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TRANSLATION STUDIES
BASIC DEFINITIONS OF TRANSLATION

In professor Fyodorov’s definition translation is a recreation of the original by means of

another language with the retained unity of form and content. It is a form of creative
activity in the sphere of language.

Translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a

representation of an equivalent text in a second language.

Ttranslation may be defined as the transfer of meaning from one language to another.

The term translation itself has several meanings: it can refer to the general subject field, the
product (the text that has been translated) or the process (the act of producing the translation,
otherwise known as translating).

Categories of translation (according to the Czech structuralist Roman Jakobson:

1 intralingual translation, or 'rewording': 'an interpretation of verbal signs by means of other
signs of the same language';
2 interlingual translation, or 'translation proper': 'an interpretation of verbal signs by means of
some other language';
3 intersemiotic translation, or 'transmutation': 'an interpretation of verbal signs by means of
signs of non-verbal sign systems').

THE PROCESS OF TRANSLATION

The process of translation may be represented as consisting of three stages:

1. Analysis of the source text, situation and background information;
2. synthesis of the translation model and
3. verification of the model against the source and target context (semantic,
grammatical, stylistic), situation and background information resulting in
generation of the final target text.

THE FUNCTIONS OF TRANSLATION

Scientific and technical – it fosters the progress in various fields of science and
technology in all countries of the world.
Social and political - it provides the dissemination of political ideas, of social and political
knowledge in different field of science.
Cultural - it is also a perfect means of sharing achievements and enriching national
literatures and cultures.
Linguistic - it promotes the enrichment of lexicon and of the means of expression in the
target language.
Educational – one of the means of teaching foreign languages
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TRANSLATION THEORIES.

The human translation theories may be divided into three main groups which quite
conventionally may be called transformational approach, denotative approach and
communication approach.

According to the transformational approach translation is viewed as the transformation

of objects and structures of the source language into those of the target one. It is a set of multi-
level transformations of a text in one language into a text in another governed by transformation
rules. (Komissarov, Retsker, Catford and others.)

According to denotative approach the process of translation is not just mere substitution
but consists of the following mental operations 1) translator reads (hears) a message in the source
language, 2) translator finds a denotatum and concept that correspond to this message, 3)
translator formulates a message in the target language relevant to the above denotatum and
concept. This approach treats different languages as closed systems with specific relationship
between formal and conceptual aspects.

According to communication approach translation is a message sent by a translator to a

particular user and the adequacy of translation depends on similarity of their background
information rather than only on linguistic correctness.

TRANSLATOR’S COMPETENCE. BASIC PRINCIPLES

The translator needs:
1.A good knowledge of both the source and the target languages
2. Cultural awareness.
3.The technique

In many cases, translators are specialised in one field. It is impossible to set up a complete
list of likely fields of knowledge with which translators can or must work. There are at least four
main branches:

1. General texts: these are texts which can be found in newspapers and other similar issues
(magazines, bulletins, etx.), however other types of writings can be included here, such as
letters, notices, reports, etc. In theory, these are the easiest texts to be translated.
2. Technical and scientific texts: Most translators get majorised in one category. When
referring to technical, one needn’t think of technology, but of specific fields of work and
knowledge having their own terminology.
3. Official documents
4. Literary translation:. Translating literature requires a literary talent.

Translation involves far more than target-language equivalents for SL words and phrases it
also involves dealing with clients, agencies, employers, networking, research, use of technology
and generally the awareness of the role translation plays in society and society plays in
translation.

MAIN TYPES OF TRANSLATION

1. Communicative classification of translation.

2. Genre classification of translation.
3. Psycholinguistic classification.
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3.1. written and oral translations;
3.2. consecutive and simultaneous interpretation;
3.2.1. compression and development as the basic interpretation tools.

Though the basic characteristics of translation can be observed in all translation events we
should single out different types of translation depending on the predominant communicative
function of the ST– communicative classification of translation. In consistence with the
communicative classification of translations we may distinguish between literary and
informative translation
Literary translation deals with literary / belles-lettres texts. The main communicative
function of belles-lettres texts belonging to the genres of poetry, emotive prose and drama is to
provide an emotional or aesthetic impact upon the reader.
Literary works are known to fall into a number of genres thus another type of classification
of translations will be genre classification. Translators of prose, poetry, plays have their own
problems.
Informative translation deals with rendering into the TL nonliterary texts, the main
purpose of which is to convey a certain amount of ideas, to inform the reader.
A number of subdivisions can be also suggested for informative translations, though the
principles of classification here are somewhat different. Here we may single out translation of
scientific and technical texts, of newspaper and magazine materials, official papers and some
other types of texts such as public speeches, advertisements, etc.

Apart from technical and newspaper materials it may be necessary to single out translation
of official diplomatic papers, commercial advertisement comic scripts, film scripts, and the
like.
ORAL TRANSLATION
In consecutive interpreting, the interpreter listens to a speech segment for a few minutes or so,
takes notes, and then delivers the whole segment in the target language; then the speaker resumes
for a few minutes, the interpreter delivers the next segment, and the process continues until the
end of the speech.
In simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter sits in an interpreting booth, listens to the speaker
through a headset and interprets into a microphone while listening. Delegates in the conference
room listen to the target-language version through a headset.
Simultaneous interpreting is also done by signed language interpreters (or interpreters for the
deaf) from a spoken into a signed language and vice versa. Signed language interpreters do not
sit in the booth; they stand in the conference room where they can see the speaker and be seen by
the other participants.
Whispered interpreting (or chuchotage) is a form of simultaneous interpreting in which the
interpreter does not sit in a booth but in the conference room, next to the delegate who needs the
interpreting, and whispers the target-language version of the speech in the delegate's ears.
None of these modes of interpreting is restricted to the conference setting. Simultaneous
interpreting, for instance, has been used in large multilingual trials, and whispered interpreting
may be used in a business meeting.

The term 'court interpreting' is widely used to refer to any kind of legal interpreting, but the
courtroom is in fact only one of several contexts in which legal interpreting may take place. Non-
courtroom contexts include interviews in police departments, customs offices, immigration
authorities and barrister's chambers.
Community interpreting refers to the type of interpreting which takes place in the public
service sphere to facilitate communication between officials and lay people: at police
departments, immigration departments, social welfare centres, medical and mental health offices,
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schools and similar institutions. It is sometimes referred to as dialogue interpreting or public
service interpreting.
Signed languages are a class of world languages that are received through the visual
modality and expressed through manual and non-manual gestures.

WAYS OF TRANSLATING

Literal translation

While speaking about literal translation we should distinguish between positive and
negative aspects of literalism. Positive aspect of literal translating provides an equivalent
rendering of the lexical meaning of the units of the SL. It is manifested in rendering
separate words the surface form and structure of which as well as lexical meaning in the
SL and in the TL fully coincide. These are predominantly international by origin morphemes,
lexemes/words, having in English and in Ukrainian a literary identical or very similar
presentation and identical lexical meaning: manager, director, hotel etc. Sometimes the lingual
form of the SL words is only partly conveyed in the TL. This happens when the common word is
borrowed by each of the two languages involved into the translation process from different
source languages or when its lingual form is predetermined by the peculiarities of the target
language: zoology - зоологія, chemical process –хімічний процес, national opera theatre-
національний оперний театр.

Negative aspect of literal translating consists in rendering done according to

formal/graphic and phonetic/ similarity of the English and Ukrainian words and phrases
without considering their difference in meaning. This literalism is of 2 types: etymologic and
semantic. By etymologic literalism we understand imaginary correspondences, which are
called translator’s false friends. These are misleading words similar in sounding and spelling,
but different in meaning: complexion – колір обличчя, pathetic – зворушливий , sympathetic -
співчутливий.

Cases of semantic literalism are represented by the most general familiar meaning of
the word or phrase instead of its concrete meaning: the exclamation: “Hear! Hear!” is literally
rendered as “Слухайте, слухайте” а не “Слушно” чи “Вірно” чи “Так”. Negative literalism is
a principal hindrance in the work of beginning translators. It is based on slavish copying of the
original language peculiarities, when the language norms of the translation are distorted.

Transcoding

Close to the literal method of translating or rather reproduction is transcoding. By

transcoding we mean such a method of translating in the process of which the sounding
and /or orthographic form of the SL word is conveyed by means of TL letters. There are
four types of transcoding: 1) transcription –in the process of which the sound form of the
SL word is conveyed: peak - пік, resistor – резистор, boom - бум, box -бокс , knock-out -
нокаут , leader -лідер, round - раунд, track - трек; 2) transliteration – in the process of
which graphic form of the SL word is conveyed: marketing - маркетинг, ping-pong –пінг-
понг, mister - містер, club - клуб. Transliteration is used in Ukrainian –English translations of
proper names and realia according to the following system: в – v, w; г - h ; г -g ; е – e; є –ye; Ж
–zh; з -z ; и –y; і –I; ї –yi -Yizhakevych/I –Ukrainka,/ii – Zinaida, Zinaiida, й -y but Andrii,
Andriy, Siryi, к –k/kh , у -u , х -kh , ц -ts , ч –ch/tch Kortch , ш -sh ,щ -shch, ю -yu , я-ya, but
Maria . (93) 3) mixed transcoding: overlock –оверлок,shilling -шилінг, bulldog-бульдог; 4)
adapted transcoding (when the form of the TL word is partly adapted to phonetic or/and
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grammatic structure of the TL: nipple – ніпель; occlusion-оклюзія; platform-платформа,
banana - банан, jeans – джинси, oil - олія.

Verbal translating

Verbal translating is employed at lexeme level and conveys only the denotative
meaning of the source language units retaining neither their orthographic nor the
sounding form. (helpless - безпорадний, mistrust – недовіра, incorrect – неправильний). The
majority of the words when translated verbally do not preserve their structure in the TL. That is
explained by the differences in the morphological systems of the English and Ukrainian
languages. Verbal transiting of polysemantic words permits a choice among some variants which
is practically impossible in literal translating, which aims only at maintaining the literal form.
The literal variant of the noun bank in Ukrainian can be банк only, but the implied meaning may
be берег, вал, замет. A graphic example of verbal translation is presented in dictionaries. It is
also employed for the sake of identifying the meaning of the unknown words ( What is the
English for …?). One should bear in mind that verbal translating can provide a faithful
conveying of the content only at the word level. One is not supposed to employ verbal
translations to render word combinations and especially phraseological units. “first night”, “to
take measures”.

Word-for- word translation

Word-for-word translation presents a consecutive verbal translation at the level of

word groups and sentences. This method of rendering sense is characterized by
reproducing the constructions of the original without any changes and especially without
essential word order change. It is permitted at a preliminary stage in translation when the
structure of Ukrainian sentence can be brought in formal correspondence with that of the
English ones. Word for word translation can be accepted as the initial stage of reproducing
difficult lexical peculiarities of the original. It is a first stage in a multiple machine translation.
However, if the original contains syntactical constructions alien to the Ukrainian language word
for word rendering brings to obscurity: He had his photo taken or I saw you dance

The interlinear way/method of translating

The interlinear way/method of translating is a strictly faithful rendering of a

passage sense at the level of some text which provides a completely faithful conveying only
of the content, which is often achieved through various transformations of structure of many
sense units. He is being operated now – його зараз оперують. It takes form of a periphrasis and
is often employed in translating poetry. Although it is necessary to bear in mind that interlinear
translations do not convey the literary merit and beauty of the original.

Literary proper and literary artistic translating

The highest level of translator’s activity is represented by literary translating. This

method may be either literary proper or literary artistic. Literary artistic translation presents a
faithful conveying of content and of the artistic merits only of a fiction/ belles-lettres passage or
work. The latter may be either of a prose or a poetic genre. Literary proper translation is
performed on any other than fiction/ belles-lettres passages /works (informative texts). Literary
proper and literary artistic translations are aimed to provide an equivalent rendering not only of
complete content but also of the stylistic peculiarities of the passage and its artistic merits.
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EQUIVALENCE IN TRANSLATION

The Notion of Equivalence

By “equivalence” we understand a measure of semantic similarity between the ST
and the TT. Translation equivalence is the key idea of translation. According to Hornby
equivalent means equal in value, amount, volume, etc. In translation equivalent means indirectly
equal, that is equal by the similarity of meanings.

With regard to implications of all these terms on translation quality assessment (TQA),
however, two significant developments in these notions would be Nida's (1964, 1969)
distinction between formal vs. dynamic equivalence, and the functionalist's orientation from
referential equivalence towards pragmatic or functional equivalence.

Formal equivalence is, of course, appropriate in certain circumstances. It is a means of

providing some degree of insight into the lexical, grammatical or structural form of a source text.
Orientation towards dynamic equivalence, on the other hand, is assumed to be the normal
strategy. Although most translations may fall somewhere on the scale in between the two types,
Nida (1964: 160) claims that 'the present direction is toward increasing emphasis on dynamic
equivalence'. In a later work dynamic equivalence is defined as follows: “Dynamic equivalence
is therefore to be defined in terms of the degree to which the recepiants of the message in
the recepient’s language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the recepients in
the source language. This response can never be identical, for the cultural and historical
settings are too different, but there should be a high degree of equivalence of response, or
the translation will have failed to accomplish its purpose”.

LEVELS OF EQUIVALENCE

If we compare a number TTs and STs we shall discover that the degree of semantic
similarity between the two texts involved in the translation process may vary. In other words
the equivalence between the ST and TT may be based on the reproduction of different parts of
the ST contents. Accordingly several types of equivalence can be distinguished.
The lowest degree of semantic similarity with ST can be illustrated by the following
examples:
1) Maybe there is some chemistry between us that doesn’t mix. Мабуть ми не зійшлися
характерами. 2) That’s a pretty thing to say. Постидався би!
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Here we cannot discover any common semes or invariant structures in the original and its
translation. An absolute dissimilarity by language units is accompanied by the absence of
obvious logical link between the messages which could lead to the conclusion that they describe
one and the same situation.
This part of the contents which contains information about general intent of the message ,
its orientation towards a certain communicative effect can be called “ the purport (значення,
зміст, мета) of communication”. Thus we conclude that in the first type of equivalence only
the purport of communication is retained.
The second group of translation can be illustrated by the following examples:
1)He answered the telephone.Він зняв слухавку. 2) It was late in the day. Наближався
вечір.
This group of examples is similar to the first one, as the equivalence of translation here
does not involve any parallelism of lexical or structural units. Most of the words or the
syntactical structures of the original have no direct correspondences in translation. At the
same time it is obvious that there is greater proximity of contents than in the preceding group.
Besides the purport of communication there is some additional information contained in
the original that is retained.
On the second level of equivalence the incomparable language units in the original and
in the translation describe in fact, the same action, refer to the identical reality as the telephone
can not be answered unless one picks up the receiver. Both texts express the same idea using
different words. In this group of translations the equivalence implies retention of the two types
information contained in the original – purport of communication and the indication of the
situation.
In the next group (3) of the translations the part of the contents which is to be retained is
even larger. This type of equivalence can be exemplified as follows:
1) London saw a cold winter last year. В минулому році зима в Лондоні була холодна. 2)
You are not serious? Ви шуткуєте?
In this case the translation retains the two preceding informative complexes as well as the
method of describing the situation. In other words, it contains the same general notions as the
original.
We can now say that the third type of equivalence implies retention (збереження) in
the translation of the three parts of the original contents which we have conventionally
designated as the purport of communication, the identification of the situation, and the
method of description..
The fourth group of translations can be illustrated by the following examples:
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1) He was never tired of old songs. Старі пісні йому ніколи не набридали. 2) I don’t see
that I need to convince you. Не бачу потреби вам це доводити.
In this group the semantic similarity of the previous types of equivalence is reinforced by
the invariant meaning of the syntactic structures in the original and the translation. In such
translations the syntactic structures can be regarded as derived from those in the original through
direct or backward transformations. This includes cases when the translation makes use of
similar or parallel structures.
Thus the fourth type of equivalence presupposes retention of in the translation of the
four meaningful components of the original “the purport of communication”, their
identification of the situation, the method of its description and the invariant meaning of
the syntactic structures.
On the fifth level of equivalence we may observe the maximum possible semantic
similarity between texts in different languages. These translations try to retain the meaning of all
words used in the original text. The following examples illustrate this considerable semantic
proximity of the correlated words in the two sentences:
1) I saw him in the theater 2) The house was sold for 100 thousand $
Here we can observe the equivalence of semes which make up the meaning of correlated
words in the original text and the translation, parallelism of syntactic structures implying the
maximum invariance of their meanings; the similarity of the notional categories which
determine the method of describing the situation; the identity of the situation; the identical
functional aim of the utterance or the purport of communication.
Now we can sum up what we have discussed.
There are five different types of semantic relationship between equivalent phrases in
two languages. Thus all translations can be classified into five types of equivalence which
differ as to the volume and character of the information retained in each. Each subsequent
type of equivalence retains the part of original contents which includes the information
preserved in the previous types.
Every translation can be regarded as belonging to a certain type equivalence.
Each level of equivalence is characterized by the part of information the retention of which
distinguishes it from the previous level.
The list of levels, therefore, includes:
1) the level of purport of communication;
2) the level of identification of situation;
3) the level of description of the situation;
4) the level of syntactic meanings;
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5) the level of word semantics.

TYPES OF TRANSLATION CORRESPONDENCES

Prof. Retsker’s classification of translation correspondences

Prof. Retsker distinguishes between three principal types of correspondences recorded in

bilingual dictionaries:
Equivalents – constant correspondences that do not depend in their majority on the
context.
Analogues – TL synonyms corresponding to a SL word the choice of which is conditioned
by the context: “depictive” – “образотворчий”, “описовий”.
Descriptive rendering, which is applied when foreign words denote notions and
phenomena that do not exist in our life: “commuter” etc. This way of rendering does not convey
stylistic peculiarities of the words and phrases and results in losses of expressiveness “Dine with
Duke Humphrey” – “Залишитися без обіду”.
Types of equivalents
While analyzing translations and comparing them with the original from the point of view
of the reproduction of lexical and stylistic means we speak about full correspondences, partial
correspondences and divergences consisting in insertions, omissions and substitutions (or
transformations).
That’s why we shall distinguish between permanent equivalents (full, partial) vs
nonpermanent, variable equivalents, contextual equivalents (always partial)

LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY.
WAYS OF RENDERING EQUIVALENT-LACKING UNITS: LEXICAL
(REALIA) PHRASEOLOGICAL, GRAMMATICAL.

The notion of linguistic relativity, associated with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee
Whorf, is an idea that has spread far outside the fields of anthropology and linguistics where it
began. One reason perhaps is that it provides an explanation for a common experience when
dealing with different languages. Writers translating between languages have often remarked on
the lack of fit between words of two languages.
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Equivalent-lacking words are often found among SL names of specific national
phenomena, such as the English words “condominium”, “impeachment”, “baby-sitter” and the
like. Among equivalent –lacking words we may find words and word-groups designating
national customs, traditions, administrative or political systems. They may also designate
peculiar geographical, geological or environmental conditions of a nations life.. Culturally biased
are often elements in a governmental or election systems of the country. The monetary systems
in most countries contain some nationally peculiar units as well. Culturally biased are mostly the
titles of addresses and the ways of conduct, some articles of clothing, meals, beverages etc.
However, there are quite a number of ordinary words for which TL may have no equivalent
lexical units. Some grammar forms and categories may also be equivalent-lacking. The English
gerund, article, or absolute participle construction which have no counterparts in Ukrainian.
The absence of regular equivalents does not imply that the meaning of an equivalent-
lacking SL unit can not be rendered in translation or that its translation must be less accurate.
Even words with regular equivalents are often translated with the help of contextual substitutes.
Similarly, the translator, coming across an equivalent lacking word, resorts to occasional
equivalents which can be created in one of the following ways:
1. Using loan-words imitating in TL the form of the SL word or word combination:
impeachment backbencher brain-drain. Very often such occasional formations are adopted by
the members of the TL community and get the status of regular equivalents. By this technique
me understand using transcription or transliteration exclusively. The units of the nationally
specific lexicon, whose meanings are rendered at the phonological or graphic level usually
belong to genuine internationalisms (lord, lady, mister, kozak, snob)
2. By transcription or transliteration and explication of their genuine nationally specific
meaning. In many cases the lingual form of a realia conveyed through transcription or
transliteration can not provide a full expression of its lexical meaning. Then an additional
explication of its sense becomes necessary. The explanation may be given either in the translated
passage flow or in a footnote. The Tower of London – стародавня лондонська фортеця.
Downing Street - Резиденція прем’єр-міністра.
3. Using a descriptive explanation to convey the meaning of the St unit, e/g/ landslide –
“перемога на виборах з переважною більшістю голосів”; “brinkmanship” – “мистецтво
проведення політики на межі війни”. Union Jack – прапор ВБ, the Tommies – рядові
солдати, the pilgrim fathers Батьки-прочани –перші колоністи з Англії..
4. By translating componential parts and additional explanation of units of the nationally
biased lexicon ; bull’s eye – бичаче око (круглий великий різноколірний м’ятний льодяник)
ginger ale – імбирний ель (безалкогольний газовий напій)
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5.Using approximate substitutes or semantic analogies, that is words with similar meaning
which is extended to convey additional information (if necessary with the help of foot-notes)
“drugstore” –“аптека”, “witch hunter’ –“мракобіс”, “afternoon”- “вечір”. The Ukrainian
–“аптека” is not exactly a drugstore where they also sell such items as magazines, soft drinks,
ice-cream.
6. By ways of word-for-word or loan translation Salvation Army; fun club
7. Using all kinds of lexical transformations modifying the meaning of the SL word “He
died of exposure” may be rendered into Ukrainian as “Він помер від застуди” “Він помер від
сонячного удару”

REALIA AS A CULTURAL PHENOMENON

Every language reflects the phenomena and processes taking place in the world, as well
as specific objects and processes that exist in every nation on the territory of its residence.
Although the vision of the world is equal among all the nations, however in the culture of every
nation, there are concepts, phenomena, objects, that are inherent only to this certain nation
and connected with its historical and geographical, socio-political, and other conditions of
existence.
. Therefore, we can say that the language is a reflection of the culture of any nation, it bears a
national-cultural code of a particular nationality. In every language there are words meanings of
which reflect the relationship of language and culture, which is called the cultural component of
the semantics of language units. These words are primarily realia words.
The components of culture: a) customs and traditions, which are stable elements of culture.
Custom is an inherited stereotypical way of behavior, which is reproduced in a particular society
or social group and is familiar to their members. Tradition is a set of representations, rituals,
habits and skills of practical and social activity, being transmitted from generation to generation,
which are the regulators of social relations. b) household culture (everyday life). c) daily
behavior, which includes not only the rules of behavior and etiquette, but also facial
expressions, gestures. d) “national picture of the world”, showing the peculiarities of
thinking and perception of the world.
There are several definitions of realia. According to the definition of O. S. Akhmanova,
realia are “variety of factors, being studied by foreign linguistics, such as state structure, history
and culture of the specific nation, linguistic communication between native speakers, and etc., in
terms of their reflections in the language” [1, p. 482]. A. D. Schweitzer gave the following
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definition of realia “the units of national language, indicating unique referents which are peculiar
to this linguistic culture and absent in the comparable linguistic cultural community” [2, p. 185].
The word “realia” is the Latin neuter plural (realis, -e, plural “realia” — “real”, «true»),
which was turned into a feminine noun under the influence of similar lexical categories.
The Bulgarian translators S.Vlahov and S.Florin, who were the first to carry out an in-
depth study of realia, coined the modern sense of the word. They believe that realia are the words
and phrases denoting the objects typical for the life (household, culture, social and historical
development) of one nation and alien and unfamiliar for another, being the bearers of national
and historical colour, they do not have exact accordance (equivalents) in other languages, and
therefore cannot be translated on the general basis, requiring a specific approach.
They classify realia in various categories:
1. Geography ‒ Physical geography: fjord, mistral, steppe, tornado, tsunami. ‒
Geographic objects tied to man’s activity: polder. ‒ Endemic species: kiwi, koala, sequoia,
Abominable Snowman.
2. Etnography ‒ Everyday life: paprika, spaghetti, empanada, cider, sauna, kimono, sari,
sombrero, jeans, igloo, bungalow. ‒ Work: carabinieri, concierge, machete, bolas. ‒ Art and
culture: kozachok, tarantella, banjo, gong, commedia dell’arte, harlequin, bard, geisha, Ramadan,
easter, Santa Claus, werewolf, vampire, Mormon, quaker, dervish, pagoda, synagogue. ‒ Ethnic
characterizations: cockney, Fritz, gringo, yankee. ‒ Measures and money: mile, kilometer,
hectare, gallon, perch, ruble, lira, peseta, agora, greenback.
3. Politics and society ‒ Administrative divisions: region, province, department, state,
county, canton, principality, favela, bidonville, arrondissement, souk, promenade. ‒ Organs and
functions: forum, Knesset, duma, senate, chancellor, tzar, shah, pharaoh, vizier, ayatollah, satrap.
‒ Political and social life: Ku Klux Klan, slavophile, lobbying, lord, Bolshevik, samurai, union
jack, fleur-de-lis. ‒ Military realia: cohort, phalanx, arquebus, AK-47, katyusha, cuirassier. [4, p.
52].
According to their classification realia can also be ethnic, domestic, cultural and
historical. The realia are divided into five main groups:
‒absolute (full) realia which are the words that only occur in one culture, in one language.
These are proper names (especially geographical names, the names of companies, the names of
holidays, national cuisine, customs, clothing, fairytale and mythological characters, drinks and so
on).
‒ partial realia. It is a non-equivalent vocabulary, so-called translators’ “false” friends.
They only coincide partially in their meanings. These are the words with the cultural overtone
carrying some background information.
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‒ structural realia (structural exoticism).
‒ realia that have no language equivalent, but have the conceptual equivalent instead.
‒ words with connotations that have equivalents
There are various strategies that help to translate realia: they range from phonetic
transcription to translation of the overall meaning. According to Israeli scholar Gideon Toury’s
characterization, each of these can be placed between two extremes: adequacy (closeness to the
original) and acceptability (making the word entirely consistent with the target culture) [5, p.
100].
Here are various possibilities at hand for translating realia:
‒ Transcribing (i.e. copying) the word, character by character. This is called
transliteration when the original word is written in a different alphabet;
‒ Transcribing according to the target language’s pronunciation rules. For instance, the
Hindi word “Kašmir” becomes “cachemire” in French;
‒ Creating a new word or a calque, such as the English “flea market” inspired by the
French “marché aux puces”;
‒ Creating a new word, analogous to the original one, but which has a more local facet to
it, e.g. “muezzin” from the Arabic “mu'adhdhin”;
‒ Using a different but related word from the source language, passing it off as the
original word. For instance, the Italian word “cappuccino” is often translated into English as
“latte”, which in Italian means “milk”;
‒ Making the meaning explicit, such as “jewish temple” for “synagogue”;
‒ Replacing the word with one that is more generic or international, such as “red wine”
for “Beaujolais”;
‒ Adding an adjective to help the reader identify the origin of the element of realia, as in
the “Argentine pampa”.
Thus, we can summarize that realia are objects or phenomena of material culture, ethnic-
national characteristics, customs, as well as historical facts or processes, which usually do not
have lexical equivalents in other languages and represent a very interesting and unusual layer of
language vocabulary.

LEXICAL TRANSFORMATIONS
At the level of semantics of lexical units involved into the translation process we shall
distinguish between three main types of transformations:
1) differentiation and concrete definition of meaning;
2) generalization of meaning;
3) logical (semantic/sense) development of meaning (also known as modulation).
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By lexical transformation of differentiation we understand a substitution of a SL word
with broader meaning for a TL word with narrower meaning. In this case the TL word gives a
more detailed description of the idea than does the word in the SL.
The choice of a more specific word in translation is a very common case in the English-
Ukrainian translating process. It may be explained by the fact that the bulk of the English words
are polysemantic, that is to say they possess more than one meaning. The actual number of
meanings of the commonly used English words ranges from five to about a hundred. In fact the
commoner the words the more meanings and the broader semantics it has. It is not uncommon
for such words to be of a very general character.
For example, the word “meal” means “any occasion of taking food” and corresponds to
Ukrainian “їжа”, “сніданок”, “обід”, “вечеря”. Ukrainian context usually differentiates the
meaning of such English words with a so-called blurred semantics: thing affair, matter, piece,
entity, unit, item, challenge, claim, fine , good, useful, to be, to go, to get.
The transformation of generalization is opposite to differentiation and implies substitution
of a SL lexical unit with a narrower semantics for a TL unit with a broader semantics.

The meaning of such words as foot/ leg, arm, hand is never differentiated in Ukrainian.
Their Ukrainian correspondences are the words of generalized meaning рука, нога.“
Semantic (logical) development of meaning (modulation) consists in substitution of a SL unit
for a TL unit, the meaning of which can be logically deduced from it. In this case using
contextual correspondences instead of dictionary ones is just another way of referring to the
same object or an aspect of the same situation.

Antonymous translation
Some transformations involve changes of both lexical and grammatical nature. A typical
example of such a procedure is the so-called antonymous translation, which presupposes
transformation of an affirmative SL structure into a negative TL one or vice versa.
Thus, antonymous translation is defined as rendering of SL words and statements by
means of opposite, antonymic TL words and constructions: hold on – не вішайте слухавку,
cheer up – не вішай носа, mind your own business - не втручайтеся у чужі справи, no place
like home –дома краще.
Antonymous translation is also called formal negation. Professor V.Karaban subdivides
it into three groups:
1) negation (when a word or word combination without negative suffix or negative seme
in its semantic structure is substituted for a word or word combination with negative suffix or
negative seme in its semantic structure): to be awake - не спати, warm – негарячий.
2) affirmation (when a word or word combination with a negative suffix or negative seme
in its semantic structure is substituted for a word or word combination without a negative suffix
or negative seme in its semantic structure): безперечний - obvious, uninterested – апатичний.
3) annulment of the two negative components available in the ST unit: not undesirable
- бажаний , небезпечний - dangerous..

TRANSFORMATIONS IN TRANSLATION

Syntactic(grammatical) aspect of translation

By syntactic transformation we understand any change of the source text at the syntactic
level during translation. Here we distinguish between occasional and regular transformations. In
English-Ukrainian translation occasional transformations are often the matter of translator’s
individual choice and in general , strongly depend on stylistic peculiarities and communication
intent of the St.
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Yet in English –Ukrainian translation there are also cases of regular syntactic
transformations, where a translator is expected to observe certain transformation rules more or
less strictly. Regular syntactic (grammatical) transformations are the matching rules for the
grammars of the two languages involved into the translation. But even in case of regular
transformations certain deviations from regular transformation patterns are possible. For
example, in certain situation and context one may translate “I saw him running” “Я подивився і
побачив: біжить”as rather than “я бачив як він біг” as required by the rule.
However there are certain unique elements of the English and Ukrainian grammar systems
which, because of their uniqueness deserve special attention as translation problems.
English verbal complexes. A verbal complex is a unique structure of the English
language system missing in Ukrainian. The complex includes a predicate verb, an object and an
object predicate comprising either infinitive or participle 1 (I saw him run or I saw him running)
Depending on the predicate verb and the type of the object predicate there may be several
alternatives of the verbal complex translation in to Ukrainian, however is the necessity of the
inner partitioning of the source sentence. Usually the object subordinate clauses with що, як are
the Ukrainian substitutes of the verbal complexes in the target sentences. For example: John
watched Larry jump over the rails and disappear. Джон дивився як Ларрі перестрибнув через
паркан і зник.
Gerund. It is a peculiar English language phenomenon missing in Ukrainian. As a rule
Gerund is translated into Ukrainian by Infinitive or Verbal Noun
Pluralia and Singularia Tantum.
In English-Ukrainian translation the cases of missing Plural or Singular noun forms are
also worth paying attention because of their frequent mismatch with the corresponding Ukrainian
words. These cases are of course shown in the dictionaries: oats –овес, onions – цибуля.
Gender forms. The category of noun gender is known to be expressed in English
indirectly either through pronouns or by lexical mean:. Tom-cat, he-cat
Sequence of tenses. Sequence of tenses is a peculiar system of correlation between the
verb tenses in the main and subordinate clauses. Since similar system is missing in Ukrainian it
may present a problem for translation, especially from Ukrainian into English.

PARTITIONING
Partitioning is either replacing in translation of a source sentence by two or more
target ones or converting a simple source sentence into a compound or complex target one.
The problems that can be solved through this technique are varied. First of all it may come
handy in dealing with the English syntactic complexes which pack in two subject-predicate units,
each unit making up a sentence or a clause in the Ukrainian translation. I want you to solve this
problem. Я хочу, щоб ви вирішили цю проблему. She hates his behaving in this way. Їй дуже
не подобається, що він так поводиться.

INTEGRATION
Integration is the opposite of partitioning, it implies combining two or more source sentences
into one target sentence.
This technique is also used both for structural and semantic reasons. Sometimes one of the
sentences is grammatically too incomplete to warrant its separate reproduction in translation. It is
not possible to do this work in two days. Nor is it necessary. Виконати цю роботу за два дні
нема ні можливості, ні необхідності.

TRANSPOSITION
Transposition is a peculiar variety of inner partitioning in translation meaning
change in the order of the target sentence syntactic elements (Subject, Predicate, Object) as
compared with that of the source sentence dictated either by peculiarities of the target
language syntax or by the communication intent.
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The flight will be boarding at Gate 17 in about fifteen minutes,” the girl added with a
smile. Приблизно за 15 хв на цей рейс буде посадка біля виходу №17”, посміхаючись додала
дівчина.
REPLACEMENT
Replacement is any change in the TT at the morphological, lexical and syntactic levels
of the language when the elements of certain source paradigms are replaced by different
elements of target paradigms.

Replacement is characterized by the translator’s refusal to use analogous grammatical

units in TT. He tries to render the meaning of SL units by changing the grammatical form of
word, the part of speech or the type of the sentence. Such changes are very common and the
translator should not hesitate to use them whenever necessary.
We are searching for talent everywhere. Ми усюди шукаємо таланти. I am a very rapid
packer. Я дуже швидко пакую речі. It is our hope that.. Ми сподіваємося, що. He doesn’t
mind your joining our group. Він не проти того, щоб ви приєдналися до нашої групи.
Replacement is an universal and widely used translation device. One may even say that
replacement in that or another form are observed in any translation from English into Ukrainian
and even more so – from U into E.
The following basic types of replacements are observed in English –Ukrainian translations:
1) Replacement of noun number and verb tense and voice paradigms
2) Replacement of Parts of Speech (the most common is replacing Ukrainian nouns by
English verbs when translating into English
3) R in translation of a negative statement by an affirmative one (antonymous translation)
Addition
Addition in translation is a device intended for a compensation of structural elements
implicitly present in the source text or paradigm forms missing in the Tl
Additions in translations from English into U stem from the differences in the syntactic and
semantic structures of these languages. In English, being an analytical language the syntactic and
semantic relations are often implicitly expressed through order of syntactic elements and context
environment whereas in predominately synthetic U these relations are explicit - expressed in
relevant words. When translating from English into Ukrainian the translator is to visualize the
implicit objects and relations through additions. So-called noun clusters frequently encountered
in newspaper language are especially rich in hidden syntactic and semantic information to be
visualized by addition in translation: peer-bonded goods -товари, розраховані на споживання
певною віковою групою; fuel tax protest – протести пов’язані з підвищенням податку на
паливо.
Omission is reduction of the elements of the ST considered redundant from the
viewpoint of the target language structural patterns and stylistics.
Null and void – недійсний
The proposal was rejected and repudiated – цю пропозицію було відкинуто
This is an apt remark to make - Це влучне зауваження.
Rules and regulations – правила

STYLISTIC ASPECT OF TRANSLATION

Translation and style

The types of texts distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of communication are called
functional styles. Modern stylistics distinguishes between the following varieties of functional
styles: belles-lettres, publicistic style, newspaper style, scientific style, official documents.
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Any comparison of the texts belonging to different stylistic varieties listed above will
show that the last two of them are almost entirely devoid of stylistic coloring being characterized
by the neutrality of style whereas the first three are usually rich in stylistic devices to which a
translator ought to pay due attention.
Handling stylistically –marked language units.
In different communicative situations, the language users select words of different stylistic
status. There are stylistically neutral words that are suitable for any situation, and there are
literary words and colloquial words, which satisfy the demands of official, poetic messages
and unofficial everyday communication respectively. Sl and TL words of similar semantics may
have either identical or dissimilar stylistic connotation ( slumber – сон, morn – ранок, swop –
міняти). The translator tries to preserve the stylistic status of the original text, by using the
equivalents of the same style, or, failing that, opting for stylistically neutral units.
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 extend on its contextual
environment. Generally speaking, the meaning of any word in a text can not be understood and
translated without due regard to the specific context in which it is actualized. Some words are
less sensitive to the contextual influence than others. There are words with definite
meanings with which are retained in most contexts and are relatively context free. Context-
free words are mainly found among proper and geographical names, titles of magazines and
newspapers, names of various firms, organizations, ships, aircraft and the like, as well as among
technical terms used by experts in all fields of human endeavor.
Context-free words have an important role to play in the translating process. They usually
have permanent equivalents in TL which, in most cases, can be used in TT. The permanent
equivalents of context-free words are often formed by transcription (with possible elements
of transliteration) or loan translation.

Handling stylistic devices

To enhance the communicative effect of his message the author of the ST may make use of
various stylistic devices, such as metaphors, similes, puns. Coming across a stylistic device the
translator has to make up his mind whether it should be preserved in his translation or left out
and compensated for at some other place.
Special language media securing the desirable communication effect of the text are
called stylistic devices and expression means.
Stylistic devices are based on the comparison of primary (dictionary) meaning and
that dictated by the contextual environment; on the contradiction between the meaning of
the given word and the environment; on the association between the words in the minds of
the speakers and on purposeful deviation from accepted grammatical and phonetic
standards.