Nowadays, great attention is given to learning a foreign language by majority of people. Especially English language is being learned as a second language by the people of most countries. However, learning language is not just learning the words in target language but also being familiar with phrases, idioms, proverbs and phraseological units of its.
Phraseological units are considerable parts of any language. Therefore they are studied by plenty of scholars. For example, Russian scholars V. V. Vinogradov, A. I. Smidnitoski, H. N. Asomova and Uzbek scholars Sh. Rahmatullayev, A. E. Mamatov, B. Yo’ldoshev conducted a research on this sphere of linguistics. Their works and researches play significant role in the development of phraseology. Even nowadays, this field of linguistics attracts great many of scholars’ attention. One of English linguists A. B. Pittman gives such definition to the phraseological units in one of his works: «A group of words in a fixed order that is different from the meaning of each word understood on its own». In fact, idioms can never be translated into another language word for word. Otherwise, they lose their semantic meaning. For instance, if we translate the idiom «Lend an ear» into Uzbekword by word, it means «qulog’ini qarzga bermoq». Because, the word «lend» means to let someone borrow something that belongs to you for a short time. However, in the table below you can see that this idiom has its equivalent in Uzbek language (№ 10).
In this article we are going to discuss some phraseological units on body parts of human being. There are so many idioms on several parts of human body in English dictionary such as «Longman», «Macmillan» and «Oxford». For example, eye, ear, head, hand, leg, shoulder, knee, tongue and etc. But this article is devoted to analyze just the phraseological units with the component of «ear». In those English dictionaries we can face to more than 40 idioms which are used with the component «ear». Most of them have equivalents in Uzbek language with the same component. For example, in the table below you can see some of them:
Table 1
|
English idioms |
Meaning |
Equivalents in Uzbek language |
|
Are your ears burning? |
Said about someone who wasn’t present but was the topic of discussion. |
Qulog`i qizimoq |
|
All eyes and ears |
To be attentive. |
Ko`z-quloq bo`lmoq |
|
All ears |
To be waiting eagerly to hear about something. |
Jon qulog`i bilan tinglamoq. |
|
Be all ears |
To listen to carefully or eagerly; to anticipate. |
Butun vujudi bilan quloqqa aylanmoq. |
|
Cloth ears |
If you don’t listen to people, they may suggest you have cloth ears. |
Qulog`i tom bitgan. |
|
Easy on the ear |
Something pleasant to listen to. |
Qulog`iga yoqmoq. |
|
Give ear |
To listen: to devote one’s attention to an auditory event. |
Quloq tutmoq. |
|
Go in one ear and out the other. |
Said about something which is heard and then quickly forgotten. |
U qulog`idan kirib bu qulog`idan chiqmoq. |
|
Grin from ear to ear |
If someone is grinning from ear to ear, they look very satisfied and happy. |
Og`zi qulog`ida. |
|
Have big ears |
To be nosy and listen to other people’s private conversation. |
Qulog`ini ding qilmoq. |
|
Lend an ear |
To listen carefully and sympathetically. |
Jon qulog`i bilan tinglamoq. |
|
Music to one’s ears |
Some good news; a spoken expression which is pleasing; |
Qulog`iga moydek yoqmoq. |
|
Prick up your ears |
If you prick up your ears, you suddenly pay attention to what is being said. |
Qulog`i ding bo`lmoq. |
|
Smile from ear to ear |
A large smile. |
Og`zi qulog`iga yetmoq. |
|
Walls have ears, shoes have tongues |
Be careful what you say and who you speak to. |
Devorning ham qulog`i bor. |
However, in English language there are some phraseological units which do not have their equivalents with the same component. But, uzbek language offers other idioms with different components and they can give the same meaning with those English ones.
Table 2
|
English idioms |
Meaning |
Equivalents in Uzbek language |
|
Coming out of one’s ears |
In great or excess quantity. |
Boshidan oshiq |
|
Wet behind the ears |
Inexperienced; not seasoned; new; just beginning; immature, especially in judgment. |
Ona suti og`zidan ketmagan |
|
Make one’s ears burn |
If something makes your ears burn, you are embarrassed by what you hear, especially if the conversation is about you. |
Hijolat tortmoq. |
|
Ear to the ground |
Pursuing the practice or having the characteristic of carefully gathering information; well-informed. |
Ko`pni ko`rgan |
In conclusion, we can say that phraseological units are extremely important parts of linguistics in any language. Additionally, the usage of idioms is so common in the field of translation since it has more benefits for translators and interpreters. But, while translating them from one language into another they should be careful about their meaning and pay attention to find the most suitable equivalent of these idioms instead of translating them word for word.
References:
- Richard A. «Spears American Idioms Dictionary».
- Sh. Rahmatullayev. «O’zbek tilining izohli frazeologik lug’ati».
- Kunin A. B. «English-Russian Phraseological Dictionary».
