Translatioin of Political Literature
Plan
Introduction
Chapter I
§ I. Translation and its aims.
§ II. Translation of Political
literature and terms.
Chapter II
§ I. Grammatical difficulties of translation
§ II. Lexical difficulties of
translation
§ III. Stylistic difficulties of
translation
§ IV. The difficulty of translation
of set phrases and idioms
§ V. List of set expressions used in
Political Literature
Conclusion
Summary
Introduction
In this
Qualification Paper we’ve set forth to study the translation methods of Political
literature and political terms at a deeper level, their types and ways of their
translation of Political literature, to consider the function of political
literature in everyday life of the humanity.
The object of
this Qualification paper can be considered as one that gives the detailed
review of the ways political literature and political terms can be translated
into Russian language. It also helps to improve one’s understanding of the
principal rules of translation which plays leading role while processing
translation.
The aim of
this work is to introduce the translation approach to Political literature so
that to make it easy to perceive for those willing to keep up their educational
and scientific carrier in the science of translation, it was purposed to
broaden their view on translation studies and peculiar features while
translating Political literature.
In this work
we set the following tasks:
-
to review all the
sources of Political literature
-
to reveal the
methods of translation of Political literature
-
to investigate
grammatical, lexical, stylistic and phraseological difficulties of translation
of political literature
We should
mention that this research work represents a great theoretical value for those
willing to take up their future carrier in the field of translations as invaluable
reference to the methods and the ways of translation of Political literature.
And the
practical value of this work involves the idea that translation represents a
field aimed at training future translators/interpreters to translate verbal and
written materials on Political subjects basing on the study of International
politics, to differentiate the language features of English, Russian and other
languages as well as political lexicology, phraseology, syntax and style.
The source
information for this research work has been carefully studied and investigated
before it was applied to the given work.
The
originality of this work is in its creative approach to the study and methods
of translation, besides, it contains a detailed review of ways and methods of
translation.
The given
Qualification paper contains introduction, two chapters, conclusion and
bibliography list.
The first
chapter gives a detailed review of the study of the theory of translation and
also reveals the role of political literature and terms in everyday life of the
humanity which are believed to be interesting to future
translator/interpreters. It also discussed the methods of translation of
political literature with purpose to make it easier for translator to achieve
adequate translation in the target language.
The second
chapter deals with the detailed study of grammatical, lexical, stylistic
difficulties involved in translation of political literature. It also gives
some hints on translation of idioms and set expressions and their behavior in
literature.
We have also
attached some samples of translation of political set expressions so that to
enable the future translator to benefit from the given paper in their further
researches in the fields of translation.
In conclusion
we have summed up the results of our laborious investigation translation of
political literature.
At the end of
the research paper we have attached the bibliography list to enable the future
translator to use information sources used in this Paper.
Chapter I.
§ I. Translation and its
aims.
Most
translators prefer to think of their work as a profession and would like to see
others to treat them like professionals rather than as skilled or semi-skilled
workers. But to achieve this, translators need to develop an ability to stand
back and reflect on what they do and how they do it. Like doctors and
engineers, they have to prove to themselves as well as others that they are in
control of what they do; that they do not just translate well because they have
‘flair’ for translation, but rather because, like other professionals, they
have made a conscious effort to understand various aspects of their work.
Unlike
medicine and engineering, translation is a very young discipline in academic
terms. It is only just starting to feature as a subject of study in its own
right, not yet in all but in an increasing number of universities and colleges
around the world. Like any young discipline, it needs to draw on the findings
and theories of other related disciplines in order to develop and formalize its
own methods; but which disciplines it can naturally and fruitfully be related
to is still a matter of some controversy. Almost every aspect of life in
general and of the interaction between speech communities in particular can be
considered relevant to translation, a discipline which has to concern itself
with how meaning is generated within and between various groups of people in
various cultural settings. This is clearly too big an area to investigate in
one go. So, let us just start by saying that, if translation is ever to become
a profession in the full sense of the word, translators will need something
other than the current mixture of intuition and practice to enable them to
reflect on what they do and how they do it. They will need, above all, to
acquire a sound knowledge of the raw material with which they work: to
understand what language is and how it comes to function for its users.
Translation
is a process of rendering a text, written piece or a speech by means of other
languages. The difference of translation from retelling or other kinds of
transfer of a given text is that that translation is a process of creating an
original unity in contexts and forms of original.
The
translation quality is defined by its completeness and value. “The completeness
and value of translation means definite rendering of the contextual sense of
the original piece and a high-grade functional-stylistic conformity.”
The concept “high-grade
functional-stylistic conformity” clearly points on two existing ways of
rendering the form in unity with the meaning: the first one is a reproduction
of specific features of the form of the original piece and the second one is
the creation of functional conformities of those features. It means when
translating the specific features of an original literature we should rather
consider the style inherent for the given genre but than direct copying the
form of an original. While translating, we should also remember that different
lexical and grammatical elements of an original might be translated differently
if accepted by the norms of conformity to the whole original. The translation
adequacy of separate phrases, sentences and paragraphs should not be considered
separately but along with achievement of the adequacy and completeness of the
translating piece as a whole because the unity of a piece is created through
collecting the components.
No matter how a translator
(interpreter) is talented he should remember two most important conditions of
the process of translation: the first is that the aim of translation is to get
the reader as closely as possible acquainted with the context of a given text
and then second – to translate – means to precisely and completely express by
means of one language the things that had been expressed earlier by the means
of another language.
A translation can be done:
1. from one
language into another, kin-language, non-kin,
2. from
literary language into its dialect or visa versa
3. from the
language of an ancient period into its modern state
The process of translation,
no matter how fast it is, is subdivided into two moments. To translate one
should first of all to understand, to perceive the meaning and the sense of the
material.
Furthermore, to translate
one should find and select the sufficient means of expression in the language
the material is translated into (words, phrases, grammatical forms).
There are three, most
identified types of translation: literary, special and sociopolitical.
The ways of achieving the
adequacy and completeness in those three types of translation will never
completely coincide with each other because of their diverse character and
tasks set to translator (interpreter).
The object of literary translation
is the literature itself. And its distinctive feature is a figurative-emotional
impact on the reader, which is attained through a great usage of different
linguistic means, beginning from epithet and metaphor up to
rhythmical-syntactic construction of phrases.
Thus, in order to preserve
figurative-emotional impact on the reader while translating a work of art, the
translator (interpreter) will try to render all the specific features of the
translating material. That’s why, on the first place one should reconstruct the
specific features of an original and the creation of functional conformities to
the features of the original play the subordinate role.
The objects of special
translations are materials that belong to different fields of human activities,
science and technology. The distinctive feature of this type of translation is
an exact expression of the sense of translating material, which is attained
through wide usage of special terms.
Thus, in order to render an
exact and clear meaning while translating such materials alongside with the
selection of term equivalents, on the first place one has to create functional
conformities to the features of an original, and the creation of specific
features of the original play the subordinate role.
And finally, the objects of
social-politic translations are the materials of propaganda and agitation
character, and therefore a bright emotional sense abundant with special terms.
Concerning the achievement
of adequacy this type of translation possesses the features of literary and
special types of translation as well.
§ II. Translation of
Political literature and terms.
Political literature like
any other scientific kind of literature have languages items characteristic to
them, that requires the translator to be precise and sharp. Most books on
general politics are characterized by the passion of expression, polemic style
and the specific feature is in blending the elements of scientific speech from
one side with different emotionally colored means of expression from another
side.
The translation of
political literature can be considered in two ways: as a field of linguistic
activity and as a separate field in science.
As a field of linguistic
activity translation of political literature represents one of the types of
special translations possessing as objects of its activity different materials
of political character.
The political translation
comes out into a special field of study due to its specific features of written
and verbal speech on political topics, which is specified by its essential
character and the knowledge of this science. Sometimes these features are so
diverse that in order to understand them (Russian and English politics as well)
one should have a special knowledge without which it would be very hard to
clearly perceive the inner sense on politics or a translated piece.
Therefore, the study of
specific features of written and verbal speech acquires great importance to translators
(interpreters). To the features mention above belong the following:
1.
maximal filling the political literature with special political terms,
and in verbal speech (among the politicians) – filling it with words of
political jargon – slang.
2.
presence of special idiomatic expressions and phraseological units in
verbal and written speech that are rarely used in colloquial speech and general
literature.
As an example, I should
bring the following idioms: blitzkrieg – молниеносная война, Comprehensive Program of Disarmament - Всеобъемлющая программа разоружения, principal powers – крупные державы, status quo – статус кво and many others. We
have to mark - if the quantity of political idioms is limited, then the amount
of “politically” related phraseological idioms is vast in English and Russian
languages.
3.
the presence of some stylistic deflection from general literary norms is
sometimes very great.
a) wide usage
of elliptic constructions, especially in periodically publishing materials,
propaganda and other kinds of politically important printing media.
b) preciseness and
beauty of self-expression which is achieved by the usage of elliptic
constructions along with wide usage of passive constructions and an often
substitution of придаточных предложений by absolute constructions and деепричастными оборотами.
c) the
presence of official writing style, mostly in documents of official provisions
that cover administrative and political questions.
d) strictly
regulated use of verbal forms and word phrases in special chapters of political
literature and political documents.
As was told before, while
translating a political character, like doing any other special translation a
great importance is given to translation of special terms.
In our philological
literature exist lots of definitions to the concept of term, but the essence of
majority comes to the following:
Term – is a word or a
combination of words, which define a notion (subject, a phenomenon, property,
relation or a process) that is characteristic for the given field of science,
technology, art or a sphere of social life.
Terms differ from the words
of general usage by definite semantic limitations and specific meanings they
define. Its very hard to overestimate the general and scientific meaning of
terms since the concrete knowledge demands definite expression and a term does
not only fix the concept by its notion (name) but specifies it diverging it
from adjacent components.
For better functioning, terms
must express systematization of notions, express their essence or at least be
semantically neutral and at the same time be unambiguous and precise.
The phenomenon of a separate field of science and the terms that fix them
should be systemized that offers gender availability around which group notions
are formed. Thus an English term representative which presents a
group notion and forms a group of notions that belong to this group: representative
forum (представительный форум), business world representative
(представитель делового мира), representative to the talks (представитель на
переговорах), representative to the public (представитель общественности),
representative of political circles (представитель политических кругов),
representative to NATO (представитель НАТО), representative of various strata
or the population (представитель различных слоёв населения).
The
capability of a term to express a systematic state of notions and easily merge
with new phrases that represent new group notions that consequently appear
along with the development of a definite field of science or knowledge maybe
called its systematic capability.
The systematic capability of notions helps us to clarify the relation of
notions, raise their semantic definiteness and ease their understanding and
remembering.
In terms, formed on the base of mother tongue we may differ direct
meaning and terminological meaning.
The direct meaning of a term is formed through the elements of the
language used for their formation; the terminological meaning defines the
concept of notion expressed by the term.
The terms, direct and terminological meaning of which correspond to each
other, correctly orientate and underline the so-called their interrelation.
These terms are able to express the essence of notions.
The terms, whose direct and terminological meaning does not correspond to
each other belong to semantically neutral group of terms.
And at last, the terms whose direct and terminological meaning contradict
each other, should be admitted as completely unsatisfactory because they
distort the genuine relations among the notions, disorientate the hearer and do
not possess any semantic definiteness.
Unambiguousness of a term also influences its clear semantic features but
since we do not have any researches in this field this concept cannot always be
applied. Therefore, up to 10% of English and American political terms do not
possess even a relative semantic definiteness, i.e. definiteness in some
political concerns. This situation may be explained by the fact that the terms
according to their nature are firstly simple words, and consequently, they
develop according to general laws of linguistics. The result of this is the appearance
terminological homonyms that hinder the normal functioning of political terms
in a language.
The definiteness of a term requires preciseness of an expressed idea. It
also raises the semantic definiteness of the term averting its misusage
according to it form.
Not all the terms, of course, possess the above-mentioned qualities, but
the translator/interpreter of political material should take them into
consideration while forming new terms and solving the question of preference to
one of the available term-synonyms.
The correct translation of political literature is a laborious work
despite the terms’ considerable possession of definite semantic clearness and
independence in usage.
While speaking of difficulties of translation, we imply as a matter of
the first importance, the translation general political literature, which
either do not yet have any equivalents in the translating language or have
several similar notion for the term in question or at least have one equivalent
but of doubtful adequacy. There are lots of word phrases and idiom and terms of
this kind and their number is growing with development of technology and
interrelation of people and especially with the development of Political
sciences.
To
achieve a correct translation we can recommend to group the political literature
and the used in them according to their field of application and some
principles of translation of each group. All the political terms and idioms existing
in politics can be divided into three groups:
1.
terms – defining
the notions of a foreign reality but identical to the reality of the Russian
language march - марш
2.
terms – defining
the notions of a foreign reality absent in the Russian one but possessing
generally accepted term-equivalents National Guard – Национальная
Гвардия, Territorial Army – Территориальная Армия.
3.
terms – defining
the notions of a foreign reality that are not available in the Russian language
and not having generally accepted term-equivalents: alert hanger – ангар
вылета по тревоге.
The adequacy of translation of the first group is achieved by the use of
terms implementing corresponding notions in Russian language.
At the same time, it is very important for the notion expressed by the
notion of another language to correspond in meaning rendered in Russian
language only by its main, essential attributes. The translation of an English
term poll into Russian опросы населения (голосование) is possible
only for the correspondence of their principal meaning though the organization
and methods of polling are quite different in both countries.
An adequate translation of the second group is comprised in the selection
of generally accepted Russian terminological equivalents.
Even terms, not fully meeting the above mentioned requirements due to the
terminological meaning fixed for it through the linguistic activity will
adequately fit into these rules.
An adequate translation of the words of the third group may be achieved
by means of creation of a new terms, which will have to completely merge into
the existing system of political terms underlying the systematization of
available notions, reflect the essence of the notion it expresses or at least
not to contradict it and possess an unambiguousness within its field of
application.
Thus, we have considered all the general principals in achieving and
adequate translation including translation of political literature and the
essential features of translation of political terms.
Chapter II
§ I. Grammatical
difficulties of translation
The translation process of
political literature from one language into another is inevitable without
necessary grammatical transformations (change of structure). It gets great
importance while making translation to add or omit some words since the
structures of languages are quite different. Grammatical transformations are
characterized by various principles – grammatical, and lexical as well, though
the principal role is given to grammatical ones. Very often these grammatical
changes are mixed so that they have lexical-grammatical character.
The vigil of the British
Embassy, supported last week by many prominent people and still
continuing, the marches last Saturday, the resolutions or organizations have
done something to show that Blair doesn’t speak for Britain.
Круглосуточная
демонстрация у здания британского консульства,
получившая на прошлой недели поддержку многих видных деятелей, всё ещё
продолжается. Эта демонстрация и состоявшиеся в субботу поход, а также
предпринятые различными организациями резолюции, явно свидетельствуют о
том, что Блэр отнюдь не говорит от имени всего английского народа.
While translating this article
we have made the following changes.
The sentence was divided
into two parts. We often do that when translating short newspaper articles
(news in brief) and the first lines of the articles of informative character
(leads). Practically, we are forced to do that because the first lines usually
contain main information given in the paragraph. These sentences containing
various information are not characteristic to the style of Russian writing. The
division of the sentence made us repeat the word демонстрация.
The word vigil – бдение acquired here quite another
political meaning круглосуточная демонстрация. Since ночное бодрствование is
one of the semantic components of the word vigil the term круглосуточная демонстрация fully renders the sense of the given word. Besides, we have
to mention that one of the words was translated like word expression получившая поддержку.
We have also added additional
words like у здания (посольства), состоявшиеся (в субботу
походы), а также принятые различными (организациями резолюции). The word last in the last Saturday was omitted
because it would make the translation more difficult, but we can conceive it by
the contextual meaning of the sentence.
The strengthening function
of the phrase have done something to show was rendered by the adverb явно свидетельствуют.
And the English cliche to
speak for was translated by the Russian one говорить от имени. And at last I should say that I metonymically
translated the word Britain into весь английские народ.
Thus, while translating
this sentence we have made use of grammatical transformations and lexical as
well.
As you know, English has an
analytical character and therefore the relation between words is mostly
expressed by word-order, that’s by syntactic means, and morphological means
play the secondary role. The priority of the role of syntactical changes
appears in many cases but they do not always have similar conformities in
Russian language which makes the translator make use of various transformations
while translating a piece of political literature. Here we can point to
well-known features of the location of syntactic items in the English, e.i. the
combination of logically incompatible homogeneous part of the sentence, the essential
use of introductory sentences, the break of logical chain of the sentence, and
especially while expressing the noun and the attribute of the sentences.
The syntactic structure of
a language imposes restrictions on the way messages may be organized in that
language. The order in which functional elements such as subject, predicator,
and object may occur is more fixed in some languages than in others. Languages
vary in the extent to which they rely on word order to signal the relationship
between elements in the clause. Compared to languages such as German, Russian,
Finnish, Arabic, and Eskimo, word order in English is relatively fixed. The
meaning of a sentence in English, and in languages with similarly fixed word
order such as Chinese, often depends entirely on the order in which the elements
are placed. (cf. The man ate the fish and The fish ate the man).
The structural features of
English language require structural completeness of the sentence. One can not
omit a word without supplying another one instead. This criterion is governed
by stylistic preference of the language to prevent word and make the sentence
more emphatic. Even if the repetition is frequent in English its use in most
cases is logically required and stylistically proved to be necessary.
Otherwise, repetition is accepted as unnecessary component of the sentence or
one of the stylistic shortcomings of the translation. The demand of syntactical
completeness of the sentences and others stylistic criteria explain here the
wide usage of structure filling words (слова заместители). The structure
filling words include pronouns (one, ones, this, that, these, those) and verbs
(to do, to be, to have, shall, should, will, would, can, could, might, may,
must, ought, need, dare).
Its quite evident that the
structure filling words do not have denotative meaning, they are absolutely
contextual. They should be related to conforming nouns and the verb form the
fill and only afterwards they acquire lexical completeness. The verb-filling
words are usually divided into two parts: fully filling and partially filling
ones. To the first group belong the verb to do in the Present Indefinite
which act in the role of fully filling word. It can replace the verbs of
function. To the second group belong all other structure filling words. They
act like a part of the whole just like the representative of compound verb
form.
While translating the
structure filling words we have to use words with complete meaning (sometimes
pronouns) or make use of some other kinds of functional filling.
The new British
Government will face many problems, both acute and chronic: an acute one will
be Northern Ireland, acute among chronic ones will be inflation and
rising prices.
Новое
британское правительство столкнётся со многими проблемами как неотложного, так
и затяжного характера. К неотложным проблемам относится положение в
Северной Ирландии, а к проблемам, носящим затяжной характер, - инфляция
и рост цен.
While translating this
piece we had to decipher the structure filling words and render their meaning
by means of conforming nouns.
When comparing the
grammatical categories and forms of English and Russian languages we identify
the following differences: a) the absence of the categories in one of the
comparing languages, b) partial correspondence and c) complete correspondence.
The necessity of grammatical transformations arise only on two first cases.
When comparing the English with Russian we should mention that Russian does not
have the notions like article and gerund and absolute nominative constructions
as well. Partial conformity and unconformity in meaning and usage of
corresponding forms and constructions also demands grammatical transformations.
We can refer to this case the partial unconformity of the category of number,
partial unconformity in the forms of passive constructions, partial
unconformity of the form of infinitive and gerund and some other differences in
expressing the modality of the clause and so on.
First of all we should
consider the article for article both definite and indefinite which despite its
abstract meaning very frequently demands semantic expression in translation. As
we know both these articles originated from pronouns; the definite one originated
from index pronoun and the indefinite one from indefinite pronoun, which refers
to number one. These primary meanings are sometimes obvious in their
modern usage. In this cases their lexical meaning should be rendered in
translation otherwise the Russian sentence would be incomplete and ambiguous
for denotative meaning of articles is an inseparable part of the whole context
meaning of a given sentence. There are cases when classifying function of
indefinite articles is so obvious that one should render its meaning by some
lexical item.
It is commonly stated
that government should resign if defeated in a major issue in the House of
Commons which has been made one of confidence. (The
Times).
Обычно
утверждают, что правительство должно подать в отставку, если оно потерпит
поражение в Палате общин по какому-нибудь серьёзному вопросу, который
оппозиция считает вопросом о доверии правительству.
In this case the indefinite
article acquires the meaning of the pronoun some. One can easily
see its historical relation with the number one in the following
example:
Yet, H.G. Wells had not
an enemy on earth.
Однако у
Герберта не было ни единого врага на свете.
As has been pointed before
the most difficult are cases when classifying meanings of indefinite articles
demand semantic transfer in translation.
We need a Government
which believes in planning ahead for jobs and which will use available labor to
build homes for the British people.
Нам нужно такое
правительство, которое было бы убеждено в целесообразности планирования
занятости и использовало бы наличную рабочую силу в строительстве домов для
населения.
The emphatic role of the
indefinite article in its classifying function is more expressed in the
following sentence.
The Vietnam war had
revealed the true nature of a U.S. foreign policy that can be purchased
ruthlessly for the benefit of a view in the “military-industrial complex”.
Война во
Вьетнаме вскрыла истинную природу той внешней политики США, которая
проводится беспощадными методами ради выгоды немногих представителей
«военно-промышленного комплекса».
Pretty often the definite
article demands translation in cases when it comes before numerals.
The two
sides also signed a Treaty in the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Tests.
Обе
стороны подписали договор об ограничении подземных испытаний атомного оружия.
The Southern
nations remained quiet between 1948 and 1958 as Latin America’s economy grew at
an impressive annual rate of 4.3 percent.
С 1948 по
1958 южные страны пребывали в относительном спокойствии, в то время как
экономика Латинской Америки развивалась впечатлительным темпом в 4.3 процента в
год.
In the following sentence
both articles demands translation.
The influence and authority
of the UN Secretariat depends to an extent (though not nearly to the extent
that is popularly supposed) on the talents of one individual – the
Secretary-General. The job is a
peculiar one.
Влияние и
авторитет секретариата ООН зависят в известной степени (хотя и не в такой
степени, как обычно полагают) от качеств одного человека – Генерального
секретаря. Это чрезвычайно своеобразная должность.
The lexical meaning of the
article is strongly expressed when it acts in like a link connecting parts of
the sentences or two separate sentences as given in the example above. From the
mentioned above cases we can judge that missing article translation may lead to
misinterpretation or incorrect and incomplete translation of a sentence.
The role of verb complexes
in English is quite evident therefore we will consider only some peculiar cases
of verb transformations during translation.
First of all let us
consider the verb construction with the preposition for:
…American military bases
on foreign territories which are intended for launching missiles possessed by United States’ armed forces.
…
американские военные базы на территориях других государств, которые
предназначены для запуска ракет американскими ВВС.
In
this case the infinitive construction is translated like adverbial modifier of
purpose.
The construction with
secondary predicate (so-called Nominative with the Infinitive) is widely used
in newspaper style due to its preciseness and because it help to avoid the
responsibility for the given information.
The United States Congress is aimed to control all the financial expenses of the
Government.
Целью конгресса
Соединённых Штатов является контроль всех расходов правительства.
It is natural that
transformation is required while translating sentences with participles of
absolute nominative construction.
But often enough
grammatical transformations are necessary while rendering conforming forms and
constructions for some divergence in their meaning and usage. Such differences
of opinions are observed in cases of usage of the category of number. This
refers to both countable and uncountable nouns. Countable nouns have single and
plural forms in both languages that usually coincide still we observe cases
when their usage is different, ex.:
War Atrocity on
Peace Conference Eve (news head).
Зверства (интервентов) накануне мирной конференции
Concerning uncountable
nouns, especially those expressing abstract notions we may have much more
difficulties because most of them are paradigmatic. For example: ink – чернила, money – деньги and so on.
Increasingly, Southern Africa is becoming the arena of national liberation struggles.
Южная
Африка всё больше и больше становится районом национально-освободительной
борьбы.
Sometimes, despite the
availability of the plural form in Russian – its usage is impossible owing to
difference in combination and usage.
The Nile Valley appears to have been unfit for human habitation during the Stone Ages.
Долина
Нила, по-видимому, была не пригодна для жизни человека на протяжении всего
каменного века (во все периоды каменного века).
In Russian the Stone Age
expression is of a historical nature and is never used in plural.
In cases when plural form
is to be preserved for it carries some inherent sense one has to apply
countable nouns, ex.:
Strikes broke out in
many British industries.
В ряде отраслей
промышленности Англии вспыхнули забастовки.
Sometimes, owing to some
reasons some of constructions has wider usage in one languages comparing with
other languages. The best example of this is the passive form – widely used in
English mostly due to disappearance of word flexion. As a result, both indirect
and predicative object maybe transformed into the objects of passive
construction.
Stones and bottles were
showered upon a Negro demonstration in Milwaukee by white racists.
Белые
расисты обрушили град камней и бутылок на негритянскую демонстрацию в Милуоки
(забросали камнями и бутылками).
We should notice that the passive-active
transformation can not give sufficient result for in passive
construction the stress is being made on the object of action and in the active
construction the stress is being made on the agent of action. The widespread
use of passive construction in English happens often enough because it is
explained by unimportance of the doer of that action and it is most often in
newspaper style at the same time the most important is to attract attention to
the passage. Since the structure and word order of simple sentence is subject
+ predicate + object the importance of stylistics is bigger then to
distinguish the object one chooses the passive construction.
Divergence are found in
some other cases of infinitive usage – infinitive in substantivized
constructions (like post-positive attribute) and infinitive expressing
following actions, for example:
The president warned of
drastic steps to be taken against racialists in the Zambian copper belt.
Президент
предупредил, что будут предприняты решительные меры против белых
расистов в Медном поясе Замбии.
The infinitive functioning
as attribute is translated into object clause with the verb in the Future
tense.
The Continuative Infinitive
is often mistaken for the infinitive of purpose, but in this function it
expresses the action following the after the action expressed by predicate and
represents the logical development of things.
The Soviet Union decided
to sign the Treaty with Germany and only did to discover that Germany itself violated it two years later.
Советский
Союз решил заключить договор с Германией. Но два года спустя Германия сама
нарушила его.
The
Continuative infinitive very often is used with the adverb only
which stresses it. This emphatic function can be rendered in many ways.
Thus, all the considered
cases – absence of conforming form, partial correspondence, differences in
character and use – urge translators to make necessary grammatical
transformations while translating some piece. Those grammatical transformations
maybe divided into following types:
1) substitution
2) transposition
3) omission (ellipsis)
4) supplementation
Substitution is one of the
grammatical relations among the parts of the sentences. In substitution,
an item (or items) is replaced by another item (or items), ex:
I like politics. And
I do.
In this example, do is
a substitute for like politics . Items commonly used in
substitution in English include do, one, and the same,
as in the following examples from Halliday and Hasan:
You think US will start
the war against Iraq? – No one does.
We make use of substitution
while translating a piece because of several reasons: absence of similar
construction in Russian language, unconformity in usage of corresponding forms
and constructions and some lexical reasons, which include different word usage
and different norms of combinability in English and Russian and the absence of
the part of speech with corresponding meaning.
An attempted
overthrow in Peru.
Попытка
совершить переворот в Перу.
In Russian we do not have
the conforming participle II of the verb пытаться. And
this made us change the part of speech; the participle attempted was
translated into Russian by the noun попытка. The
expression попытка переворота does not conform to the
norms of Russian language that’s why we have to apply additional word совершить.
While translating the
following text we will have to use substitution several times.
On the whole the
“popular’’ press – with the New York Daily News as its cheer-leader – is
vociferous in its support of the President’s policies and merciless toward
those who attack them. But among the so-called “quality” papers led by the New
York Times there is a growing mood of doubt and questioning.
В общем
«массовые» газеты, во главе с Нью-Йорк дейли ньюс», громогласно поддерживают
политику президента и беспощадно обрушиваются на тех, кто критикует её.
Но среди так называемых «качественных» газет, возглавляемых «Нью-Йорк таймс»,
всё больше растут сомнение и неуверенность (в её правильности).
In the first sentence are
used the verbal noun, verb link and two predicative parts expressed by
adjectives with object clauses. In this translation verbal nouns very replaced
by predicative ones (именные сказуемые были заменены глагольными): поддерживают and обрушиваются. Both
predicative parts of the sentence have been translated by adverbs: громогласно, беспощадно.
In the second sentence the introductory construction there is was
translated by predicative verb and the participle growing was
transformed into the function of an attribute. The noun mood was
omitted and its attribute of doubt and questioning was turned
into its object.
The transformation of
‘active’ into ‘passive’ is also when a translator uses substitution.
More light was shed yesterday
on the effect of C.S. gas, which was claimed by Pentagon to be virtually
harmless to health.
Вчера поступили
дополнительные сведения о вредном действии газа C.S., который, по утверждению Пентагона,
якобы не опасен для здоровья.
The phraseological unit more
light was shed was translated by means of lexical transformation and
the passive construction was replaced by an active one. The passive
construction in the object clause also undergone lexical transformation –
verbal construction was substituted by substantive one: по утверждению.
This example can illustrate
the fact that lexical and grammatical transformations are closely related with
each other.
Transposition, that’s, change
of structure of the sentence may be caused by several reasons. But the main of
them, as it has been mentioned before is the difference in the structure of the
English and Russian languages. The fixed order of words in English bears
hierarchic character, first come the primary parts of the sentence; noun,
predicate followed by secondary parts. In Russian the word order is not fixed
but one can observe the tendency to locate the main information at the end of
sentences expressing it be the noun. The academic grammar of Russian points
that the word order in Russian sentences follows the model: adverbial modifier,
predicate and then the noun – that’s the order absolutely opposite to English.
In Russian, the secondary part of the sentence can stand at the beginning if it
represents the starting point of expression and introduces theme of given
information, ex:
Вчера в
Вашингтоне состоялась пресс-конференция.
The essence of the
information is пресс-конференция – which is expressed by the noun located at the end of
the sentence. Nevertheless, this word-order is not obligatory, ex:
Премьер-министр выступил вчера по телевидению.
Here we find the main
essence at the beginning of sentence.
In English, according to
fixed word order, the noun of the sentence stands at the beginning of clause.
One of the prominent English linguists, Halliday marks that, usually (but not
always) a starting point is intrinsic to English sentences.
Still in many cases the
English sentence happens to be the center of informative message, compare A
Press Conference was held in Washington yesterday. Usually it happens
when the noun of the sentence is expressed with an indefinite article.
Something, semantically new has got to be expressed in the sentence, and the
earlier one should be opposed to the new one, which is being expressed.
Therefore the indefinite article functions represents this new information,
introduces it.
A smash-and-grab raid
on two of the most important nationalized industries is being organized
by the Tory Party.
Консерваторы
собираются обрушиться на две самые значительные национализированные
отрасли промышленности.
(the metaphor smash-and-grab
has not been preserved in translated version)
Nevertheless, similar word
order in English and Russian sentences are also evident.
A meeting of firemen’s
and employers’ representatives scheduled for today has been postponed.
Намеченная
на сегодня встреча представителей пожарников и предпринимателей была
отложена.
A Catholic priest in
South Africa told of the malnutrition, disease and starvation there.
Один
католический священник из Южной Африки
рассказывал о существующем там недоедании, болезнях и голоде.
Transposition is required
when the English sentence contains a large group of nouns with indefinite
article and then it is natural that they, being the center of informative
message are placed at the end of the sentence. Besides, a short, compared with
the noun predicate can not bear the emphatic sense of a large group of nouns.
A big wave of actions by
all sections of workers – skilled and unskilled, men and women, manual and
non-manual – for higher wages and equal pay, for shorter hours and a greater
say in shaping the environment at work is rising.
Сейчас нарастает
огромная волна забастовок трудящихся всех категорий – квалифицированных и
не квалифицированных, мужчин и женщин, работников физического и умственного
труда – за повышение зарплаты, за равную оплату женского труда, за сокращение
рабочего дня, за улучшение условий труда.
It is very frequent when
grammatical and lexical transformations demand supplementation or omission of
some words or elements. Therefore omission and supplementation are frequently
combined with other types of grammatical transformations and more frequently
with substitution of parts of speech. Supplementation of parts of speech are
characterized by several factors: difference in structures of the sentences and
that short English sentences demand spread translation in the Russian language.
Absence of some corresponding word or lexical-semantic variant in both
languages is also one of the reasons of applying additional words in
translation.
The American troops were
thought to be heading toward Saigon, but no one seemed to be aware of
fierce resistance of the nation.
Полагали,
что американские войска направляется на Сайгон, но казалось, что никто не знал
о жестоком сопротивлении местного населения.
The construction Nominative
+ Infinitive with two omitted elements (which was) was given in object
clause plus introductory sentences… который, как полагали раньше, движется…
Thus, the difference in the structure of sentences demanded supplementation
in the given translation.
In the following example,
supplementation was caused by absence of corresponding word in Russian to
English conservationists.
The actions of Congress
and of North Carolina and Tennessee statesmen, aided by gifts of wise conservationists,
have set this land aside as Great Smoky National Park.
Эта
местность на берегу реки Смоки-Хилл была превращена в Национальный парк
благодаря усилиям Конгресса и государственных деятелей штатов Северная Каролина
и Теннеси, а также благодаря пожертвованиям любителей природы, понимающих
всю важность её сохранения.
While translating this
sentence besides transposition we have made many other transformations and as a
matter of the first importance we should mentions the supplementation we have
accomplished. In regard to the absence on corresponding word in the Russian
language to the English conservationists we have rendered it by
two words любителей природы; and taking into consideration the combinability
of the attribute wise we have translated it by adverbial modifier
applying introductory words like понимающих всю важность её сохранения, the noun
сохранения renders all
the essence of the given sentence which is contained in conservationists.
To make the perception of the sentence easier we have we added the words штатов, на берегу реки.
The last supplementation was made on the basis of its spread context.
The passive participle aided was rendered by preposition благодаря. We should also point to lexico-grammatical
transformation: have set this land aside – эта местность …была
превращена.
Ellipsis involves the
omission of an item. In other words, in ellipsis an item is replaced by
nothing. This is a case of leaving something unsaid which is nevertheless
understood. It doesn’t include every instance when the hearer or reader has to
supply missing information, but only those cases where grammatical structure
itself points to an item or items that can fill the slot in question. Here are
some examples of ellipsis:
The United States donated two millions dollars and Britain one and a half millions pounds. (omitted
item: donated in second clause ).
Here are four
strategies. Choose any of them. (omitted item strategy)
Use of synonymy
pairs is characterized to all styles of written speech of English language.
Preserving such synonymy pair is accepted as pleonasm and it is absolutely
superfluous even when translating official documents that demand preciseness.
For example:
The Treaty was declared null
and void.
Договор был объявлен недействительным.
Condemned by almost all
members of the United States, and regarded as an outcast and criminal
system by the vast majority of mankind, it (apartheid) is able to exist and
defy censure solely because of the aid and support given to it by
the Western imperialist countries.
Апартеид
осуждён почти всеми членами ООН, и подавляющее большинство человечества считает
эту систему преступной. Апартеид существует благодаря помощи и
поддержке империалистических государств Запада.
In this example are used two
synonymy pairs: outcast and criminal, aid and support. In the
first case преступный sufficiently
renders the essence of both synonyms. The lexical meaning of the attribute outcast
– изгнанный, отверженный doesn’t fit to this context neither owing to norms of
combinability nor to the power of its meaning. The second pair of synonyms can
be preserved without any difficulty – помощь и поддержка. The participle given is omitted
for its meaning is supplied by case flexion.
The battle was fierce
while it lasted.
Бой был
жесток.
Time complex object in this
in this case functions as a cliché and doesn’t have corresponding
equivalent in Russian.
So we can see that in the
majority cases of translation some piece of political literature we have make
necessary changes. We should remind you that it is not always an English
sentence completely corresponds to the Russian one. Very frequently the
structure of a Russian sentence absolutely differs from the one English. It has
different word order, parts of the sentences and pretty often differs even the
order of sentences. In some instances, parts of speech expressed in English are
translated into Russian by the help of different parts of speech. You should
remember that the compressed way of expression in the English can not be
followed in Russian and we therefore have to “decompress” them so that to make
the easy to perceive and understand, e.i. we have to add some words or
expressions or even sentences in whole. Nevertheless, some differences in usage
of some specific features make us leave some elements unsaid while translating
the whole. And all these cases are explained by grammatical transformations we
have just investigated.
§ II. Lexical difficulties
of transformation.
Every word in a language
carries some concrete notion. The semantics of a word reflects different signs
of the subject and the relation of its meanings to other objects it denotes. The
semantics of a word includes word perception characteristic to the studied
language, being more precise to the bearers of the studied language. When
studying the reality of some object we can identify that its name reveals its
functions which finds the reflection in the semantics of the word. Lets take as
an example the word glasses – очки. In
English it reveals the substance of which the object is made and in Russian
firstly it reveals its function – second eyes – очи.
Despite distinguishing all
kinds of differences we should say that, both languages sufficiently reflect
one and the same perception of reality. Therefore the difficulty stylistic
devices represents to a translator is based on word play, if in corresponding
words of both languages are featured different signs.
The second reason, causing
lexical difficulties to translation of political literature is the difference in
the semantic volume of a word. In every language a word exists in a close
connection with the lexical-semantic system of a given language. It may have
various kinds of lexical meanings (lexical-semantic) variants; it may widen or
narrow its meaning and make it more abstract or concrete.
The third reason presenting
lexical difficulties in translation the difference in combinability. Words in languages
have some definite relation characteristic only to the given language. It
should be mentioned that word combinability is possible if words point to
similar objects they denote. This difference of word combinability in various
languages is very important; therefore some types of combinability are easily
accepted in one of language and are completely unacceptable in other languages.
Last but not the least is
the accepted usage of words in a language. It is, of course related to the
development of a given languages and formation of its lexical system. Every
language worked out its own clichés and some set expressions used by
speakers, nevertheless those word expressions are not phraseological units but
they possess complete form, which, in comparison with the phraseological units,
are never broken by adding some introductory words or substitution of some of
its elements.
Translation studies showed
that there are cases when due to the distinguished signs a word acquires wider
semantic volume and can not be covered by corresponding equivalent in the
target language. Let us take teenager for example: etymologically it is
related to the numerals from thirteen till nineteen. The Russian подросток does not semantically cover
its meaning in complete volume for its is narrower in its meaning. Therefore
the word teenager is usually translated by different words – подросток, юноша, and in plural
as молодёжь.
Difference in the semantic
structure of a word represents one of the main reason causing lexical
difficulty in translation. These difference are related to peculiar features of
separate words or word groups. And it is quite natural that this matter covers
a wide range of examples. Practically, even identical words in different
languages are not always equal in their meaning, they never correspond
completely. Most often is the correspondence of first lexical-semantic variants
of such words – their primary meaning – then we have various lexical-semantic
variants for the course of development of these words was of different nature.
This is characterized by
different functioning of a word in language, different in usage and
combinability, but even the primary meaning of an English word maybe wider of
the corresponding one in Russian.
The semantic structure of a
word predefines the possibility of its contextual use, and the translation of
contextual meaning presents a hard task to translators.
Contextual meaning of a
word in many instances depends on the character of semantic context, on the
semantics of the words combining with it. Occasional meanings, suddenly
originated in the context are not always arbitrary – its is based into the
semantic structure of the word. In contextual usage of a word in poetry or
prose – often point to the author’s penetration into the depth of the word’s
semantic structure. For paradigmatic and semantic relations are characteristic
to any words and the lexical potential of words can be revealed in both cases. But
revealing these potentials of words is closely connected with the specificity
of lexical-semantic aspects of every language and here forth we may observe the
difficulty of translation of contextual meaning of words. What is possible in
one language maybe impossible in another because of its difference in semantic
structure and its usage.
In an atomic war women
and children will be the first hostages.
The word hostage according
to different dictionaries has got only one meaning – заложник.
But in the given instance the hostage acquired the meaning жертва. Its contextual meaning probably exists in its
paradigmatic meaning; any hostage may get killed therefore while translating
this example we have to use the word жертва since заложник is
not used in the given contextual meaning.
Первыми жертвами
в атомной войне будут женщины и дети.
A very interesting
contextual meaning of exploitation will be given in the following
example:
Britain’s
worldwide exploitation was shaken to the roots by Colonial Liberation
Movements.
The contextual meaning of
the word originated metonymically – any colonial system lives on exploitation,
which comprises basis of colonial power. The corresponding Russian эксплуатация can not be used in this
contextual meaning, the contextual surroundings of exploitation (worldwide,
shaken to the roots) also prevents it. The only possible variant of translation
is by means of metonymic transposition – substitution:
Колониальное
могущество Англии было подорвано (потрясено до основания)
национально-освободительным движением во всех колониях.
Contextual meaning of a
word is always effective semantically and stylistically owing to its
unexpectedness as well. It often used in stylistic purposes and therefore a
translator runs into two obstacles: he should avoid (нивелировка)
and at the same time not to break the norms of translation.
The most difficulty
presents the translation of emotional coloring that demands lexical changes.
There is a wide range of words in a language that besides their logical meaning
have emotional meanings or co-meaning. One should not mix emotional co-meaning
with the multiple meaning words. Emotional meaning of words usually presents in
paradigmatic meanings of words, that is it is objective and but subjective,
like in the words: hate, love, friendship. But it is not an exception
when emotional meaning originates from contextual usage. Emotional meaning,
based in the word is usually created by association – positive or negative –
which a word causes and the associations that exist in it despite the context
of perception.
A peculiar group of words
demanding transformation in translation are the words that possess different
volume of meaning in Russian and English languages. To this group belong
international words, some words of human perception, mental activity.
But we should mention that
the words that belong to these groups are of different semantic structure. International
words and the words of human perception, mental activity represents polysemantic
words in English.
International words are
words that are used in a wide range of languages in one or several forms. These
words express scientific and social-politic notions. The volume meaning of
these words does not usually coincide (except term-words). Though it is
well-known that they comprise the false-friends of translators and the mistakes
in their translation are frequent. These mistakes are caused not only by
difference in their semantic structure but by the difference of their usage as
well which demand lexical changes:
We are told that
television this autumn will give a massive coverage to the General
Election.
Сообщают,
что нынешней осенью передачи по телевидению будут широко освещать
парламентские выборы.
The word massive along
with the meaning массивный, has other meanings like
массовый, грандиозный, огромный, широкий and
so on. For example: massive success – огромный успех, massive problems – важные проблемы.
Since international words
possess wider meaning volume they are more used in English if comparing to
Russian:
Never before in the
history of the world have there been so many persons engaged in the translation
of both secular and religious materials.
Ещё
никогда в истории человечества столько людей не занимались переводом как светской,
так и духовной литературы.
Russian words религиозные материалы are absolutely unacceptable in this case because of their
different usage. In this instance the usage plays the main role though their
meaning is identical in both languages.
Lexical transformations
are also caused by necessity to concretize a word while translating. It is
characteristic to English language the availability of words with wide spread
meaning. They can be nouns, adjectives and verbs, for example: thing, point,
stiff; nice, fine, bad; to say, to go, to come, to get.
Translation
of these words depends on the context, which helps to identify their concrete
meaning. Usually they are translated by various Russian words that have concrete
meaning (importance). Practically it refers to verbs — to verbs of speech and
verbs of movement. Concrete lexical meaning(importance), this or that the lexical-semantic
variant of a verb depends on structure and lexical meaning of words that
distribute them.
At the
by-election victory went to the Labor candidate.
На
дополнительных выборах победа досталась лейбористам (победу одержал
кандидат от лейбористской партии).
Among nouns of wide meaning a
special group comprises abstract nouns, that frequently demand concrete
definitions in translation. So, for example, despite the presence of a word президентство in Russian - English word presidency
usually refers to the words a пост президента or
президентская всласть.
An ageing
Speaker cannot take on the burdens of the presidency.
Престарелый
спикер не может взять на себя бремя президентской власти (в случае
смерти президента).
The use of
words of abstract meaning strongly differs in various languages. Therefore follows
the necessity of concrete definition in translating.
The Saigon regime used every form of pressure and violence to compel a reluctant electorate
to go to the polls.
Сайгонский режим прибегал ко всем видам давления и насилия, чтобы
заставить упрямых избирателей принять участие в выборах.
Sometimes it
is necessary to concretize some word due to different qualitative distinction
(valeur) the generalizing words have in languages. The following words belong
to them: meal and трапеза that
usually illustrate the this phenomenon and the words limbs and члены, from which limbs is widely common, and Russian
word the члены has much narrower usage.
In the given
translation, besides concrete definition of руки and ноги, we also had to use fixed word phrase.
The following
problem which demands careful consideration in lexical transformations of translation
is problem of word combinability. In all languages there are typical norms of word
combinability. The concept of norm is relative, on the one hand, with system of
language, and on the other hand, it is closely connected with speech, in which the
originality of speech formation is displayed. Each language can form
uncountable number new word combinations that will be understood by its
bearers. In any language there exists generally accepted tradition of word
combinations, which do not coincide with the corresponding tradition of word combinations
in the other languages.
And it makes
look for similarly accepted word combinations in the target language. The main
part combined words usually coincides in translation, but the second one is frequently
translated by a word possessing other logical meaning, but performing the same
function, as for example, trains run — поезда ходят, rich feeding — обильная пища.
Labor
Party protests followed sharply on the Tory deal with Spain.
За сообщением о сделке
консервативного правительства с Испанией немедленно
последовал протест лейбористской партии.
The wider is
the semantic volume of a word, the wider is its combinability, thus due to this
feature it can interact with various word forms and word combinations. And
this features enables the translator to use his creativity in translation.
Along with
traditional combinations in languages unexpected combinations are also possible,
but they are quite clear, for they follow generally accepted semantic models of
word combinability. This phenomenon — the connection of words with completely
various semantic features - is peculiar to all languages, but in each language it
has various rules and traditions. In English language such unexpected word combinations
are formed very easily. It is probably caused by conversion and easiness in
formation of new words in various ways, heterogeneity of languages vocabulary
and some other reasons. Not only poets and writers, but also journalists
frequently create unexpected word combination that makes their statements
significantly vivid and original. The unexpectedness of word usage is closely
connected with expressiveness of the statement.
Unexpected
usage of word combinations hardens the task of translators, for words interrelate
in combinations not only with one word, but also with a large number of other
words of the sentence, for example:
The use of an
adjective sharp in this context is unexpected: none of its meanings
given in dictionaries gives the description of a hand. The difficulty of its
translation is aggravated by presence of the second definition white,
which excludes translation by words костлявый and сухой.
Белая, сухощавая рука мадам
лежала на широком колене Адама.
In the given
translation the sense of the sentence has been rendered but the unexpectedness
of the used word was lost.
The last
feature of lexical transformation to be discussed in this Paper is traditional
word usage for every language and which causes frequent lexical
transformations. This traditional usage is to some extent related to another
approach to the phenomena of reality. For example:
The military
base is built on terraces rising from the lake.
For Russian
the traditional use will be:
Военная база построена на террасах, спускающихся
к озеру.
In this case preposition is omitted
in translation because as the originality of the English word usage required
complete transformation.
To the
traditional word usage can also be referred the so-called clichés —
order, and the clichés in wider sense.
Hands up!
Руки вверх!
Long live America!
Да здравствует Америка!
The assault of the castle
was followed by continuous bombing. Loss of life was uncountable.
За штурмом крепости
последовала длительная бомбардировка. Жертвы были бесчисленны.
The
Commonwealth countries handle a quarter of the world's trade.
На страны Британского содружества приходится четверть всей мировой торговли
As you can
see from the examples given above – in translations corresponding Russian
clichés are also used.
§ III. Stylistic difficulties of
translation
In the
previous chapters we carefully considered the grammatical and lexical
transformations that occur while translating political literature from English
into Russian. And we have figured out that most of these reasons are rooted in
national and cultural settings of both languages.
Practically,
stylistic devices in almost all languages are similar still though their
functions in speech vary. Identical stylistic devices are used differently in
languages; they perform different functions and have different value in
stylistic system of their language what actually explains their necessity when
transformations in translation occur. The stylistic changes are as necessary as
grammatical or lexical ones. While applying some grammatical or lexical
transformation in translation the translator is guided by principle of
rendering grammatical of lexical meaning. When rendering stylistic meaning of
the source text a translator should be guided by the same principle – to
recreate in translation the same impression that might be left by the original
text.
A translator
should not try to preserve the stylistic device given in the sentence, but
reproduce its function in the target language.
We should not
forget that almost all stylistic devices are multi functional. It is like when
polysemantic words in English and Russian languages do not coincide in their
lexical-semantic variants and the same is when differ the function of identical
stylistic device. Thus when comparing stylistic devices we can easily identify
complete correspondence, partial correspondence and even sometimes absence of
correspondence and their functions.
To
illustration it we can compare alliteration in the English and Russian
languages. The function of alliteration coincides in both languages — in this
function alliteration is one of the basic devices of poetic speech. However the
usage of alliteration for pleasant sounding in prose is more characteristic for
the English language, than for Russian. The second function of alliteration is
logical. Alliteration emphasizes close relationship between components of the
statement. Especially brightly alliteration shows the unity of an epithet with
an attributed word.
The third
function of alliteration in English language – to attract attention of the
reader — is widely used in the names of literary works, newspaper headings and
often in articles.
The use of
alliteration is a convincing acknowledgement that various functions of
stylistic devices in different languages do not always coincide in usage.
We have
already discussed functional translation of stylistic devices. But it is
extremely important to distinguish in the translated text original and imagined
alliterations so that to avoid unnecessary emphasizing and to keep stylistic
equivalence which presents necessary component of adequate translation. there
is a constant danger to smooth and de-color the original text or, on the
contrary, to make translation brighter and stylistically colored. But sometimes
a translator consciously applies some "«smoothing" or neutralization
in other words.
Repetition
as you know is a more widespread stylistic device in the English language, than
in Russian.
In some cases
repetition as the stylistic device should be necessarily kept in translation,
but for the difference in combinability and various semantic structures of
polysemantic words or words of wide meaning in English and Russian languages
the translator has to change and replace some of elements.
The
repetition is widely used with stylistic purposes in newspaper publicity. In
these cases the translator is compelled to apply stylistic changes, make
substitution or omission.
A policy of
see no stagnation, hear no stagnation, speak no stagnation has had too long
a run for our money.
Слишком долго мы
расплачиваемся за политику полного игнорирования и замалчивания застоя в нашей
экономике.
The triple
repetition of no stagnation has been omitted in translation, though is
partially compensated by the use of synonymic pair at a word (stagnation),
but neutralization is evident in translation. The neutralization happened when
translating the phraseological unit to have (too long) a run for our money.
Among
stylistic devices used in political literature rather frequent there are
synonymic and alliterated pairs. The use of such pairs is traditional for all
styles of the English language including business style as well. When
translating official documents such pairs are frequently by one word. For
example, the just and equitable treatment of all nations from UN Charter
is given in Russian as справедливое отношение ко всем нациям, for in Russian there is no absolute synonym for the word just.
Metaphor is
used in all emotionally – colored styles of speech. However in style of fiction
the metaphor always carries original character, whereas in political literature
the original metaphor is used rather seldom and basically — copied metaphors.
Nevertheless in advanced clauses of the English and American political
literature, the purpose of which is to assure, to make people believe and to
impress the reader, that is to force him to agree with the point of view given
in the article, one can often see rather bright and colorful metaphors.
Sometimes the
difficulty of translation of metaphor consists in translating some word
combination or a phraseological unit, which does not have figurative equivalent
in Russian.
We have
already discussed the necessity of neutralization of means of expressiveness
when translating English or American politics. Let us consider the problem of extended
metaphor. The extended metaphor represents a chain of the logically connected
figurative components. Sometimes such components of the extended metaphors pass
through the whole clause. The below-mentioned example is taken from clause of
the American observer James Reston.
The latest
official explanation of the President's Indochina policy is that " he is
backing out of the saloon with both guns firing ", but there is a catch to
this.
He insists
that the guys in the white hats keep control of the saloon before he leaves
town. He wants a non-communist bartender, and a non-communist sheriff, and a
secure non-communist town before he rides away into the sunset of November,
1972.
In the final
paragraph of the article the elements of one metaphor are partially repeated:
but all this is a little more complicated than " backing out of the
saloon ".
The images of
this extended metaphor are taken from so-called "western" — of film
about cowboys in "wild" West. In this case all elements of the
developed(unwrapped) metaphor, perhaps, can be kept in translation.
Согласно последнему
официальному объяснению политики президента в
отношении Индокитая, «он хочет выбраться из бара,
пятясь к двери и отстреливаясь из двух пистолетов».
Но за этим кроется что-то еще.
Он хочет, чтобы парни в
белых шапках следили за порядком в баре до тех пор,
пока он не уедет из города. Он хочет, чтобы бармен не
был коммунистом и чтобы шериф не был коммунистом и
чтобы город заведомо не был в руках коммунистов. И только
тогда он поскачет навстречу ноябрьским сумеркам 1972 года.
And at the end of clause — «но все это несколько
сложнее, чем пятясь к двери, выбраться из
бара».
However there
are cases, when the preservation of all figurative components of the
developed(unwrapped) metaphor is impossible, as well as preservation of both
components of synonymic pair, for it would break the stylistic norms of
Russian.
Being purely
linguistic and stylistic device – metonymy is used more and more in political
literature, perhaps, even more than metaphor. Metonymy translation presents one
of numerous problems for the use of metonymy significantly differs in English
and Russian languages. Due to this fact the translator is often forced to go
back to the primary meaning of a word, that is to the meaning that was firstly
created by metonymy.
It is a widespread
case of metonymy usage – substitution of concrete notion by an abstract one,
which can not always be preserved.
"It
(the flood) has hurl us a great deal, " the Pakistan Prime Minister told
correspondents last week as he toured the destruction in the flooded provinces.
("Newsweek")
«Наводнение нанесло нам
огромный ущерб»,—сказал корреспондентам
премьер-министр Пакистана, на прошлой
неделе во время поездки по пострадавшим от наводнения
районам.
Concerning
the translation of comparison as a stylistic device, the difficulties arise only
if the words of English and Russian languages are various in the semantic
structure. We have already considered in the chapter of lexical transformations
the question of translation of such terms and now we would like to give the
example of stylistic comparison.
Instant
history, like instant coffee, can sometimes be remarkably palatable. At least
it is in this memoir by a former White House aide who sees L.B.J. as " an
extraordinarily gifted President who was the wrong man from the wrong place at
the wrong time under the wrong circumstances ".
Современная история, как и
такой современный продукт, как растворимый
кофе, иногда может быть необыкновенно приятна. По крайней мере, такой ее преподносит в своих мемуарах бывший помощник президента Джонсона, считающий его «исключительно одаренным президентом, который был неподходящим человеком, из неподходящего места (штат Техас), в неподходящее время, при неподходящих обстоятельствах».
In order to
preserve this playing comparison, the interpreters were forced to apply
additional words.
We discussed
above the importance of articles in translation and now we should mention once
again that they can serve in stylistic purposes.
An
expressiveness gets the definite article, before a indefinite pronoun one.
... this
is the one way we can achieve success in elections.
...это
единственный способ достигнуть победы на выборах.
The given
synonyms compensate render the stress contained the original text.
There is
another kind of stylistic transformation – actualization – which
involves transition of something simple into something unusual, strange. It
reveals potential expressiveness put in the lexical morphologic and syntactic
means of a language.
Actualization
of the passive form often occurs while translating political literature but it
is not as colored as in the translations of fiction.
The
General Assembly was gaveled to order by its outgoing President.
Уходящий со своего поста
председатель Генеральной Ассамблее навел порядок в
зале, энергично стуча молотком.
The
expressiveness and emphasis created by the passive form of the verb that had
been formed as a result of conversion are compensated by lexical means. The
compressed nature of sentence was lost for the verb to gavel has two
semantic components one of action and an instrument that were to be rendered in
translation.
Now from
everything that has been discussed above we can infer that the usage of some of
stylistic devices in English is peculiar – and bears specific national
character, therefore their direct translation in many instances is impossible.
Moreover, the impression left by some of stylistic device maybe different in
both languages, compare soft panic and тихая паника. It can be explained not only by national features of
stylistic means and devices of some of the language but by the their multi
functioning character also – that do not always coincide – as it was shown on
the matter of alliteration. This is the main criteria causing the necessity of
stylistic transformations that involve substitution and changes. Therefore we
should warn the future translators and interpreters that it is not important to
classify the device itself but the point is to be able to realize their ongoing
effect and to identify the purpose of their application in the translation they
are working on.
§ IV. The
difficulty of translation of set phrases and idioms
As far as idioms and phraseological units are concerned in translation,
the first difficulty that a translator comes across is being able to recognize
that s/he is dealing with an idiomatic expression. This is not always so
obvious. There are various types of idioms, some more easily recognizable than
others. Those which are easily recognizable include expressions which violate
truth conditions, such as It's raining cats and dogs, throw caution to the
winds, storm in a tea cup, jump down someone's throat, and food for
thought. They also include expressions which seem ill-formed because they
do not follow the grammatical rules of the language, for example trip the
light fantastic, blow someone to kingdom come, put paid to, the powers that be,
by and large, and the world and his friend. Expressions which start with
like (simile-like structures) also tend to suggest that they should not
be interpreted literally. These include idioms such as like a bat out of
hell and like water off a duck's back. Generally speaking, the more
difficult an expression is to understand and the less sense it makes in a given
context, the more likely a translator will recognize it as an idiom. Because
they do not make sense if interpreted literally, the highlighted expressions in
the following text are easy to recognize as idioms (assuming one is not already
familiar with them):
Provided a translator has access to good reference works and monolingual
dictionaries of idioms, or, better still, is able to consult native speakers of
the language, opaque idioms which do not make sense for one reason or another
can actually be a blessing in disguise. The very fact that s/he cannot make
sense of an expression in a particular context will alert the translator to the
presence of an idiom of some sort.
There are two
cases in which an idiom can be easily misinterpreted if one is not already
familiar with it:
(a) Some idioms are 'misleading'; they seem transparent because they
offer a reasonable literal interpretation and their idiomatic meanings are not
necessarily signalled in the surrounding text. A large number of idioms in
English, and probably all languages, have both a literal and an idiomatic
meaning, for example go out with ('have a romantic or sexual
relationship with someone') and take someone for a ride ('deceive or
cheat someone in some way'). Such idioms lend themselves easily to manipulation
by speakers and writers who will sometimes play on both their literal and
idiomatic meanings. In this case, a translator who is not familiar with the
idiom in question may easily accept the literal interpretation and miss the
play on idiom.
(b) An idiom in the source language may have a very close counter
part in the target language which looks similar on the surface but has
a totally or partially different meaning. For example, the idiomatic question Has
the cat had/got your tongue? is used in English to urge someone to answer a
question or contribute to a conversation, particularly when their failure to do
so becomes annoying.
Apart from being alert to the way speakers and writers
manipulate certain features of idioms and to the possible confusion which could
arise from similarities in form between source and target expressions, a
translator must also consider the collocational environment which surrounds any
expression whose meaning is not readily accessible. Idiomatic and fixed expressions
have individual collocational patterns. They form collocations with other items
in the text as single units and enter into lexical sets which are different
from those of their individual words. Take, for instance, the idiom to have
cold feet. Cold as a separate item may collocate with words like weather,
winter, feel, or country. Feet on its own will perhaps collocate
with socks, chilblain, smelly, etc. However, having cold feet, in
its idiomatic use, has nothing necessarily to do with winter, feet, or chilblains
and will therefore generally be used with a different set of collocates.
The ability to distinguish senses by collocation is an invaluable asset
to a translator working from a foreign language. It is often subsumed under the
general umbrella of 'relying on the context to disambiguate meanings', which,
among other things, means using our knowledge of collocational patterns to
decode the meaning of a word or a stretch of language. Using our knowledge of
collocational patterns may not always tell us what an idiom means but it could
easily help us in many cases to recognize an idiom, particularly one which has
a literal as well as a non-literal meaning.
Once an idiom or fixed
expression has been recognized and interpreted correctly, the next step is to
decide how to translate it into the target language. The difficulties involved
in translating an idiom are totally different from those involved in
interpreting it. Here, the question is not whether a given idiom is
transparent, opaque, or misleading. An opaque expression may be easier to
translate than a transparent one. The main difficulties involved in translating
idioms and fixed expressions may be summarized as follows:
(a) An idiom or fixed expression may have no equivalent in
the target language. The way a language chooses to express, or not express,
various meanings cannot be predicted and only occasionally matches the way
another language chooses to express the same meanings. One language may express
a given meaning by means of a single word, another may express it by means of a
transparent fixed expression, a third may express it by means of an idiom, and
so on. It is therefore unrealistic to expect to find equivalent idioms and
expressions in the target language as a matter of course.
Like single words, idioms and fixed expressions may be
culture-specific. Formulae such as Merry Christmas and say when which
relate to specific social or religious occasions provide good examples.
Basnett-McGuire (1980: 21) explains that the expression say
when 'is ... directly linked to English social behavioral patterns' and
suggests that 'the translator putting the phrase into Russian has to contend
with the problem of the non-existence of a similar convention in either
culture'. Less problematic, but to some extent also culture-specific, are the
sort of fixed formulae that are used in formal correspondence, such as Yours
faithfully and Yours sincerely in English. These, for instance, have
no equivalents in Arabic formal correspondence. The same mismatch occurs in
relation to French and several other languages but in Russian we have similar
expression Ваш верный!
Idioms and fixed expressions which contain culture-specific items are not
necessarily untranslatable. It is not the specific items an expression contains
but rather the meaning it conveys and its association with culture-specific
contexts which can make it untranslatable or difficult to translate. For
example, the English expression to carry coals to Newcastle,
though culture-specific in the sense that it contains a reference to
Newcastle coal and uses it as a measure of abundance, is nevertheless closely
paralleled in Russian by в Тулу со своим самоваром. Both expressions convey the same
meaning, namely: to supply something to someone who already has plenty of it.
(b) An idiom or fixed expression may have
a similar counterpart in the target language, but its context of use may be different;
the two expressions may have different connotations, for instance, or they may
not be pragmatically transferable. To sing a different tune is an
English idiom which means to say or do something that signals a change in
opinion because it contradicts what one has said or done before. To go to
the dogs ('to lose one's good qualities') has a similar counterpart in
German, but whereas the English idiom can be used in connection with a person
or a place, its German counterpart can only be used in connection with a person
and often means to die or perish.
(c) An idiom may be used in the source
text in both its literal and idiomatic senses at the same time. Unless the
target-language idiom corresponds to the source-language idiom both in form and
in meaning, the play on idiom cannot be successfully reproduced in the target
text.
(d) An idiom or fixed expression may have
a similar counterpart in the target language, but its context of use may be
different; the two expressions may have different connotations, for instance,
or they may not be pragmatically transferable. An idiom may be used in the
source text in both its literal and idiomatic senses at the same time. Unless
the target-language idiom corresponds to the source-language idiom both in form
and in meaning, the play on idiom cannot be successfully reproduced in the
target text.
Using idioms
in English and American politics is very much a matter of style. Languages such
as Arabic and Chinese which make a sharp distinction between written and spoken
discourse and where the written mode is associated with a high level of
formality tend, on the whole, to avoid using idioms in written texts. Fernando
and Flavell discuss the difference in rhetorical effect of using idioms in
general and of using specific types of idiom in the source and target languages
and quite rightly conclude that 'Translation is an exacting art. Idiom more
than any other feature of language demands that the translator be not only
accurate but highly sensitive to the rhetorical nuances of the language’.
§ V. Samples of
translation.
Blitzkrieg молниеносная война.
Comprehensive
Programme of Disarmament n Всеобъемлющая программа разоружения.
International
Nuclear Information System n международная система ядерной информации.
National
Guard n Национальная гвардия.
abet resistance v
оказывать поддержку движению
сопротивления (vi) .
abrogated
a treaty v расторгнул договор (vi) .
1.
abrogating a convention n расторжение договора.
2.
abrogating a convention v расторгающий договор (vi) .
absolute rule n
самовластие.
absolute war n
решительные боевые действия.
accelerate upon an agreement v ускорять
достижение соглашения (vi) .
1. adhering to treaty provisions n соблюдение
положений договора.
2. adhering to treaty provisions v соблюдающий
положения договора (vi)
adjustment of disputes n
урегулирование разногласий.
administration of peace-keeping operations n осуществление
операций по поддержанию мира.
bar the way to war v
преграждать путь к войне (vi) .
basic war plan n
основной стратегический план.
beam the opposition v
подавлять сопротивление (vi) .
brush blaze n
локальная война.
brush
fire war n местная война.
call
to the colors v объявлять мобилизацию (vi) .
carried
the day v одержал победу (vi) .
challenge
to the world community n вызов международному сообществу.
change
in a policy n смена политики.
chemical warfare agreement n
соглашение о запрещении
химического оружия.
circumvention
of an agreement n обход соглашения.
claims to world superiority n притязания
на мировое господство.
comparison
of military expenditures in accordance with international standards n сопоставление военных бюджетов по международным стандартам.
compensation
allowance n денежная компенсация.
competitive co-existence n
сосуществование в условиях
соперничества.
completion of talks n
завершение переговоров.
compliance
with commitments n соблюдение обязательств.
conduct
an arms race v вести гонку вооружений (vi) .
conduct
diplomacy v проводить дипломатию (vi) .
conduct
of disarmament negotiations n ведение переговоров по разоружению.
consolidation
of peace n укрепление мира.
construction
of all-embracing system of international secutity n создание всеобъемлющей системы международной безопасности.
consultative
board n консультативный совет.
contending
nation n воюющее государство.
contest
the air v оспаривать господство в воздухе (vi) .
control
agency n орган управления.
convene
a meeting v созывать совещание (vi) .
convene
the UN Security Council v созывать Совет Безопасности ООН (vi)
.
conventional
armament n обычное вооружение.
desperate
situation n отчаянное положение.
detentist n сторонник разрядки международной напряженности.
deterioration
of resistance n ослабление сопротивления.
deterioration
of resistance n ослабление сопротивления.
diminished
international tension n спад международной безопасности.
diplomatic
attack n дипломатическая атака.
diplomatic
co-operation n дипломатическое сотрудничество.
diplomatic
decision n дипломатическое решение.
disarmament issue n
проблема разоружения.
disarmament negotiation n
переговоры о разоружении.
disaster control n
меры по ликвидации
последствий нападения.
1. drafting an agreement n
составление текста соглашения.
2. drafting an agreement v
составляющий текст соглашения (vi) .
ease
international tension v смягчать международную обстановку (vi) .
entered
into alliance v вступил в союз (vi) .
established
an organization v создал организацию (vi) .
financial service n
служба финансового
довольствия.
graves
registration service n похоронная служба.
1.
heading off the arms race n воспрепятствование гонке вооружений.
2.
heading off the arms race v воспрепятствовавший гонке вооружений (vi) .
implement
a goal v осуществлять цель (vi) .
in-depth
assessment n глубокая оценка.
isolationist
posture n изоляционистская политика.
large-scale
production n крупномасштабное производство.
1. leading to positive solutions n приведение
к положительным результатам.
2. leading to positive solutions v приводящий
к положительным результатам
legal branch n
юридическая служба.
ligitimate
rights n законные права.
maintain mastery v
удерживать господство в
воздухе (vi) .
maintain
neutrality v соблюдать нейтралитет (vi) .
maintain stability v
поддерживать стабильность (vi) .
maintained
a status quo v сохранил статус-кво (vi) .
making demands v
выдвигающий требования (vi) .
1. managing non-compliance n
урегулирование вопроса о
несоблюдении.
2. managing non-compliance v
урегулировавший вопрос о
несоблюдении
mandatory embargo n
обязательное эмбарго.
meet an aggression v
отражать нападение агрессора (vi) .
meet the demand v
отвечать требованию (vi)
.
militarese n военный язык.
military
high court n верховный военный суд.
mounting
of international tension n усиление международной напряженности.
moved
a resolution v предложил резолюцию (vi) .
mutual
co-operation n взаимное сотрудничество.
mutual
commitment n взаимное обязательство.
mutual deterrence n
взаимное сдерживание путем
устрашения.
mutually
acceptable agreement n взаимоприемлемое решение.
mutually
advantageous treaty n взаимовыгодный договор.
mutually
beneficial reductions of armaments
n взаимовыгодные сокращения вооружений.
mutually
beneficial treaty n взаимовыгодный договор.
negotiated treaty text n
согласованный текст договора.
negotiating atmosphere n
атмосфера на переговорах.
negotiating forum n
форум для переговоров.
negotiating parties n
договаривающиеся стороны.
negotiating priority n
приоритетный вопрос на
переговорах.
negotiating
process n процесс переговоров.
negotiating
stalemate n тупик на переговорах.
negotiations
behind the scene n закулисные переговоры.
new mentality n
новая психология.
no-cities strategy n
стратегия избежания поражения
крупных городов.
noble goal n
благородная цель.
non-aligned status n
статус неприсоединившегося
государства.
non-alignment with military blocs n неприсоединение
к военным блокам.
non-armament agreements n
соглашения о невооружении.
non-governmental expert n
неправительственный эксперт.
non-interference in internal affairs n невмешательство
во внутренние дела.
non-strategic a
нестратегический.
nuclear co-operation agreement n соглашение
о сотрудничестве в ядерной области.
observed
a status v соблюл статус (vi) .
observer
status n статус обозревателя.
1. observing a truce n
соблюдение условий перемирия.
2. observing a truce v
соблюдающий условия перемирия (vi) .
1. observing to treaty provisions n соблюдение
положений договора.
2. observing to treaty provisions v соблюдающий
положения договора (vi) .
occurrence of nuclear war n
возникновение ядерной войны.
offensive-arms agreement n
соглашение о наступательных
вооружениях.
offer co-operation v
предлагать сотрудничество (vi) .
1.
overcoming the deadlock n выход из тупика.
2.
overcoming the deadlock v выходящий из тупика (vi) .
overcontrol n
чрезмерная централизация
управления.
overhead
expenses n накладные расходы.
prolongation
of a treaty n продление договора.
1.
putting a stop to the arms race n остановка гонки вооружения .
2.
putting a stop to the arms race v останавливающий гонку (vi) .
putting
in jeopardy v ставящий под угрозу (vi) .
random
surprise verification n выборочная внезапная проверка.
range
of measures n комплекс мер.
1.
re-establishing equilibrium n восстановление равновесия.
2.
re-establishing equilibrium v восстанавливающий равновесие (vi) .
reduction
of military budgets n сокращение военных бюджетов.
1.
rendering assistance n оказание содействия.
2.
rendering assistance v оказывающий содействие (vi) .
severe
contraction n резкое сокращение.
system
of declaration n система объявлений.
tables
of information and characteristics
n информационно-характеристические таблицы.
1. tabling for consideration n представление
на рассмотрение.
2. tabling for consideration v представляющий
на рассмотрение (vt) .
tactical program n
программа
оперативно-тактической подготовки.
take
a series of unilateral steps v предпринимать серию односторонних шагов (vi) .
take-it-or-leave-it
approach n бескомпромиссный подход.
1.
taking the strain off n разрядка напряженности.
2.
taking the strain off v разряжающий напряженность (vi) .
tangible
progress n ощутимый прогресс.
throwdown v 1) свергать (vi) ; 2) свергать
(vt) .
top
level forum n высокий форум.
top
priority n высший приоритет.
top
secret adv секретно.
top-priority a первоочередной.
topical
problem n актуальная проблема.
topicality
of proposals n актуальность предложений.
treaty assessment n
оценка действия договора.
treaty
of unlimited duration n бессрочный договор.
turn
down a resolution v отклонять резолюцию (vi) .
turn
out data v выдавать данные (vi) .
turned
down a resolution v отклонил резолюцию (vi) .
ultimate truth n
истина в последней инстанции.
ulterior
motive n скрытый мотив.
ultimate reply n
решительный ответ.
unacceptable
conditions n неприемлемые условия.
unacceptable
damage n неприемлемый ущерб.
unacceptable terms n
неприемлемые условия.
unattainable goal n
неосуществимая цель.
unavailing efforts n
тщетные усилия.
unbridled
escalation of the arms race n неконтролируемая гонка вооружений.
unchangeable
status quo n неизменный статус - кво.
uncontrollable
situation n неуправляемая ситуация.
under
the agreement adv по соглашению.
under
the conditions of glasnost adv в условиях гласности.
under
the conditions of openness adv в условиях гласности.
under
the conditions of peace adv в условиях мира.
under
the eagis of the United Nations
adv под эгидой ООН.
under
the treaty adv согласно договору.
undermine
an agreement v подрывать соглашение (vi) .
undermine
stability v подрывать стабильность (vi) .
1.
undermining a meeting n подрыв совещания.
2.
undermining a meeting v подрывающий совещание (vi) .
unit veto n всеобщее вето.
universal
annihilation n всеобщее уничтожение.
unofficial
meeting n неофициальная встреча.
unproductive
conference n безрезультатное совещание.
unswerving supporter n
непоколебимый сторонник.
urgent demand n
настоятельное требование.
urgent
problem n неотложная проблема.
vote
for a resolution v голосовать за резолюцию (vi) .
voted-down draft n
отклоненный проект.
1. waging operations n
проведение боевых действий.
2. waging operations v
проводящий боевые действия (vi) .
1.
wandering away n уклонение.
2.
wandering away v уклоняющийся (vi) .
wanton aggression n
ничем не вызванная агрессия.
wanton interference n
ничем не вызванное
вмешательство.
war by proxy n
война чужими руками.
war diplomacy n
дипломатия войны.
war
of annihilation n война на уничтожение.
war
of attrition n война на истощение.
war
of liberation n освободительная война.
war
preparedness n готовность к войне.
war
propaganda n пропаганда войны.
war-time
diplomacy n дипломатия военного времени.
widening
of international ties n расширение международных связей.
won
with wide recognition v получил широкое признание (vi) .
working
language n рабочий язык.
Conclusion
In the given
Qualification Paper we have investigated various translation methods of
political literature from English into Russian. We tried to give a detailed
study of the features of translation of Political literature for it is one of
the types of translation that has not been studied in details in our country up
to this time.
Moreover,
we’ve studied the translation methods of Political literature and political
terms at a deeper level, the types and ways of translation of Political literature;
we’ve also considered the function of political literature in everyday life of
the humanity.
The aim of
this work was to introduce the translation approach to Political literature so
that to make it easy to perceive for those willing to keep up their educational
and scientific carrier in the science of translation, it was purposed to
broaden their view on translation studies and peculiar features while
translating Political literature.
In this work
we’ve completed the following tasks:
-
we’ve reviewed
all the sources of Political literature
-
methods of
translation of Political literature have been carefully studied
-
the grammatical,
lexical, stylistic and phraseological difficulties of translation of political
literature were discussed
The
originality of this work is in its creative approach to the study of methods of
translation, besides, it contains a detailed review of ways and methods of
translation.
The given Qualification paper
contains introduction, two chapters, and samples of translations of political
set expressions, conclusion and bibliography list.
Summary
Most
translators prefer to think of their work as a profession and would like to see
others to treat them like professionals rather than as skilled or semi-skilled
workers. But to achieve this, translators need to develop an ability to stand
back and reflect on what they do and how they do it. Like doctors and
engineers, they have to prove to themselves as well as others that they are in
control of what they do; that they do not just translate well because they have
‘flair’ for translation, but rather because, like other professionals, they
have made a conscious effort to understand various aspects of their work.
Unlike
medicine and engineering, translation is a very young discipline in academic
terms. It is only just starting to feature as a subject of study in its own
right, not yet in all but in an increasing number of universities and colleges
around the world. Like any young discipline, it needs to draw on the findings
and theories of other related disciplines in order to develop and formalize its
own methods; but which disciplines it can naturally and fruitfully be related
to is still a matter of some controversy. Almost every aspect of life in
general and of the interaction between speech communities in particular can be
considered relevant to translation, a discipline which has to concern itself
with how meaning is generated within and between various groups of people in
various cultural settings. This is clearly too big an area to investigate in
one go. So, let us just start by saying that, if translation is ever to become
a profession in the full sense of the word, translators will need something
other than the current mixture of intuition and practice to enable them to
reflect on what they do and how they do it. They will need, above all, to
acquire a sound knowledge of the raw material with which they work: to
understand what language is and how it comes to function for its users.
In this
research work we have completed the following tasks:
-
we have reviewed
all the sources of Political literature
-
we revealed the
methods and ways of translation of Political literature
-
and we have also
investigated grammatical, lexical, phraseological and stylistic difficulties of
translation of Political literature.
In this
Qualification paper we have reviewed almost all the grammatical, lexical,
stylistic difficulties of translation of Political Literature.
While
reviewing the grammatical changes we considered the following transformations: substitution,
omission, transposition and supplementation.
Substitution is one of the
grammatical relations among the parts of the sentences. In substitution,
an item (or items) is replaced by another item (or items), ex:
I like Politics. And I do. or
Will the
United Stated start the war against Iraq? – No one knows.
The words
like do, one, the same are usually used in substitution.
Omission, as you know is
when an item is replaced by nothing. This is a case of leaving something unsaid
which is nevertheless understood. The example is:
In the World War II the Soviet Union lost over 70 millions of life. And the United States less than 10.
A hearer will
easily infer what happened to the United States during the war.
Transposition is required
when the English sentence contains a large group of nouns with indefinite
article and then it is natural that they, being the center of informative
message are placed at the end of the sentence. Besides, a short, compared with
the noun predicate can not bear the emphatic sense of a large group of nouns.
A big wave of actions by
all sections of workers – skilled and unskilled, men and women, manual and
non-manual – for higher wages and equal pay, for shorter hours and a greater
say in shaping the environment at work is rising.
Сейчас нарастает
огромная волна забастовок трудящихся всех категорий – квалифицированных и
не квалифицированных, мужчин и женщин, работников физического и умственного
труда – за повышение зарплаты, за равную оплату женского труда, за сокращение
рабочего дня, за улучшение условий труда.
Supplementation
happens to be very frequent when translating texts on International politics
because we do not always have corresponding words for some English or American notions
like:
During the
World War II one of the basic changes in the US military bases was the
construction of emergency hangars in case of sudden attack.
Одним
из немаловажных перемен в военных базах США во время Второй Мировой Войны была
разработка конструкции ангаров для срочного вылета в случае внезапной
атаки.
There is no
corresponding word in Russian military system for emergency hangar
therefore we had to make use of supplementation.
Thus, we have
come to conclusion that the above mentioned changes are necessary while
processing a translation of Political literature from English into Russian.
While
discussing the lexical problems of translation we considered lexical-semantic
features of both languages and investigated such cases as difference in word
volume, word combinability, generally accepted tradition of word usage,
we have also considered contextual meaning of words in the process of
translation. In addition we investigated the emotional coloring that
plays an important role while processing a translation of Political Literature.
We have studied the translation of international words and unexpected
usage of word combinability that makes the translation task harder.
A very interesting
contextual meaning of exploitation was in the following example:
Britain’s
worldwide exploitation was shaken to the roots by Colonial Liberation
Movements.
The contextual meaning of
the word originated metonymically – any colonial system lives on exploitation,
which is the basis of colonial power. The corresponding Russian эксплуатация can not be used in this
contextual meaning, the contextual surroundings of exploitation (worldwide,
shaken to the roots) also prevents it. The only possible variant of translation
is by means of metonymic transposition – substitution:
Колониальное
могущество Англии было подорвано (потрясено до основания)
национально-освободительным движением во всех колониях.
The use of
words of abstract meaning strongly differs in various languages. Therefore
arises the necessity of concrete definition in translating.
The Saigon regime used every form of pressure and violence to compel a reluctant electorate
to go to the polls.
Сайгонский режим прибегал ко всем видам давления и насилия, чтобы
заставить упрямых избирателей принять участие в выборах.
In
the study of stylistic transformation during translation we found, that the repetition is widely used with
stylistic purposes in newspaper publicity. In these cases the translator is
compelled to apply stylistic changes, make substitution or omission.
A policy of
see no stagnation, hear no stagnation, speak no stagnation has had too long
a run for our money.
Слишком долго мы
расплачиваемся за политику полного игнорирования и замалчивания застоя в нашей
экономике.
The triple
repetition of no stagnation has been omitted in translation, though is
partially compensated by the use of synonymic pair at a word (stagnation),
but neutralization is evident in translation. The neutralization happened when
translating the phraseological unit to have (too long) a run for our money.
Still, studying the difficulties of translation of Political
literature we have come to conclusion that the most difficulty to a translator
represent set expressions and phraseological units that are widely used in
American and English politics. In most cases we do not have corresponding
notions in Russian or have some words that do not sufficiently cover the whole
meaning of the word in question: for example:
The Cold War last for more than forty
years.
Холодная война длилась более сорока
лет.
In this case we used word for word (verbatim) translation for
we do not have any words that would convey the sense the Americans put in this
expression.
Therefore a translator, majoring in the translation of
Politics should have a good command not only of English itself, but should know
the principles of International politics and other Political sciences.
To wind up this discourse, we would like to remind you, that
while our country is rapidly integrating into the International community, the
need of highly experienced translators of Political literature will be evident
to make the International Events easily accessible to general public.
Bibliography
(information sources)
1.
Fathy A. Osman.
Senior interpreter/translator, IMF, Washington, DC
2.
In other words –
a course book on translation. Mona Baker, London and New York, 1992.
3.
The Craft of
Translation, John Biguenet & Rainer Schulte, The University of Chicago Press.
4.
Translation
features, Basnett-McGuire, New York Publishing house 1980.
5.
A course book on
Military Translation, Ministry of Defense of the USSR, Moscow 1962.
6.
Translation
difficulties, T.R. Levitskaya & A.M. Fitterman, “International Relations”
Publishing house, Moscow 1976.
7.
Difficulties of
translation from English into Russian, Zrajevskaya L.M. & Belyaeva, Moscow
Publishing House, 1972.
8.
Translation and
linguistics, Schweitzer A.D.
9.
English Grammar,
L.S. Barhudarov & D.A. Schteling, Moscow 1965.
10. Exercise book on translation of humanitarian texts,
Malchevskaya, Saint Petersburg 1980.
11. America and Russian and the Cold War, Walter LaFeber,
6th Edition, Cornell University 1991.
12. Comparative Politics, Washington State University, 1996.
13. International Conflict Cooperation and Management,
Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania, 2000.
14. www.worldtranslationservice.com
15. www.translateweb.org
16. www.monabaker.trans.com
17. www.chicagopress.com