Abstract:

The paper deals with comparative phraseological units often met in the newspaper articles used at the translation practice lessons and the English language lessons with university students trained as translators and interpreters. Phraseologisms are unique language units which reflect the culture of the nation, its history, traditions and way of thinking. Learning phraseological units allows students to develop better understanding of the foreign culture, as well as to acquire their own. The aim of the paper is to study the peculiarities of comparative phraseological units frequently met in the English and Russian newspaper articles. We used such research methods as descriptive, comparative, continuous sampling method and method of structural analysis.

The function of comparative phraseological units is not only informative, but also communicative, expressive and aesthetic. The analysis showed their high recurrence in direct speech in the English language, while in the Russian language they are used in different contexts. Comparative phraseological units have various components in their structure, including historical characters and artifacts. This fact highlights their cultural value and their role in promoting understanding between people speaking different languages. Thus these set expressions require special attention at the lessons with students studying foreign languages and translation.

Keywords:

Teaching, student, linguistics, language education, phraseology, phraseological unit, culture.