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  1. Translation theory. Objects, aims and methods of anal.

  2. The notion of Translation. Dif approaches to the def-n

  3. The place of TT among other branches.

  4. Translation theory: it’s emergence. History.

  5. Comparative linguistics and translation theory

  6. The object of translation comparative studies in various levels.

  7. Unit of translation. UOT

  8. Choice of unit of translation on various language levels

  9. Types of translation single out on the basis of var.criteria

  10. the notion of translatability

  11. Equivalence and Adequacy of translation

  12. Types of semantic correlation of Eng and Rus words

  13. The notion of correspondences . Theory of regular correspondences by Retsker

  14. The theory of the types of equivalence by Kommisarov

  15. Equivalent correspondences -types,definits,role in T.

  16. Variant correspondences (VC). Definition, uses

  17. Contextual correspondences (CC) definits,types, uses

  18. the notion of analogues, their role in translation

  19. Micro- and macro-context. Use of contextual correspondences

  20. Lexical problems of translation at word level

  21. Translation transformations (TTfn) definitions, aims

  22. Substitutions

  23. Transformations of restructuring

  24. Complex lexico-grammatical transformation – antomymic t-n, addition, omissions.

  25. Context-free words: proper names in translation

  26. Handling E noun phrases w/ multiple pre-mods in T.

  27. International and pseudo-international words

  28. Rendering words having no equivalences

  29. Problems of rendering phraseological units

  30. Terms, problems of translating terms in parallel dics

  31. Difficulties inherent in translating neologisms

  32. Modal component in textual info. Renderin modality

  33. Grammatical divergences of E & R at pre-text level

  34. Translation problems at textual level

  35. Functions of the English article; means of compen-n

  36. English absolute nominative constructions.

  37. Problems of rendering word order Eng-Rus

  38. Problems of rendering word order Rus-Eng

  39. Translating Ru verbal adverbs

  40. the correlation of Passive w-form in E and R

  41. Rendering passive voice constructions

  42. Rendering tense-aspect forms Eng-Rus

  43. Rendering tense-aspect forms Rus-Eng

  44. Rendering newspaper materials

  45. ways if rendering newspaper headlines

  46. Grammatical peculiarities of translating newspaper articles

  47. Lexico-phraseological and stylistic peculiarities of translating newspaper articles.

  48. Models based on componential analysis

  49. Situational models of translation

  50. Cultural-semiotic and cognitive models of translation.

(1) The term 'translation theory' (TT) is used as a synonym of several other terms accepted with a similar meaning in translation studies by Russian and foreign scholars: 'translatology', 'translation studies', «переводоведение», «теория перевода».«Толковый переводоведческий словарь» L.L.Nelyubin included the following three meanings of the term «теория перевода» 3) a scholarly discipline which establishes regular interrelations and correspondences between a SLT and a TLT and considers major translation topics related to methodology and techniques of translation.

Shveitser - the object of LTT is the process of translation as a special kind of speech communication viewed in a broad socio-ailtural context with account taken of social, cultural and psychological determinants

Barkhudarov - important aspect in the object of LTT which presupposes a contrastive study of SL and TL speech events, that is a SLT and a TLT, underlying a scientific description of translation process viewed as an interlanguage transformation

The aim of LTT is to reveal and describe the most common, typical and repetitve objective regularities of translation process. the aims of LTT analysis are varied and depend on its division into several branches: a)general – gen regularities; b)particular (genres & types; oral-written; partic SL & TL problems).

Tasks –1)bring to light the essence of t-n as a special king of hum. interact.

2)elaborate principles of classifying dif.types of Tactivity.

3)reveal essence of T equivalence and adequacy

4)work out criteria for evaluating the quality of T.

5)est. types of interlang correlation and class.corresp-ces.

6)describe T techniques & procedures; 7)determine the role of T. in the development of culture.

Methods: time-tested – comparative analysis(1SL-1TL; 1SL-sevTL; sevSL-sevTL).

Componential analysis: decompose word-meaning in elementaries. The description of lexical meaning of correlated words in SL and TL in terms of their componential structure helps to establish the degree of their semantic proximity and look for means to overcome their difference.

Transformational a.: repatterning of var distrib structures to discover dif-ces & sameness in practically identical patterns (He will make a good teacher(house))



(2) In most dic-ies from 2 sides: process & result. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 1.the act of changing speech or writing into another language 2.smth that has been changed into another language. Process – process-oriented approach. Result – text-oriented approach.


Two branches of the TT which are described by W. Roller as Translatology of Text and Processual Translatology. Translatology of text investigates various aspects of translation equivalence, equivalence and adequacy of translation, the methodology of translation analysis of a text and text typology on translation principles, the correlation of various linguistic, stylistic and textual features of a SLT and their correspondences in a TLT, problems of translating different types of texts belonging to different genres and requirements set for their adequate translation. Processual translatology is concerned with mental work of a translator and thus it studies translator's strategies when perceiving, comprehending, analyzing a SLT. Modern def-ns: Broad s. – any kind of translation(oral,writ) 1 narrow s – process of writ T.; 2 narrow s – result of wr.T. Interpreter – translates what a speaker is saying so that everyone understands it.

Komissarov: process of producing in a TL a text which has identical which has identical communicative value w/ SLT.

Jacobson: 1)intralingual T. – verbal sign of the same lang.(paraphras) 2)interling T. – verbal sign of dif. lang (proper). 3)intersemiotic – by means of non-verbal signs(Morse code)(transmutation)

When translation is understood as an end result of the previous process then it is usually described in terms of its quality. The authors of the most well-known theories of translation which are based on comparing a SLT and a TLT try to work out reliable criteria for estimating the adequacy and equivalence of translation, the demands made of technical or literary translation, translation of prose or poetry, etc




3 The place of TT among other branches.

This problem has several aspects: the position of translation studiesin relation (a) to macro- and micro-linguistics, (b) theoretical (fundamental) and applied sciences, (c) descriptive and prescriptive (normative) studies.

L.S.Barkhudarov LTT should be qualified as a macrolinguistic science for which he gives several reasons: 1) an act of translation like any other act of communication refers to a speech event which involves apart from the language a number of objective and subjective non-linguistic phenomena. 2) translator should know a broader background exceeding the boundaries of a speech situation which embraces a translator's background knowledge between theoretical and applied sciences. A.V.Fedorov: in terms of applied disciplines TT can be qualified as a descriptive-prescriptive science as, on the one hand, it describes and analyses materials drawn from translation practice and, on the other hand, it formulates normative recommendations and rules

V.N.Komissarov: in a broad sense TT ='translatology' embracing linguistics of translation, psychology of translation, ethnology of translation; in a narrow sense TT is a theoretical part of translatology which is concerned with the study of matters which are of practical interest and a translator in the centre.

Dif-ce between theoretical (descriptive)- the investigation of translation as a means of interlingual communication which should be described and explained- and normative (prescriptive) sections of LTT- practical recommendations, requirements set for measuring the quality of translation.

Translation studies can be divided into pure and applied- concerned with practical tasks of translator training, various translation aids, translation criticism. Pure translation studies are further subdivided into theoretical and descriptive. Theoretical translation studies include general and partial branches the difference between which is conditioned by a wider variety of problems of general character considered in the former that refer to any translation, and a restricted character of the latter (cf. medium, area, rank, text type, time, problem restricted translation studies). Descriptive translation studies focus on the three main aspects of translation: product-oriented (analysis of target texts aimed at establishing their differential features), process-oriented (the study of mental processes in a translator's mind) and function-oriented (analyzing the functioning of a TT in another socio-cultural environment accepting this text).


(4) History. Steiner. “After Babel” 1)empiristic approach (40BC-19cent)– sensus per sensus (Sokrat) instead of the principle of translation "verbum pro verbo" (word-for-word) Alexander Fraser Tytler's "Essays on the Principles of Translation" ( London, 1792).

2)hermeneutic app.(beg19-mid50sXX)-philosophic-poetic. Translation process was analysed in terms of a general model of meaning and understanding a piece of written and oral speech. The interchange between theory and practical need continued and the activity of the translator and relations between languages were discussed in the works by Goethe, Matthew Arnold

3)LTT (mid50s-late80s)-Russia: semantical, situational, denotational, communicative, transformational theories) In 1954 an International Federation of Translators (FIT) was set up which published its own translators' journal "Babel". hist background – WW2 end – new contacts, new types of T., new training.

4)functional TT(late80s-today) – based on findings of psychology, anthropology, sociology, ethnoling-cs & cultural studies. They study translation as 'the process of life between languages' and look upon a TL text as the 'after-life" of a SL text. The best known translation theories are cognitive, cultural, and those based on the idea of intertextuality. The first attempt to estimate the contribution of Russian translationists into the development of linguistic translation theory was made by V.N.Komissarov who wrote an overview of the findings and research into this field by the twelve major investigators of translation beginning with Ya.I.Retsker. . In 1918 M.Gorky founded the Vsemirnaya Literatura publishing house and made the first step towards creating the theory by writing several sketches on literary translation. The book "Principy khudozhestvennogo perevoda" (1919) ("Principles of artistic translation") with contributions from K.Chukovsky, F.Batyushkov and N.S. Gumilev was followed by major publications in this field: A V.Fedorov "Techniques and tasks of artistic translation", K.I.Chukovsky and A.V. I'edorov "The art of translation", K.I. Chukovsky "The High art"

History of translation bears out that scholars abroad also debated a lot Whether translation is an art (skill) or science. E.Nida and C.Taber stressed that "translation is far more than a science. It is also a skill, and in the ultimate analysis fully satisfactory translation is always an art"

(5) Catfold think TT should be considered as a branch of CL

there are three major areas in which issues of contrastive linguistics and translation theory overlap: 1)TT draw upon result of CL; 2)T. – is a part of bilingual experiment in which major problems of general ling-s are tested, compared and verified on the basis of 2 or more langs.; 3)T is used as a method of research of the CL as many conclusions made in regard to languages compared are drawn on the basis of translation regularities

V.N. Komissarov points out various aspects of the method of comparison used in contrastive linguistics and translation studies: (a) comparative linguistics compares systems of the two languages bringing together language units belonging to the same levels whereas comparison in translation studies is based on speech utterances in SL and TL which may involve units that belong to different language levels (b) in comparative linguistics comparison of any two languages is considered valid no matter which of them is chosen as a starting point depending on a researcher's aims and tasks, while in translation studies of a SLT and a TLT the result of comparison is believed to be a description of a SL lexis from the translation point of view (c) comparative linguistics aims at creating exhaustive systemic level-by-level descriptions of the two languages investigated, whereas translation comparative studies aim at building a system of complex correspondences between a SL and a TL



6. 1)lexico-phraseological:

a)connected with rendering w-s and establish sem strctures.

b)with pecularities of translating var lex-sem groupings that share translation problems(terms,neologisms,proper names)

c)problems of translating free & stable w-groups including ph.u.

d)with the use of special translation procedures & techniques on this level

2)grammatical level

a)gram pecularities of a word, problems of rendering dif. parts of speech, non-verbal froms,articles,linking elements.

b)w-groups incl gerund.compl.,inf-val,comparative str-s.

c)on the level of sentence & related to rendering sent-s of dif. communicative type.,w-order, restructuring.

3)genre & stylistic level

a)rendering expressive means & styl.dev. located on lex, grammatical, phono-graph level

b)problems arising when t-g texts of dif functional types, sub-styles, genres.


(7) When text translated it is segmented in a smaller parts – UOT. No universal accepted definition. Комиссар. – переводема; transleme;

According to S.B. Tyulenev, unit of translation should be termed translateme (транслатема) and defined a combination of a linguistic unit of the source language expressing a cert contextual meaning and the minimal corresponding linguistic unit of the tar language with the same meaning.

I) with reference to a SLT, 2) with reference to a TLT, 3) with reference to both a SLT and a TLT.

Vinay – UOT is a u. of sense.

1)Komis – UOT is a min lang u. in SLT which is chosen as an independ object of T. process. 2)supporters of machine translation – a combination of certain lexemes and gramemes which correspond to a certain lex and gram cat. in TLT.(Revzin).

3) Barkhudarov – a min lang u. in SLT which taken as a whole has a certain correspond. in TLT, but the constituent parts of which taken separately don’t have a correspondence with a similar meaning in TL.

Main features: 1) UOT – sh.alws be found in SLT, not TLT.

2) established from T-rs point of view and don’t correlate with the existing lang levels.3) min unit in a sense that it cant be segmented further without determent to its sense.


(8) 1. Resker, Komis – it’s cant be a word. Can be a sentence or a clause, paragraph, text; 2. Komis – Sentence is chosen more often as it provides microcontext necessary for T. He also admits lower units an introduces an hierarchy; 3. Reiss – level of text as it helps to overcome contextual ambiguity and ambivalence of words and sents. That arise from differences in cultures.



Phonemes – proper, geogr names, some terms – Challenger – Челенджер, bobsleigh – бобслей.+ Graphemes–off-shore – оф-шор.Transcription(-literation).

Morphemes – самореклама – self-promotion. Loan translation – method of segmenting words into components which are further translated.

Words – 1. semantic peculiarities the correlation of denotational and connotational components of meaning and some other features, 2. dependence on context; context-free – names, precision lexis; context-bound – polysemantic words. (assault – штурм,оскорбление,выступление против)

Word-groups – esp. important in E-R T. bc E word being an analytical lang is more dependant on its environment

Sentence – 2 cases 1. when same utterance is used in own idiomatic way(Auth personnel only – служ вход). 2. proverbs and sayings which have dif. Images + to retain proper styl. effect.

Text – esp. poetry. Ye.V. Breus who defined units of translation in connection with a text which is viewed as a matrix («сетка») of translation problems. This matrix covers problem translation ureas and problem-free translation areas. In the former case a translator deals with units of translation which he has to translate creatively and of his own accord, while in the latter case he transcodes a text using regular correspondences according to Ya.I. Retsker's theory.

Stages in the text-segmentation procedure:

1) segmenting to the minimal units of sense or expression

2) analyzing all contextual modifications of sem and formal features( манципации – мунципации).

3) considering all situational and background factors

4) socio-ethno-cultural factors

5) enlarging, diminishing, dropping of those ling units ( старухи сидели)

6) applying the principle of interchangeability (wrong number – ошиблись номером)

7) consider addressee factor

8) choose proper T strategy ( w-for-w, literal, adequate ; Бог с вами – Never mind about them)

(9) Trad-ly 2 criteria: Communicative f-n: literary – aesthetic impression(prose, poetry, drama) & informative – convey info(scientific,diplomatic,official,business);

Form of speech: written(full,abridged-synopsys,précis,express-info T.) & oral(consecutive,simul, whispered,sight,over-the-phone)

Barkhud: acc to degree of adequacy: adequate, literal (retains not only the spirit, but also the letter of the original text often to the detriment of the content and the norms of TL), free (perfecting the original text than its adequate rendering). For the practical purposes it is possible to sum up the most important criteria that apply to evaluate the adequacy of translation: 1. it fully and correctly renders the sense of an original text, 2. it follows the rules and norms of TL, 3. it retains stylistic peculiarities of a SLT, the functions of expressive means and stylistic devices used in it, peculiarities of the author' individual language and style, 4. it conveys the author's message and intent, 5. it arouses a reaction on the part of a TLT reader similar to that of SLT reader.

Chebotarev: Types: 1)full(the full volume of information expressed in SLT) 2)abridged(selects some passages for translation or reduces the information retained in a TLT only to the most important points and leaving out less important) 3)enlarged(includes various comments, explanations, etc by a translator which contribute to a better understanding of an original text) 4)modified(refers to synopsis and precis translation)

Kinds: 1)oral 2)written 3)combi(lecture, abridge sight T.)

Genres: 1)political, publicistic 2)technical 3)military 4)fiction 5)legal 6)commercial 7)religious.

(10) absolute translatability or untranslatability?



Humboldt – language is a spirit of a nation

Sapir – langs equated to thinking, so impossible.

Leibnitz – dif langs – variants of lingua universalis which express the same common notions that are easy to translate from language to language

Adequate translation is quite possible and the long history of the practice of translation is a good proof of it. The assumptions used by the authors are as follows: a) thinking of many people is based on common logic b) basic units are notions that are universal for all human beings c) all langs posses not only culturally specific features, but also universals d) reality exists by itself and only expressed, embodied in human language e) whatever is expressed in lang can be rendered in another lang as langs are rich on resources.



Scweizer – 2 interpretations notions 1) general basic underlying principles of T as a activity(positive) 2) referring the notion to the concrete lang points and discover a lot of things that are hard or impossible to translate.

Barkhud – way out – to translate on the lev of text. He claims that though there may be units which are difficult to translate they should not undermine the principle of translatability established on the level of a text.

Lado - "Linguistics across Cultures", developed the notion of 'cultural untranslatability' [Ладо 1989]. He uses this term to refer to culturally unique terms such as cultural concepts, barbarisms, some terms, etc.

Catfold – ling and cultural untranslatability: linguistic untranslatability is defined as a failure to find a TL equivalent which is due entirely to differences between the SL and the TL; cultural untranslatability occurs when a situational feature, functionally relevant for the SL text, is completely absent from the culture of TL

Torop – 3 types depending on dominant: SLT(case the source text dictates its own optimal translatability), translator(the translator as a creative person realizes himself through the choice of the translation method which itself determines the degree of translatability), receiving culture(the translator takes into account a would-be reader or cultural norms, i.e. determines the degree of translatability by conditions of acceptance of a translation text).

11/14 Equivalence and Adequacy of translation.

E – gen sense – sense proximity of any 2 elements equated to each other. Narrow s.- (a) E of SLT and TLT, (b) E as type of lex correspondence bw SLT units and TLT correspond-s, (c) E of T-n which presupposes identity on all levels of SLT and TLT content, and (d) equivalent transl.

Koller – 5 typesof E-ce:

1) denotational(the subject content of the text) 2) connotational(stylistic equivalence) 3) textual normative(to the language and speech norms) 4) pragmatic(communicative) E-ce 5) formal E-ce (artistic, aesthetic, individualizing and other formal attributes of the original).

Komissarov(a measure of semantic community of a SLT and its translation on various levels): 1) level of the aim of comm. 2) situation described 3) way of describing the sit 4) m-g of syntactic structures 5) m-gs of lex units. Ex. (1). Одноэтажная америка – provincial am.; (1,2). Watch the head – осторожно низкий потолок; (1,2,3,4) this summer saw a number of terrible air-crashes. – этим летом произошло несколько ужасных авиакатастроф;.(all) – the fog stopped the traffic - Из-за тумана остановилось движение транспорта.

Koller – dif. levels, Komis – hierarchy.



Adequacy of tr. is understood in two senses: (1) the reproduction of the unity of content and form of a SLT by means of another language; (2) identical information conveyed by similar or identical means of a different language.

The difference: 1) in terms of the character adequacy of translation is an evaluative category, thus an adequate translation means a good translation; an equivalent translation is a technical category referring to an established standard which implies the greatest possible identity or similarity of all content levels of a SLT and a TLT; 2) in terms of the object adequacy of translation refers to the procedure (process) of translation and thus it relates to the conditions of an interlingual and intercultural communicative act and determines the use of speech filters (semantic, combinatorial, word-building, etc), the choice of translator's strategies that meets the communicative situation. Equivalent translation is aimed at a desirable result and establishes to what extent the TLT corresponds to the SLT as both perform similar communicative functions in various cultures; 3) In terms of the content adequacy of translation is based on the actual practice of translation and approves of translation decisions of a compromise nature on condition that they better correlate with the communicative situation; equivalent translation presupposes maximum possible transference of the communicative functional invariant of the SLT.



12. Types of semantic correlation of English and Russian words. The semantic structure is determined by two factors: extralinguistic (how the language segments the outside world and embodies the results of its reflection by human mind in the meanings of lexical units) and intralinguistic(takes into account semantic links within the vocabulary system and thus determines semantic value of particular units.).

The semantic structure of lex.units is a complicated structure(two aspects of lexical meaning (denotational and connotational)). A.L. Bourak: 3 key types of relationship between word-senses in SL and TL: (1) inclusion (hyponymy), (2) partial inclusion and exclusion (cross-language synonyms) and (3) exclusion (antonymy).

3 types of semantic correlation: 1) full semantic coincidence, 2) partial semantic coincidence(den.comp.: a)intersection - hair; b)inclusion часы - watch, clock; con.comp.: bobby-полицейский-policeman-cop), 3) absence of semantic coincidence.

various causes of 3):

1)the difference in the systems of nominative means in English and Russian (cf. a fortnight - две недели, четырнадцать дней; by-line - строка в начале статьи (на которой помещается фамилия автора, художника или фотографа);

2)appearance of new coinages {self-cover - обложка из тиражной бумаги, drive-in - кинотеатр для автомобилистов, смотрящих фильмы, не покидая своих машин; «автокино»; ресторан для автомобилистов)'; 3)cultural words (Civil List - цивильный лист, самофинансирование - self-financing performance).


(13) Narrow – ready correspondences in bi-lingual dics (inside my room – у меня в комнате). Broad – used in regard to any means of textual T-n of a given unit that doesn’t coincide with a dic correspondence.(had fallen – набились).

In 1974 Ya.I. Retsker published his monograph "Teoriya perevoda i perevodcheskaya praktica"



Reg. Cor-s – 3 types: 1) equivalent 2) variant & contextual 3) correspondences resulting from T-n transformations.

1)refers to the sphere of lang, 2,3)to speech.

Komiss disagree – bc of mute points: 1) whether we take into account ways of establishing correspondences or the fact of their being registered in a bilingual dictionary 2)Variant correspondences also registered in parallel dictionaries so belong to lang too.3) Many correspondences that result from transformations than become dic-ry correspondences.

(15) equivalents- constant regular dic-ry correspondences which are used in T-n irrespective of context and are interchangeable with each other in all their uses. They are found mostly among – georg names, terms, some common nouns, not only in compound words and w-combis (dog-collar – ошейник).

Taking into account denotational component:

Full – coincide fully in denotational m-g (mass media – средства масс. инфо). Partial – coincide only in some of their m-gs (silver plate – 1)серебряная пластинка 2)сер. блюдо 3)столовое серебро.

Denotational and conotational into account:



Absolute – D & C coincide.(nitrogen – азот(terms))

Relative – D – same, C – dif.( гэбист (разг.) - KGBer (neutral))

Scholars criticized on some points: 1) equivalent sh not be understood as complete identity as some nuances of w.m-g can be revealed in derivatives and combinatorial capacity. (to tell Canterbury tales – рассказывать нескончаемые скучные истории – is retains just part of conn.(lacks m-g – tell stories about sex in funny, rude manner).


(16) VC – is a set of dic correspondences in TL used to translate, dep on the context, the same m-g of a SL UOT.(e.g. writing paper – писчая бумага; writing desk – письменный стол; the w. prof-n – пишущая братия.) – in SL m-g is general and broad while in TL concretized. usually – synonyms (общий – general meeting; common aims; mutual friend. Ya.I Retsker gives examples of semantically non-differentiated meanings of English words which have to be differentiated in translation into Russian, cf. justice may be translated by Russian справедливость or правосудие which are thought of as inseparable in the English word, while in Russian one of them does not necessarily presuppose the other.

Partial equivalents sh not be confused w/ VC, as PE is used to translate dif mg-s of polusem word and belongs to vertical dimension forming a paradigmatic set; while VC belongs to horizontal forming a syntagmatic set, as are used to t-te the same m-g depending on their left or right environment.

Carrier: 1) носильшик, подносчик (variants)

2)посыльный, рассыльный, курьер (variants)

3)возчик, перевоозчик 3)авианосец

17. Contextual correspondences (CC) definits,types, uses.

- such correspondences which are used to t-te a SL unit in a particular linguistic context. Can be subdivide on usual and occasional, dependin on character of context.



Usual used in fixed context (academic – 1)университетский 2) чисто теоретический 3) традиционный. But: an academic discussion of the matter – бесполезное обсуждение уже решенного вопроса).

influence of fixed context can be easily found in phraseological phrases. (bring to light – вывести на чистую воду).



Occasional are used only for a given occasion and not registered in dics. That’s why they are very individual and depend on T-r’s creative abilities. He is a hot sketch for a fighter, anyway – он такой прекрасный боксер, что дальше ехать некуда.

3-d group – various correspondences as a result of t-n transformations.

(At last he found his voice – Он наконец-то обрел дар речи). Difference w/ occasional is that the former is governed by certain regularities. In the above ex. Transformation is made by a lex. Transformation of sense development which is necessitated by combinability rules.

18. Analogues as a special type of lexical correspondences. Drawbacks of translation analogues. -a variety of correspondences alongside equivalents and adequate substitutions.

Ya.I. Retsker used it in connection with several TL correspondences for a given unit of translation when a translator has to make a proper choice on analogy with the choice of synonyms for a given context.

A.V.Fedorov: means of rendering nationally specific concepts of SL which have no ready correspondences in TL

L.S.Barkhudarov(broad sense): approximate equivalents which means that he considers them alongside other correspondences:(техникум - junior college, горсовет - municipal council). drugstore and аптека are only analogues, but not true equivalents

A.V.Fyodorov(narrow sense): nationally specific concepts and phraseological units.

drawbacks of unrestricted use of analogues: 1) they may weaken in a TLT national specificity, cultural relevance and local colouring (гласность - openness, publicity, frankness - glasnost which was supplied by the comment: a system introduced in the mid 1980s in Russia which allowed people and the media to express views in opposition to the official position, diametrically opposed to the closed society concept). 2) they may result in the unintended effect of bringing in certain connotations connected with a given concept in a TL linguacultural community. Such connotations which are aroused by TLT may seem to be strange, out-of-place and improper for a situation described. For example, the English word peddler (торговец-разносчик) could hardly be translated by the Russian word коробейник which is proper to use only against the background of the Russia of the Nekrasov times.

19. The role of micro and macro-context in translation. Contextual substitutions. Linguistic contexts: macrolinguistic and microlinguistic. A linguistic context is a minicontext the boundaries of which are usually confined to the immediate environment of a unit of translation which is typically a word-group. This can best be illustrated by polysemantic words used in a concrete context (consumer - 1) истребитель,2)потребитель, 3)клиент;заказчик;покупатель;абонент;подписчик;3) биол. консумент, but consumer electronics it is translated as бытовая электроника.

A macrolinguistic context by definition exceeds the limits of the immediate environment and stretches into a sentence, a group of sentences, a paragraph, a chapter or even the whole book. State-several states-"The Democratic party candidate won the election in several southern states ". "Five Go Adventuring Again"-«Новые приключения великолепно пятёрки».

Finally, the role of a context is hard to overestimate when translating a word which undergoes great contextual semantic changes when it is impossible to use a dictionary correspondence, e.g. In an atomic war women and children will be the first hostages. Женщины и дети будут первыми жертвами в атомной войне.

In view of these factors a translator has to resort to occasional contextual substitutions because: 1)to retain the necessary pragmatic effect, .. he said, glancing at a gentleman just entering, arrayed in a high hat and Prince Albert coat...-произнёс, взглянув на джентльмена в цилиндре и длинном двубортном сюртуке.... 2) to take into account combinability of words in TL, When she came to her own rooms, Carrie saw their comparative insignificance- Когда Керри вернулась домой, ей сразу бросилась в глаза относительная убогость её квартирки. 3) to create a proper stylistic effect,You '11 like him yourself, he is such a foolish old Polly (in English old Polly stands for a tame parrot (Chambers). Тебе он понравится, он - такая забавная мартышка.



20. Lexical problems of translation at word level.

Most problems arise at word level, reasons:

1)word is a basic unit of info which is expressed, conveyed & stored in lang as a result of human cognition of outer world.

2)word is a basic unit of thought, means of transferring a message in the form of untterance.

3)has broad scope of info-tive value consisting of linguistic(grammar,formal) and extralinguistic (denot, conn, sociological, chronological, background, ddifferential) info.

4)acquires dif. kinds of textual occasional info which very important to understand in SL and retain in T-n.

(в богатых странах – affluent, wealthy, rich – important – connotation.

Problematic group of words acc to Vinogradov:

1)lexis comprising background info – nationally specific concepts /++units of measurement, monetary units, address.

2)lexis containing chronological info(archaic - neologisms

3)proper names(smtm in fiction - source of add. info connected w/ the name.

21.Translation transformations

Translation transformations are defined by L.S. Barkhudarov as numerous and varied in their quality inter-lingual changes which are made to achieve adequacy in translation in spite of discrepancies in the formal and semantic systems of a SL and a TL

the syntactic level favours substitutions which retain the syntactic invariant despite various other replacements, e.g. The sun disappeared behind a cloud. - Солнце скрылось за тучей. The semantic level admits of a variety of transformations including passivization, nominalization, replacement of a word by a word group, etc. E.g. Ваша жена прекрасно готовит - Your wife is a superb cook. In such cases the invariant is retained on two sublevels: (a) componential&(b) referential (У меня стоят часы - My watch has stopped). The pragmatic level regarded as a top level in the hierarchy of levels exists irrespective of the other two levels and allows a wide range of transformations which cannot be described in terms of a single type (e.g. Many happy returns of the day - С днём рождения).

An understanding of translation transformations offered by V.S.Vinogradov connects it with two stages in a translator's work:


  • the first presupposing perception of a SL text is divided into two phases: pre-translational and translational perception;

  • the second phase connected with re-creation

In the author's opinion causes of translation transformations include two major factors:

(a) a SL text as a determinant of translation modifications and (b) a lingua-ethnical barrier as another important determinant.

A SL text as a determinant of its transformations contains the following features:

1) textual content comprising denotative, significative connotations, the

interpreter's level of content, intra-lingual content, structural content;

2) functions of a text including intellectual informative, emotive, aesthetic, nominative, voluntative, phatic. A lingua-ethnical barrier includes linguistic (proper) and ethno-cultural factors:

a) linguistic factors comprise discrepancies between two language systems on various language levels, language norms, speech norm;

b) ethno-cultural barrier refers to pre-textual information stock of SL and TL speakers.




22. Substitutions made on various levels: lexical, stylistic, grammatical (morphological and syntactic).

Lexical substitutions

a) concretizing - a SL word with an abstract, broad and general meaning is replaced by a TL word with a concrete, narrow and specific meaning, e.g. After dinner - После ужина b) generalization - a SL word with a concrete, narrow, specific meaning changed for a TL word which has an abstract, broad, general meaning, c) sense development - a SL word is replaced by a TL word the meanings of which denote notions connected with each other through cause-result links. Since such links are usually connected with an action mere may be basically 6 varieties of such transformations: result – cause; result – action; action – result; action – cause; cause – result; cause – action (When I opened my eyes she had lit the lamp (action) Когда я открыл глаза, лампа была зажжена (resultant state)); d) antonymic translation - a SL word is translated by its TL antonym which as a rule brings about changes in the grammatical structure of a sentence, namely an affirmative sentence often becomes negative and vice versa a negative sentence may turn into an affirmative one,

Compensation can be of two types:

1) semantic compensation which is used as a means to compensate for sense losses especially while translating culture-bound and nationally specific units( five-and-ten-cent store trade Warren – дешёвые)

2) stylistic compensation which can be local and non-local and is employed to compensate for stylistic losses: пятихатник - 500 roubles.

Grammatical substitutions refer to various changes of grammatical (morphological) forms and syntactic structures that include several kinds of modifications:

a) part-of-speech characteristics

Я ему обрадовался - I was glad to see him (me Russian verb denoting emotional behavior is often replaced by the English phrase: to be (turn, get, grow, become) + adjective);

b) parts-of-a-sentence substitutions: John kept whistling "Song of India" while he shaved - Джон брился и насвистывал «Индийскую песню» (subordination in the English sentence is replaced by coordination in the Russian sentence)



23. Transformations of restructuring. Transpositions cover: all cases of restructuring(on the syntactic level). two kinds(the nature of a unit undergoing restructuring, its size and syntactic functions): (a) re-patterning on the level of a word-group, (b) re-patterning on the level of a sentence.

Re-patterning I is caused by differences in the structural patterns of correlated SL and TL(morphological (part-of-speech) or syntactical substitutions)-Алёшка, стуча зубами, стал сказывать про Тыртова His teeth chattering, Alyosha began explaining about Tyrtov(Rus verb.adver.phrase=>Eng.abs.con-n.

Re-patterning II: (a)changes in the w-o within a sentence (It was very tiring to stoop all the time-Идти всё время согнувшись было очень утомительно).Eng-the change in the sentence-type, theme-rheme structure. There is no re-patterning of Russian sentences which are characterized by two features:1)a verb-predicate is intransitive so there is no direct object in them;2)a sentence begins with some adverbials (of manner, place), e.g. Км, в этом краю, очень много озёр. - Up in that lake country were many, many lakes.

b)changes in the order of clauses within a complex or a compound sentence


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