations recur in
similar texts and thus bi-lingual (mono-direc-
tional) glossaries of collocations and the syntac-
tical patterns accompanying them can soon be
built up. Within specialist areas, there are also
on-line facilities that may help establish tvheth-
er a collocation exists and how it is used. Thus
the Eurodicautom site (see references) will al-
low you to look for vvords, phrases, a list of
words, or a root; you can also specify the
number of documents to display. Searching for
the words 'entry ticket' that I encountered in a
text relating to funding for EU projects and was
unfamiliar with led to a text containing a sen-
translation tool the reader is referred to Nataša Hirci's
40
Mostovi 2002 Dealing with Word Combinations
tence that confirmed its use: "For the candidate
countries, writing the formal letter of interest
In conclusion
When translating, we should be focusing on
the frequently recurring lexico-grammatical
patterns that characterise languages rather than
individual lexical items on the one hand and
'grammar' on the other (for example, the appro-
priate use of prepositions is largely a matter of
collocation). Translating from English, we need
to pay particular attention to the recognition of
lexical and grammatical collocations, as well as
idioms and other fixed expressions, so that we
can distinguish them from free combinations
and select an appropriate translation strategy.
Exercises
Here are some exercises on the translation of
collocations and idioms for practice and Infor¬
mation.
L Hov/ would you translate the following collo¬
cations and idioms involving 'black'?
[accident] black spot, black eye, black box
[flight recorder], black economy, in the black,
black and blue, in black and white,’ black out
(v. & n.), black ice, black look , black mark,
[on the] black market, black-tie [event]
2. How would you translate the following collo¬
cations and idioms involving 'črn'?
&na noč, črna tema, črne oči, črno pivo, črn od
sonca, črna revščina, črna nehvaležnost, črni
kontinent, črno zlato, črna lista (črn seznam),
zadeti v črno, črna gradnja
3. How would you translate the following collo¬
cations involving the noun 'red'?
Pravni red, vrstni red, dnevni red (na sestanku),
Privaditi se na dnevni red, dnevni red konfer¬
ence, sedežni red, vozni red, hišni red, spraviti
lase/obleko v red
4. Hov/ would you translate the following in¬
volving the verb 'sodelovati'?
and agreeing the entry ticket is just the begin-
ning of a lengthy process."
Translating into English, the texts we produce
will be (unintentionally) stylistically marked if
we fail to use the collocations that would natu-
rally occur in the contexts in question. Mono-
lingual dictionaries and CD-ROM resources can
be of great assistance here, as can Online corpo-
ra, although ali have their limitations. Ultimate-
ly, it is probably up to each of us to create our
own bilingual resources of the collocations that
occur frequently in the types of texts we most
often translate.
čeprav sta delala na istem področju, nista
sodelovala ...
dobro in korektno sodelovati...
vsi, ki so sodelovali pri knjigi...
sodeloval je pri projektu ...
v komisijah sodeluje širok krog občanov ...
sodeluje v domačih in tujih revijah ...
sodelovati na natečaju ...
sodelovati na razstavi / sejmu ...
sodelovati na tečaju / konferenci ...
otroci pri pouku sodelujejo ...
aktivno sodelovati...
5. Hov/ would you translate the following news-
paper headlines?
Streli v prazno
Neprofitna stanovanja še vedno kamen
spotike ...
Ribičem se slabo piše ...
Dišijo jim boljši avti...
Bosta Kad in Sod pljunila v lastno skledo? ...
Vroče kostanje podtaknili vladi...
Koprski policisti so strli trd oreh ...
Z udarci po žepu nad prometno kulturo ...
Ustavno sodišče pod žensko roko ...
Nakup banke še vroča tema ...
41
David Limon Mostovi xxxvi, št . i, 2002, 35-44
Dvaindvajset miliard na mah ...
Brez muje se magistre kuje ...
Italijan je živel na veliki nogi...
Občutljivi fant vstal iz pepela ...
Čeh je ostal v senci Zahoviča ...
Vladni sokol še vedno brez kril..
Reference works
Collins Cobuild English Collocations on CD-
ROM
Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM
The BBI Dictionary ofEnglish Word Combina-
tions. Benson, M., Benson E. and Ilson, R. (1997)
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Re-
vised edition.
LTP Dictionary ofSelected Collocations. Hill, J.
and Lewis, M. (eds.) (1997) Language Teaching
Publications.
Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms (1995)
Harper Collins.
Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic Eng¬
lish, Vol. 2: Phrase, Clause and Sentence Idioms.
Cowie, A.P., Mackin, R. and MacCaig, I.R. (1985)
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dictionary of English Language and Culture.
(1992) Longman.
Dictionary of English Idioms. Gulland, D.M.
and Hinds-Powell, D.G. (1986) Penguin Refer¬
ence.
6. The two headlines below are from articles
about ali the new coffee shops in Britain. Which
is easier to translate into Slovene and why?
The bitter truth about Britain's coffee craze
Spilling the beans
Idioms Organiser. Wright, J. (1999) Hove: LTP
Language
Cambridge International Dictionary of Eng¬
lish. Procter, P. (ed.) (1995) Cambridge: Cam¬
bridge University Press.
Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms
(1998) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dictionary of Phrase and Allusion. Rees, N.
(1991) London: Bloomsbury
Phrases and Sayings. Rees, N. (1995) London:
Bloomsbury
English Proverbs Explained. Ridont, R. and
Witting, C. (1969) London: Pan Books
The Most Practical Reference to the Idiomatic
Expressions ofContemporary English. Spears, R.A.
and Kirkpatrick, B. (1993) USA: National Text-
book Company.
Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Diction-
ary of the English Language
Internet resources
Collins Cobuild Concordance and Collocations
Sampler at http://www.cobuild.collins.co.uk/
form.html
British National Corpus at http://sara.nat-
corp.ox.ac.uk/lookup.html
Eurodicautom on EU-related language use at
http://europa.eu.int/geninfo/query_en.htm
International Corpus ofEnglish on interna-
tional variants2 http://www.hku.hk/english/re-
search/ice/index.htm
VColverhampton Business English Corpus http:/
/www.elda.fr/cata/text/W0028.html
Business Letter Corpus with an Online KWIC
concordancer http://isweb9.infoseek.co.jp/
school/ysomeya/
For general information on corpora and
many useful links go to David Leefs site at http:/
/devoted.to/corpora
FIDA corpus of Slovene at http://www.fi-
da.net/
2 Thanks to Šarolta Godnič Vičič for drawing my attention to this and the following three sites.
42
Mostovi 2002 Dealing with Word Combinations
Beseda corpus, Fran Ramovš Slovene Institute
atZRC SAZU
http://bos.zrc-sazu.si/main_si_12.html
Parallel Slovene-English Corpus of texts de-
veloped by 3 rd Year students of the Department
of Translation, FF, guided by Špela Vintar:
Key to exercises
Note that these are suggested translations on-
ly; other possibilities will depend on the con-
text.
1. [accident] black spot - črna točka, black eye
-podpluto oko, black box [flight recorder] - črna
skrinjica, black economy - črna ekonomija, in
the black - v plusu / v pozitivnem stanju, black
and blue - hudo pretepen, in black and white -
črno na belem, black out - v. omedleti, črno se mi
dela pred očmi / n. zmanjka elektrike, black ice -
poledica (although the English expression has
the added sense of 'invisible'), black look - grdo
gledati, black mark - črna pika, [on the] black
market - na črno /črni trg, black-tie [event] - for¬
malno obleka / večerna toaleta obvezna
2. črna noč - dark night, črna tema - pitch
black, črne oči - dark eyes, črno pivo - dark beer /
stout, črn od sonca - suntanned, as brown as a
berry, črna revščina - abject poverty, črna neh¬
valežnost - base/rank ingratltude, črni kontinent
- Africa ('the dark Continent' rarely used), črno
zlato - 'black gold' may be used for oll (infre-
quent) but not coal, črna lista (črn seznam) - list
°f suspects, zadeti v črno - hit the nail on the
head, get it in one, črna gradnja - illegal build-
mg / vvithout planning permission
3. pravni red - legal system / laws / legislation,
vrstni red - order, dnevni red (na sestanku) -
agenda, privaditi se na dnevni red - adapt to a
new routine, dnevni red konference - conference
Piogramme (agenda), sedežni red - seating ar-
rangement, vozni red - timetable, hišni red -
house rules, spraviti lase/obleko v red - tidy your
hair/clothes
4. čeprav sta delala na istem področju, nista
sodelovala - although they worked in the same
field, they didn't work together
Presentation http://www-ai.ijs.si/-spela/
trans-index.html
Search http://nl2.ijs.si/corpus/index2-
bi.html
dobro in korektno sodelovati - work together
in an appropriate fashion
vsi, ki so sodelovali pri knjigi - ali those who
worked on the book
sodeloval je pri projektu - took part in the
project
v komisijah sodeluje širok krog občanov - the
commission is made up of a wide range of citi-
zens
sodeluje v domačih in tujih revijah - contrib-
utes to / appears in local and International re-
views
sodelovati na natečaju - submit an applica-
tion / offer [OR take part in an invitation to ten-
der]
sodelovati na razstavi /sejmu - appear/ exhib-
it at an exhibition / fair
sodelovati na tečaju / konferenci - attend a
course / conference
otroci pri pouku sodelujejo - the children con-
tribute to / get involved in classes
aktivno sodelovati - play an active part in / ac-
tively contribute / actively participate
5. Streli v prazno - A shot in the dark
Neprofitna stanovanja še vedno kamen spotike
- Low cost/subsidised housing stili a stumbling
block
Ribičem se slabo piše - Things look bad for
fishermen / Fishermen face difficult times
Dišijo jim boljši avti - A taste/fancy for classy
cars
Bosta Kad in Sod pljunila v lastno skledo? -
Will CAF and SCF shoot themselves in the foot /
score an own goal? (The play on words is lost)
Vroče kostanje podtaknili vladi - Time bomb
under the Government
Koprski policisti so strli trd oreh - Koper police
crack it / difficult čase
43
David Limon Mostovi xxxvi, št. i, 2002, 35-44
Z udarci po žepu nad prometno kulturo - Hit-
ting motorists where it hurts / motorists' wallets
Ustavno sodišče pod žensko roko - Woman to
head constitutional court
Nakup banke še vroča tema - Šale of bank stili
a burning issue
Dvaindvajset miliard na mah - 22 billion at a
stroke / at one go
Brez muje se magistre kuje - An easy route to a
master’s degree (The allusion is lost)
Italijan je živel na veliki nogi - Italianis life of
luxury / lived it up (Note that nationality is not
usually referred in the English press unless rele-
vant to the story)
Občutljivi fant vstal iz pepela - Vulnerable
player makes a comeback
Čeh je ostal v senci Zahoviča - Čeh overshad-
owed by Zahovič
Vladni sokol še vedno brez kril - Government
jet yet to take off (Note that 'hawk' would not
have the same connotations)
6. The first headline involves a collocation
that can easily be translated (grenka resnica),
while the second depends on idiom, meaning
'to disclose a secret', as well as on the polysemic
'bean' (fižol, kavino zrno).
44