52 Santalka. Filologija. Edukologija, 2009, t. 17, nr. 4. ISSN 1822-430X print/1822-4318 online IDIOMATICITY OF ENGLISH BUSINESS TERMS AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS IN LITHUANIAN Pavel Skorupa 1 , Tatjana Bosulajeva 2 1 Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Saulėtekio al. 11, LT-10223 Vilnius, Lithuania E-mail: pavel.skorupa@yahoo.com 2 Vilnius Pedagogical University, Studentų g. 39, LT-08106 Vilnius, Lithuania E-mail: tania.bosulajeva@gmail.com Te paper presents the survey of idiomatic English business terms and their Lithuanian equivalents. Te study was based on the theory of idioms and idiomaticity, highlighting the idea that idiomaticity can afect single words, word combinations, and longer text passages. Idiomatic business terms were taken from dif- ferent English and Lithuanian general and special dictionaries, course books, as well as business texts. Te analyzed terms were classifed into distinct groups according to their meaning. Te key problem encountered was the lack of Lithuanian translation equivalents to certain idiomatic English business terms. Possible Lithuanian translation was provided. Keywords: idiom, idiomaticity, formulaic expressions, business terms, idiomatic terms, polysemy, equiva- lent. DOI: 10.3846/1822-430X.2009.17.4.52-61 Introduction At the time of globalization, knowledge of a foreign language becomes an important, indis- pensable and concurrent part of any business communication. In this day and age, learning foreign languages is becoming very popular: language classes are being arranged by and in diferent business and non-commercial orga- nizations and companies; foreign languages are taught at schools, colleges, and higher education establishments. Reading and discussing professional lit- erature in higher educational institutions, while pursuing a degree in certain speciality, is one of the means for the development of language skills. Te major aim is to obtain information and apply it for the specifc purposes. To read and understand a piece of professional literature requires linguistic knowledge, knowledge of lexical elements, and recognition of grammati- cal structures. People dealing with and reading in a foreign language face many difficulties. Specifc texts contain a great many lexical units and syntactical structures, such as polysemy of words, lexical and syntactical synonymy, word building and compound lexical elements, collo- cations and imagery, prepositional phrases. One of the major difculties for students who are not studying philology is the com- prehension of diferent idioms and idiomatic expressions in speciality texts. Coming across an idiom or idiomatic expression in a business text is ofen confusing as the words that seem familiar acquire rather diferent, fgurative me- aning. Tis happens because students do not use dictionaries of neither general language or special dictionaries. It has been noticed that students’ attitude to- wards professional language is gradually chan-