PHRASEOLOGICAL EQUIVALENCE AND ITS REALIZATION IN LITERARY TRANSLATION: AN ANALYSIS ON THE NOVEL “OLGA” BY B. SCHLINK

Abstract

In recent decades, phraseology has attracted steadily growing scholarly interest. As universal linguistic signs, phraseological units are regarded as carriers of cultural specificity; they manifest the spirit and identity of a nation and constitute important elements of literary works. Many translators are confronted with the problem of translating fixed expressions, which provides impetus for further research in this field. The present study addresses the issue of translating phraseological units in literary texts, using the German-Ukrainian language pair as an example. The research material consists of the novel “Olga” by Bernhard Schlink and its Ukrainian translation by Yelena Daskal. The focus of the study lies on the characteristics of phraseological units, their function in literary works, their translatability, the translation problems of phraseological units, and the types of phraseological equivalence. In scholarly literature, a distinction is made between full equivalence, partial equivalence, and zero equivalence. In cases where phraseological equivalence is lacking, translators may resort to the following strategies: translation by a free word combination, literal translation, or rendering the phraseological unit as a single lexical item. The results show that the phraseological units of the source language are predominantly rendered in the target language by means of partial equivalents or single lexical items. The translator’s individual style is reflected in her tendency to replace several free word combinations and single lexical items of the original with phraseological units, which indicates a higher degree of Ukrainian emotionality, sensitivity, lyricism, and subjectivity. The study underscores the importance of cultural context and the aesthetic function of literary works for the selection of appropriate translation strategies.