DEPARTAM ENTUL DE LIMBI MODERNE APLICATE [610789]

UNIVERSITATEA BABE Ș-BOLYAI, CLUJ -NAPOCA
FACULTATEA DE LITERE
DEPARTAM ENTUL DE LIMBI MODERNE APLICATE

LUCRARE DE LICENȚĂ
ANALIZA ȘI TRADUCEREA COLOCAȚIILOR DIN
RECENZIILE DE FILME

ABSOLVENT: [anonimizat]

2016
IUNIE -IULIE

BABEȘ -BOLYAI UNIVERSITY, CLUJ -NAPOCA
FACULTY OF LETTERS
DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED MODERN LANGUAGES

GRADUATION THESIS
THE ANALYSIS AND TRANSLATION OF COLLOCATIONS
FROM MOVIE REVIEWS

GRADUATE
ZOB Bianca
THESIS ADVISER
Lect. univ. dr. COR NEA Adina

2016
JUNE -JULY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………… 4
CHAPTER 1: THE ART O F TRANSLATION ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ….. 3
1.1. WHAT IS TRANSLATION ? ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………….. 3
1.2. THE TRANSLATION PROCESS ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………… 5
1.3. TRANSLATION METHODS ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………… 10
1.4. TRANSLATION PROCEDURES ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………. 12
CHAPTER 2: COLLOCATI ONS ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………….. 17
2.1. DEFINITION OF COLLOCATIONS ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………. 17
2.2. COLLOCATIONS : WHY ARE THEY IMPORTAN T?………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………….. 20
2.3. TYPES OF COLLOCATIONS ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………… 23
2.4. COLLOCATIONS WITH EVERYDAY VERBS ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …27
2.4.1. Comments on the Verbs ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……….. 33
CHAPTER 3: THE ANALY SIS AND TRANSLATION OF COLLOCATIONS FROM MOVIE REVIEWS ………………………….. …..35
CONCLUSIONS ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………. 47
APPENDICES ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………….. 49
REZUMAT ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………… 55
RESUME ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………………… 58
WORKS CITED ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………….. 61
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………… 64

i
Introduction
There is a well -known fact, namely that everything is translatable. No matter what kind of text it
is, simple or difficult, more or less complex, it should n ot cause problems because of all the existent
translation procedures and methods. I think that an interesting question appears when it comes to
collocations, their analysis and their translation. The question that arises is How should we
translate the coll ocation?
I chose as subject of my paper the analysis and translation of collocations because I consider that
this idea deserves to be elaborated. The paper is entitled The Analysis and Translation of
Collocations from Movie Reviews. It is quite interesting how the collocations are formed and how
they can be translated according to their context. I chose to write my paper about these simple
combinations of words that are used daily and intuitively and which should be learned by everyone
because they simplify our lives and helps us in communication.
The main objective of this paper is to inform the people about the collocations and about their
importance in people’s life. My opinion is that everyone should be aware of their importance
becaus e they help us express the ideas more naturally and they also help us in finding many
alternatives in expressing different ideas.
Another objective of this paper is to present and illustrate the beautiful job of a translator. Many
people believe that it is easy to be a trans lator and that everyone can be one, but what they do not
know is that translating involves so many skil ls. A translator needs to have rich background
knowledge, he/she needs to know a lot about the culture of the source language and the target
language and these facts need to be known by all the people.
A third objective of this p aper is to show everyone how the collocation s from different movie
reviews can be analyzed and translated according to their context. Their translation always depends
on the contex t because sometimes the basic meaning does not apply and the figurative meaning
needs to be applied.
This paper treats all the important aspects of translation, collocation and the ir analysis and
translation from several movie reviews. It is divided in th ree chapters and the conclusion .

ii The first chapter will be a theoretical one, it will present everything about translation and it is
entitled The Art of Translation ; will b e divided in four subchapters. In the subchapters, I will
present different definitio ns given by several authors in their books, but I will also mention some
definitions from different dictionaries. Furthermore, I will present the process of translation from
several perspectives and the important steps in this process. Then, I will show so me of the most
important translation methods like literal translation, word -by-word translation, adaptation, free
translation and many other methods. Finally, I will present some important translation procedures
like transference, naturalization, synonymy, modulation, transposition , etc.
The second chapter will be also a theoretical one, it will speak about the collocations, being entitled
The Collocations and it will be divided in four subchapters . In this chapter, I will mention what I
think a collocation is, along with the definitions given by several authors in theirs books, articles
etc. In addition, I will explain why everyone should learn collocations, namely I will present their
importance according to some authors, and I will mention how they can simplify our lives.
Afterwards, I will present the two major groups of collocations, namely the grammatical and
lexical collocations and some verb patterns. Subsequently , I will illustrate some collocations with
the most used verbs and some personal examples with these collocations. I will give personal
examples to sho w how well I understand what they are and how they have to be used. At the end
of this chapter , I will show some comments on the everyday verbs and it is entitled Comments on
the Verbs.
The thir d chapter will represent the case study of this paper and it will be entitled The Analysis and
Translation of Collocation from Movie Reviews . In this chapter, I will choose several movie
reviews and I will select some collocations from them. Then, I will a nalyze the collocations by
mentioning what kind of co llocations they are and how they were formed. After the analysis, I will
pass to the actual translation of these collocations taking in to consideration all the theory about
translation mentioned above. I will give several t ranslation options, when it is be possible, and
then, I will choose the best one along with an explanation for the choice that I will make.
Finally, I will present the conclusions of my paper.

3 Chapter 1: The Art of Translation
1.1. What is T ranslation?
The translation is something that everybody knows about, something that exists for such a long
time and there are many ways to express and define what a translation is and how it works. So,
what is a translation? Well, according to English Macmillan Dictio nary a translation means
“spoken or written words that have been changed into a different language”. As per the French
dictionary Larousse, «the translation is énonciation dans une autre langue (ou langue cible) de ce
qui a été énoncé dans une langue (la l angue source), en conservant les équivalences sémantiques
et stylistiques» .
In addition, the Association of Translators from Romania (2004: 3) define the word translation as
“activitatea traducătorului, procesul de traducere și rezultatul final al acestei activități, textul
tradus, în sine ”. It means that through the word translation the translator’s activity, the process of
translation and the final result – the translated text – are expressed.
Larson (1984: 3) believes that “translation is transferring the meaning of the source language into
the receptor language”. In other words, the translator must render the meaning of the source
language in the target or receptor language because otherwise the translation will be misled.
As per Ordudari, (2007) “the purpose of translation is to reproduce various kinds of texts –
including religious, literary, scientific, and philosophical texts – in another language and thus
making them available to wider readers”.
There are also other experts who expressed themselves in what the translation is concerned. For
example, Nida in Hartono (2009: 1) says that “translating consists of reproducing the receptor
language to the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in the term of
meaning and secondly i n the term of style”. It means that there should not be differences between
the translation and the original text. When we read the translation we should not feel that it is a
translation, it must look and sound almost like the original text, only in anoth er language. This is
when we will know that it is a good translation.

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Newmark (1988: 5) states that the translation:
Is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that
the author intended the text. Common sense tells us that this ou ght to be
simple, as one ought to be able to say something as well in one language
as in another. On the other hand, you may see it as complicated, artificial
and fraudulent, since by using another language you are preten ding to be
someone you are not.

The translation is a profession will always exist because everything can be expressed in a language
other than the source language. The translator will never have the chance to say that something
cannot be translated because everything is translatable and ca n be translated. This is why Danila
Seleskovitch in Newmark (1988: 6) stated that “everything said in one language can be expressed
in another”.
The translator must have great knowledge of the languages that he works in order to do a good
translation. This is the reason why the Association of Translators from Romania (2004: 3) said
about the actual action of translating that “ presupune o excelentă cunoaștere a limbii țintă și o
foarte bună cunoaștere a limbii sursă, cunoștințe lingvistice la nivel de expert și cunoștințe în
specialitatea de lucru ”.
The translation has a certain and special excitement. There’re no such thing as a perfect version
for a translation or a correct version of it. A professional translator will never be satisfied with a
good transla tion. He will always reach to find better solutions, better versions and better
equivalents. This fact is caused by the translator’s wish to enrich his knowledge and improve his
expression. According to Newmark (1988: 6) , the translation functions on four levels:
Translation is first a science, which entails the knowledge and
verification of the facts and the lan guage that describes them – here, what
is wrong, mistakes of truth, can be identified; secondly, it is a skill, which
calls for appropriate language and acceptable usage; thirdly, an art, which
distinguishes good from undistinguished writing and is the creative, the
intuitive, sometimes the inspired, level of the translation; lastly, a matter
of taste, where argument ceases, preferences are expressed, and the
variety of meritorious translations is the reflection of individua l
differences.

In his profession, the translator is always faced with choices. For example “ when he has to translate
words denoting quality, the words of the mental world (adjectiv es, adverbs, adjec tival nouns, e.g.
'good', ‘well’ , 'goodness'), rather than objects or events.” Before deciding on a final version of a

5
translation, the translator, like any other professional, follows up a theory of translation. (Newmark
1988: 8)
As Jean -Rene L admiral in Newmark (idem) says “ la traduction appelle une théorie en acte ”
meaning that the translator in his process of translating reviews all the criteria for the possible
options before deciding on the final version, more exactly what Ladmiral s aid means that “the
translation calls on a theory in action”.
The translation theory encloses the translation methods which are used for different types of texts.
Practically, it is that particular knowledge that we have and take into account when we trans late a
certain type of text. The translation theory arise from a problem in the translation process and
without a problem it wouldn’t even exist or it would be useless.
What the translation theory does, more specifically, is: firstly, it identifies the pro blem, secondly,
indicates what has to be done in order to solve the problem, thirdly, illustrates all the possible
translation versions and finally gives the most suitable one.
1.2. The Translation P rocess
The translation is something that can be discussed. According to Newmark, there are two
approaches when translating. In the first approach, the translator starts to translate sentence by
sentence the first paragraph in order to discover its tone and then stops and continues to read the
whole text. In the se cond approach, the translator reads the entire text several times in order to
discover the tone, register and the problematic words and then he begins to translate the text.
The first approach seems to be appropriate for a literary and easy text and the se cond seems to be
suitable for an institutional and complex text. However, there are some risks when using these
approaches. On one hand, when a translator uses the first approach he might waste a lot of time
going back and revising the sentences or paragra phs from the beginning. On the other hand, using
the second approach it is possible for the translator to become mechanical repressing the free play
of his intuition.
As per the Association of Translators from Romania (2004: 3) there are nine steps in the process
of translating. These steps are essential for a high quality translation.

6
 The first step is “ analiza inițială a textului ” and here what the translator does is that he identifies
the problematic areas, abbreviations, ambiguous passages or any other aspects that need to be
clarified with the owner of the source text.
 The second step is “ cercetarea textului sursă din punct de vedere terminologic și al domeniului de
specialitate, stabilirea terminologiei textului, avizarea ei de către beneficiar sau de către un
specialist în domeniu ” (idem). This briefly means that in the step the text must be analyzed
terminologically and the terminology must be identified; after, a notification must be obtained
from the owner or another specialist in field.
 In the thi rd step, the translator must draw up “ prima versiune de traducere ”, meaning the first
version of the translation.
 The fourth step involves “ corectarea primei versiuni de traducere ” namely, another translator must
do the correction of the first version of the translation.
 In the fifth step, a translator, other than the one who made the translation, will do the “ revizia
lingvistică a traducerii ” namely, the linguistic revision of the translation, where he will check if
the message is rendered entirely and co rrectly, if there are any grammatical issues, if the
specialized language was used accordingly to the fulfilled objective. (Association of Translators
from Romania 2004: 3)
 The sixth step involves the specialized revision of the translation .
 The seventh in volves the stylistic revision.
 According to the Association, the eighth step requires the approval and the elaboration of the fi nal
version of the translation.
 In the final step, the translator checks the final translation before handing it to the client.
Looking from another perspective, namely from a business perspective, there are 3 stages in the
translation process of a client -translator negotiation. According to Greere the three stages are task
initialization, task fulfilment and task evaluation.
In the first stage, the task initialization, happens most of the actions. Firstly, “Client makes textual
contact with the ST and interprets it as potentially relevant for a target culture”. It means that the
client has his first contact with the source text an d after considerations he finds it to be pertinent
for a certain type of culture. (Greere 2004: 91)

7
After having his contact with the text, “client makes contact with translator initializing the task:
general briefing/general task description”. Here, the c lient contacts the translator announcing him
that he has a document that needs to be translated. The client gives a detailed description of the
document regarding the “domain, the genre, the length and the target language”. (idem) This first
contact might not happen in person, so it is possible that the translator cannot see the document,
obtaining information about it only from what the client says.
What follows is that the “the translator agrees/declines the task after a general briefing”. At this
point, the translator assents to do the translation and specifies that he needs to see the document in
order to be able to establish the further details. As any translator is aware of his own abilities and
competences, after the description of the document he is capable to determine if he has or hasn’t
the necessary competences to do this job. (Greere 2004: 91)
The translator receives the document and does the usual analysis. He reads the document to search
for “the extratextual and intratextual elements that can be obtained with a first reading. Such
elements are: domain, function, potential addresses, vocabulary issue, layout and non -verbal
elements.” This analysis helps the translator to understand the source text in source culture. (Greere
2004: 92)
The next st ep is “specific briefing by client: detailed task requirements” (target text – TT – in target
language – TL) (idem) . This means that the client describes fully the translator’s task. The
translator guides him, because he is not familiar with the translated version, so that the client could
specify the exact requirements in the target culture.
After the requirements being specified, the translator begins to analyze more deeply the document
so that he can establish the task feasibility. If there are still inf ormation that are not clear or
information that the translator could not get from reading the text, he will contact the client so he
could offer him the necessary information. It’s important for the translator to have all the necessary
information because he cannot make an ideal translation without the full information.
Then comes the task feasibility evaluation where the translator decides if the translation can be
done in concordance with the source text and if the client’s requirements and expectations a re
realistic or not. If they’re not, he will negotiate with the client upon them so he could fulfil his
task.

8
Finally, after the analysis and the description of the document the translator will announce the
client if the translation can be done under the s pecified requirements. In case that the requirements
are more or less unrealistic, the translator will negotiate with the client so that the task could be
accomplished. Next, the translator will negotiate the collaboration with the client. He needs to
explain him that the collaboration is truly important at this stage and that he has an important role
at this part.
In the task fulfilment stage of the business translation process, the translator can start to think about
his strategy in finding the appropriat e equivalents of the elements from the ST into the TT. Now
he might have some transfer problems because for some elements it’s possible that some
researches would need to be done at microunit and macrounit level.
The translator has to decide on the transfe r methodology or solutions. Once he found the transfer
problems, he “will develop a preview of the target text by analyzing the potential TT for any
modification of extratextual and intratextual elements that might lead to necessary adaptation on
the basis of the task description”. (Greere 2004: 96)
Then follows the part of “verifying transfer solutions/methodology with the client”. It can come
from the initiative of the translator or it can be imposed by the client. This part is very important
because the translator can discuss with the client and inform him about all the changes, if
necessary, if we wants to transfer some words from ST in TT and the problematic areas. If the
client does not agree with the translator’s solution he will have to come up with another solution.
The translator needs the client’s approval to not waste time later with the correction of the transfer
solutions if at the end the client will not approve them. If the client is familiarized with the target
culture, then he can help the t ranslator with guidance. If the target culture is not familiarized with
the source culture, there might be need for supplementary information so that everything would
be clear.
The actual process of making the translation can start because detail has been decided and resolved.
Now that he has all the necessary elements, transfer solutions at macrounit and microunit level,
after discussing with the client every detail all that remained for him is to put pieces together. The
responsibility at this point is sh ared because of the collaboration between the client and the
translator during the entire process.

9
After finishing the production of the target text, what comes naturally is the revision of it. The
translator will revise the translation by checking the tex t for any errors in coherence or cohesion,
for any problems with the transfer solutions, if necessary, and some translators ask other
professionals to do a second revision in order to eliminate any inconsistencies. In some cases, the
client is the one who request a second translator for a second revision.
In situations where the client wasn’t included in these stages, the translator must justify to the
client his transfer solutions and methodology. He needs to be aware of the fact that after seeing the
translation, the client might have a negative reaction due to the noticeable changes, mostly if the
translator skipped the verification stage. At this point, the translator has to explain him every
change that he made.
The last stage, namely the task evaluatio n involves “quality control: by translator, by another
translator, by client, by client on addressee reaction”. The evaluation can be done concerning the
process and the final product. (Greere 2004: 102)
Usually the actual process is not evaluated because the client is more interested about the final
product. But it is the case, the process is evaluated by another translator. What is important is the
evaluation of the final product. In most of the cases the client hasn’t the necessary knowledge to
determine whether the translation is correct or not, so he may call for an audit. This audit is formed
by some professionals who can evaluate properly the final product.
In some cases, the client choses that the final product to be evaluated by the target audience. This
is risky because there might not be any faults but if the audience is not familiar with the subject
matter, they may not react as the client expects. Although this method is used by several clients, it
is not the best one and is unreliable. The proce ss and the final product should be evaluated by
professionals.
The last part is concerned with the feedback given by the client. For a translator the feedback is
essential. Through feedback he can evaluate his own competences and the strategies used in
producing the target text. The translator should ask for feedback if it takes too long for the client
to offer it because any sort of feedback is important. Whether it’s long or short, detailed or concise,
it “provides support for the systemizing by the trans lator of the translation process for future use.”
(Greere 2004: 104)

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1.3. Translation M ethods
Since the translation appeared, there was a big question that continues its existence: how should a
translator translate? Literally or freely? Well, some of them prefe r to translate literally and some
freely. What we usually hear from our professors is that we should translate the idea and not the
words.
There are several translation methods used by professional translators. According to Newmark,
the translation methods are: word -by-word translation, literal translation, faithful translation,
semantic translation, adaption, free translation, idiomatic translation and communicative
translation.
Using the method of word -by-word translation, the translator keeps the word or der from the source
language and simply translates each word using their most common meanings and out of context.
This method is not that much preferred.
In the literal translation, the grammar of the equivalents of target language come as close as
possibl e to the grammar constructions of the source language, but “the lexical words are again
translated singly, out of context”. (Newmark 1988: 46)
Newmark (1988: 46) says that “a faithful translation attempts to reproduce the precise contextual
meaning of the original within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures.” He also adds that
“it attempts to be completely faithful to the intentions and the text -realization of the SL writer.”
The semantic translation if different from the faithful one. Here the creativity is admitted and it
does not have to be entirely faithful to the source language. The semantic translation is more
creative and flexible than the faithful translation which is rather inflexible and overly authoritative.
Newmark (idem) states that the semantic translation
May translate less important cultural words by culturally neutral third or
functional terms but not cultural equivalents – une none repassant un
corpor al may become a nun ironing a corporal cloth – and it may make
other small concessions to the readership.

The adaptation is the freest translation amongst all. It is usually employed in comedies or poetry
where everything is maintained (themes, characters, plots) and the source language is changed into
the target language, the enti re text being rewritten.

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With the free translation the meaning is reproduced and not the words. “Usually it is a paraphrase
much longer than the original, a so -called ‘intralingual translation’, often prolix and pretentious,
and not translation at all”. (N ewmark 1988: 47)
In the idiomatic translation the message of the source text is reprod uced but the meaning is not the
same because some idioms and collocations are introduced in the target text even if in the source
text they didn’t appear.
In his book, Newmark (1988: 47) mentions that the “communicative translation attempt to render
the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and language are
readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership.”
The objectives of any translation are economy and accuracy and the communicative and semantic
translation are the two methods that can fulfill them. There are several differences between the
two translation methods. For example, the communicative translation is not as economica l as the
semantic; the communicative translation is used in informative texts and the semantic in expressive
ones. The communicative has the tendency to under -translate and the semantic to over -translate.
Newmark also mentions and defines in his book othe r translations such as: service translation,
plain prose translation, information translation, cognitive translation and academic translation.
The service translation involves “translation from one’s language of habitual use into another
language. The term is not widely used, but as the practice is necessary in most countries, a term is
required.” (Newmark 1988: 52)
The plain prose translation is concerned with “the prose translation of poems and poetic drama
initiated by E.V. Rieu for Penguin Books”. Newma rk (idem) also mentions that “usually stanzas
become paragraphs, prose punctuation is introduced, original metaphors and SL culture retained,
whilst no sound -effects are reproduced”. With the target text often appears the source text.
Through the informati on translation the information is conveyed, being rearranged so that it can
be more logical and sometimes it can be partially summarized. In the cognitive translation any
figurative language is changed into literal language.
Finally, the academic translati on “reduces an original SL text to an ‘elegant’ idiomatic educated
TL version which follows a non -existent literary register”. This method of translation is usually
used in British universities. (Newmark 1988: 52)

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1.4. Translation P rocedures
The difference betw een the translation methods and translation procedures is that we usually use
the translation methods in the case of whole texts and when we deal with sentences or other smaller
units of language we use the translation procedures.
There are several transla tion procedures and the most important is the literal translation . In what
follows I will also treat translation procedures like transference, naturalization, cultural equivalent,
functional equivalent, descriptive equivalent, synonymy, through -translation , transpositions,
modulation, recognized translation, translation label, compensation, componential analysis,
paraphrase and couplets.
It is important to distinguish the literal translation from word -for-word or mot -à-mot translation.
The word -for-word tra nslation maintains the word order and the grammar of the source language
in the target language. For example, ‘he eats in the kitchen’ in French will be ‘ il mange dans la
cuisine’ . This procedure can be useful only in the case of neutral and simple sentenc es.
According to Newmark (1988: 69) the literal translations varies from “one word to one word” (for
example, ‘dog’ in French is ‘ chien’ ), “through group to group” (‘ a bad child’ in French ‘un
mauvais enfant’ ), from “sentence to sentence” (‘The girl was in the hall’ in French the sentence
will be ‘ La fille a été dans la salle ’). It might seem simple and easy, but when the sentence gets
longer and longer, the translation gets also harder and more difficult. This is why many translators
choose other translati on procedures when a text becomes more complex.
The literal translation, as per Newmark (1988:70), is the basic translation procedure, “both in
communicative and semantic translation”. However, when translation problems are encountered,
the literal transla tion is not applicable. As much as we try to stay away from the literal translation,
from time to time we still look back at it.
Newmark (idem) tries to illustrate the idea by saying “ une tentation cuisante : can you get nearer
than a ‘painful’ or an ‘intense’ temptation? ‘Burning temptation’ is the nearest, it is still not literal.”
He then continues by adding: “literal translation above the word level is the only correct procedure
if the SL and TL meaning co rrespond, or correspond more closely than any alternative; that means
that the referent and the pragmatic effect are equivalent. ”
There are many words from different languages which look almost the same and Newmark (1988:
72) encourages us not to be afraid to use them, by giving an example from his personal

13
experiences: “at school and university I was told I must never do this, but ‘theatre’ is ‘ théâtre’ is
‘teatro’ […]”.
Several adjectives of feeling tend to reverse their meaning, therefore they are not tr ansparent in
translation. Some of these adjectives are ‘loyal’, ‘sincere’, ‘important’, but there are a few
adjectives, which are transparent in translation, such as ‘excellent’ or ‘marvelous’.
Newmark (1988: 81) states that the transference is “the proces s of transferring a SL word to a TL
text as a translation process”. In French this procedure is called “ emprunt ” and it consists in the
conversion of different words from different languages and alphabets into English. Practically, a
word is transferred as it is into another language and it becomes a “loan word”.
However, the translator cannot transfer any kind of words. Normally, cultural related words can
be transferred, but if the word is unfamiliar in the target language, the translator should not trans fer
it or at least he needs to give a supplementary translation of that word. According to Newmark
(1988: 82)
The following are normally transferred: names of all living (except the
Pope and one or two royals) and most dead people; geographical and
topogra phical names […] names of periodicals and newspapers; titles of
as yet untranslated literary works, plays, films; names of private
companies and institutions; names of public or nationalized institutions
[…] street names, addresses, etc.

The naturalization procedure “succeeds transference and adapts the SL word first to the normal
pronunciation, then to the normal morphology (words -forms) of the TL […].” (idem)
When it comes to the cultural equivalent procedure, the cultural words from the sou rce language
are translated by other cultural words in the source language. For example “ Palais Bourbon as ‘(the
French) Westminster’”. (Newmark 1988: 83)
The functional equivalent is usually used with the cultural equivalent procedure and it “occupies
the middle, sometimes the universal, area between the SL language or culture and the TL language
or culture”. This procedure works with cultural words and it is “the most accurate way of
translating i.e. deculturalising a cultural word”. (idem)
The descriptiv e equivalent combines the description and function of the word, being quite
important when translating. For example, for the word “machete, the description is a ‘Latin

14
American broad, heavy instrument’, the function is ‘cutting or aggression’; the descript ion and
function are combined in ‘knife’”. (Newmark 1988: 84)
The procedure of synonymy is employed when an equivalent of the SL word in the TL does not
exist. Synonymy can be used when the word is not that important in the text and it is usually
employed when the literal translation cannot be applied. In most cases, the adverbs and adjectives
of quality are replaced by synonyms. A translator must always know how and when to use
synonyms. Sometimes the excessive use of synonyms denotes a poor translation.
Caique or through -translation deals with the translation of different name organizations,
collocations, phrases and different compounds.
The most obvious examples of through -translations are the names of
international organizations which often consists of ‘ universal’ words
which may be transparent for English and Romance languages, and
semantically motivated for Germanic and Slavonic: e.g. EEC
Communauté Economique Européenne […] European Cultural
Convention, Convention Culturelle E uropéenne ; groupe d’études , study
group […] . (Newmark 1988: 84)

The international organizations usually are the same in every language due to the acronyms (for
example, UNESCO), but there are international organizations where the acronyms may differ
(NATO in French is OTAN).
The t ransposition or, as Catford calls it, the shift is a procedure where some changes appear
regarding the grammar from SL to TL. There are several changes and one of them is the change
of the word from being singular to being plural in TL (e.g. “holiday” in F rench is “ vacances ”) and
also the position of adjectives might change (e.g. “la chatte noire” becomes “the black cat”).
Another change usually occurs when the literal translation is used but at the level of the grammar
some problems appear because it does not correspond always with the naturalness of that word in
the target language. “Here Vinay and Darbelnet’s pioneering book and a host of successors give
their preferred translations, but often fail to list alternatives, which may be more suitable in other
contexts or may merely be a matter of taste […].” (Newmark 1988:86)
The translator never stops to be preoccupied about the probability and currency of the words, of
the alternatives. Therefore, according to Newmark (idem), there “is a great difference bet ween Des

15
son lever ‘as soon as he gets up’, where lever shows up an English lexical gap and therefore the
translation has a high degree of probability […]”.
Vinay and Darbelnet in Newmark (1988: 86) give the following examples of transposition:
(1) SL verb, TL noun (essaie , ‘attempt’)
(2) SL conjunction, TL indefinite adjective (des que, ‘any’)
(3) SL clause, TL noun group (dis qu'on essaie , ‘any attempt’)
(4) SL verb group, TL verb (est aux prises , ‘involves’)
(5) SL noun group, TL noun (des contradictions, ‘inconsistencies’)
(6) SL complex sentence, TL simple sentence (etc.)

Regarding the modulation procedure, Vinay and Darbelnet in Newmark (1988: 88) use the term
modulation to define “a variation through a change of viewpoint, of persp ective ( éclairage ) and
very often of category of thought”. There are several modulation categories, but the most
important, as Newmark (idem) states it, is “the negated contrary” or “positive for double negative”
or “double negative for positive” which is a quite good and exact translation that applies for almost
every verb and adjective or adverb. For example: Il n’est pas paresseux – He is extremely
energetic.
In Newmark’s book (1988: 89) there are also mentioned other modulation categories, such as:
The other modulation procedures are: (a) abstract for concrete ( ‘sleep in
the open ’, dormir à la belle étoile ); (b) cause for effect ( ‘You're quite a
stranger ’, On ne vous voit plus ); (c) one part for another ( ‘from cover to
cover ’, de la première à la dernièr e page )\ (d) reversal of terms ([…]
danger de mort\ n'appelez pas du has de escalier ,’don't call u p the stairs ’;
assurance -maladie , ‘health insurance ’); (e) active for passive; (0 space for
time ( ‘as this in itself (space) presented a difficulty ’, cela présumant déjà
(time) une difficulté ); (g) intervals and limits; (h) change of symbols.

When using the recognized translation procedure, a translator must be always aware of the fact
that he has to use the recognized or accepted version of a certain translation. If he does not agree
with the official version, he might show, but indirectly, his disagreement with it. Almost in all
cases, the translator has just to accept the official version, even if it is not the one that he prefers.
The translation la bel is a temporary translation of a new term, usually an institutional one and it
has to be put in inverted commas. Later in translation, this commas can be removed in a discreet
way. Another solution might be the literal translation. For example: “heritag e language – langue
d’héritage” . (Newmark 1988:90)

16
According to Newmark (idem) the compensation “is said to occur when loss of meaning, sound –
effect, metaphor or pragmatic effect in one part of a sentence is compensated in another part, or in
a contagious sentence”. He also states that the componential analysis “is the splitting up of a lexical
unit into its sense components, often one -to-two, -three or –four translations.”
A translator usually uses the paraphrase procedure when he /she has to do with a bad or poorly
written text where he needs to add some explanations because the segments of the text are
ambiguous.
The couplets or triplets procedure englobes two or three procedures in one to deal with a certain
problem. For example, a translator might englob e in the triplets’ procedure the transference for the
cultural words and also the cultural and functional equivalent in order to solve the problem and to
give a quite good translation.
Therefore, taken into consideration all the aspects discussed and exemp lified above, a translator
has to be quite skilled and has to know all sort of things about translating. A good translator has to
have a great deal of knowledge and he will not be satisfied with an average translation or a
mediocre one.
In what follows, I will present the chapter 2 in which the focus will be on collocations: what are
the collocations, different types of collocations and some pitfalls and problems in translating
collocations. There will be mentioned some other authors’ opinion regarding the collocations.

17
Chapter 2: Collocations
2.1. Definition of C ollocations
Along our lives, every each of us use at least once a day collocations. No matter if we as parents,
teachers, students, children or any other regular persons we use at a daily basis collocations when
we talk to each other. If we are parents, for example, we usually tell our children “Do your
homework!”, “Make your bed!” which obviously are some common collocations.
Because they are so regularly used, I am sure that no one was ever won dering how could be defined
the collocations. Well, it is quite simple. The collocations are some words that go perfectly
together. The collocations might sound natural for the native speakers, due to the fact that it is so
often used, but it might not be the case for the rest of the people, those who do not have English
as their mother tongue.
In what Nattinger and DeCarrico (1992: 21) are concerned, the collocations are “string of words
that seem to have certain ‘mutual expectancy’, or a greater -than-chance likelihood that they will
co-occur in any text”.
In addition to the definition given by Nattinger and DeCarrico, Poulsen (2005: 14 -15) in her book
mentions 5 different definitions for the collocation as a technical term where the central element
is a ce rtain form of co -occurrence:
(a) The tendency for lexical items to co -occur in a text, or in a text corpus,
whether or no t they form a syntactic pattern
(b) T he co -occurrence of lexical items in a syntactic pattern, only
restricted by general selection res trictions (also referred to as ‘free/open
collocation’, or ‘free/open combination’)
(c) T he tendency for lexical items to co -occur in a syntactic pattern
restricted not only by general selection restrictions, but also by usage
restrictions on one element ( often referred to as ‘restricted collocation’)
(d) T he co -occurrence of lexical items in an unexpected, creative way
that conflicts with general selection restrictions and/or usage restrictions
(normally referred to as ‘creative combination’ rather than co llocation)
(e) The tendency for a lexical item to co -occur with a preposition or
grammatical structure such as an infinitive or clause (referred to as
‘grammatical collocation’ in contrast to ‘lexical collocation’)

In the cases of the definitions (a) and (c) the recurrence is quite important. The definition (d)
does not include recurrence and the definition (b) is neutral.

18
The Cambridge dictionary defines a collocation as being “a word or phrase that is often used with
another word or phrase, in a way that sounds correct to people who have spoken the language all
their lives, but might not be expected from the meaning”.
Robins (2000: 64) says that collocation is “the habitual association of a word in a language with
other particular words in sentences.”
Halliday and Hasan (2001: 317) seem to agree with the Robins’ definition given for the
collocations and it says that a collocation is “the co -occurrence of lexical items that are in some
way or other typically associated with one another, because they tend to occur in similar
environments”.
Taken into consideration Halliday and Hasan’s definition of collocation, Duan and Qin (idem)
gives a good example to explain it: “the word doctor implies such words as nurse, medicine,
symptom, hospital , etc. The night is closely related with darkness. ” They also add that “collocation,
in this sense, is overlapped with the so -called semantic field. Words occurring in collocation or in
the same semantic field exist as a group fit in a given situation.”
In The Free Dictionary by Farlex, the collocation appears as “an arrangement or juxtaposition of
words or other elements, especially those that commonly co -occur as rancid butter, bosom buddy,
or dead serious. ” However, Bartsch (2004:11) states that the collocations are “frequently recurrent,
relatively fixed syntagmatic combinations of two or more words.”
The word “collocation” derives from “to collocate” which according to the Oxford Dictionaries
means to “be habitually juxtaposed with another with a fr equency greater than chance.” It also
says that “ ‘maiden’ collocates with ‘voyage’ ”.
Based on their propositional meaning the chance for two or more words to collocate is usually big,
but it is not always the case. For example, Baker (2001:47) mentions t hat “ cheque is more likely
to occur with bank, pay, money and write than with moon, butter, playground or repair .”
The pairs of collocates won’t be similar almost at all for those words which, for most of us, seem
to be synonyms or near -synonyms. “English speakers typically break rules but they do not break
regulations ; they typically talk of wasting time but not of squandering time .” (Baker 2001:47)

19
When in a language a word has a range it means that it is compatible with several other words at
a higher or less high level of degree. Therefore, the collocations also have a certain range related
to a set of collocates “which are typically associated with the word in question.” (Baker 2001:49)
The English verb shrug , for instance, has a rather limited collocat ional
range. It typically occurs with shoulders and does not have a particularly
strong link with any other word in language. Run, by contrast, has a vast
collocational range, some of its typical collocates being company,
business, show, car, stocking, tig hts, nose, wild, debt, bill, river, course,
water and colour, among others. (Baker 2001:50)

This range of the collocation or, in other words, collocational range can be influenced is a word is
more or less specific. This collocational range will be bigger if the word is more general, but if the
word is more specific then the collocational range will be smaller. Baker (2001:50) gives a very
good example: “the verb bury is likely to have a much broader collocational range than any of its
hyponyms, such as inter or entomb […]. Only people can be interred , but you can bury people, a
treasure , your head, feelings or memories. ”
The collocational range can be also influenced by the number of senses of a word. If a word has
more than just one sense, then there will be a different set of collocates for each sense of that word.
“For example, in its sense of ‘manage’, the verb run collocates with words like company,
institution, and business . In its sense of ‘operate or provide’, it collocates with words like service
and course .” Therefore, there is “a strong relationship between the number of senses a word has
and its collocational range.” (idem)
There is no such thing as an admissible or inadmissible collocation because the collocational range
is not fixed. We usually debate if a collocation is rather typical or untypical than admissible or
inadmissible. People create new collocations all the time whether they do it on purpose or just
intuitively. New collocations appear frequently because the words have the tendency t o attract
collocates.
As I said above, the collocations are usually typical or untypical. The common, everyday
collocations that we use seem to be typical, but there might be other collocations from a specific
register that may appear untypical in our ever yday language.

20
Sinclair in Baker (2001: 52) states that ‘dull highlights ’ and ‘vigorous depressions’ might seem
untypical in our everyday language, but in specific fields like photography or meteorology these
terms are as typical as possible.
Baker (idem ) adds that “in statistics, collocations such as biased error and tolerable error are
common and acceptable”. These collocations, for those who does not know much about this field,
might seem as marked, but “collocational markedness is not an absolute qualit y; it always depends
on what the norm is in a given register.”
It is usually hard to establish the meaning of a word on itself. What we can do is to put it in a
specific context with its most common collocations and not with those which are not that well
known.
Baker (2001: 53) mentions in her book a sort of explanations of what ‘dry’ could mean on its own
as says:
Asked to explain what dry means, we are likely to think of collocations
such as dry clothes, dry river and dry weather , which would prompt the
definition ‘free from water’. As we move away from the most common
collocations of dry, it becomes clear that the meaning of dry depends
largely on its pattern of collocation and is not something that the word
possesses in isolatio n.

2.2. Collocations: Why are they i mportant?
In the past, not so many people knew about the collocations. It is clear that not everybody knows
which words pair with others, not even now. This is why an error like ‘do a mistake’ and not ‘make
a mistake’ appears in speaking or writing. Therefore, it is essential to learn collocations so that
such an error and others will not appear.
McCarthy and O’Dell (2005: 6) give three good reasons why learning collocations is a good idea.
In their opinion the collocat ions can:
 Give you the most natural way to say something: smoking is strictly
forbidden is more natural than smoking is strongly forbidden.

21
 Give you alternative ways of saying something, which may be more
colorful/expressive or more precise: instead of repeating It was very cold
and very dark , we can say It was bitterly cold and pitch dark .
 Improve your style in writing: instead of saying pove rty causes crime ,
you can say poverty breeds crime ; instead of saying a big meal you can
say a substantial meal .

In addition, Lewis (2000:53 -56) presents his nine important reasons why the collocations are
important:
1. The lexicon is not arbitrary . This fir st reason is important because the way in which words
pair and become collocations is essential in every language. Lewis (2000: 53) states here
that “we do not speak or write as if language were one huge substitution table with
vocabulary items merely fill ing slots in grammatical structures”. In this part, he gives an
example for this reason and his example is about drinks and drinking. In his opinion, a
common verb used in this context is ‘have’ and when someone speaks about drinks, the
other usually think s about drinks like ‘coffee’, ‘tea’, ‘soda’, but for sure he will not think
about unusual drinks, drinks that are not drunk on purpose, more likely by accident. These
drinks could be: ‘shampoo’, ‘oil’ or ‘hydrogen peroxide’.
2. Predictability . Taken into consideration the example with the drinks from the previous
reason, we can state that this reason is important because it helps in the process of learning
collocations. There are certain patterns to collocations which help in this process and
makes it easi er.
3. The size of the phrasal mental lexicon. Lewis (idem) states that:
Collocation is important because this area of predictability is, as we have
seen, enormous. Two, three, four and even five -word collocations make
up a huge percentage of all naturally -occurring text, spoken or written.
Estimates vary, but it is possible than up to 70% of everything we say,
hear, read, or write is to be found in some form of fixed expression.
4. The role of memory . It is obvious that all of us know collocations because during our lives
we heard them or about them, used them in different contexts. Therefore, the collocations
took a place in our mental lexicon like any other thing that we memorized.
We usually memorize all sorts of things and we can memorize things involuntarily. For
example, when we are in our cars and the radio is on, we hear catchy songs and they
remain in our memory even if the songs are awful. Other good examples are the slogans
from advertisings, sayings, phone numbers, names, proverbs, jokes, etc. It is the case of

22
collocations, too. We store the collocations in our mental lexicon and when we need them,
we just retrieve them from there.
5. Fluency . Lewis (2000: 54) says that “collo cation allows us to think more quickly and
communicate more efficiently. Native speakers can only speak at the speed they do
because they are calling on a vast repertoire of ready -made language, immediately
available from their mental lexicons.” This means that a native speaker of French, for
example, will communicate much more efficiently in French than a non -native one. For a
non-native, it will take more time to process information about something in particular,
not because of the density of the words, b ut because of the density of collocations that he
does not know.
6. Complex ideas are often expressed lexically . At this part, Lewis (2000: 55) talks about
students and the way in which they express ideas in their speeches. An intermediate
student will always try to express the ideas, whether they are simpler or more complex, in
the simplest way with short and simple sentences. In general, it is not hard to express
simple ideas in simple sentences, but the harder part occurs when a complex idea is
expressed in a simple sentence. The lexical – complex noun phrases are needed here to
give the complexity and not a complex grammar. “The more exposure students have to
good quality input and the more awareness they develop of the lexical nature of language,
the more they will recognize and eventually produce longer chunks themselves.” (idem)
7. Collocation makes thinking easier . People usually speak and think at a high speed because
of the collocations and not by using different new languages. Lewis (idem) mentions that
because of the collocations “we can continue to manipulate the ideas without using all our
brain space to focus on the form of words”. The collocations that he uses there ‘manipulate
ideas’ and ‘brain space’ are verb + noun and noun + noun collocation exam ples.
Therefore, according to him, collocation is a fundamental key to fluency.
8. Pronunciation is integral. There are languages that have significant differences, and it is
hard to tell a joke, for example, to an audience and expect from them to understand the
joke. The pronunciation, the stress, the intonation, all are very important and sometimes
hard for the audience to understand. Everything must be chunked correctly. Lewis (2000:
56) adds that “the great added bonus to knowing a large number of collocat ions and other

23
longer expressions is that if learners learn the stress pattern of a phrase as a whole, their
stress and intonation will be better.”
9. Recognizing chunks is essential for acquisition. As mentioned above, the chunking of all
types of texts is e ssential. If a text is not chunked correctly, than it will not be understood
by others. When they are correctly chunked, understood and stored, the lexical items
should be there to be used at any time.

2.3. Types of C ollocations
There are two types of col locations: the free collocations and the restricted collocations.
On one hand, the free collocations are “combinations of two or more words with free
commutability within the grammatical and semantic framework. They are the vast majority of
collocations in the language”. (Aisenstadt 1981: 59)
On the other hand, the restricted collocations are “a type of word combination consisting of two
or more words unidiomatic in meaning, following certain structural patterns, restricted in
commutability not only by sema ntics, but also by usage.” (idem)
The restricted collocations are divided in two major groups: lexical collocations and grammatical
collocations.
The lexical collocations , in general, imply verbs, adverbs, nouns and adjectives. Here, according
to Benson et al (1986: 24 -28) we can distinguish these types of lexical collocations:
 Verb + Noun . As examples, we can have ‘make a mess’ or ‘make a difference’.
 Adjective + Noun . Some good examples for this type of lexical collocation are ‘burning
desire’ and ‘strong coffee’. It is important to note that not only one, but several adjectives
can go with the same noun. Therefore, the example ‘weak coffee’ is recognized as a lexical
collocation.
 Noun + Verb . ‘Bomb goes off’ can be considered as an example.
 Noun + of + No un. Moehkardi (2002: 60) says that “this type of collocations indicates the
unit that is associated with a noun”. Therefore, this unit associated with a noun might be a

24
“larger unit to which a single member belongs” and in this case a relevant example is ‘ a
herd of elephants’. “The specific, concrete, small unit of something larger, more general”
is associated to this type of collocations. She gives some quite good examples: “a bit of
advice” and “an article of clothing”.
 Adverb + Adjective . In this case, s ome good examples are ‘fully aware’ and ‘utterly stupid’.
 Verb + Adverb . For this type of lexical collocations ‘remember clearly’ and ‘remember
vaguely’ can be considered as examples.
The grammatical collocations imply verbs, nouns and adjectives with an infinitive, a gerund, a
clause, an adverb or a preposition. Moehkardi (2002: 54) states that:
According to Benson, Benson and Ilson (1986) in their introduction to
their The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English g rammatical
collocations fall into the following combinations: noun + preposition,
noun + to + infinitive, noun + that -clause, preposition + noun, adjective
+ preposition, adjective + that -clause, and the English 19 verb patterns.

There are also combinatio ns like adjective + to + infinitive and also verb + preposition.
 Noun + preposition . The examples are several and ‘interest in’, ‘fear of’, ‘talent for’ can
be categorized as good examples.
 Noun + to + infinitive . Moehkardi (idem) mentions that there are 5 syntactic patterns where
this type of grammatical collocation appears most frequently:
a. It was a pleasure (a problem, a struggle) to do it.
b. They had the foresight (instructions, an obligation, a permission) to
do it.
c. They felt a compulsion (an impulse, a n eed) to do it.
d. They made an attempt (an effort, a promise, a vow) to do it.
e. He was a fool (a genius, an idiot) to do it.

 Noun + that -clause . Only those noun + that -clause constructions having the subject a
pronoun are recognized as collocational. Moehkardi (2002: 55) gives as examples, the
following sentences: “We reached an agreement that she would represent us in court.” And
“He took an oath that he would do his duty.”
“However, when the ‘that -clause’ can be replaced by ‘which -clause’ as that in relative
clauses, such a noun + that -clause construction is not considered as collocational. For
example: We reached into an agreement that/which would go into effect in a month.”
(idem)

25
 Preposition + noun . Examples: ‘on hand’, ‘by foot’, ‘by chance’ etc.
 Adjective + preposition . The following constructions are considered to be relevant: ‘mad
at’, ‘worried about’, ‘interested in’ and the list can go on.
 Adjective + to + infinitive . Moehkardi (idem) considers that the predicative adjectives
occur in two part icular ‘to -infinitive’ constructions. In one case, there are “adjectives with
dummy subject ‘it’ such as It was necessary to work; also possible It was necessary for him
to work (the insertion of prepositional phrase)” . In another case, there are
Adjective s with real and animate subject, such as She is ready to go ; or
with inanimate subject, such as: It (the bomb) is designed to explode at
certain temperatures; or with either animate or inanimate subject: She
was bound to find out or It (the accident) was bound to happen.

 Adjective + that -clause . Example: ‘I was worried that you wouldn’t arrive on time.’
Moehkardi (2002: 55 -58) presents 19 types of verb patterns. These verb patterns, according
to her, are:
a. “Shift of an indirect object to a position before the direct object of transitive verbs is
allowed.” Example: ‘ I gave the letter to your friend ’ or ‘I gave your friend the letter ’ and
‘I gave the letter to her ’ or ‘I gave her the letter’.
b. “Shift of an indirect object to a position before the direct object by deleting to is not
allowed.” Example: ‘You mentioned the letter to her’. Here, we cannot say ‘You mentioned
her the letter’.
c. “Transitive verb with preposition for allows the deletion of for and the shift of the indirect
object to a position before the direct object”. Example: ‘Paula bought a new telephone for
her daughter’.
d. “The verb forms a collocation with a specific preposition and an object”. Example: ‘I base
my accusations on the present evidences.’ As per the author, the constructions “We walked
in the park” and “They came by train” are not considered to be collocations, but they are
free combinations which can denote a location or a means.
e. “Verbs are followed by to + infinitive”. Example: ‘We continued to listen’.
f. “Verbs are followed by infinitiv e without to”. Example: ‘The show must go on’.
g. “Verbs are followed by second verb in -ing”. Example: ‘The children kept eating’.
h. “Transitive verbs are followed by an object and to + infinitive”. Example: ‘Your sister -in-
law asked me to be her bridesmaid.’

26
i. “Transitive verbs are followed by a direct object and an infinitive without to. Most I -pattern
verbs cannot be passivized”. Example: ‘We let you believe that you’re right’.
j. “Verbs are followed by an object and a verb in -ing”. Example: ‘I caught you cheati ng on
me with her.’
k. “Verbs can be followed by a noun or pronoun and gerund”. Example: ‘That video with
you proves you’re lying to all of us.’
l. “Verbs are followed by a noun clause beginning with conjunction that”. Example: ‘I still
hope that you would tell me the truth.’ Moehkardi also adds that “some verbs always take
an object noun or pronoun before the that -clause” and mentions as examples the following:
“She assured me that she would arrive on time.” or “They convinced us that we should
invest our money .”
m. “Transitive verb can be followed by a direct object, an infinitive to be and adjective/past
participle/noun/pronoun”. Example: “We considered her to be very capable/well -trained/a
competent engineer”.
n. “Transitive verbs are followed by a direct object and adjective/past participle or
noun/pronoun”. Example: ‘I find it (your story) boring.’
o. “Transitive verbs are followed by two object”. Example: “The teacher asked the students
questions.”
p. “Intransitive/reflexive/transitive verbs must be followed by an ad verbial (an adverb/a
prepositional phrase/a noun phrase/a clause)”. Example: ‘Our course lasted more than 3
hours.’
q. “Verb can be followed by an interrogative word, such as how, what, when, etc.” Example:
‘You never knew what I wanted for my birthday.’
r. “Dum my ‘it’ is followed by transitive verbs (often expressing emotions) and by to +
infinitive or by that + clause or by either”. Example: “It puzzled me that he never answered
the telephones.” The author gives another good example: “It surprised me to learn o f her
decision.”
s. “A small number of intransitive verbs are followed by a predicate noun/ predicate
adjective. Including the verb make, used intransitively, belongs to this group”. Example:
‘After everything, you will make a good parent.’ Moehkardi consider s that a “larger group

27
of intransitive verbs can be followed only by a predicate adjective” and sustains her idea
with the examples: “The flowers smell fragrant” and “The food tastes awful”.

2.4. Collocations with Everyday V erbs
There are many collocation s with everyday verbs like ‘make, do, go’, etc. which seem to pose
more and more often problems for the English learners. What is important is that when
encountering collocational constructions with verbs like these, we have to remember their basic
meaning and then it will be simpler to understand the collocation.
I chose to give personal examples for the usage of this collocations, in order to show that I
understand it and that I know how to use collocations in a sentence.
McCarthy and O’Dell (2005: 18) pr esent the following collocations with the everyday verb
‘make’:
Collocation Example
Make arrangements for You should start to make arrangements for
your wedding from now.
Make a change/changes I need to make a change in my life.
Make a choice You have to make a choice between me and
her.
Make a comment/comments Would you like to make a comment on my
thesis?
Make a contribution to This time she really made a contribution to the
society by donating money.
Make a decision I just cannot make a decision without
considering everything.
Make an effort Please make an effort and come tomorrow
with me.

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Make an excuse You’re just making an excuse because you
don’t want to come.
Make friends I’m trying to make friends in my new town,
but it’s hard.
Make an improvement Changing her hair color has made a good
improvement.
Make a mistake I made a mistake by not telling you the truth.
Make a phone call I left the room because I had to make an
important phone call.
Make progress With the dance classes that you took, it is clear
that you made progress.
Table 2.1: Collocations with the verb ‘make’ and examples

For the everyday verb ‘do’ McCarthy and O’Dell (idem) mention the following collocations:
Collocation Example
Do your best I did my best at the exam and I’m confident.
Do damage The fire did some serious damage to the
neighborhood.
Do an experiment I’m doing an experiment to see how she acts
under pressure.
Do exercises We should do some exercises before the
exam.
Do someone a good turn/ do someone a favor Please do me a favor and just leave!
Do harm Leaving without finishing the test did more
harm than good.
Do your hair You look nice today. Did you do your hair
differently?
Do your homework I cannot leave until I do my homework.

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Do the ironing/shopping/washing, etc. We will finish earlier if I do the ironing , you
do the shopping and your sister does the
washing.
Do some work You shouldn’t leave because you still have to
do some work on that project.
Table 2 .2: Collocations with the verb ‘do’ and examples

The collocations with the everyday verb ‘go’ are:
Collocation Example
Go bald After years, some men usually go bald.
Go astray I feel like I’m going astray with all these
exams.
Go bad My fridge broke down and all the food went
bad.
Go bankrupt With this economy, the firm will go bankrupt.
Go blind She went blind after that horrible accident.
Go crazy You’re going crazy under pressure. Do
something!
Go mad David went mad when he hear d the news.
Go missing After the party from last night, he just went
missing.
Go out of business If the prices will stay this high, his firm will go
out of business soon.
Go overseas Because of the low salaries in our country, my
father had to go overseas to work.
Go quiet When the teachers appeared with the exam
results everybody went quiet.
Table 2.3: Collocations with the verb ‘go’ and examples

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The everyday verb ‘go’ is used when some changes in people’s physical ability, personality or
appea rance appear. In the table above, there are some good exemplifications (‘go
mad/crazy/astray/blind/bald’), but there might be also: ‘go deaf/go grey’ etc.
The very common verb ‘have’ also has some good collocations and McCarthy and O’Dell (2005:
22) mention in their book the followings:
Collocation Example
Have an accident I heard that yesterday he had a bad accident.
Have an argument/a row The doctors had an argument about how to
operate on the patient.
Have a break You worked all day. Have a break !
Have a conversation/chat I had an interesting conversation with your
teacher about your grades.
Have difficulty Andrew has difficulty understanding the task
for today’s class.
Have a dream/nightmare I had a nightmare two days ago and I can’t
stop thinking about it.
Have an experience I had a bad first experience with the bicycle.
Have a feeling I have a feeling that everything will be okay.
Have fun/ a good time My parents 100% sure that we will have fun
tonight without them.
Have a look I think that you should have a look on what
he’s supposed to do.
Have a party My parents will be gone this weekend. Let’s
have a big party !
Have a problem/problems Do you have any problems with your new car?
Have a tr y/go I ask her first what should we do and then we
can have a try.
Table 2.4: Collocations with the verb ‘have’ and examples

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The verb ‘get’ enters into the category of commonly used verbs and some of its collocations are
the following:
Collocation Example
Get a life Stop controlling me and get a life!
Get a job It’s time for you to get a job.
Get angry She got angry when she saw the broken vase.
Get divorced My parents got divorced when I was little.
Get drunk I don’t remember anything from last night
because I got drunk.
Get home I let you go, but you need to get home by 10.
Get lost I got lost in that big city.
Get permission You need to get permission to leave the room.
Get ready Get ready because we leav e in 5 minutes.
Get the impression I don’t know how you get the impression that
you can come with us.
Get upset He got upset when I told him that he can’t
come.
Get worried You were late and I got worried.
Get a shock I got a shock when I heard that they’re getting
married.
Table 2.5: Collocations with the verb ‘get’ and examples

We need to keep in mind some of the other common collocations with the following verbs:
 Break
Collocation Example

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Break the law You can’t smoke in here, you will break the
law.
Break a leg Before he went on stage, I wished him to break
a leg.
Break a promise If I tell you, I will break a promise made
before.
Break the ice With that joke he really broke the ice.
Break someone’s heart It wasn’t fair to break her heart like that.
Table 2.6: Break: collocations and examples

 Take
Collocation Example
Take a break You really need to take a break!
Take a look Please come and take a look on my paper.
Take a chance He was nervous, but the take a chance and
asked her out.
Take an exam I hope I will take the English exam!
Take notes The teacher spoke too fast and I couldn’t take
notes.
Table 2.7: Take: collocations and examples

 Pay ( mentioned by McCarthy and O’Dell (2005: 22) and not only)
Collocation Example
Pay attention You need to pay attention when I’m speaking
because I won’t repeat.
Pay a compliment Don’t get upset! I was trying to pay a
compliment.

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Pay your (last) respects We need to go to the funeral and pay our
respects to our friend.
Pay someone a visit I hope he’s home because I want to pay him a
visit.
Pay the price I cheated on you and now I’m paying the price.
Table 2.8: Pay: collocations and examples

2.4.1. Comme nts on the V erbs
When it comes to the verb ‘become’, McCarthy and O’Dell (2005: 20) mention that very often it
and the verb ‘get’ use the same collocations, but there is a difference between them. ‘Become’ is
rather formal and it is recommended to be used in essays, for example. They give the following
examples: “She gave up smoking when she became pregnant.” and “I would like to become
involved in raising money for charity.”
‘Become’ is more likely to be u sed with adjectives like ‘angry, depressed, impatient, violent,
upset’, etc. (idem) For example: She became impatient when she heard that in a week we’ll go on
a trip together.
The verb ‘turn’ has collocational constructions with colors. McCarthy and O’Dell (idem) presents
as examples the following sentences:
 “The sky turned gold as the sun set”.
 “When the tomatoes turn red, the farmers pick them and sell them”.
 “The news gave his mother a shock that her hair turned white overnight”.
The verb ‘go’ can also appear in collocational constructions with colors. For example: She was so
embarrassed after everything that happened and her face went red.
Idem show some examples where the verb ‘get’ is completely wrongly used:
1. “I was able to get new friends.”
2. “A year ago he got a heart attack.”
3. “If I get a child of my own one day…”
4. “O was getting crazy.”

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5. “In June, I got a baby, James.”
Their alternatives of Idem for these sentences are:
1. “I was able to make new friends.”
2. “A year ago he had/suffered a h eart attack.”
3. “If I have a child of my own one day…”
4. “I was going crazy.”
5. “In June, I had a baby, James.”
The following constructions given by McCarthy and O’Dell (2005: 20) are possible alternatives
for the verbs ‘get’ and ‘become’:
 “She fell ill and was taken to hospital.”
 “Everyone fell silent when they heard the shocking news.”
 “As my father grew older, he spent less time working.”
 “The noise grew louder and soon we realized it was a plane approaching.”
Regarding everything said and illustrated above ab out the collocations, it is important to mention
again, without being redundant, the fact that the collocations are simple, common constructions,
well-stored in our mental lexicon, ready to be used at any time and essential in our communication
with each o ther.
In what follows, I will attempt to analyze some collocations from several movie reviews. Taking
into consideration every detail mentioned here about the collocations, I will specify in which
category they enter, what kind of collocations they are and some alternatives of translations,
according to the context, will come after that.

35
Chapter 3: The Analysis and Translation of Collocations from
Movie R eviews
From the movie review of the film The silent storm I chose to analyze and translate the followi ng
collocations: ‘beautifully shot’, ‘sensitive turn’, ‘make decisions’, ‘brighten considerably’,
‘dismissed by’ and ‘steal the show’.
Andrea Riseborough is magnificent in this eerie, beautifully shot drama that's enhanced by her
sensitive turn as the sad, distant wife of Lewis' bible bashing minister. […] Seeking inspiration
from the Lord, he makes increasingly irrational decisions while his quiet, pale wife tries to evade
his wrath. Aislin's world brightens considerably when Fionn is sent to live with the m. He's a
bookish, polite hard -grafter who's dismissed by Balor […] Riseborough steals the show in a moody
period drama loaded with atmosphere and tension .
Analysis:
 ‘Beautifully shot’: lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and an adjective.
 ‘Sensitive turn’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
 ‘Make decisions’: lexical collocation, formed by a verb and a noun.
 ‘Brighten considerably’: lexical collocation, formed by a verb and an adverb.
 ‘Dismissed by’: grammatical collocation, formed by an adjective and a preposition.
 ‘Steal the show’: lexical collocation, formed by a verb and a noun.
Translation:
 ‘Beautifully shot’: I choose not to translate literally and for the adjective ‘beautifully’
which in Romanian has the basic meaning ‘frumos’, I will choose a synonym for the adverb
‘frumos’. I choose to translate in Romanian the adjective ‘beautiful’ as ‘m inunat’ . The
adjective ‘shot’ can be translated in Romanian by ‘filmat’ or ‘regizat’. Therefore, my
translation of ‘beautifully shot’ is ‘regizat minunat’.
 ‘Sensitive turn’: I think that, in this case, the best equivalent for the adjective ‘sensitive’ is
‘delicat’. The noun ‘turn’ in Romanian can mean ‘ întorsătură, învârtitură, turnură ’, but I
think that the most appropriate equivalent of the noun is ‘ întorsătură ’. Therefore, my
translation of ‘sensitive turn’ is ‘ întorsătură delicat ă’.

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 ‘Make decisions’: T he mot -à-mot translation of this collocation in Romanian would be ‘a
face decizii’, but this translation does not have any meaning , so the best translation is ‘a
lua hot ărâri’.
 ‘Brighten considerably’: For the verb ‘brighten’ I choose the Romanian equivalen t ‘a se
lumina’ and the nearest Romanian equivalent ‘considerabil’ can be accepted here. So, ‘se
lumineaz ă considerabil ’ is my final version of translation.
 ‘Dismissed by’: My translation for this collocation is ‘ alungat de către’ . I chose this
translation because the verb ‘to dismiss’ means ‘a alunga’ and therefore, the adjective
‘dismissed’ will have the meaning ‘alungat’ .
 ‘Steal the show’: The word -for-word Romanian translation of this collocation would be ‘a
fura spectacolul’, but the best equivalent fo r it, in my opinion, is ‘a domina scena’.
From the movie review of Leonardo DiCaprio’s famous film The Revenant , I chose the following
collocations: ‘attacked by’, ‘complicated by’, ‘tales of vengeance’, ‘astonishing experience’, ‘find
inspiration’, ‘sheer brutality’, ‘piece of action’, ‘visual effects’, ‘uniformly terrific’, ‘verge of
tears’ and ‘hypnotically good’.
In 1823, a fur -trapping expedition in the American Midwest is attacked by a Native American
tribe. Their quest to reach safety is complicated by a bear attack […] Few tales of vengeance have
ever looked quite so butt -clenchingly chilly. […] But Iñárritu has come out […] with an
astonishing sensory experience […]. Iñárritu has found inspiration […] In two blistering early set –
pieces, the sheer brutality that mountain man faced […]. It’s mesmerizing, violent piece of action
choreography […]. Though the visual effects are a little jarring […] The supporting cast is
uniformly terrific , particularly Poulter, looking on the verge of tears at all time s […] DiCaprio is
hypnotically good , whether scraping marrow […].
Analysis:
 ‘Attacked by’: grammatical collocation, formed by an adjective and a preposition.
 ‘Complicated by’: grammatical collocation, formed by an adjective and a preposition.
 ‘Tales of ven geance’: lexical collocation, formed by noun 1 + of + noun 2.
 ‘Astonishing experience’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
 ‘Find inspiration’: lexical collocation, formed by a verb and a noun.
 ‘Sheer brutality’: lexical collocation, form ed by an adjective and a noun.

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 ‘Piece of action’: lexical collocation, formed by noun 1 + of + noun 2.
 ‘Visual effects’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
 ‘Uniformly terrific’: lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and an adjective.
 ‘Verge of tears’: lexical collocation, formed by noun 1 + of + noun 2.
 ‘Hypnotically good’: lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and an adjective.
Translation:
 ‘Attacked by’: The Romanian word for this adjective has almost the same form, namely
‘atacat ’ and ‘by’ can be translated in Romanian by ‘de’ or ‘de c ătre’. Hence, my version
for this collocation is ‘atacat de c ătre’.
 ‘Complicated by’: The same explanation from above can be given in this case. I would
translate this collocation as follows: ‘complic at de’.
 ‘Tales of vengeance’: In my opinion, an appropriate equivalent for ‘tales of vengeance’
might be ‘ povești de răzbunare ’ because in this context this collocation cannot have another
meaning.
 ‘Astonishing experience’: ‘astonishing’ is a quite powerful adjective and in Romanian it
means ‘ extraordinar’ and ‘minunat’. I consider that both ‘ experiență extraordinară ’ and
‘experiență minunată ’ are good translations.
 ‘Find inspiration’: It is simple to translate this collocation because the English no un
resembles very much with the Romanian noun and ‘find’ is a regular, simple verb. I think
that ‘a găsi inspirație ’ is a good equivalent for it.
 ‘Sheer brutality’: In this case, I chose to replace in Romanian the basic meaning of the
adjective ‘sheer’ wit h a synonym. My translation for it is ‘brutalitate pură’.
 ‘Piece of action’: I think that in the case of this collocation, the basic meaning of the noun
‘piece’ does not apply and a synonym would be better. Thus, for ‘piece’ I will use the
Romanian equival ent ‘secven ță’ and for the rest I will use the usual equivalents. My
translation for ‘piece of action’ is ‘ secvență de acțiune ’.
 ‘Visual effects’: It is easy to translate this collocation because the equivalents are much
alike. The translation of this coll ocation is ‘efect vizual’.
 ‘Uniformly terrific’: For the adjective ‘terrific’ there are several options to translate. It can
be translated ‘grozav’, ‘nemaipomenit’, ‘minunat’ or ‘fantastic’ and ‘uniformly’ could be

38
translated in this way: ‘uniform’, but I chose to translate it ‘ în mod egal ’. In consequence,
my final version is ‘ minunați în mod egal ’.
 ‘Verge of tears’: I will not keep the basic meaning of ‘verge’, but I will replace the closest
equivalent with a synonym and I will use ‘limit ă’. In the case o f the second noun, it will
receive the closest equivalent and my final translation of this collocation is ‘limită de
lacrimi’.
 ‘Hypnotically good’: The adverb ‘hypnotically’ is quite powerful and it is used as an
emphasizer. I will use, as usual, a synonym for it, namely ‘extrem’ because I consider that
it is the best choice. So, I offer the following version of translation for this collocation:
‘extrem de bun’.
I picked the following collocations from the movie review of the film Anomalisa : ‘minor miracle’ ,
‘hope desperately, ‘find happiness’, ‘zone of madness’ and ‘end well’.
It is a minor miracle of a movie, the most beautiful, haunting, empathetic […]. As you’d expect
from Kaufman, the writing delivers flawed, lonely people who you desperately hope will find
happiness together. As Michael and Lisa’s relationship crescendos, the film enters a Being John
Malkovich zone of madness . […] it isn’t likely to end well or in any sort of obvious manner […].
Analysis:
 ‘Minor miracle’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
 ‘Hope desperately’: lexical collocation, formed by a verb and an adverb.
 ‘Find happiness’: lexical collocation, formed by a verb and a noun.
 ‘Zone of madness’: lexical collocation, formed by noun 1 + of + noun 2.
 ‘End well’: lexical collocation, formed by a verb and an adverb.
Translation:
 ‘Minor miracle’: The Romanian equivalent for this collocation is quite simple because the
words have almost the same form. Hence, the translation of this collocation is ‘miracol
minor’.
 ‘Desperately hope’: For the adverb ‘desperately’ there are two appropriate Romanian
equivalents, namely ‘ în mod disperat ’ and cu ‘disperare’, but I think that the latter is more

39
appropriate in this context . So, I will translate this collocation as follows ‘sper ă cu
disperare ’.
 ‘Find happiness’: The Romanian version for this collocation is as known as the collocation,
and it is ‘g ăsește fericire ’.
 ‘Zone of madness’: I consider that the best translation for ‘zone of madness’ is ‘ zonă de
nebunie ’ because ‘zone’ cannot mean something else in this context and the collocation
cannot be translated in another better way.
 ‘End well’: The adjective usually means ‘bine’, but with this verb it means ‘cu bine’. Thus,
I translate this collocation in this way: ‘se termin ă cu bine ’.
From the movie review of the film Money Monster , I chose the collocations ‘enjoyably skips’,
‘media satire’, ‘particularly memorable’, ‘smirking villain’, ‘similarly sweaty’, ‘siege thriller’,
‘driven by’, ‘amount of anger’, ‘mendacious monster’, ‘unctuou s master’, ‘self -absorbed smirker’,
‘pointless life’, ‘shared with’ and ‘effectively intense’.
[…]It enjoyably skips around from drama to thriller to media satire and back again. Jodie Foster’s turn
in Spike Lee’s Inside Man is particularly memorable for the moment where her smirking villain is
called a “magnificent cunt”. […], for her fourth film as director is a similarly sweaty , tense,
entertaining siege thriller . […] it’s a movie driven by a fair amount of anger about the mendacious
money monsters who helped make it happen […] Dominic West’s unctuous master of the universe
[…] A smug, self-absorbed smirker , Gates is a smart cookie […] how empty and pointless his life
is. Although most of his time on screen is shared with Jack O’Connell ( effectively intense […].
Analysis:
– ‘Enjoyably skip’: lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and a verb.
– ‘Media satire’: lexical collocation, formed by a noun and another noun.
– ‘Particularly memorable’: lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and an adjective.
– ‘Smir king villain’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
– ‘Similarly sweaty’: lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and an adjective.
– ‘Siege thriller’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
– ‘Driven by’: grammatical colloca tion, formed by an adjective and a preposition.
– ‘Amount of anger’: lexical collocation, formed by noun 1 + of + noun 2..
– ‘Mendacious monster’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.

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– ‘Unctuous master’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjec tive and a noun.
– ‘Self-absorbed smirker’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
– ‘Pointless life’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
– ‘Shared with’: grammatical collocation, formed by an adjective and a preposition.
– ‘Effectively intense’: lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and an adjective.
Translation:
– ‘Enjoyably skip’: Normally, the adverb ‘enjoyably’ means ‘ într-un mod plăcut ’. In this
particular case, I will keep its basic meaning, but I will not give a lite ral translation and I
chose to paraphrase it and the result is ‘ plăcut ’. Thus, my final version is ‘trece plăcut ’.
– ‘Media satire’: In Romanian, ‘media’ is translated, in most of the cases, ‘mass -media’ and
this is what I will use to give an appropriate equ ivalent for this collocation. ‘Satiră mass –
media’ is my equivalent.
– ‘Particularly memorable’: This collocation is well -known and there is a good translation in
Romanian for it , namely ‘ memorabil îndeosebi ’. I consider that, given the context, this
translat ion is quite appropriate.
– ‘Smirking villain’: The translation of this collocation and the collocation itself does not
resemble at all because the translation in Romanian is ‘ticălos rânjit ’.
– ‘Similarly sweaty’: This collocation is quite special and its translation depends on the
context. I will go with the translation ‘asudat în același fel’.
– ‘Siege thriller’: The noun ‘thriller’ is kept as it is in Romanian and ‘siege’ means ‘asediu’.
So, the translation is ‘thriller de asediu’.
– ‘Driven by’ : There is no t much to say about this collocation , except that it is quite simple
to translate. The verb ‘drive’ means ‘a conduce’ and I translate the adjective ‘driven’ as
‘condus ’. In this context, the collocation will be used with its figurative meaning and the
translation of it is ‘condus de’.
– ‘Amount of anger’ : The noun ‘amount’ means ‘cantitate’ and ‘doză’, but I think that the
best choice in this context is ‘doză’. Therefore, I translate this collocation as ‘doză de furie’.
– ‘Mendacious monster’ : This adjective em phasizes the m eaning of the noun ‘monster’. I
think that it can be translated as ‘monstru mincinos’ in order to emphasize the negative
meaning of it .

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– ‘Unctuous master’ : The noun ‘master’ has two basic meanings: ‘maestru’ and ‘expert’, but
I think that ‘exp ert’ is a better choice in this instance. I will not translate literally the
adjective ‘unctuous’ because its basic meaning does not apply here and I will use its
figurative meaning, namely ‘mieros’. Hence, the translation of this collocation is ‘expert
mieros’.
– ‘Self-absorbed smirker’ : There is a quite good translation in Romanian of the adjective
‘self-absorbed’, specifically ‘egocentric’ a nd ‘smirker’ means ‘rânjit’. This is why my final
version of this collocation is ‘rânjit egocentric’.
– ‘Pointless life’: ‘Pointless’ means ‘inutil’ and ‘lipsit de sens’ and I will chose for my
translation the latter. Therefore, it will be ‘viață lipsită de sens’.
– ‘Shared with ’: It is quite simple to translate this collocation because the verb ‘share’ means
‘a împărtăș i’ and the adjective ‘shared’ can only mean ‘împărtășit’. So, I will translate it as
‘împărtășit cu’.
– ‘Effectively intense’ : The adverb can be translated as ‘eficient’ and ‘în mod eficace’, but,
for me, the best choice is ‘în mod eficace’. Thus, my transla tion of this collocation is ‘intens
într-un mod eficace’.
From the movie review of the film Love & Friendship, I chose the following collocations : ‘ill-
favored’, ‘wealthy idiot’, ‘kindly sister -in-law’, ‘argue wittily’, ‘inspired venture’, ‘surprisingly
close’, ‘ real viciousness ’, ‘intricate plot’, ‘peppered with’, ‘spoilsport husband’, ‘awards -worthy
storm ’, ‘amusingly horrid’, ‘monumentally dim’, ‘ deliciously venomous ’, ‘undervalued by ’ and
‘distinctive talent ’.
Lady Susan Vernon […] her ill-favored daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark) to wealthy idiot Sir
James Martin (Tom Bennett). Catherine Vernon (Emma Greenwell), her kindly sister -in-law, tries
to resist the formidable, amoral Susan’s schemes. […] moping about relationships while arguing
wittily about everything else. […] is an inspired venture into costume drama , revealing how
surprisingly close a match […] High society comedy -romance is only bearable if real viciousness i s
stirred in. […] An intricate plot is peppered with […] perpetually in terror that a disapproving
spoilsport husband […] Beckinsale acts up an awards -worthy storm as the amusingly horrid Susan
[…] Tom Bennett steals all his scenes as the monumentally dim Sir James. […] The funniest, most
deliciously venomous Jane Austen movie ever made, and conclusive proof that, a) Kate Beckinsale
has been seriously undervalued by the movies and, b) Whit Stillman is a major, distinctive talent.

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Analysis:
– ‘Ill-favored daughter ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
– ‘Wealthy idiot ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
– ‘Kindly sister -in-law’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
– ‘Argue wittily’ : lexical collocation, formed by a verb and an adverb.
– ‘Inspired venture’ : lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
– ‘Surprisingly close’ : lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and an adjective.
– ‘Real viciousness ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
– ‘Intricate plot’ : lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
– ‘Peppered with’: grammatical collocation, formed by an adjective and a preposition.
– ‘Spoilsport husband’ : lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
– ‘Awards -worthy storm ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective a noun.
– ‘Amusingly horrid’ : lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and an adjective.
– ‘Monumentally dim’ : lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and an adjective.
– ‘Deliciously venomous ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and an adjective.
– ‘Underva lued by ’: grammatical collocation, formed by an adjective and a preposition.
– ‘Distinctive talent ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective and a noun.
Translation:
– ‘Ill-favored daughter ’: ‘Ill -favored’ means ‘ugly’ or ‘unattractive’ and I choose for my
translation ‘unattractive’ because it is not as rough as ‘ugly’. Therefore, my Romanian
translation of this collocation is ‘fiică neatractivă’.
– ‘Wealthy idiot ’: In Romanian, ‘wealthy’ means ‘bogat’ or ‘înstărit’ and the noun ‘idiot’ is
translated the s ame in Romanian. Hence, this collocation can be translated as both ‘idiot
bogat’ and ‘idiot înstărit’, but I think that the latter is a little bit more appropriate.
– ‘Kindly sister -in-law’: I think that in the context from above ‘kindly’ has the same meanin g
as ‘kind’. Here, it is an adjective and it can be an adverb too, but not in this context. So,
this adjective means in Romanian ‘drăguță’, ‘amabilă’ and my translation of this
collocation is ‘cumnată amabilă’.

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– ‘Argue wittily’ : I choose to translate the a dverb ‘wittily’ through a synonym and there are
two good options, namely ‘în mod inteligent’ and ‘cu șiretenie’, but I consider that the
latter is a better option. Hence, I translate this collocation as ‘se ceartă cu șiretenie’.
– ‘Inspired venture’ : In Roma nian the adjective ‘inspired’ has a similar form, namely
‘inspirat’ and my translation of it is ‘întreprindere inspirată’ because it is the most
appropriate translation given the context .
– ‘Surprisingly close’ : The Romanian equivalent of the adjective ‘clos e’ is ‘aproape’ and the
adverb means ‘neașteptat’ or ‘surprinzător’. ‘Neașteptat de aproape’ is my final version for
this collocation.
– ‘Real viciousness ’: The noun ‘viciousness’ can be translated in Romanian as ‘hainie’ and
the adjective ‘real’ as ‘real’, ‘adevărat’ or ‘autentic’ and I will translate this collocation as
‘hainie autentică’.
– ‘Intricate plot’ : For the adjective ‘intricate’ I will give two Romanian equivalents because
both are appropriate in this context; the equivalents are ‘complex’ and ‘elaborat’ an d ‘plot’
as ‘intrigă’. Hence, the translation of this collocation can be ‘intrigă complexă’ and ‘intrigă
elaborată’.
– ‘Peppered with’: I consider that ‘presărat cu’ and ‘c ondimentat cu’, both with their
figurative meaning , are go od translations o f this collocation because they fit well in this
context.
– ‘Spoilsport husband’ : A spoilsport person is someone who ruins the joy of other and it is
also synonym with ‘dull’ and ‘boring’. I will translate this collocation as ‘soț plictisito r’.
– ‘Awards -worthy storm ’: I chose to translate this collocation as ‘explozie demnă de premii’
because it is the best translation given the context .
– ‘Amusingly horrid’ : ‘Horrid’ can mean in Romanian ‘oribil’, ‘înfiorător’ or ‘îngrozitor’
and I will transla te this collocation as ‘înfiorător într -un mod amuzant’ because I consider
that it can be accepted in this context .
– ‘Monumentally dim’ : ‘Dim’ means ‘prost’ or ‘stupid’ and ‘monumentally’ will be
translated through a synonym, namely ‘extrem’ because it is t he best choice in this case .
Thus, my translation is ‘extrem de stupid’.

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– ‘Deliciously venomous ’: ‘Veninos’ and ‘otrăvitor’ are two good Romanian versions of
‘venomous’ and I translate this collocation as ‘delicios de veninos’ with a figurative
meaning, of course because it corresponds with the context.
– ‘Undervalued by ’: For the adjective ‘undervalued’ there are two quite good translation,
namely ‘subapreciat’ and ‘subestimat’ and both are equally good. Therefore, ‘subapreciat
de către’ and ‘subestimat de către’ are two possible versions of translations for this
collocation.
– ‘Distinctive talent ’: The adjective can be translated in many way and some of them are
‘particular’, ‘special’ or ‘ieșit din comun’. My translation of it is ‘talent ieșit din comun’.
From the movie review of the film Green room I chose the following collocations: ‘ deftly
establishes ’, ‘defiant followers ’, ‘booked to ’, ‘spiky suspense ’, ‘take hostage ’, ‘be evil ’, ‘siege
movies ’, ‘edgy conversations ’, ‘bursts of action ’, ‘shock -gore moments ’, ‘entirely guessable ’,
‘skinhead thugs ’, ‘cleverclogs guitarist ’, ‘fondness for ’, and ‘ rough -hewn reinvention ’.
An opening sequence deftly establishes our heroes, The Ain’t Rights, as defiant followers of the
punk flame while explaining the Blues Brothers -like misunderstandings that get them booked to
play a far right […] Effectively meshes spiky suspense and action with blackly comic touches. […] The
Ain’t Rights hole up in the green room with the dead girl’s friend Amber […] and bouncer Big
Justin […] who they take hostage. Put upon manager Gabe […] calls in his boss, Darcy (Stewart,
relishing a chance to be evil for once) […]Like many great siege movies , this alternates edgy
conversations with bursts of action as both sides work out plans to break in […]There are shock –
gore moments a-plenty, and the order in which characters are culled isn’t entirely guessable.
[…]There are also hidden depths to t he line -up of musos and skinhead thugs , with the presence of
softie indie -drama types Anton Yelchin […] and Alia Shawkat (a motormouth clever clogs
guitarist with a secret fondness for Simon & Garfunkel) hinting th eir characters […]A riotous,
rough -hewn and rousing punk reinvention of ’70s -style […].
Analysis:
 ‘Deftly establishes ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and a verb.
 ‘Defiant followers ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective a noun.
 ‘Booked to ’: grammatical collocation, formed by an adjective and a preposition.
 ‘Spiky suspense ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective a noun.

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 ‘Take hostage ’: lexical collocation, formed by a verb and a noun.
 ‘Be evil ’: lexical collocation, formed by a verb and a noun.
 ‘Siege movies ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective a noun.
 ‘Edgy conversations ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective a noun.
 ‘Bursts of action ’: lexical collocation, formed by noun 1 + of + noun 2..
 ‘Shock -gore moments ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective a noun.
 ‘Entirely guessable ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adverb and an adjective.
 ‘Skinhead thugs ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective a noun.
 ‘Clever clogs guitarist ’: lexical collocation, formed by a noun and another noun.
 ‘Fondness for ’: grammatical collocation, formed by a noun and a preposition.
 ‘Rough-hewn reinvention ’: lexical collocation, formed by an adjective a noun.
Translation:
 ‘Deftly establishes ’: The adverb ‘deftly’ means ‘cu dexteritate’, but I will choose one of its
synonyms and I will say that ‘deftly’ can be translated in Romanian as ‘cu ușurință’. I think
that it is better to use a synonym of this collocation in this case because of the context.
Therefore, my translation of this collocation is ‘stabilește cu ușurinț ă’.
 ‘Defiant followers ’: ‘Defiant’ can mean ‘provocator’ and ‘sfidător’, but I consider that the
latter is more appropriate in this context. I translate this collocation as ‘adepți sfidători’.
 ‘Booked to ’: It is quite simple to translate lexical collocatio ns like this, and I wil l translate
it as ‘rezervat să’ because the adjective ‘booked’ derives from the verb ‘book’ which means
‘a rezerva’.
 ‘Spiky suspense ’: In this situation, I will translate the adjective ‘spiky’ through a synonym
because it is better i n this context, and I will say ‘neplăcut’. Thus, my translation is ‘suspans
neplăcut’.
 ‘Take hostage ’: ‘Take’ means ‘a lua’ and the translation of this collocation sounds like this:
‘iau ostatic’ (according to its context from above).
 ‘Be evil ’: The adjective ‘evil’ can mean ‘rău’, ‘malefic’, ‘diabolic’ and I choose to translate
this collocation as follows: ‘a fi diabolic’. I consider that this is the best translation because
of its context.

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 ‘Siege movies ’: I will translate the adjectiv e ‘siege’ as I translated above and I will say
‘filme de asediu’ because, in this context, this is the best choice .
 ‘Edgy conversations ’: I consider that the best way to translate the adjective ‘edgy’ is
through a synonym, namely ‘tensionat’. Hence, my translation is ‘co nversații tensionate’.
 ‘Bursts of action ’: The noun ‘burst’ means ‘explozie’ and it goes perfectly with the noun
action which means ‘acțiune’. This is why t he translation of it is ‘explozii de acțiune’.
 ‘Shock -gore moments ’: The literal translation does no t apply in this case and I will
paraphrase and translate it as ‘momente șocante de violență’.
 ‘Entirely guessable ’: I will use again some synonyms for this collocation because I think
that they are better in the context from above and I will translate it as ‘total previzibil’.
 ‘Skinhead thugs ’: The general meaning of the adjective ‘skinhead’ is ‘chel’, a person who
has his head shaved, but in this context it means ‘neo -Nazi’ and the translation of this
collocation is the following: ‘criminali neo -Naziști’.
 ‘Clever clogs guitarist ’: A ‘clever clogs’ person is someone irritatingly knowledgeable and
in Romanian it can be translated as ‘enervant de informat’. Therefore, my translation is
‘chitarist enervant de informat’.
 ‘Fondness for ’: In my opinion, there are the Romanian translations for this collocation that
are both appropriate in this context and these are ‘preferință pentru’ and ‘afecțiune pentru’.
 ‘Rough-hewn reinvention ’: When something is ‘rough -hewn’, it means that it is shaped
roughly. Hence, my translation of this collocation is ‘transformare într -o formă dură’.

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Conclusions
A good translator must have excellent knowledge of the target language and the source language,
and also linguistic knowledge at the level of an expert.
A good translator needs to have big and rich background knowledge of every language that he/she
uses in order to make a good translation. He/she must be always aware of his/her audience’s
cultural origins, level of education and level of knowledge. A good translator must al so have the
necessary skills to make a good quality translation.
A good translator will never be satisfied with a good translation and he/she will always search for
other versions of translation because for him/her there is no such thing as a ‘perfect tran slation’,
more like an ‘ideal translation’.
When a translator translates a joke, for example, it is crucial for him /her to use the exact
pronunciation, intonation and stress because it could be very hard for the audience to understand.
Therefore, every wor d has to be chunked correctly in order not to make any mistakes.
Everything is translatable and everything said in one language can be expressed in another
language.
There are four levels on which a translation functions. A translation is a science, a skil l, an art and
a matter of taste.
In order to make a good translation, it is important to respect all the steps or stages of the translation
process. None of the steps can be skipped because in that way the translation will not be a correct
and a good one.
There are several translation methods which can be used in order to translate a text. Some
translation methods cannot be used with certain types of texts, like literal translation , which can
be used only in the cases of simple, short texts. When a text becomes more complicated and when
it can create some problems to the translator, he/she will choose not to use the method of literal
translation because it would be too hard and usele ss.
With the help of the translation procedures and translation methods, the collocations from movie
reviews can be translated easily.

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Collocations are simple combinations of words which go perfectly together and which people
usually use instinctively. Th ey can im prove our writing style and can help in expressing ideas more
naturally and in several ways.
With the help of collocations we can think easier and faster, we can improve our memory and we
can also express more complex ideas.
A native English speaker will always understand better and use easier collocations than an English
student because he /she will use it instinctively.
The native English speakers are usually more fluent because collocations allow them to think more
quickly and to communicate more efficiently. For an English learner it will take some time to
process the information because of the density of the unknown words.
When collocations with everyday verbs are encountered, it is important, mostly for the English
learners, to remember th e basic meaning of the verbs because in this way it will be simpler to
understand them, to use them in different contexts and not to make mistakes.
There are more or less complicated collocations in movie reviews and their translation always
depends on the context. Sometimes the collocations can be translated through their basic meaning,
but sometimes the figurative meaning is required. There are also cases when the synonyms of the
collocations are the perfect choices to translate them.

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Appendices
Table 2.1: Collocations with the verb ‘make’ and examples (pp 27 -28)
Collocation Example
Make arrangements for You should start to make arrangements for
your wedding from now.
Make a change/changes I need to make a change in my life.
Make a choice You have to make a choice between me and
her.
Make a comment/comments Would you like to make a comment on my
thesis?
Make a contribution to This time she really made a contribution to the
society by donating money.
Make a decision I just cannot make a decision without
considering everything.
Make an effort Please make an effort and come tomorrow
with me.
Make an excuse You’re just making an excuse because you
don’t want to come.
Make friends I’m trying to make friends in my new town,
but it’s hard.
Make an improvement Changing her hair color has made a good
improvement.
Make a mistake I made a mistake by not telling you the truth.
Make a phone call I left the room because I had to make an
important phone call.
Make progress With the dance classes that you took, it is clear
that you made progress.

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Table 2.2: Collocations with the verb ‘do’ and examples (pp 28 -29)
Collocation Example
Do your best I did my best at the exam and I’m confident.
Do damage The fire did some serious damage to the
neighborhood.
Do an experiment I’m doing an experiment to see how she acts
under pressure.
Do exercises We should do some exercises before the
exam.
Do someone a good turn/ do someone a favor Please do me a favor and just lea ve!
Do harm Leaving without finishing the test did more
harm than good.
Do your hair You look nice today. Did you do your hair
differently?
Do your homework I cannot leave until I do my homework.
Do the ironing/shopping/washing, etc. We will finish earlier if I do the ironing , you
do the shopping and your sister does the
washing.
Do some work You shouldn’t leave because you still have to
do some work on that project.

Table 2.3: Collocations with the verb ‘go’ and examples (p 29)
Collocation Example
Go bald After years, some men usually go bald.
Go astray I feel like I’m going astray with all these
exams.
Go bad My fridge broke down and all the food went
bad.
Go bankrupt With this economy, the firm will go bankrupt.

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Go blind She went blind after that horrible accident.
Go crazy You’re going crazy under pressure. Do
something!
Go mad David went mad when he heard the news.
Go missing After the party from last night, he just went
missing.
Go out of business If the prices will stay this high, his firm will go
out of business soon.
Go overseas Because of the low salaries in our country, my
father had to go overseas to work.
Go quiet When the teachers appeared with the exam
results everybody went quiet.

Table 2.4: Collocations with the verb ‘have’ and examples (p 30)
Collocation Example
Have an accident I heard that yesterday he had a bad accident.
Have an argument/a row The doctors had an argument about how to
operate on the patient.
Have a break You worked all day. Have a break !
Have a conversation/chat I had an interesting conversation with your
teacher about your grades.
Have difficulty Andrew has difficulty understanding the task
for today’s class.
Have a dream/nightmare I had a nightmare two days ago and I can’t
stop thinking about it.
Have an experience I had a bad first experience with the bicycle.
Have a feeling I have a feeling that everything will be okay.
Have fun/ a good time My parents 100% sure that we will have fun
tonight wi thout them.

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Have a look I think that you should have a look on what
he’s supposed to do.
Have a party My parents will be gone this weekend. Let’s
have a big party !
Have a problem/problems Do you have any problems with your new car?
Have a try/go I ask her first what should we do and then we
can have a try.

Table 2.5: Collocations with the verb ‘get’ and examples (p 31)
Collocation Example
Get a life Stop controlling me and get a life!
Get a job It’s time for you to get a job.
Get angry She got angry when she saw the broken vase.
Get divorced My parents got divorced when I was little.
Get drunk I don’t remember anything from last night
because I got drunk.
Get home I let you go, but you need to get home by 10.
Get lost I got lost in that big city.
Get permission You need to get permission to leave the room.
Get ready Get ready because we leave in 5 minutes.
Get the impression I don’t know how you get the impression that
you can come with us.
Get upset He got upset when I told him that he can’t
come.
Get worried You were late and I got worried.
Get a shock I got a shock when I heard that they’re getting
married.

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Table 2.6: Break: collocations and examples (pp 31 -32)
Collocation Example
Break the law You can’t smoke in here, you will break the
law.
Break a leg Before he went on stage, I wished him to break
a leg.
Break a promise If I tell you, I will break a promise made
before.
Break the ice With that joke he really broke the ice.
Break someone’s heart It wasn’t fair to break her heart like that.

Table 2.7: Take: collocations and examples (p 32)
Collocation Example
Take a break You really need to take a break!
Take a look Please come and take a look on my paper.
Take a chance He was nervous, but the take a chance and
asked her out.
Take an exam I hope I will take the English exam!
Take notes The teacher spoke too fast and I couldn’t take
notes.

Table 2.8: Pay: collocations and examples (pp 32 -33)
Collocation Example
Pay attention You need to pay attention when I’m speaking
because I won’t repeat.

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Pay a compliment Don’t get upset! I was trying to pay a
compliment.
Pay your (last) respects We need to go to the funeral and pay our
respects to our friend.
Pay someone a vis it I hope he’s home because I want to pay him a
visit.
Pay the price I cheated on you and now I’m paying the price.

55 Rezumat
Meseria de traducător este una dintre cele mai vechi din istorie. Această meserie a fost
întotdeauna folosită pentru comunicarea dintre două culturi cu două limbi diferite. A fi traducător
nu a fost niciodată ușor pentru că a traduce nu înseamnă și nu presupune doar, așa cum cred mulți
oameni, a tr aduce un cuvânt dintr -o limbă într -o altă limbă. Un traducător trebuie să aibă o cultură
generală foarte bogată și trebuie să știe foarte multe lucruri despre cultura fiecărei limbi pe care o
folosește. Așadar, un bun traducător va fi înzestrat cu diverse abilități și o să știe întotdeauna „să
se joace” cu limbile de lucru. Un bun traducător nu se va mulțumi niciodată cu o traducere bună,
pentru un bun traducător nu există o traducere perfectă, ci mai degrabă o traducere ideală.
Colocațiile sunt acele cuvin te care merg foarte bine împreună. Chiar dacă pare neobișnuit,
fiecare om în parte apelează zilnic la colocații fără să își dea seama. Fie că e vorba de un copil,
elev, student, profesori, oameni educați sau oameni cu un nivel de educație mai scăzut, cu to ții
folosesc colocații chiar și din instinct.
În lucrarea mea „The Analysis and Translation of Collocations from Movie Reviews”,
adică „Analiza și traducerea colocațiilor din recenziile de f ilme”, vorbesc atât despre tot ceea ce
presupune munca de traducăt or cât și despre tot ceea ce înseamnă a traduce, alături de diferite
metode și procedee de traducere. Apoi, înainte să fac analiza propriu -zisă a colocațiilor din diferite
recenzii de filme, am prezentat și am explicat ce sunt colocațiile, am prezentat dif erite tipuri de
colocații și bineînțeles câteva probleme care pot a părea în traducerea acestora .
Primul capitol este unul teoretic și cuprinde toate informațiile necesare despre traducere.
Aici am prezentat mai multe definiții ale traducerii date de mai mulți autori cum ar fi Newmark,
Ordudari, Nida din diferite cărți, dar și din dicționare. După ce am explicat ce înseamnă a traduce,
am prezentat procesul de traducere.
Procesul de traducere, î n această lucrare, este abordat din 2 perspective în momentul
traducerii. În primă fază, traducătorul traduce propoziție cu propoziție primul paragraf pentru a
înțelege textul, iar apoi traduce întregul text. Această abordare se poate utiliza numai în cazul
textelor scurte și atunci când se dorește o traducere literală. În a doua fază, când este vorba despre

56
texte mai complexe și mai dificile, traducătorul citește de mai multe o ri textul pentru a -l înțelege
și doar după aceea începe să traducă. De asemenea, există câteva etape foarte importante în
obținerea unei traduceri de calitate. Aceste etape sunt următoarele: analiza inițială a textului,
cercetarea textului sursă din punct de vedere terminologic și al domeniului de specialitate,
stabilirea terminologiei textului, avizarea ei de către beneficiar sau de către un specialist în
domeniu, prima versiune de traducere, corectarea primei versiuni de traducere de către traducător,
revizia lingvistică a traducerii de către un alt traducător, revizia de specialitate a traducerii, revizia
stilistică, aprobarea și elaborarea versiunii finale și corectarea traducerii finale.
După această parte, am prezentat m etodele de traducere. Aceste met ode de traducere sunt
traducerea mot -à-mot sau traducerea cuvânt -cu-cuvânt, traducerea literală, traducerea fidelă sau
exactă, traducerea semantică, adaptarea, traducerea liberă, traducerea idiomatică și cea
comunicativă, dar cea mai importantă metodă dint re acestea este cea literală.
Ultima parte din acest capitol a fost dedicată procedeelor de traducere. Câteva din
procedeeele de traducere prezentate în această lucrare sunt tra nsferul, echivalența culturală,
funcțională și descriptivă, sinonimia, transpun erea și parafrazarea.
Al doilea capitol este, de asemenea, unul teoretic în care am abordat colocațiile. Ceea ce
am cuprins în această ultimă parte de teorie a fost, în primul rând, definiția colocațiilor . Am
explicat ce este o colocație din punctul meu de vedere, dar și din punctul de vedere al mai multor
autori menționând definițiile propuse de aceștia. Cu ajutorul acestor definiții am putut răspunde
foarte frumos, după părerea mea, la următoarea întrebare: Ce sunt colocațiile?
În cele ce au urmat, am exp licat și am ilustrat importanța colocațiilor. De asemenea, am
menționat câteva din motivele pentru care ar trebui să învățăm cu toții cât mai multe colocații.
Așadar, este important să ne îmbogățim vocabularul cu cât mai multe colocații pentru că acestea
ne ajută să ne exprimăm într -o manieră cât mai naturală, ne facilitează și ne îmbunătățeș te modul
de a scrie și ajută la exprimarea unei idei în mai multe variante.
După acestea, am vorbit despre tipurile de colocații. În primul rând, am prezentat
colocați ile lexicale , acestea fiind următoarele: verb + substantiv, adjectiv + substantiv, substantiv
+ verb, substantiv + substantiv, adverb + adjectiv și verb + adverb. În al doilea rând, am prezentat

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următoarele colocații gramaticale : substantiv + prepoziție, s ubstantiv + to – infinitive, substantiv +
that-clause, prepoziție + substantiv, adjectiv + prepoziție, adjectiv + to -infinitive, adjectiv + that –
clause și verb + prepoziție. Pentru toate aceste tipuri de colocații am adăugat și câte un exemplu.
Pentru că ex istă foarte multe colocații cu o mare parte din cele mai uzuale verbe, am ținut
să le prezint în această lucrare. Am prezentat aceste colocații împreună cu câte o propoziție, drept
exemplu, ca să fie cât mai evident înțelesul acestora. Aceste verbe uzuale de care vorbesc sunt:
„make” și „do” care ambele înseamnă „a face”, „go” adică „a merge”, „have” însemnând „a avea”,
„get” și „take” care ambele înseamnă „a lua”, „break” care poate însemna „a sparge, a rupe, a
încălca” și „pay” cu sensul de „a plăti”. Am încheiat acest capitol cu câteva comentarii pe baza
acestor verbe.
Ultimul capitol este unul pur practic și reprezintă studiul de caz al acestei lucrări. Au existat
câteva etape în realizarea acestui studiu de caz. Prima etapă a fost alegerea mai multor recenzii de
filme. A doua etapă a constat în alegerea mai multor colocații din acest e recenzii de filme. A treia
și a patra etapă au presupus analiza și traducerea acestor colocații.
Analiza a presupus descrierea colocațiilor (de exemplu, dacă acestea sunt colocații
gramaticale sau lexicale) și, de asemenea, felul în care aceste colocații s-au format (de exemplu, o
colocație poate fi formată dintr -un verb + substantiv, adjectiv + adverb etc.).
În ultima etapă, adică cea de traducere, ceea ce am făcut a fost să ofer mai multe variante
de traducere, acolo unde a fost posibil acest lucru, și să aleg cea mai bună variantă , oferind și o
explicație pentru alegerile făcute.

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Résumé
Le métier de traducteur est parmi les plus anciens de l’histoire. Ce métier a toujours été
utilisé dans la communication entre deux cultures ayant des la ngues différentes. Il n’a été jamais
facile d’être traducteur parce que traduire ne signifie pas tout simplement, comme beaucoup de
gens croient, traduire un mot d’une langue dans une autre . Un traducteur doit avoir une culture
générale très riche et il do it savoir beaucoup sur la culture de chaque langue qu’il utilise dans son
métier. Donc, un bon traducteur sera doué avec de diverses aptitudes et il saura toujours « jouer »
avec les langues utilisées. Un bon traducteur ne sera jamais conten t avec une bonn e traduction et
pour un bon traducteur, une traduction parfaite n’existe pas, mais plutôt une traduction idéale.
Les collocations sont des mots qui vont parfaitement ensemble. Même s’il peut paraît re
bizarre, chaque personne utilise tous les jours des col locations sans s’en rendre compte . Les
collocations sont utilisé es instinctivement par tout le monde : les enfants, les élèves, les étudiants,
les professeurs, les gens avec un niveau d’éducation plus ou moins élevé .
Dans mon mémoire “The Analysis and Tr anslation of Collocations in Movie R eviews”,
c’est-à-dire « L’analyse et la traduction des collocations dans les critiques de f ilms », j’ai parlé du
travail du traducteur, de la signification de l’action de traduire et de tout ce qu’elle implique
(différentes méthodes et procédures de traduction). Puis, après l’analyse proprement -dite des
collocations dans des diverses critiques de films, j’ai présenté et expliqué ce que c’est qu’une
collocation, j’ai décrit plusieurs types de collocations et les p roblèmes qui peuvent apparaître dans
la traduction des collocations).
Le premier chapitre contient la théorie de la traduction. Ici, j’ai présenté plusieurs
définitions de la traduction données par des auteurs comme Newmark, Ordudari, Nida, mais aussi
des définitions trouvées dans des dictionnaires comme Larousse, Macmillan, Oxford et beaucoup
d’autres. Ensuite, j’ai expliqué la signification de la traduction et j’ai présenté le processus de
traduction.
Le processus de traduction , dans ce mémoire, est abo rdé de 2 perspectives. D’un e part, le
traducteur, au moment de la traduction, traduit proposition avec proposition, car il doit comprendre

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le texte, et après avoir compr is le texte, il traduit le texte en entier . Cette approche peut être utilisée
dans le c as des textes simples et courts et quand l’obje ctif est d’avoir une traduction littéral e.
D’autre part, quand il s’agit de textes plus complexes et plus difficiles, le traducteur lit le texte
plusieurs fois pour le comprendre et après il commence la traduc tion. En plus, il y a quelques
étapes importantes quand l’obje ctif est une traduction de bonne qualité. Ces étapes sont les
suivantes : l’analyse initiale du texte, la recherche du texte du point de vue terminologique et du
domaine de spécialité, l’établis sement de la terminologie du texte, la notification obtenue par le
bénéficiaire ou par un autre spécialiste, la première version de la traduction, la révision de la
première version de la traduction par le traducteur, la révision linguistique de la traduct ion par un
autre traducteur, la révision spécialisée de la traduction, la révision stylistique, l’approbation et
l’élaboration de la version finale et la révision de la traduction finale.
Par la suite , j’ai présenté les méthodes de traduction suivantes : la traduction mot -à-mot, la
traduction littérale, la traduction fidèle ou exacte, la traduction sémantique, l’adaptation, la
traduction libre, la traduction idiomatique et communicative, dont la plus importante est la
traduction littérale.
Dans la dernière partie de ce chapitre j’ai parlé des procédures de traduction. Quelques
procédures de traduction mentionnés dans mon mémoire sont le transfère, l’équivalence culturelle,
fonctionnelle et descriptive, la synonymie, la transposition et la pa raphrase.
Le deuxième chapitre contient la théorie sur les collocations. Ici, j’ai parlé sur ce que c’est
qu’une collocation. J’ai expliqué d e mon point de vue, mais aussi du poin t de vue d’autres auteurs,
les définitions proposées par eux. À l’aide des d éfinitions, j’ai été capable d e répondre à la question
Qu’est -ce qu’une collocation ?
Puis, j’ai expliqué et j’ai illustré l’importance des collocations. En outre, j’ai mentionné
certain es de s raisons pour lesquels tout le monde devrait apprendre beaucoup de collocations.
Donc, il est important d’enrichir notre vocabulaire avec des collocations, car elles nous aident à
nous exprimer naturellement, elles nous facilitent et nous améliorent le style d’écrire.
J’ai continué par l es types de collocations. Prem ièrement, j’ai présenté les collocations
lexicales , qui sont les suivantes : verbe + nom, adjectif + nom, nom + verbe, nom + nom, adverbe

60
+ adjectif et verbe + adverbe. Deuxièmement, j’ai présenté les collocations grammaticales
suivantes : nom + prépositio n, nom + to -infinitive, nom + that -clause, préposition + nom, adjectif
+ préposition, adjectif + to -infinitive, adjectif + that -clause et verbe + préposition. Pour tous ces
types de collocations j’ai ajouté des exemples.
Parce qu’il y a beaucoup de colloc ations formées avec des verbes usuels, j’ai voulu
présenter dans mon mémoire certains exemples. J’ai présenté ces collocations dans une phrase
pour mettre en évidence ces significations. Les verbes dont j’ai parlé sont : ‘make’ et ‘do’ qui
signifient « faire », ‘go’ signifiant « aller », ‘have’ signifiant « avoir », ‘get’ et ‘take’ avec le sens
de « prendre », ‘break’ signifiant « casser, briser » et ‘pay’ signifiant « payer ». J’ai clôturé ce
chapitre avec des commentaires sur ces verbes.
Le dernier chapi tre représente l’étude de cas de ce mémoire. Il y a eu plusieurs étapes dans
la réalisation de cette étude de cas. La première étape a été le choix des critiques de films. La
deuxième étape a été le choix des collocations de ces critiques de films. La troisiè me et quatrième
étapes ont été l’analyse et la traduction de ces collocations.
L’analyse a compris la description des collocations (par exemple, une collocation peut être
lexicale ou grammaticale) et la formation des collocations (par exemple, une colloca tion peut se
composer par un verbe et un nom).
Dans la dernière étape, l’étape de la traduction, j’ai proposé plusieurs versions de
traduction, là où je l’ai pu faire, et après j’ai choisi la meilleure version en donnant d’explications
pour mon choix.

61
Works Cited
Books
Baker, M. In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. London and New York: Routledge,
2001.
Bartsch, S. Structural and Functional Properties of Collocations in English. Tübingen: Gunter
Narr Verlag, 2004.
Benson, M . et al. The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English: A Guide to Word Combinations .
Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co., 1986.
Greere, A. L. Translating for Business Purposes. Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 2003.
Halliday, M. A. K. and Hasan . Cohesion in English . Beijing: Foreign Langu age Teaching and
Research Press, 2001 .
Hartono, R . Teori Penerjemahan (A Handbook for Translator) . Semarang: Cipta Prima Nusantara ,
2009 .
Ladmiral, J.R. Traduire: théorèmes pour la traduction. Paris: Payot, 1985.
Larson, M. L . Meaning Based Translation, A Guide to Cross -language Equivalence . Lanham:
University Press of America, Inc. , 1984 .
Lewis, M. (Ed.). Teaching Collocation: Further Developments in Lexical Approach. UK:
Thomson Heinle, 2000.
McCarthy, M. and O’Dell, F. English Collocations in Use. UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Nattinger, J.R. and DeCarrico, J.S. Lexical Phrases and Language Teaching. London: Longman,
1992.
Newmark, P . A Textbook of Translation . London: Prentice Hall International , 1988 .
Nida, E.A . The Componential Analysis of Meaning. The Hague: Mouton, 1975.
Poulsen, S. Collocations as a language resource. A functional and cognitive study in English
phraseology. Diss. University of Southern Denmark, 2005.
Robins, R. H. General Linguistics (Ed.4) . Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Resea rch
Press, 2000 .
Seleskovitch, D. Interpreter pour traduire. Paris: Didier, 1985.
Sinclar, J. McH. Beginning the study of lexis , in Bazel, C.E., Catford, J.C., Halliday, M.A.K. and
Robins, R.H. (eds). In Memory of J.R. Firth . London: Longman, 1966.

62
Vinay, J. and Dalbernet, J.C. Stilistique comparie du fran çais et de Vanglais. Paris: Didier, 1965.

Articles
Aisenstadt, E. Restricted Collocations in English Lexicology and Lexicography. ITL: Review of
Applied Linguistics 53: pp 53 -62, 1981.
Asocia ția Traducătorilor din România, pp 1 -11. (Retrieved on 2 April 2016)
<http://www.atr.org.ro/Ce_este_traducatorul.pdf >
Duan, M. and Qin, X. Collocation in English Teaching and Learning. Theory and Practice in
Language Studies, Vol. 2, No. 9, pp. 1890 -1894. Finland: Academy Publisher, 2012.
Moehkardi, R. R. D. Grammatical and Lexical English Collocations: Some Possible Problems to
Indonesian Learners of English. Humaniora, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 53 -62, 2002.
Ordudari, M . “Translation Procedures, Strategies and Method”. Translation Journal, Vol. 11, No.
3, 2007 .

Dictionaries
Cambridge Dictionaries Online (Retrieved on 8 May 2016)
<http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/collocation >
Free Dictionary (Retrieved on 8 May 2016)
<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/collocation >
Larousse Dictionary (Retrieved on 1 April 2016)
<http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/traduction/78911 >
Macmillan English Dictionary (Retrieved on 1 April 2 016)
<http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/translation >
Oxford Dictionaries (Retrieved on 8 May 2016)
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/collocate?q=to+collocate

Movie reviews
De Semlyen, N. Revenant. Last updated: 7 January 2016. (Retrieved on 23 May 2016)
< http://www .empireonline.com/movies/revenant/review/ >
Freer, I. Anomalisa. Last updated: 7 March 2016. (Retrieved on 23 May 2016)
<http://www.empireonline.com/movies/anomalisa/review/ >

63
Hewitt, C. Money monster . Last updated: 8 June 2016. (Retrieved on 23 May 2016)
< http://www .empireonline.com/movies/money -monster/review/ >
Newman, K. Green room. Last updated: 18 April 2016. (Retrieved on 22 May 2016)
< http://www .empireonline.com/movies/green -room/review/ >
Newman, K. Love&Friendship. Last updated: 26 May 2016. (Retrieved on 22 May 2016)
< http://www .empireonline.com/movies/love -friendship -2/review/ >
Smith, A. The Silent Storm. Last updated: 8 June 2016. (Retrieved on 20 May 2016)
http://www .empi reonline.com/movies/silent -storm/review/

64
Bibliography
Books
Baker, M. In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. London and New York: Routledge,
2001.
Bartsch, S . Structural and Functional Properties of Collocations in English. Tübingen: Gunter
Narr Verlag, 2004.
Benson, M . et al. The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English: A Guide to Word Combinations .
Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co., 1986.
Greere, A. L. Translating for Business Purposes. Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 2003.
Halliday, M. A. K. and Hasan . Cohesion in English . Beijing: Foreign Langu age Teaching and
Research Press, 2001 .
Hartono, R . Teori Penerjemahan (A Handbook for Translator) . Semarang: Cipta Prima Nusantara ,
2009 .
Ladmiral, J.R. Traduire: théorèmes pour la traduction. Paris: Payot, 1985.
Larson, M. L . Meaning Based Translation, A Guide to Cross -language Equivalence . Lanham:
University Press of America, Inc. , 1984 .
Lewis , M. (Ed.). Teaching Collocation: Further Developments in Lexical Approach. UK:
Thomson Heinle, 2000.
McCarthy, M. and O’Dell, F. English Collocations in Use. UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Nattinger, J.R. and DeCarrico, J.S. Lexical Phrases and Language Teaching. London: Longman,
1992.
Newmark, P . A Textbook of Translatio n. London: Prentice Hall International , 1988 .
Nida, E.A. The Componential Analysis of Meaning. The Hague: Mouton, 1975.
Poulsen, S. Collocations as a language resource. A functional and cognitive study in English
phraseology. Diss. University of Southern Denmark, 2005.
Robins, R. H. General Linguistics (Ed.4) . Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Resea rch
Press, 2000 .
Seleskovitch, D. Interpreter pour traduire. Paris: Didier, 1985.
Sinclar, J. McH. Beginning the study of lex is, in Bazel, C.E., Catford, J.C., Halliday, M.A.K. and
Robins, R.H. (eds). In Memory of J.R. Firth . London: Longman, 1966.

65
Vinay, J. and Dalbernet, J.C. Stilistique comparie du fran çais et de Vanglais. Paris: Didier, 1965.

Articles
Aisenstadt, E. Restricted Collocations in English Lexicology and Lexicography. ITL: Review of
Applied Linguistics 53: pp 53 -62, 1981.
Asocia ția Traducătorilor din România, pp 1 -11. (Retrieved on 2 April 2016)
<http://www.atr.org.ro/Ce_este_traducatorul.pdf >
Duan, M. and Qin, X. Collocation in English Teaching and Learning. Theory and Practice in
Language Studies, Vol. 2, No. 9, pp. 1890 -1894. Finland: Academy Publisher, 2012.
Moehkardi, R. R. D. Grammatical and Lexical English Collocations: Some Possible Prob lems to
Indonesian Learners of English. Humaniora, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 53 -62, 2002.
Ordudari, M . “Translation Procedures, Strategies and Method”. Translation Journal, Vol. 11, No.
3, 2007 .

Dictionaries
Cambridge Dictionaries Online ( Retrieved on 8 May 2016)
<http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/collocation >
Free Dictionary (Retrieved on 8 May 2016)
<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/collocation >
Larousse Dictionary (Retrieved on 1 April 2016)
<http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/traduction/78911 >
Macmillan English Dictionary ( Retrieved on 1 April 2016)
<http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/translation >
Online Oxford Collocations Dictionary ( Retrieved on 22 May 2016)
<http://oxforddictionary.so8848.com/ >
Oxford Dictionaries (Retrieved on 8 May 2016)
<http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/collocate?q=to+collocate >

Websites
<http://www.englishleap.com/vocabulary/collocations > (Retrieved on 20 May 2016)

66
<https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/collocations -samples.htm > (Retrieved on 20 May
2016)
<https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/201117#view=notes > (Retrieved on 20 May 2016)
<http://www.englishgrammar.org/collocations/ > (Retrieved on 20 May 2016)
<http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/noun_prep_gerund_list.htm > (Retrieved on 20 May 2016)
<http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/adjective_prep_gerund_list.htm > (Retrieved on 21 May
2016)

Movie reviews
De Semlyen, N. Revenant. Last updated: 7 January 2016. ( Retrieved on 23 May 2016)
< http://www .empireonline.com/movies/revenant/review/ >
Freer, I. Anomalisa. Last updated: 7 March 2016. (Retrieved on 23 May 2016)
<http://www.empireonline.com/movies/anomalisa/review/ >
Hewitt, C . Money monster . Last updated: 8 June 2016. ( Retrieved on 23 May 2016)
< http://www .empireonline.com/movies/money -monster/review/ >
Newman, K . Green room. Last updated: 18 April 2016. (Retrieved on 22 May 2016)
< http://www .empireonline.com/movies/green -room/review/ >
Newman, K . Love& Friendship. Last updated: 26 May 2016. (Retrieved on 22 May 2016)
< http://www .empireonline.com/movies/love -friendship -2/review/ >
Smith, A . The Silent Storm. Last updated: 8 June 2016. ( Retrieved on 20 May 2016)
<http://www .empireonline.com/movies/silent -storm/review/ >