"The Iliad," with the actors dressed as World War II soldiers, is also aided immensely by the stark and colloquial translation by Stanley Lombardo.

And helpful program information was made available to the audience, with the Chinese text and an enjoyably colloquial English translation projected on screens at either side of the stage.

"And would you care to give us a colloquial translation, Mr Rincewind?"

Indeed, though academics consider Aristophanes' "Frogs" to be one of the great comedies of antiquity, a contemporary reader of even a colloquial translation would have no idea why.

In Sarah Adams's highly colloquial translation, the narrator's scorn extends to areas unrelated to the sociocultural circumstances of her family.

They named one of their albums Pennybridge Pioneers, where Pennybridge stands for Örebro as a colloquial translation into English.

And Mr. Lopes's purposes are well served by a sturdy and colloquial translation from the French by Gerald Moore.

Philippe Quinault's libretto, here in Mr. Press's colloquial translation, is quasi-classical by virtue of its magicians and romance-ridden protagonists.

The characters speak in folksy, epigrammatic proverbs that, in this translation, sound natural and colloquial.

"Evangelical Christianity in this country has been pretty comfortable with, and has even taken the lead in, colloquial translations," Mr. Miles said.