PREFACE

You might have already had some experience of translation, and we would like you to share your ideas about what you think, translation is judging by your individual practice.

Translation is _____________________________________________________ .

Most Russian and world scholars believe that translation is a simultaneous process and result of turning a text from one language into another, which means expressing the same by the signs of a different language, i.e. translation is a means of interlingual communication.

The main purpose of translation is rendering the content of a text, given in a source language (SL), the language from which the translation is made, by the means of a target language (TL), the language into which the translation is made. Hence, the main principle of translation is: Translation starts where dictionary ends.

As a rule, the object of translation is not a list of separate lexical units but a coherent text in which the SL words make up an integral whole. Though each word in the language has its own meaning, the actual information it conveys in a text depends, to a great extent, on its contextual environment.

If you open a dictionary you will be embarrassed by the abundance of different versions suggested as translation variants of a certain lexical unit.. For instance, the noun Grace, offers the following paradigm:

Grace –

1. грация, изящество, привлекательность: to be in sb's good graces - пользоваться чьей-либо благосклонностью;

2. приличие, такт, любезность: with a good grace - любезно, охотно; with a bad grace - нелюбезно, неохотно; You had the ill grace to deny it - Вы имели бестактность отрицать это;

3. Pl./ graces - привлекательные свойства, качества;

4. милость, милосердие, прощение - Act of Grace – амнистия;

5. отсрочка, передышка - days of grace;

6. ком. льготные дни для уплаты по векселю;

7. молитва (перед едой и после);

8. унив. разрешение на получение ученой степени;

9. милость, светлость (форма обращения к герцогу, архиепископу): Your, His Grace - Ваша(Его) светлость;

10) the Graces(pl) - миф. Грации;

11) муз. фиоритура;

12) pl. игра в серсo’;

13) украшать (with);

14) награждать.

As you see, it’s not an easy matter to choose the appropriate version to fit into a translation. This difficulty is connected with the fact that in any language there are two related planes: that of the content and that of the expression. In fact, the translator should preserve the content intact, whereas the expression varies from language to language. In other words, the meaning of the text does not change after translation, but the form may be determined by a certain individual language.

Sometimes even absolutely common words may be difficult to understand and translate. For instance, scholarship, training, etc. If you consult the English-Russian, you’ll find the following meanings of the first word:

1. ученость, эрудиция;

2. стипендия.

However, the students’ practice would rather enable them to refer to the second meaning, which is quite proper, while in English speaking countries scholarship is more likely to be the pocket money which is extracted the tuition fee, paid by the students themselves, whereas in Russia стипендия is the amount of money which the educational authorities pay to good achievers at State Universities.

As for the word training the dictionary provides two meanings: 1) воспитание, 2) обучение; 3) тренировка; 4) дрессировка. But still, we would rather offer another translation of this word: тренинг, which denotes in the context of the contemporary Russian language “обучение”, приобретение навыков через деловые, ролевые игры, упражнения и дискуссии. The essence of the notion does consist mainly in the acquisition of new knowledge, but in its systematization and conveying the information through the personal experience and perception of the trainee.

In the majority of cases there is no one-to-one correspondence between the SL and the TL. For example, the act of travelling can be described by a number of synonyms which differ by various implications. They all modify the act of going from one place to another, but differ by the length of time, taken by the act, its purpose, destination, or method of travelling:

Travel n.: the act of travelling, esp.. a long one in distant or foreign places, either for the purpose of discovering something new or in a search of pleasure and adventure. (Freq. in the plural); e.g. He is writing a book about his travels in Africa.

Journey n.: the act of going from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time; e.g. It’s a three days’ journey by train. You’ll have to make the journey alone. Going on a journey is always exciting.

Voyage n.: a rather long journey, esp. by water or air; e.g. I’d love to go on a voyage, would you? The idea of an Atlantic voyage terrified her: she was sure to be seasick all the time.

Trip n.: a journey, an excursion, freq. a brief one, made by land or water; e.g. Did you enjoy your week-end trip to the sea-side?

Tour n.: a journey in which a short stay is made at a number of places, (usu. with the view of sightseeing), the traveller finally returning to the place from which he had started; e.g. On our Sothern-England tour we visited Windsor, Oxford, Cambridge, Stratford-on-Avon and then came back to London.

Cruise n.: a sea voyage from port to port, esp. a pleasure trip; e.g. The Mediterranean cruise promised many interesting impressions.

Hitch-hiking n.: travelling by getting free rides in passing automobiles and walking between rides; e.g. Hitch-hiking is a comparatively new way of travelling which gives one a chance to see much without spending anything.

And now try your hand, filling in the right words from the list above and translating them.

1. I’d be delighted to go on a sea _____ , but my wife has never been a good sailor, so we can’t join you.

2. Last week we made a wonderful _____ to the mountains. It took us four hours by coach.

3. The Italian _____ was really exciting. We visited a number of wonderful towns and then returned to Rome.

4. The _____ back to Moscow by railway took us three days.

5. It is delightful to come ashore after a long _____ and to feel solid ground under one’s foot.

6. Many times on his long ______ in the depths of Africa, in the jungle of the Amazon he faced danger, starvation and death.

7. At the beginning of the last century going from Petersburg to Moscow was described as a _____ .

8. Now it is but a night’s ______ by night train, a six-hour ______ by day train or an air _____ of an hour and a half.

9. I’m just reading a very amusing book about a pleasure party, making a Caribbean _____ in somebody’s yacht.

10. Young people are naturally fond of ______ as a way of visiting new places and seeing things it is cheap and gives one a feeling of freedom and infinite horizons.

11. I’m told you are going on a _____ to the Far East.

12. They’re planning a ______ of some Baltic resorts. They’ve a new car, you know.

13. You’re looking pale. A _______ to the seaside will do you good.

Lecture №1

TRANSLATION OF LEXICAL UNITS

Generally speaking, the meaning of any word in the text cannot be understood and translated without due regard to the specific context in which it is actualized. Some words, however, are less sensitive to the contextual influence than others. There are words with definite meanings which are retained in most contexts and are relatively context-free. There are the following types of correspondences between the elements of the SL and TL lexical systems in the process of translations:

1) Permanent equivalents are context-free words, identical in their full semantic scope of meanings in SL and TL. This group is made up of:

1.1 Proper and geographical names: e.g.: Brown - Браун; Margaret Thatcher – Маргарет Тэчер, John .Fitzgerald .Kennedy (J.F.K) – Джон Фитцджеральд Кеннеди, Rhode Island - Род Айленд, New York – Нью Йорк, etc.

1.2. The titles of periodicals and the names of firms and corporations: e.g.: Life - "Лайф", General Motors Corporation - "Дженерал Моторс Корпорэйшн",The Daily Telegraph - Английская консервативная газета, Time - американский. журнал "Тайм"

There is no necessity in an attempt to absolutely exhaust the linguistic aspect of the content of the text. Before rendering a certain element of the text into the TL, one should weigh up the necessity of its translation. Let’s consider the ways ro translate the English phrase One year alone increased the Californian Survival Co. Profits four-fold. Here we offer the following translation: "Только за один год прибыли калифорнийской компании "Сервайвал выросли в четыре раза".We see from our translation that there is no need to render the segment the Californian Survival Co. with the explanation of the meaning of the word Survival, as “калифорнийская компания Сервайвал, что обозначает «выживание»”.

1.3 The names of ships, aircrafts, missiles and pieces of military equipment : Queen Elisabeth - "Куин Елизабет", Spitfire - "Спитфайр", Honest John - "Онест Джон"

1.4 The names of political parties, trade unions and similar bodies:The republican Party - Республиканская партия, The United Workers Union объединенный профсоюз, Federal Bureau of Investigation - Федеральное бюро расследований.

1.5 Terminological words which help to identify the specific field of science: magnitude - величина, oxygen – кислород.

NB : Permanent equivalents provide the translator with reference points helping him/her to choose the appropriate translation variants.

Thus some of the SL words have a one-to-one correspondence with their equivalents in TL.

Other SL words may have several equivalents each. Such one-to-many correspondences between SL and TL words is characteristic of most regular equivalents. The existence of a number of non-permanent, in other words, variable equivalents in SL units implies the necessity of selecting one of them in each particular case, taking into account the way the word is used in a SL text and the points of difference between the semantics of its equivalents in TL.

The choice of the equivalent will depend on the relative importance of a particular semantic element in the act of communication, for instance, the English word "ambitious" may denote either praiseworthy or inordinate desires. Its translation will depend on which of these aspects comes to the fore. Thus, “the ambitious plans of the would-be world conquerors” will be translated as "честолюбивые планы претендентов на роль завоевателей всего мира", while "the ambitions goals set by the United Nations" will give грандиозные цели, поставленные ООН.

As for the English word "attitude" it is translated as отношение, позиция, политика, depending on the variant the Russian language prefers in a particular situation. Here the choice between variable equivalents is determined by TL factors:

a) I don't like your attitude to work (отношение).

b) There is no sign of any change in the attitudes of the two sides (позиция).

в) He stood there in a threatening attitude (поза).

A great number of SL words have no regular equivalents in TL. They are called equivalent- lacking words. The latter make up two groups:

The first group is made up of words that reflect and manifest reality in the people's specific manner. (hand/arm - рука, finger/toe - палец; blue – синий/голубой).

Traditionally some aspects of reality are reflected in language as differentiated notions in the mind of one nation and as undifferentiated notions in the mind of another nation.

The second group. Equivalents-lacking words are often found among SL names of specific national phenomena "solicitor, condominium, impeachment, baby-sitter, home-sitter, sexist language, effective communicator, conversationalist, qualifier " which cannot be translated to the people of the TL community as one word; the so-called "national realia".

The words which are permanent equivalents or variable equivalents are relatively independents of the context. The choice in the above-dealt cases depends on the knowledge of the TL factors and the communication goals.

This is not the case, however, with most words in the English vocabulary whose meanings in any sentence largely depend on the context in which they are used. True, all words have meanings of their own which are defined in dictionaries but the context may specify or modify the word meaning, neutralize or emphasize a certain part of its semantics. And before determining an equivalent, the translator has to make a careful study of the context to identify the contextual meaning of the word to be rendered in translation. Their meanings are the result of the interaction between the word semantics and the methods of its actualization in the speech act.

E.g. "Few Europeans know the first thing about Mandarin". Here we understand that the Mandarin does not mean the Chinese fruit or an official. Could you guess it by yourselves?

The context may modify the meaning of a word to such an extent that its regular equivalents will not fit a TL text. In the following sentence: "History has dealt with Hitler; history will deal with all would-be Hitlers" the translator has to do with the verb "to deal" used in the sentence in the meaning which is usually rendered into Russian as "обходиться" or "поступать". But obviously history has dealt with Hitler as severely as he deserved and the translator will resort to a stronger occasional equivalent like "покончить".

The ability to render the contextual meanings is an essential element of the translator's professional skill.

E.g. When translating the word "an abolitionist", the choice of the equivalent will depend on the period described. In different historical periods abolitionists were people who sought the abolition of slavery, prohibition laws or death penalty. Accordingly, in the Russian translation the person will be described as "аболиционист (сторонник отмены какого-либо закона)". Also, nowadays this word means a person who stands strongly agaist pro-life laws which allow later terms of abortions in contrast to pro-choice laws.

While translating the TL factors should not be disregarded. Distinguish between:

to explode a bomb - взорвать бомбу;

to explode a myth - развеять миф;

to make hay - косить, заготовить сено;

to make money – зарабатывать деньги;

to make a sacrifice - приносить жертву;

to make a step - сделать шаг;

to make a mistake - сделать ошибку;

to make tea – заварить чай;

to make a dress - шить платье

to make war - вести войну.

TRANSLATION OF EQUIVALENT LACKING WORDS

Equivalent-lacking.words. may be dealt with in translation with the help of transcription (rendering the SL image of the word sound by sound as the TL permits) which is used very often to translate permanent equivalents: Downing street 10 - Даунинг стрит,10, impeachment – импичмент, management –менеджмент, strip-tease – стриптиз, file - файл. The difference lies in the phonetic systems of the languages only. Try yourselves to continue the list.

Transliteration (rendering the SL image of the word letter by letter by means of the alphabet of the TL.) transforms Waterlooo into- Ватерлоо. Likewise: twist - твист, realtor - риэлтор ,

This technique is used with mute and double consonants between vowels or at the end of the word and with neutral vowels: Dorset – Дорсет, Bessie – Бесси, Tess – Тесс..

There are some traditional exceptions in rendering the names of historic personalities and geographical names: Charles - I - Карл I; James I - - Яков II. Accordingly, the translator has to remember that there ys a way to translate the names of the political leaders starting with W with the help of the Russian letter B, whereas the names of writers are presented in Russian starting with the letter У: Prime Minister Wilson – премьер министр Вильсон, science fiction writer Herbert Wells – писатель фантаст Герберт Уэллс.

One should note that the names of outstanding personalities referring to earlier centuries mat have their peculiar way of representation as William Shakespeare – Вильям Шекспир, Walter Scott – Вальтер Скотт, John the Landless – Иоанн Безземельный, Richard Coeur de Leon – Ричард Львиное Сердце, Mary Stuart – Мария Стюарт, etc. The thing is that many of these names came to Russian languale through intermediate languages: French, German, Italian, Polish, etc.

Not to lose national and historical markers interpretors have to use some borrowed lexical units, which strictlly speaking do not refer to the milieu of the SL such as fuerer (фюрер), duce (дуче), caudillo каудильо) instead of the possible "вождь, руководитель, лидер", “мисс, мадемуазель, сеньорита, фрейлин" вместо возможных "девушек, сударыня, барышня, госпожа" и т.д.

In case of composite words loan-translations (калька) can be coined

in the TL.

sky - scraper - небоскреб

shadow cabinet - "теневой кабинет"

backbenchers - заднескамеечники

air - bridge - воздушный мост

nuclear umbrella - ядерный зонт

Here we see that both the parts of these words are rendered into Russian and then put together to get the TL equivalent.

Approximate rendering of the notion (translation on the analogy)

Walk-in wardrobe - громадный шкаф –(the size is focused)

bug juice - дешевый напиток –(the price is stressed)

computer word processing - работа на ЭВМ в режиме редактора.