Translation and the Problems of Style

1. Definition of Style

Style is variation in a person’s speech or writing. Style usually varies from casual to formal according to the type of situation, the person or persons addressed, the location, the topic discussed, etc.

A particular style, e.g. a formal style or a colloquial style, is sometimes referred to as a stylistic variety.

Some linguists use the term register for a stylistic variety while others differentiate between the two. (522)

Register (регистр, стиль; уровень (произношения, чистоты речи и т. п.)) is a form of a language associated with a particular social situation or subject matter, such as obscene slang, legal language, or journalese.

Register is concerned with the overall tone of a text or conversation, and the relationship that is built between the speaker and listener, or reader and writer. It is important to speak and write in the appropriate register for the situation.

A functional style of a language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication.

A functional style is thus to be regarded as the product of a certain task, set by the sender of the message.

2. Classification of Functional Styles

Functional style appears mainly in the literary standard of a language. In English there are the following major functional styles:

1) the language of belles-lettres (poems, emotive prose, drama);

2) the language of publicist literature (oratory, essays, feature articles in newspaper and journals):

3) the language of newspapers (brief news items, advertisments and announcements, headlines);

4) the language of science (scientific prose, exact sciences, humanitarian sciences);

5) the language of official documents (diplomatic, business, legal, military).

The Belles-Lettres Style

Belles-Lettres is literature that is an end in itself and is not practical or purely informative. The term can refer generally to poetry, fiction, drama, etc., or more specifically to light, entertaining, sophisticated literature. It is often used to refer to literary studies, particularly essays. The word is French and literally means “beautiful letters”. (Encyclopaedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/bps/failedlogin)

The function of belles-lettres style is aesthetic. Its main features are:

1. Genuine imagery, achieved by purely linguistic devices.

2. The use of words in its contextual meaning.

3. The individual choice of vocabulary which reflects the author's personal evaluation of things and phenomena.

4. A peculiar individual choice of syntactic structures.

5. The introduction of elements typical of other styles.

Especial attention should be paid to the translation of headings and titles of literary works.

Translation of Headings and Titles

The title of a literary text may be a little changed to achieve an appropriate connotation in the TT. For example, the translation of the title of Alexander Grin’s book Алые паруса required lexical and stylistic analysis so that the translator didn’t distort the message of the novel.

The thing is that the adjective алый in the Russian language has a good connotation. It is associated with something pleasant, merry, for example, with holidays.

Ex: алые губы - cherry red lips

In English алый is translated as:

vermilion - ярко-красный, алый; багряный;

crimson - 1) малиновый, тёмно-красный; 2) кровавый;

scarlet - алый, ярко-красный; пурпурный.

However the title of the book is translated as Crimson Sales because in the English language a scarlet woman is any sexually promiscuous woman, especially a prostitute (блудница, распутная женщина), that is why the word scarlet has a bad connotation.

(This expression comes from the Bible, New Testament. It means a sinful woman described in Revelation 17, interpreted as a figure either of pagan Rome or of the Roman Catholic Church regarded as typifying vice overlaid with gaudy pageantry.)

The Publicist Style

Publicist style is represented by the following substyles: oratorical (direct contact with the listeners); radio and TV commentary; essay (moral, philosophical, literary; book review in journals and magazines, pamphlets); journalistic articles (political, social, economic). (Рябцева Э.Г. Стилистика английского языка, с. 256 //Ю.К. Волошин, В.В. Катермина, Э.Г. Рябцева Основы научных исследований, Лексикология английского языка. Стилистика английского. (УМК) языка, Краснода, 2008)

Publicist style is characterized by its explicit pragmatic function of persuasion directed at influencing the reader or listener and shaping his views.

The following features are typical of publicist text:

1. Coherent and logical syntactical structure of the text;

2. Expanded system of connectives;

З. Careful paragraphing;

4. Ample use of the words with emotive meaning;

5. Wide use of imagery, but the stylistic devices used in publicist style аге not fresh and genuine.

6. Brevity of expression. In essays brevity sometimes becomes epigrammatic.

The Style of Official Documents

Official style is the language of business documents.

This style has a definite communicative aim and, accordingly, its own system of interrelated language and stylistic means.

1. The vocabulary of this type of documents is characterized by the highest degree of formality.

2. Words are usually used in their logical dictionary meaning.

3. The language is rather lofty: e.g. to inform (=to tell); to assist (=to help); to cooperate (=to work together). The use of words with emotive meaning is unacceptable in official style.

4. Besides, official documents are replete with clichés, terms and set-phrases for which there are usually standard equivalents in the TL.

Ex: the High Contracting Parties - высокие договаривающиеся стороны

we the undersigned ... - мы, нижеподписавшиеся, …

5. Another feature of the language of official documents is the use of abbreviations, conventional symbols and contractions.

Ex: $ (dollar); Ltd (Limited); FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States)

6. The syntax of official documents is characterized by the frequent use of:

1) non-finite forms – Gerund, Participle and Infinitive.

Ex: Considering that …

in order to achieve cooperation in solving the problems…

2) complex structures with them, such as:

- the Complex Object (We expect this to take place);

- Complex Subject (This is expected to take place);

- the Absolute Participial Construction (The conditions being violated, it appears necessary to state that …).

7. The structure of the official document is also worth mentioning. A piece of writing of this type usually consists of a preamble, main text body and a finalizing (concluding) part.

The Language of Scientific Literature

Scientific style is found in articles, brochures, monographs and other scientific and academic publications. (Рябцева Э.Г. Стилистика английского языка, с. 257 //Ю.К. Волошин, В.В. Катермина, Э.Г. Рябцева Основы научных исследований, Лексикология английского языка. Стилистика английского. (УМК) языка, Краснода, 2008)

The following features are typical of scientific texts:

1. Scientific texts are characterized by the use of special terminology.

2. The word-order is usually strict. The inversion occurs if the sentence is the continuation of the previous one.

3. Each paragraph starts with a key sentence containing the main idea.

4. The logical sequence of utterances with clear indications of their interrelations and interdependence is especially important when discussing this or that subject.

5. Another distinctive feature of scientific texts is the use of quotations, references and footnotes is also an indispensable.

6. To stress the logical connection between sentences the special set-phrases are used.

Ex: to sum up - суммировать; обобщать; подводить итог

as we have seen in chapter 5 ... - как мы показали в главе 5 ...

The adverbs, conjunctions and connective words serve the same aim.

Ex: finally, again, thus (adverbs)

that, and that, than, if, as, or, nor (conjunctions and connective words)

Some conjunctions are used in pairs (correlatively): not merely, but also, both … and, as … as.

7. The expressiveness in scientific and technical texts is quantitative. The following phrases are typical of this kind of texts.

Ex: much the same - почти такой же, похожий

to note that - отметить, что

another point of considerable interest is … - другой момент, который представляет для нас значительный интерес – это …

it is by no means trivial - это отнюдь не банальный, тривиальный факт

The Main Ways of Translating Terms

Way of translation	Example	Translation
1. The translation of terms using a lexical equivalent in Russian:	a) one takes a Russian term as an equivalent to an English term, the form of which is not connected with the form of the English term (recognized translation). maternity leave	отпуск по беременности и родам
	b) the equivalent is created by means of the transcription / transliteration of the English term. outsourcing	аутсорсинг
	c) the equivalent is created by means of calque. marriage property pact	брачно-имущественный контракт
	d) the equivalent is created by combination of transcription and calque (semicalque). biodiversity	биоразнообразие (биологическое разнообразие)
2. The translation by choosing one of the possible lexical variants	a) the choice between calque and corresponding Russian term. field force	- "полевые" сотрудники - сотрудники компании, работающие на местах или в филиалах компании, вдали от головной конторы
	b) the choice between transcription and the Russian term. prime time	- прайм-тайм - лучшее эфирное время
	c) the choice between transcription and definition. baby boomer	- бэби-бумер - человек, родившийся в период демографического взрыва (особенно в 1946-64 гг. в США или Канаде);
The translation by means of definition only	first-past-the-post	отдающий победу кандидату, набравшему простое большинство голосов

The Main Ways of Translating Abbreviations

Abbreviation is a shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase used in place of the whole.

Abbreviation	Way of word formation	Russian translation	Way of translation
EuroClear	Syllable abbreviation (combination of two initial syllables)	ЮроКлир (клиринговая система, учреждение для расчетов между банками на вторичном рынке еврооблигаций и других ценных бумаг)	Transcription / transliteration
CEO (Chief Executive Officer)	Letter abbreviation	Главный исполнительный директор корпорации	The abbreviation is reformulated into full words.
Four Ps (product, place, price, promotion)	Mixed abbreviation (consists of number and letters)	Четыре составных части маркетинга	The abbreviation is reformulated into full words.
Sales rep. (sales representative)	Shortened word	Торговый представитель	The abbreviation is reformulated into full words.
WTO (World Trade Organization)	Letter abbreviation	ВТО (Всемирная торговая организация)	Corresponding Russian abbreviation
CHESS (Community Health and Environmental Surveillance System)	Acronym (letter abbreviation)	Система контроля за состоянием здоровья населения и окружающей средой	The abbreviation is reformulated into full words.
SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)	Acronym (letter abbreviation)	Переговоры ОСВ (советско-американские переговоры об ограничении стратегических вооружений)	Mixed translation: prop noun переговоры + corresponding Russian abbreviation

The Peculiarities of the Newspaper Style and Their Translation

1. The structure of a newspaper item

2. Newspaper headlines

3. The translation of clichés

The Structure of the Newspaper Item

Russian and English news texts are characterized by a number of common features, namely:

1) a wide stylistic range (different styles depending on the theme of the article);

2) preference for compressed sentences.

1. The title or headline

2. The lead (краткое изложение газетной статьи (помещается непосредственно перед статьёй))

3. The article itself

2. The lead usually contains the summary of the most essential and interesting facts of the article. And the detailed account of the material follows the lead.

In former times people used to consider that the lead had to contain one sentence answering 6 questions:

1. Who?

2. When?

3. Where?

4. Why?

5. What?

6. How?

Nowadays this rule is not so strict. The lead should answer these questions, but not necessarily all of them.

3. The compression of the text is one of the most important facts, which should be taken into account when translating newspaper article.

One and the same idea can be expressed in various ways, but on the whole laconism is typical of the newspaper style.

In the majority of manuals for journalists in the USA and Great Britain laconism is considered as one of the demands for newspaper style, but some investigations prove that the volume of any translation is bigger than that of the origin.

The tendency to the widening of the volume of the text translated should be balanced by the tendency to compression if we want to create the text meeting the norms of the newspaper international style.

Newspaper Headlines

These should normally be translated last. A non-literary text or book should be accurately described by its title.

When comparing English and Russian headlines, you may trace a number of distinctive features, which are naturally reflected in translation.

1. Thus, in English headlines verb-phrases are preferably used.

Ex: Cat goddess discovered in ruins of temple

In this headline the verb to be and the articles are left out.

N.B. You should bear in mind that in the English headlines the articles and the so called function words (служебное слово) are omitted.

So the restored sentence would be:

The cat goddess has been discovered in the ruins of a temple

Ex: British protesters arrested

The British protesters were arrested

2. The actions which took place in the past are usually expressed by the verbs in the present tenses.

Ex: Pay gap faces security = Данные о разрыве в размере заработной платы не будут оглашаться

The context: Companies are to be given some immunity (неприкосновенность, иммунитет) from investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission if they publish details on pay disparity (неравенство) between men and women.

3. The actions that will take place in the future are usually expressed by infinitive.

Ex: Britain and France to sign defense treaty

Hero of wartime elephant ‘Dankirk’ to be honored

4. The Russian headlines favor noun-phrases.

So to translate them correctly you should resort to some syntactic transformation.

Ex: Переброска американских солдат в Афганистан = Американских солдат перебрасывают в Афганистан

The American soldiers are being airlifted to Afghanistan

But it is not a headline yet. We should omit the verb to be and the definite article.

The American soldiers airlifted to Afghanistan

The Translation of Clichés

The newspaper language is rich in ready-made formulae, or clichés.

Cliché is an expression which has lost its originality or effectiveness because it has been used too often. (Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics, p. 75)

In the process of translation it is important not only to preserve the figurative sense of the cliché, but also to stress the fact that it is used regularly and that everybody is used to it.

Here are some examples of cliché:

English expression	Russian translation
Silent Majority (a presumed moderate majority of the citizens who are too passive to make their views known)	"Молчаливое большинство"
Double standard (a set of principles that allows greater freedom to one person or group than to another)	Двойной стандарт; двойная мораль; двойные критерии оценки
Crying shame (of something bad that demands urgent attention)	Вопиющее безобразие
To flex one's muscle (to show off one's strength or power)	Играть мускулами, демонстрировать силу