Engleski idiomi škotskog podrijetla i njihovi hrvatski ekvivalenti

Phraseology is a field of study that investigates a set of linguistic units called phraseological units. These units are expressions which consist of at least two independent words. Such expressions can be idioms, proverbs or any phrase which may carry connotations and have an empathic or intensifying function in a text (Fiedler 2007: 23). Every language has its own idioms and proverbs which enrich it and give the language more colourful and personal note. Standard English language on its own has many such expressions, but there are many different variants of the language. One of these is Scottish English. Scotland, England’s first neighbour, has its own history and language which has for many years been fighting for its status as a legitimate language because, as Tom MacArthur says in his book The English Languages, it is still not clear whether it is just a dialect, semi-language or a language. Furthermore, learning idioms and proverbs is especially challenging for non-native speakers of a language. From personal experience, when faced with a new idiom or proverb, speaker first tries to translate it literally into his own language in order to understand it. Sometimes that is enough to grasp the meaning, but sometimes translating can be very demanding because some expressions are unavailable in some languages and it is hard to find an appropriate substitute. Also, the original meaning and intended point may be lost in translation. This paper focuses on Scottish idioms and their translation into Croatian. First, an explanation of basic terms and history will be provided. Second, the similarities and differences in chosen idioms will be shown and discussed through various translation techniques to show that, even though these two languages are substantially different, many expressions can find their equivalent and successfully transmit the intended message