TRANSLATION OF LEXICAL UNITS
TYPES OF CORRELATION BETWEEN WORDS IN SOURCE
LANGUAGE AND TARGET LANGUAGE
There are different types of correspondences between the elements of the SL and TL lexical
systems.
I. A word of SL and a word of TL may be identical in their meaning. Such words are called
equivalents (the corresponding Russian term is эквиваленты. To this group usually belong proper
names such as "London - Лондон", "Galsworthy -Голсуорси", etc.; terms such as "a
morpheme - морфема", "logarithm - логарифм", etc.; names of the months, days of the week;
numerals. Equivalents are usually monosemantic words and they are easily translated.
II. The meanings of a SL word and a TL word may coincide partially (частичные, или вариантные
соответствия). There are three variants within this type.
1. A word in one of the languages may have more meanings than the corresponding word of the
other language, so that the meaning of the latter is as it were included in the meaning of the former,
e.g. the English noun "finish" and the Russian noun "ФИНИШ" both denote "the conclusion,
end", which completely exhausts the meaning of the Russian word. The English word "finish",
however, also denotes "that which finishes, completes or perfects", which corresponds to the Russian
words "окончание", "отделка", "аппретура". Thus the meaning of the word "finish" includes the
meaning of the word "ФИНИШ", but is not exhausted by it. This is the first variant of semantic
relations characterized by partial coincidence of meanings.
2. The second variant of semantic relations between partially corresponding words may be
described as intersection. It means that both the words have some meaning (or even meanings) in
common, but at the same time each word has some other meanings which do not coincide. E.g.: the
English word "cup" and the Russian "чашка" both mean "a drinking-vessel", besides which the word
"cup" means "an ornamental vessel offered as a prize for an athletic contest" (in Russian - "кубок"),
while the Russian "чашка" denotes also "круглая и плоская тарелка, подвешенная к коромыслу весов",
which corresponds to the English word "pan". Thus the meanings of these two words ("cup" and
"чашка") intersect in one point only - i.e. they both denote a drinking-vessel.
3. The third variant of relations within this type is somewhat more complicated. The fact is that
different peoples reflect reality in different ways, and these differences find their manifestation in
the languages which the peoples speak. It is well known that for the English it seems quite necessary
to differentiate between a hand and an arm, while in Russian we usually do not feel it so very
important and use the word "рука" to denote both the notions indiscriminately (cf. also "watch" and
"clock" - "часы", "mirror" and "looking glass" - "зеркало", etc.). On the other hand we usually
differentiate between "ВИШНЯ" and "черешня", while for the English there exists one notion
("cherry"), as well as both "клубника" and "земляника" are indiscriminately called "strawberry"; we
think that "почка" and "бутон" are quite different things and Englishmen always call it "a bud", no
matter whether it is going to form a leaf or a blossom.
It does not mean, of course, that we cannot express the difference between a hand and an arm in
Russian or that Englishmen do not see any difference between a leaf bud and a blossom bud. They
do, but traditionally some aspects of reality are reflected as differentiated notions in the mind of one
people and as undifferentiated notion in the mind of another people. Theoretically speaking every
language can express everything, but it differs from other languages in what it should express.
This group of words demands special attention because it often causes trouble in the process of
translation (for instance, try to translate the following sentence into Russian: "They both married
their cousins").
In all the cases when the meanings of words coincide partially there arises a problem of
choosing the right variant of translation. This choice should be based on two factors: on the
knowledge of possible semantic relations between the words of SL and TL and on the information
derived from the context.
III. Finally in one of the languages there may exist words which have no correspondences in the
other language at all (безэквивалентная лексика). They are usually proper names which are not used
or even known in other countries (personal names such as Aubrey, Hope, Игорь, Галина, etc.;
place-names such as Hindley, Catmose, Молитовка, Урень, etc.), and names of specifically national
notions and phenomena (such as lobby, muffin, drugstore, самовар, ЩИ, агитбригада,
стройотрядовец, , etc.).
CONTEXT AND ITS ROLE IN TRANSLATION
The meaning of equivalents practically does not depend on the context, so to translate them one
should merely look them up in a dictionary. The demand to consult dictionaries is essential. No
guesswork is allowed in translation: a word should be either known or looked up; otherwise there
is always a risk of translation the word "data" as "дата" or "billet" as "билет" or writing some other
nonsense of the kind.
It is much more difficult to translate those words of SL which are characterized by partial
correspondence to the words of TL. Such words are mostly polysemantic. That is why in order to
translate them correctly it is necessary first of all to state which particular meaning of such a word
is realized in the utterance. The most reliable indicator in this case is the context in which the word is
used. They usually differentiate between linguistic context and extralinguistic context (or context of
situation). Linguistic context in its turn is subdivided into narrow (context of a phrase or a sentence)
and wide (utterance-length context or sometimes context of the whole text). Very often the meaning of
a word is revealed in the minimum context, i.e. in a phrase ("green" – зеленый, юный, незрелый, etc.,
but there is no problem in translating the phrase "green trees" - "зеленые деревья" or "green years" "юные годы"). However, there are such cases when we need at least a sentence to see what the word
means, e.g. "I'll be sitting in the 3rd carriage from the front of the train" - "Я буду в третьем вагоне от
начала поезда". The whole sentence is necessary here to understand the meaning of the word
"carriage" and to choose the variant "вагон" but not "экипаж, повозка".
Sometimes linguistic context is closely connected with extralinguistic factors. It may be
illustrated by the following sentence:
... he came to be convicted of perjury . . . in Wakawak, Cochin China..., the intent of which
perjury being to rob a poor native widow and her helpless family of a meager plantain-patch,
their only stay and support in their bereavement and desolation.
(Mark Twain)
The word "plantain" denotes either "банан" or "ПОДОРОЖНИК". In the sentence there is no direct
indication of the type of plant. However, we know that the events took place in Cochin China, where
the climate is quite suitable for bananas, not for "подорожник", Moreover, it is said in the sentence
that the plantain-patch was the "stay and support" which gave the family either food or profit. All this
settles the problem of choice: in this case "plantain" means "банан".
The context of the situation becomes especially important if the linguistic context is not sufficient for
revealing the meaning of the word. When one of G.B.Shaw's characters warns his interlocutor not
to drive him too far, it is necessary to know that they are both sitting in the parlor and not in any
vehicle, so the verb "to drive", is used in the meaning "привести в какое-то состояние, довести
до..." It may so happen that linguistic context does not give any clue to the meaning of the word.
Especially often it is the case with neologisms that do not correspond to any words in TL. To
understand the word "Reagangate", which appeared in American newspapers in 1983, one must remember the notorious political scandal called "Watergate" in 1972-1974 and know some facts
characterizing political methods or President Reagan. Only in this extralinguistic context can we
understand the meaning of the word "Reagangate" - "a new political scandal revealing dishonest
methods used by Reagan during the election campaign and resembling the methods once used by
Nixon".
So translation of any word begins with contextual analysis of its meaning after which it becomes
possible to choose correctly the corresponding word of TL. All types of context can help to
identify the meaning of words in SL characterized by partial correspondence to the words of TL, as
well as the meaning of words that do not correspond to any words of TL. Translation of the latter
group causes many difficulties and requires special means.
TRANSLATION OF WORDS HAVING NO CORRESPONDENCE IN TL
There are several ways of translating such words. The simplest way is to transcribe them (lobby лобби, lump - ламп, cпутник - sputnik, КОМСОМОЛ - Komsomol, etc.). This method is widely used for
rendering personal names, placenames, titles of periodicals, names of firms and companies.
Sometimes transliteration is used for the same purpose, but transcription is preferable because it
renders the original sound-form of the word, while transliteration is based upon its graphical
presentation (cf. two ways of rendering the name of Shakespeare in Russian: its transcription is
Шекспир while its transliteration is Схакеспеаре). It is evident that for the purposes of oral
communication it is necessary to know the sound-form of the names, so with the growth of contacts
between the countries transliteration is being gradually ousted by transcription. Those names which
have already been rendered by means of transliteration are now traditionally used in this form (King
George –король Георг, not король Джордж) and there is no need to change them. Such names
should not be translated anew, they have their translated equivalents. However, in translating those
names which have no equivalents, it is preferable to use transcription. Being a very good way of
rendering proper names, transcription is not very convenient for translating notional words.
Substitution of the Russian sounds for the English ones does not make the English word
understandable for the Russian readers. The words "драгстор" or "ламп" are hardly more informative for them than the original "drugstore" or "lump". That is why transcription is often
combined with footnotes or explanations introduced into the text by the translator. As soon as the
new word is thus explained it can be freely used in the text in its transcribed form. A good example
of such introduction of a foreign word is found in one of G.Simenon's books:
…Они отправились на авеню Фридланд к юрисконсульту посольства – к
«солиситору», как его называют американцы. …Солиситор позвонил по телефону
следователю… А затем они возвратились в «Мажестик», и там Кларк в компании с
солиситором выпили в баре по две рюмки виски…
(translated by Н.Немчинова)
The word "solicitor" here is transcribed and its meaning is explained ("юрисконсульт"), after which
the transcription is used without further explanation.
The same method is used when translating the names of companies or titles of periodicals. E.g.
" 'Daily Express' reports..." should be translated as "Английская консервативная газета «Дейли
Экспресс» сообщает..." because the title "Daily Express" is well known to the Englishmen and
"Дейли Экспресс" is not known (and not informative in itself) for the Russian readers.
It is necessary to remember that explanations and footnotes contain additional information
which is not expressed directly in the original text and is introduced by the translator. So it demands
great knowledge on the part of the translator. In case of composite words loan-translations (кальки)
can be coined in the TL, e.g. the English noun "moonquake" is quite adequately translated as
"лунотрясение", "as well as the Russian "луноход" is rendered in English as "moon crawler".
The next method of translating words having no correspondence in TL is based on approximate
rendering of the notion (приближенный перевод). It can be described as "translation on the analogy". If
a word in SL expresses some notion that has no name in TL it is necessary to look for some
analogous, similar (though not identical) notion in TL. E.g.: if we are not translating a cookery book
but a story or a novel it is quite possible to translate the Russian "кисель" as "jelly", though actually
they are different things (they use starch for "кисель" and gelatin for jelly). Another example - in
our country we do not use wardrobe trunks and it is next to impossible to find a Russian way of expressing this notion, but usually (unless it is very important for the context) it can be quite
satisfactorily translated as чемодан (or, if necessary, большой чемодан).
The last way out of the difficulty caused by lack of correspondence between words of SL and
TL is the so-called descriptive translation (описательный neревод). In this case the meaning of one
word in SL is rendered by a group of words in TL ("spacewalk" - "ВЫХОД В ОТКРЫТЫЙ КОСМО",
"spacesick" - "НЕ ПЕРЕНОСЯЩИЙ УСЛОВИЙ КОСМИЧЕСКОГО ПОЛЕТА"; самодеятельность" - "amateur
talent activities", «районирование" - "division into districts", etc.)
So there are five principal ways of translating words that have no direct lexical
correspondences in TL. They are 1) transcription, 2) footnotes and explanations, 3) loan
translation, 4) analogical translation, and 5) descriptive translation. They all have certain
drawbacks and their use is limited both by linguistic and extralinguistic factors (explanations make
the text too long and sometimes clumsy, loan translation is applicable only to composite words,
analogues are not always accurate enough, etc.). However, proper combination of these means
makes it possible to translate any text rendering all the necessary information. When choosing the
means of translating it is also important to keep in view stylistic characteristics of the text itself
and of different words in both the languages. Special attention should be paid to peculiarities of
word combinability in TL, which may differ greatly from that of SL.
How to Translate Some Russian Compound Words into English and Some English
Paired Near-Synonyms into Russian. The Rule of Semantic Correspondence in
Translation
An intermediate position between words and phrases in Russian is occupied by compound
words (сложные / составные слова). These are usually adjectives, consisting of two parts, each of
which reinforces the meaning of the other. They are usually challenge to translators. For example,
идейно-воспитательная работа, командно-административная система, etc. These words
usually have no equivalents in English and have to be translated in roundabout, descriptive way, i.e.
by circumlocution. In rare cases, they may be translated by single words. For example, моральноэтическая проблема — an ethical issue, идейно-воспитательная работа —
political/ideological education, командно-административная система - command(-andadminister) system. As a rule, translations of such Russian compound words sound awkward but
they are better than no translations at all.
English, in its turn, has an array of what might be termed paired near-synonyms
(синонимические пары), such as null and void, beck and call, law and order, etc., that are also a
challenge to translators. These also may be translated either by single words (to avoid the effect of
«масляное масло» or «поездатые поезда»), phrases, or even whole sentences. The central
consideration is whether the whole of the semantic structure (overall meaning) of the phrase is or
isn't covered by the words, phrases or sentences in the translation. For example, rules and
regulations - правила; порядок; bakery products — выпечка; fraternity — — мужское студенческое
общество/братство, члены которого проживают в одном обособленном общежитии с названиемаббревиатурой из греческих букв, etc.
The abovementioned consideration may be defined as the rule of semantic correspondence
(правило семантического соответствия), which means that the semantic components (semes —
семы) of the word/phrase in the source language must be reproduced with the help of at least
roughly the same set of semantic components (semes) in the target language. As a rule, the order or
sequence of semes in the source language is changed in the translating/target language. Word and
phrase senses do not combine identically in different languages: words that are natural companions
in the source language tend to part company in the target language. As a result single words are
often translated with the help of phrases, and phrases - with the help of single words. For example,
the Russian word «эпатаж» (книж. скандальная выходка; поведение, нарушающее общепринятые
нормы и правила - БТС) may be translated as "outrageous behavior," and the English word "privacy"
as «личная/частная жизнь», «личное пространство», etc.
EXERCISES
Exercise 1. Translate the following, paying attention to the meanings of the verb to MAKE. How does the
context influence the choice of a variant?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
You're making a big mistake, Mrs. Grey. (B.P.)
I always make a cup of tea last thing. She drinks it in bed...( K.M)
It made me feel worse than ever. (K.M.)
They were made for each other. (O.R.D.)
"I'm not going to make any speech," the Boss said. (R.P.W.)
Clutterbuck's father makes all the beer round here. (E.W.)
"And flags, Diana. There should be flags left over from last time." "I made them into dusters," said Dingy...
(E.W.)
8. Presently, the door opened again, and two more boys looked in. They stood and giggled for a time and then
made off. (E.W.)
9. "Me, a butler," said Philbrick, "made to put up tents like a blinking Arab." "Well, it's a change," said Paul."It's a
change for me to be a butler," said Philbrick. "I wasn't made to be anyone's servant." (E.W.)
10. As if to make their appeal the more imperative, the following appeared in one of the papers the very next
day...(M.T.)
11. The clerk makes for the door, whistling the latest popular love ballad. (B.Sh.)
Exercise 2. Translate the following, paying attention to the meanings of the verbs to GET, to WANT. How
does the context influence the choice of a variant?
1. You can always get money. (B.P.)
2. How did you get into my apartment? (R.L.)
3. "Is it quite easy to get another job after - after you've been in the soup?" asked Paul. "Not at first, it isn't, but
there're ways". (E.W.)
4. "So he sat down there and wrote me a letter of recommendation... I've got it still." (E.W.)
5. By this time anonymous letters were getting to be an important part of my mail matter. (M.T.)
6. "I've got to help the gardeners..." (E.W.)
7. All this was a great deal easier man Paul had expected; it didn't seem so very hard to get on with the boys,
after all. (E. W.)
8. "Florence, will you get on to the Clutterbucks on the telephone and ask them to come over..." (E.W.)
9. [Mary doesn't feel well in the morning. Her husband is trying to comfort her] "I'll get you something ... Stay
down". "I can't. I've got to get the children to school" ...After a moment she said, "Ethan, I don't think I can
get up. Ifeel too bad". (J.S.)
Exercise 3. Translate the following paying attention to the underlined words. How does the context influence
the choice of a variant?
1. The river is getting low and will soon dry up. (L.D.)
2. They were still talking in low voices. (J.F.)
3. The coal's getting low, we must order some more. (L.D.)
4. You've changed such a lot since I last saw you. (L.D.)
5. He [David] was glad he had finally decided to dress up a little - the jeans suit, a shirt and scarf - when he
went downstairs ...He [the old painter] too had changed: a pale summer coat, a white shirt, a purple bow tie.
(J.F.)
6. I somehow felt that I had one prominent advantage over these gentlemen and that was - good character.
(M.T.)
7. .. .what sort of characters Messrs. Woodford and Hoffman are...(M.T.)
8. A salary of four pounds a week would not, he was conscious, remake his fortunes... (J.G.)
9. He walked on, and became conscious that he had passed a face he knew. (J.G.)
10. Jack held out his hands for the conch and stood up, holding the delicate thing carefully in his sooty hands.
(W.G.)
11. "...I couldn't stand him, personally..." (J.F.)
Exercise 4. Give Russian equivalents for the following proper names. Explain your choice.
King Charles I
Charles Dickens
King George III
George Osborne
King James I
James Watt
Queen Mary
Mary Barton
Queen Elisabeth
Elisabeth Gaskell
St Paul's Cathedral
Paul Dombey
Exercise 5. Transcribe and transliterate the following names. Which of the variants is accepted in
Russian?
Evelyn Waugh, Somerset Maugham, Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy, George Byron, William Thackeray.
Exercise 6. Give equivalents for the following geographical names. What means did you use to render them
into Russian?
London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Connecticut, Kentucky, Hollywood, Hereford, Hertford, Liverpool, the Mersey,
New York, New England, Great Slave Lake, Great Bear Lake, Cape of Good Hope, the Rocky Mts, the Lake
District
Exercise 7. Translate, paying attention to elements having no equivalents in Russian. By what means do you
render them?
1. AUGUSTUS. What! Must you go? THE LADY. You are so busy.
AUGUSTUS. Yes: but not before lunch, you know. I never can do much before lunch. And I'm no
good at all in the afternoon. From five to six is my real working time. (B.Sh.)
"I'm going to build a cottage for myself up at Red Hill... I might even stay there part time in the winter and
commute to work." "That's a long commute," Dan observed doubtfully. (B.P.)
2. Then Henry suddenly asked if we'd like to stay to lunch. (J.F.)
3. I am now more than glad that I did not pass into the grammar school five years ago, although it was
a disappointment at the time. (M.S.)
4. He was one of those boys who thinks he knows it all. Public school and all that... (J.F.)
5. ...starlets were especially attracted to him because of his seriousness. (M.S.)
6. ...it's out of the question to shoot an old Harrovian... (E.W.)
7. I got a pardon straight from the White House. (R.Ch.)
8. After this, this journal customarily spoke of me as "Twain, the Montana Thief." (M.T.)
10. .. .the flight was delayed for half an hour. There was fog at Heathrow. (J.F.)
11. Philbrick, evidently regarding himself as one of the guests, was engaged in a heated discussion on
greyhound racing with Sam Clutterbuck. (E. W.)
12. "In there. That's the Common Room." (E.W.)
13. Lord Augustus Highcastle ... is comfortably seated at a writing-table with his heels on it, reading The
Morning Post. (B.Sh.)
14. One August bank holiday in the late nineties they traveled fifty miles to compete in a town where prizes of
solid cash were to be given... (A.C.)
Exercise 8. Translate the following words and phrases into Russian:
a spin doctor, a rogue state, a control freak, a class act, an awards ceremony, a drugs haul, an open
borders policy, a leading question, a loaded question, a trick question, the wind-chill factor,
substance abuse, an inspirational speaker, a motivational speaker; null and void, beck and call, law
and order, assault and battery, safe and sound, first and foremost, trials and tribulations, dig and
delve, hale and hearty, peace and quiet, vim and vigor, pots and pans, cease and desist, rack ant
ruin, without let or hindrance, to/for all intents and purposes (fossils — words that are preserved in
their old meanings only it certain expressions): short shrift, hem an haw, rank and file raring/rarin'
to go, not a whit, out of kilter, newfangled, at bay spick and span, to and fro, kith and kin.
Exercise 9. Translate the following words and phrases into English:
культурно-исторический памятник, идейно-теоретическая подготовка, морально-этическая
проблема, культурно-массовые мероприятия, научно-технический прогресс, моральнопсихологическое давление, морально-устойчивая личность.
Exercise 10. Translate into Russian:
1) John built a modern house with garage and a large garden.
2) Their home was always filled with interesting people — artists, writers and musicians.
3) I never really feel at home in Mark's house — it's so formal and filled with antiques that I'm
always afraid of breaking something.
4) There is a saying in English, "It takes a heap of living to make a house a home."
Explanation: ("heap of" means "a lot of," i.e. you have to live in a house a long time to feel that
it is a "home."
Exercise 11. Translate into English:
1) Желая примирения, Иванов протянул руку своему бывшему сопернику.
2) Джим не смотрел, куда бежит, споткнулся и сильно повредил большой палец на левой
ноге.
3) Больная старушка опиралась на руку медсестры,
4) Ты не понимаешь, с кем имеешь дело, — она пальцем не шевельнет, чтобы тебе помочь.
Exercise 12. Translate into Russian:
1) Tom is a great asset to the basketball team because he's got such long arms.
2) The child clutched the candy tightly in his hand, afraid that his mother would take it away from
him.
3) Did you notice the pianist's long and slender fingers?
4) By the fourth week of ballet class Mary had learned to dance on toe.
Exercise 13. Translate into English:
От всей души ему сочувствую.
Вадим такой хороший парень, душа нараспашку, открытый, честный человек.
От души желаю вам удачи!
Он мне ничего не говорит, но в душе чувствую, что он затаил на меня злобу за то, что я не
принял его приглашения.
5) Такая счастливая пара! Вчера они справили 25-й юбилей свадьбы — все эти годы живут душа
в душу.
6) Мне очень понравились курсы в университете в Калифорнии, но к концу семестра появилась
жуткая тоска по родине, я стала тосковать по семье.
1)
2)
3)
4)
Exercise 14. Translate into Russian:
1)
He's quite a cold person, and seems totally devoid of any emotions.
2)
The detective realized that the murder was not committed by the victim's brother, but by a
hit man — there was a contract on his life.