The Translation of Word Combinations

1. Differentiate between free word combinations and bound word combinations.

2. Comment on the approaches to translating attribute groups.

3. Comment on the approaches to translating three-member word combinations.

4. Comment on the approaches to translating multinuclear nomial combinations.

5. What distinction is made between set-expressions and phraseological units (idioms)?

6. Describe the ways of translation idioms.

SEMINAR 4

Grammatical aspects of translation

1. List the ways of translating the Passive into Russian? Illustrate your answer with the examples.

2. Does the Subjunctive Mood always correspond to the same mood in Russian? If no, what other ways of rendering such sentences do you know? (They can also be rendered by the Indicative Mood (изъявительное наклонение) or the Infinitive.)

3. What should the translator do first, when rendering in Russian sentences containing modal verbs and the non-finite forms of the verb?

4. List the most widespread syntactical stylistic devices which are used to express emphasis and prominence in the English language.

SEMINAR 5

1. What is functional style? Give the classification of styles.

2. What are the main demands which a good translator should meet in the process of translation of scientific literature? State the main ways of translating terms.

3. Explain the peculiarities of translating newspaper headlines (from English into Russian and vice versa).

4. Describe the structure of a newspaper item.

5. Comment on the translation of clichés used in newspaper items.

6. What does the problem of stylistic devices touches upon? How does it correlate with translation?

SEMINAR 6

1. What are the basic characteristics of a translation technique?

2. Comment on the cases of employing lexical translation techniques.

3. List the types of lexico-semantic modifications.

4. What lexico-grammatical transformations can be employed in the process of translation?

5. Explain the courses of grammatical transformations.

6. State the main types of grammatical transformations.

SEMINAR 7

Translation: Working Procedures Part I

Imagine a situation in which you are working as a freelance translator. You contact a translation agency inquiring for work and are offered to translate the text from English into Russian. It is an introduction to the book by Gabriel A. Almond A developmental approach to political system. Describe the algorithm of working on the translation paying especial attention to the theoretical knowledge you have gained in the course of studies. Translate the text into Russian and comment on all the peculiarities of the process of translation.

By GABRIEL A. ALMOND

DURING the past decade two tendencies have come to dominate the field of comparative politics. One of these is the concern for theoretical explication and methodological rigor, and the second is the emphasis on field studies of the "emerging," "new," and "non-West­ern" nations. The theoretical tendency has largely taken the form of applications of "systems" theory to the study of politics, and the chief criticism of this approach has been that it is a static theory, not suit­able for the analysis and explanation of political change.

The great output of empirical studies of contemporary politics in the new and emerging nations and the relative decline in the volume of European political studies have similarly been criticized. Here the argument is that the relative neglect of Western political studies, and particularly of their historical dimension, handicaps us in our efforts to work out the developmental theories and approaches which we need for our research on the new and emerging nations.

Both of these criticisms have great cogency. Systems theory does have a static, "equilibrium" bias; and the stress on the politics of the new and emerging nations gives us an inadequate sampling of man's experience with social and political change. The only answer to this criticism is that this seems to be the way sciences develop - not by orderly, systematic progression, but in a dialectical process involving overemphases and neglects. If we are to come to grips more effectively with political change, we shall have to redress this imbalance, adapt systems theory in a developmental direction, and utilize historical knowledge of Western political development (but not only Western history) in elaborating theories of political systems and political change.

This article represents a move in this direction, an effort on the part of one political systems theorist to define what political development consists of and to take into account the variables which affect it.

(The source: Comparative Politics Today, 2000)