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A Study of the Problems of Learning and Translating Idioms

Idioms are a very important part of the English language: you are told that if you want to go far (succeed) you should pull your socks up (make a serious effort to improve your behaviour, the quality of your work, etc.) and use your grey matter (brain).1 Learning and translating idioms have always been very difficult for foreign language learners. The present paper explores some of the reasons why English idiomatic expressions are difficult to learn and translate. It is not the aim of this paper to attempt a comprehensive survey of the vast amount of material that has appeared on idioms in Adams and Kuder (1984), Alexander (1984), Dixon (1983), Kirkpatrick (2001), Langlotz (2006), McCarthy and O'Dell (2002), and Wray (2002), among others. The paper concentrates on idioms as a learning-translation problem; it makes no claim to be comprehensive or academically rigorous. Leech (1989) defines an idiom as follows: “An idiom is a group of two or more words which we have to treat as a unit in learning a language. We cannot arrive at the meaning of the idiom just by adding together the meanings of the words inside it. E.g.John and Mary usedto be hardup (='They had very little money'.)”(P.186) To be more exact, an idiom is a sequence of words which is semantically and syntactically restricted, so that they function as a single unit. From a semantic point of view, the meanings of the individual words cannot be summed to produce the meanings of the idiomatic expression as a whole. Thus, fly off the handle, which means lose one's temper, cannot be understood in terms of the meanings of fly, off, or handle. The idiom phrase hot air, which means empty or boastful talk, is neither hot nor air; with hot air we are dealing with a set phrase where the meaning cannot be suggested on the basis of the two constituent words. The idiomatic meaning of spill the beans in So who spilt the beans (=told the secret) about her affair with David? has nothing to do with beans or with spilling in its literal sense. The foreign-language learner is left trying to figure out where and how the beans were spilt. From a syntactic viewpoint, the constituent parts of an idiom often do not permit the usual variability they display in other contexts. The point to be emphasized here is this: most idioms do not lend themselves easily to manipulation by speakers and writers; they are invariable and must be learned as wholes, but concord ofnumber, person and gender in the idiom phrase is still necessary, i.e. the verbs must be put into the correct form, and pronouns must agree with their antecedents: I don't give a hoot for her opinion! 2 • She doesn't give a hoot for my opinion! etc.)║He won, but only by the skin of his teeth2• She won, but only by the skin of her teeth• Iwon, but only by the skin ofmy teeth,I had to run for the train, and caught it by the skin of myteeth, etc.║He kept pullingmy arm, throwing me off my balance 2 • She kept pulling his arm, throwing him off his balance • We kept pullingher arm, throwingher offher balance, etc.2 The present paper is divided into five parts, as follows: Part I: An Overview; PART II: Learner’s Difficulties with Idioms; PART III: Some Pedagogical recommendations and Suggestions about Idioms; Part IV: Activities to Practice Idiomatic Expressions; Part V: Summary and Conclusion.

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Publication Date
Sat Oct 01 2022
Journal Name
Al–bahith Al–a'alami
MEDIA AND CUSTOMERS: (An analytical study of the opinions and attitudes of a sample of industrialists in the role of media in directing consumers to national industries)

The talk about the relationship between the media and industrialists can be the core of a bigger and deeper subject which is the role of these means in increasing sales : First, increasing the customer’s awareness of the importance of goods and the result of the promotion of products. Secondly, increasing investments which do require continuous studies and deep research in order to understand the constantly changing market conditions, and the public’s taste. In this research, we try to find out how industrialists see the role of media in the promotion of products in Iraq today, and how it develops in the future.

There was a reluctance of the industrialists to advertise in the local media, also industrialists see the role of t

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Publication Date
Sat Feb 09 2019
Journal Name
Journal Of The College Of Education For Women
دراﺳﺔ ﺗﺄﺛﯾر ﺑﻛﺗرﯾﺎ ﺣﺎﻣض اﻟﻼﻛﺗﯾك اﻟﻌﻼﺟﯾﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻧﻣو ﺑﻌض اﻧواع اﻟﺑﻛﺗرﯾﺎ اﻟﻣرﺿﯾﺔ ﺑﺣث ﻣﺳﺗل ﻣن رﺳﺎﻟﺔ ﻣﺎﺟﺳﺗﯾر

This investigation was carrid out to utilize whey and rice in manufacturing nutritious product with therapeutic virtue . The rice cooked with whey in a ratio 1:10 w/w, then the product was fermented by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) starters that comprise each Lb.acidophilus (Lb.a),Lb.casie(Lb.c) and their mixes at ratios: 1a:1c ;2a:1c ; 1a;2c . The five different starters were used separately in processing fermented products . The best fermentation period was 2 days as hieghest therapeutic bacterial counts were resulted . Antibacterial activity of LAB filtrate from fermented products were obtained before drying and after drying them after 3 months of storage. The tested bacteria were Staph.aureus, E.coli ,and B.subtilis The results reveald

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Publication Date
Thu Sep 01 2011
Journal Name
Journal Of Economics And Administrative Sciences
A practical study of the problems of queues for vehicles in some filling stations in the city of Baghdad

 According to the circumstances experienced by our country which led to Occurrence of many crises that are the most important crisis is gaining fuel therefore , the theory of queue ( waiting line ) had been used to solve this crisis and as the relevance of this issue indirect and essential role in daily life  .

This research aims to conduct a study of the distribution of gasoline station in (both sides AL – kharkh and AL Rusafa, for the purpose of reducing wasting time and services time through the criteria of the theory of queues and work to improve the efficiency of these stations by the other hand. we are working to reduce the cost of station and increase profits by reducing the active serv

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Publication Date
Sun Mar 15 2020
Journal Name
Journal Of The College Of Education For Women
Second Language Learning and Its Relationship with the Third Language Learning: Statistical Study: China

The exchanges in various fields,like economics, science, culture, etc., have been enhanced unceasingly among different countries around the world in the twenty-first century, thus, the university graduate who masters one foreign language does not meet the need of the labor market in most countries.So, many universities began to develop new programs to cultivate students who can use more foreign languages to serve the intercultural communication. At the same time, there is more scientific research emerged which is related to the relationship between the second and third languages. This humble research seeks to explain the relevant concepts and analyze the real data collected from Shanghai International Studies University in China, to expl

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Publication Date
Tue Feb 05 2019
Journal Name
Journal Of The College Of Education For Women
African landlocked countries problems and outlets in the study and classification of geo-political

Landlocked countries are displayed geopolitical new geo-political and intended to
countries that do not have sea views, a phenomenon present in four continents of the world
are: Africa, Europe, and Asia, and South America and the number arrived at the present time
to the (44) state the largest number of them in the continent it arrived in Africa (16) countries
in Asia (13) countries and Europe (13) In the State of South America two. This phenomenon
emerged due to the division of federations and empires and colonial treaties and others. But
the negative effects suffered by these countries may vary from one country to another, since
these countries in the continent of Europe, for example, is different from the same cou

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Publication Date
Wed Nov 27 2019
Journal Name
Iraqi Journal Of Science
A Comparative Study between Conventional Pap Smear and Liquid-Based Cytology: A Clinco-Cytological Study of Iraqi Women with Some Health Problems of Cervix

A cervical screening by Pap test is necessary in recognizing precancerous and cancerous cases to reduce mortality due to cervical cancer among women. Regular screening and follow up can make it easier to early diagnose and eventually, to treat and control cervical cancer.

    This study aimed to detect atypical pathological changes of the vagina and uterine cervix of a sample of Iraqi women by macro- and micro-examination, and to determine the link with the demographic features. Also the study aimed to evaluate the two Pap smear techniques; the conventional and the base liquid methods.

     The study included 50 women with genital health problems (18-50 years old) who were referred to&nb

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Publication Date
Thu Mar 01 2018
Journal Name
Nauchforum
THE PROBLEM OF TRANSLATING METAPHOR IN AN ARTISTIC TEXT (ON THE MATERIAL OF RUSSIAN AND ARABIC LANGUAGES)

THE PROBLEM OF TRANSLATING METAPHOR IN AN ARTISTIC TEXT (ON THE MATERIAL OF RUSSIAN AND ARABIC LANGUAGES)

Publication Date
Tue Jan 02 2018
Journal Name
Journal Of Educational And Psychological Researches
The Role of Social service in Addressing Social Problems Aversion for Teenagers (A field Study in Baghdad)

Adolescence important and sensitive stage in social terms, being a stage where learns teenager bear social responsibilities and composition of their ideas about family life, as well as it is the stage where the teenager looking to himself for an important place in the community to become independent socially people, so it highlights the role of Social Work to do better effort and I believe him in order to prepare for the adolescent stage of adolescence and help him overcome the problems so that makes it adapts to the society in which he lives

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Publication Date
Wed May 10 2017
Journal Name
Journal Of The College Of Languages (jcl)
PROBLÉMATIQUE DE L’ENSEIGNEMENT DE LA TRADUCTION ET PROLÈMES DE SON APPRENTISSAGE DANS UNE CLASSE DE LANGUE The problem in teaching Translation and problems of its learning in a language lesson

Le présent travail aborde la question de l’enseignement de traduction en tant que matière faisant partie du programme élaboré dans des Départements de Français au sein de certaines universités irakiennes, en particulier celle de Bagdad. La méthode d’enseigner suivie constitue une véritable problématique qu’on a bien diagnostiquée à partir de quelques années d’expériences, à la lumière des observations faites dans des cours de traduction professionnelle, et dans la perspective des citations et témoignages établies par des traductologues et pédagogues et principalement par Marianne LEDERER qui a établi la Théorie Interprétative de la traduction. Mais pourquoi l’enseignement lui-même poserait une telle probl

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Publication Date
Thu Nov 23 2023
Journal Name
Journal Of Al-farahidi's Arts
Linguistic Analysis of Translating The Iraqi novel "The Corpse Washer" from Arabic to English

This research aims to conduct a linguistic analysis of the translation of the novel "The Corpse Washer" by the Iraqi author Sinan Antoon. The main objective is to explore the challenges and strategies involved in translating this literary work, particularly the difficulties in translating the Baghdadi dialect and the obstacles it poses for non-native speakers. Employing a descriptive research methodology, the study examines the linguistic aspects of the translation, specifically selected conversational texts in the novel. It identifies the difficulties faced by translators in preserving the essence of the original novel and presents instances where errors occurred in translating vocabulary, conversational expressions, proverbs, and idi

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