Фразаурус: idiomatic thesaurus

Frazaurus, an interpreter’s concise idiomatic thesaurus (ICIT), represents a collection of Russian and English free and idiomatic set expressions, sayings, and catchwords with relevant analogues and equivalents in the counterpart language. The ICIT builds on the practical aspects of simultaneous interpreting and was designed primarily for interpreters working with the relevant language pair who may have interest in such linguistic entities and difficulty rendering them.

The core principle of this dictionary is to link set expressions based on their semantic equivalence. Frazaurus lists over a thousand Russian and English phrases for which a semantic counterparts in the target language was found.

Further, the ICIT offers a stylistic gradation of idiomatic analogues in the target language: from high to low if such analogues are found. This technique enables both the closest render of the original style of the source lexical unit as well as stylistic modulation for changing a translation register depending on the context.

Another novelty is a literal translation for all the listed phrases in the source language. At times in the field, an interpreter has no other option than to provide a literal translation if a speaker uses a literal rather than figurative meaning of a metaphor. In this case, a literally translated equivalent being the most appropriate option should be preferred to a stylistic analogue or a descriptive (connotative) variant.

Traditional bilingual dictionaries normally explain an idiom and describe its semantics. However, it is often wordy and unfit for immediate use. A laconic paraphrase of a set expression in the neutral stylistic register with a flexible choice of all components represents yet another specific feature of the ICIT. To this end, Frazaurus employs a number of brief syntactic formulas. Using such a connotative equivalent, an interpreter can quickly fill a communication gap while reducing the time of lag from the speaker by compression.

We hope you will enjoy these and many features of Frazaurus that may prove useful in your work.