I’m always fond of the study of idioms and the metaphoric meanings an idiom implies. Idioms reflect the way a group of people think and express themselves – their personalities. It is a great way to learn about others’ cultures through idioms. For example, Germans are known to be sausage and beer lovers, thus many German idioms seem to be about sausages and beer; on the other hand, the Malay’s Simpulan Bahasa often tells stories of crocodiles, cows and goats.
I have recently come across a few idiomatic translations – a hard task as idioms are not literally interpretable. One of them is the translation for Chinese proverb, “授人以鱼不如授之以渔”. The literal meaning for the proverb is “teaching a man to fish is better than giving a man fish”; however, it is going to be dull if we use a word-by-word translation. Our dedicated translator, who is native and proficient in both Mandarin and English, replaced the well-known Chinese saying with an old English proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.
Another example is a Malay idiom, “Air yang tenang jangan disangka tiada buaya (literal meaning: Don’t think there is no crocodile because the water is calm)”. Instead of a word-by-word translation, a better alternative would be “Still waters run deep”.
I’m pulling out a few others from the internet to share with you here:
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Idioms in its original language
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Literal meaning
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Good translation
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(Malay) Sediakan paying sebelum hujan
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Preparing umbrella before it rains
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Prevention is better than cure
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(Malay) Sambil Menyelam Minum Air
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While diving, drink water
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Killing two birds with one stone
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(French) Le demon de midi
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To have the midday demon
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To have the midlife crisis
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· (Spanish) Dar calabazas a alguien
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To give someone pumpkins
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To reject somebody
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(Cantonese)鬼揞眼
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a ghost covers one’s eyes
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1. Fail to see something
2. Make a mistake
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The translation of idioms involves an in-depth understanding of a particular culture, and a slight metaphorical broadening. Some idioms have several meanings which tend to confuse those unfamiliar with them. That’s why, here at ACTC, we emphasize on having native speakers to translate and proofread our clients’ documents, as we understand that a good translator is more than being proficient in two languages. Translation is a long process which requires thorough understanding of the context and involves the work of a group of professional, qualified translators and editors.
