The translation of the Russian idiomatic phrase "взять (брать) себя в руки" (or: "держать себя в руках") depends on the context, that is, on what the author means:

(a) "Взять себя в руки" when one is under a moment's strain usually means 'to pull oneself together' and... stop crying or being panicky, or the like. Example:

...Клавдия, не приготовившая сложения и вычитания, громко заплакала посреди урока арифметики. Катя постучала карандашом о кафедру:

- Возьми сейчас же себя в руки, Клавдия. (А. Толстой)

...Klavdia, who had not done her addition and subtraction, burst out into loud sobs during the lesson, Katya knocked her pencil on the teacher's desk:

"Pull yourself together this moment, Klavdia."

(b) "ВЗЯТЬ себя в руки" when someone is under a more or less permanent strain and is worrying about something usually means 'to take oneself in hand'. Example:

- Вообще-то надо тебе взять себя в руки,— порекомендовал Женя.— Если по-дружески, как мужчина мужчине, то ты, разумеется, способнее меня, но разбрасываешься, дружок. (Ю. Герман)

"By and large, I'd say take your- self in hand," Yevgeny said. "To be quite honest, as man to man, you're a lot cleverer than I am, but you can't stick to one thing at a time."

However, in the following extract, the man in love seems to believe t hat his nervous strain has a permanent nature though his friends who think the opposite advise him that he rather 'pull himself together' and not 'take himself in hand':

 ...Я, говорит, в своих чувствах не волен, моя любовь сильнее меня. Мы, конечно, с Сергеем Андреевичем рекомендовали ему в руки себя взять — куда там! У него, видите ли, сдерживающие центры отказали. (Ю. Герман)

..."I can't help my feelings," he said, "my love is stronger than my will." Sergei Andreyevich and I naturally advised him to pull him- Self together—but he wouldn't listen. He said his control centres had snapped! How d'you like that?

(с) "Держать себя в руках" and never show signs of fear or other emotions usually means 'to hold (or: keep) oneself in hand'. However, we must admit that this expression does not point to the amount of will power or, say, extreme efforts taken by the person in question for keeping control of himself. But precisely this can be conveyed by the phrase 'to keep a (tight) hold on oneself'. For instance, chain smokers and drunkards who try to abstain would undoubtedly say that they 'keep a tight hold on themselves'.

We have seen above that the phrase 'держать себя в руках' can be expressed by several English phrases in different contexts. Why is it so?

We know, for instance, that one Russian word may correspond to two or more English words (e.g., "Нога" - 'leg' or 'foot', "палец'' - 'finger', 'thumb' or 'toe'). We would translate "Он держал в руках книгу" as 'He held a book in his hands' but "Она держала в руках ребенка" as 'She held a baby in her arms'. Firstly, one language makes it possible not to express the difference between certain notions whereas the other language makes it obligatory to express it. In other words, the difference between languages lies in not what they can express (any thought can be expressed in any language) but in what they cannot help expressing.[13] Secondly, one can see that the words "hands" and "arms" have their own (different) meaning. But they perform the same function in the action "держать в руках". Their meaning in this action comes to us from their function. The function (cause) is primary. The meaning (effect) is secondary. Thus, it is the function that has to be translated first thing and never mind by what means. Here, ends justify the means (lexical, grammatical, etc.).

Let us consider now some of the possible contextual functions of the phrase "смотреть сквозь пальцы" and how each particular function can be translated into English:

(а) "Смотреть сквозь пальцы" and 'to turn a blind eye (to smth.)' may perform one and the same function of 'ignoring on purpose',

(b) The function of 'pretending not to see smth. embarrassing or ;ht with danger' may be expressed by both "смотреть сквозь пальцы" and 'to shut one's eyes (to smth.)'.

(c) When a person who "закрывает глаза (на что-л.)" is criticized for it because he is believed 'to be irresponsible enough to overlook someone’s grave misconduct', one can say that the irresponsible person simply ‘turned a blind eye (to it)', which is, in fact, negative attitude in criticism in.

(d) The phrases "смотреть сквозь пальцы" and 'to look through one's fingers' (or. 'to wink at smth.') may be used in the function of 'to pretend (for some reason) not to see an error, piece of misconduct, etc'.

(e) And finally, "смотреть сквозь пальцы" may have the function of 'neglecting as being indifferent', that is, of 'not caring a damn (about smth.)' or simply 'not troubling'.

Thus, we can see that two phrases (in two different languages) that minim the same functions[14] can meet each other, shake hands and lake a junction as allies and brothers-in-arms.

Let us see now whether this rule is also good for sуnоnуms we to deal with.

It is common knowledge that two or more phrases are synonymous if and when some of their functions coincide. For instance, the Russian phrases "смотреть сквозь пальцы" and "закрывать глаза (на что-л.)" are synonyms, for they may perform the same functions, namely, functions "b" and "c". And consequently, it means that both of the phrases performing function "b" can be translated by the English phrase 'to shut one's eyes' as well as bоth of them performing function "c" can be translated by means of 'to turn a blind eye'.

The Russian language has a tendency of not letting a thought be expressed somewhat partially, for it hates preservations and hints. It prefers to dot the "i's" and cross the "i's". For instance, a Russian speaker would seldom use an idiom (e.g., "у меня зуб на зуб не попадает") without adding anything more specific (e.g., "я очень продрог") which is to explain what the speaker exactly means. If, on the other hand, the Russian speaker says "я очень продрог", he is often inclined to add "зуб на зуб не попадает" in order to draw the listener's attention to the significance of the fact.

The English language, on the contrary, has quite an opposite tendency. Just see the following example:

"Evidently," Mason said, "your detective is somewhat green at the game." (E. S, Gardner)

One can see that the English language does not insist that the speaker (Mr. Mason) should give an explanation of his idiom and say something like '[because] your detective doesn't know his work well.’

Conclusion: It is true that interpreters are normally expected to translate the information in detail. However they may, in cases of sуnonуmоus statements, translate only the idiomatic part of a pair of statements under the condition that the idea expressed in the idiom is 100% intelligible to the listener and the 'explanation' does not contain new information. Such a way of translation will suit the said requirements of the English language and, besides, will enable you to condense the-translated information in case you are interpreting it simultaneously.

Indices for Interpretation

Indices for interpretation: meaning and usage. Image as selected designation. Beware translating designations.

In physics, mathematics and other exact sciences, two or more phenomena are considered equivalent when they have authentic indices, that is, when all their indices coincide.

The same cam be said about two (Russian and English) idioms, except that interpreters are never able to deal only with absolute equivalents like "Привычка— вторая натура" = 'Custom is second nature'. We have to deal with relative equivalents whose indices, not all, but at least the main ones do coincide.

Idiomatic phrases have four main indices to their equivalency which are, to us, indiсеs for interpretation (переводческие показатели). They are: meaning (mng), conditions of usage (use), emotive overtones (o-t) and style (sty).

You can see that meaning, as an index for interpretation, describes the essence of the action (or event) whereas usage shows the conditions under which a given idiom may be used altogether, that is, the forms of the action, its aims, etc. For instance, in the phrase 'to pull the wool over smb.'s eyes' (mng: to deceive, to fool; use: when a person wants to do it by not letting smb. know smth.) the obligatory condition under which the phrase may be altogether used by a speaker, is 'by not letting smb. know smth.' (the form of the action).

If one takes, say, a number of synonyms (e.g., 'to throw dust in smb.'s eyes', 'to draw a red herring', 'to pull smb.'s leg', etc.) whose meaning is, naturally, the same (e.g., to deceive, to fool), one can see that most of them, if not all, differ by conditions of their usage. It is, then, the condition of the usage, the core of the idiom,[15] that may and, often, should be considered first.

Case 1

The easiest case is when an interpreter who deals with an idiom like “сводить концы с концами” finds, among its English synonyms (e.g., 'to live from hand to mouth', 'to keep the wolf from the door', 'to make both ends meet', etc.), one (e.g., 'to make both ends meet') whose main indices coincide with those of the Russian phrase. The job is done, then. The required English idiom is in the bag. Translation begins.

Case 2

In case both of the usage indices (the cores of the idioms!) coincide and meanings do not, one may try to alter the image of the English phrase and adjust its meaning to the requirements of the Russian meaning. Thus, "He так страшен черт, как его малюют" becomes practically equivalent to 'The devil is not as terrible (instead of 'so black') as he is painted'.

In case meaning indices coincide and usage indices do not, the job of the interpreter is not a bed of roses. One is expected to know the items (i.e., every condition) of the Russian phrase's usage and be prepared to translate them idiomatically. Then, a descriptive translation of the idiom's meaning can be added to our idiomatic translation of the usage and placed after it as an 'explanation' of the English idiom (like 'explanation' in a pair of cause-and-effect relation statements) if the meaning is not clear from the context itself.

For instance, the phrase "пускать пыль в глаза" (mng: to deceive, to hoodwink) has at least three permanent items of its usage.

We have not been able to avail ourselves, in this case, of the English phrase 'to throw dust in smb.'s eyes' though its dust-in-the-eyes image is similar to the "пыль в глаза" image of the Russian phrase. The usage of this English phrase differs from that of the Russian idiom:

'to throw dust in smb.'s eyes'

use: to deceive by preventing a person from seeing the true state of affairs (as if by impairing a person's vision so that he cannot see things clearly).

Had one translated the phrase "пускать пыль в глаза" by means of ‘to throw dust in smb.'s eyes' (tr.: сбивать кого-л. с толку) it would have been an error which can be generally considered typical of inexperienced interpreters and translators.