Handling Equivalent-lacking Forms and Structures Lecture 6

Handling Equivalent-Lacking
Forms and Structures
Translation of Articles
The Indefinite Article
1. The only sensible solution in the Middle East is a
peace which would withdraw Israeli troops.
2. I will never marry a Malone or a Sykes.
3. He is a Kennedy.
4. This was a Coventry (a Stalingrad).
5. The MP is a Mr.Hollen.
6. He ordered a tea.
7. I do not claim to be a John Lennon.
8. The British Prime-Minister said not a word about
tortures in Iraq.
9. Nickolas was a Maniloff.
The Definite Article
1. The Richard who appeared in More’s account was
a man highly-strung and deeply suffering.
2. I can’t explain the feeling but I seem to have
touched the real you more closely this morning.
3. One is the America of Abraham Lincoln, the other
is the America of Theodore Roosevelt.
4. England is gray industrial cities - Leeds and Bradford, Newcastle and Birmingham. That’s the
England that really counts.
5. He succeeded in solving the three problems.
Equivalent-Lacking Words
Realia, neologisms, foreign words,
taboo-words, proper names, etc.
Translation of newly coined words
1) Names of specific national phenomena
have no regular equivalents: coroner,
impeachment, doshirak, baby-sitter.
2) Names to new objects or phenomena:
Polandologist, a nuclearist, the Monicagate.
3) Find a good way of translating this: In
many European capitals central streets were
pedestrianized.
What is the best variant for
«Word-Processor»?
a) словообработчик,
b) словопроцессор,
c) текстопроцессор,
d) текстовый редактор?
What Are Realia?
- culturally loaded words;
- they represent an object peculiar to this or that
ethnic culture;
- they represent the word or words naming that
object of culture: гжель, мужик, кимоно,
babyshower, вытрезвитель, canoe, trailer,
sophomore, bush fire (Canada), charisma
(God’s gift), drugstore, happy hour, Easter
rabbit, Washington Cherry tree, etc.
Types of Realia
According to comparison of languages and
cultures:
• Unique realia: Gulag, the Kremlin, the
Pentagon, The Globe Theatre
• Analogues: drug-store, дедовщина (hazing)
• Similar realia with different function:
cuckoo’s call
• Language lacunae of similar notions:
hammering heart (watch), shock work
(ударный труд, subbotnik), clover-leaf
According to the semantic field:
• Toponyms (geographical terms): Munich,
Illinois, Washington D.C.
• Anthroponyms, or people’s names: Henry
Adams, Raisa M.Gorbachev
• Zoonyms: kangaroo, weasel, grizzly
• Social terms: The House of Lords, Госдума
• Ergonyms: DalZavod (Far Eastern Docks),
Heinemann, санэпидстанция
• Titles and headlines: The Da Vinci Code,
Woe from Wit, The Diamonds to Sit On.
Location and Time Characteristics
Location
• Exoticisms: bonsai (dwarf tree), kabuki,
chiaotse (Chinese pelmeni)
• Barbarisms: хобби, авеню, овердрафт
Time
• Neologisms: internet, hamburger, ноухау
• Historisms: уезд, штоф, Lost Generation
• Archaisms (out of use words): Sire (father),
злато, град.
Ways of Translating Realia
•
•
•
•
Transcription, transliteration: voucher,
Calque: skyscraper, Статуя Свободы
Half-calque: carpet-bagger
Assimilation: canoe --> каное, кану;
afternoon - вечер
• Semantic neologism: sauna - сауна; дача dacha
• Hyponymic (приблизительный): сенцы entrance; рысак - horse; уха -fish soup
Ways of Translating Realia
(continued)
• Explicatory: 13 зарплата - annual bonus
payment; breadline - очередь безработных
за бесплатным питанием
• Lexical substitutions: Scout (“To Kill a
Mockingbird”) - Глазастик; Secretary of
State -министр иностранных дел
• Contextual translation: путёвка на
советский курорт - accommodation at
Soviet health resort
Various Ways of Translating
the Same Word of Realia
1. Пошли мужики на рыбалку.
2. Пришли мужики к царю.
3. Мужик - это деревенский житель.
Assignments:
1) Mind the contextual meaning of the Russian
word of realia and offer your variants of
translation.
2) Make additions to the lecture and slide
presentation from Proshina, pp.145-152.