STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN TRANSLATION

Tamara I.Leontieva
Lectures on Translation Theory
Department of Cross-cultural
Communication and Translation
Study
Foreign Languages Center
Vladivostok State University of
Economics
2008
STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN
TRANSLATION
1. An Overview of Grammar
Transformations
2. Translation of Phrase Epithets and
Attributive Clusters (or: Collocations).
3. Complex Transformations.
4. Communicative Structure of the English
and Russian Sentences. Word Order
Change due to the Functional Sentence
Perspective.
An Overview of Grammar
Transformations - 1
Rule: For an equivalent translation do not
mirror the grammar forms of the ST!
Choose between the parallel forms and
various grammar transformations. E.g.:
1. Translation of infinitive forms: perfect,
active and passive, indefinite and
continuous.
The train seems to arrive at 5 vs
The train seems to have arrived at 5.
An Overview of Grammar
Transformations - 2
2. Translation of continuative infinitive:
a) Parliament was dissolved not to meet
again for 11 years.
b) He came home to find his wife gone.
3. Substitution of parts of speech:
a) Ben’s illness was public knowledge.
b) His style of writing is reminiscent of
Melville’s.
An Overview of Grammar
Transformations - 3
Sentences with the verb-predicate in the
Passive voice are more frequent in English
than in Russian. Why?
a) Almost complete absence of cases in the
English language, hence the impossibility to
express the object of the action by one of the
case form.
b) The Passive voice in English is used not
only with transitive, but also with nontransitive.
An Overview of Grammar
Transformations - 4
1. Мы были приглашены на официальный
прием. Нас пригласили на официальный
прием. ---> We have been invited to a
public reception.
2. The room was not lived in. - В комнате
никто не жил (non-transitive verb).
3. Double Passive: The treaty is reported to
have been signed. Cooбщают, что договор
уже подписан обеими сторонами.
Translation of N+N
Attributive Groups
1. Oil well, oil search, oil prices, oil deserts
(of the Middle East), oil conference, oil
slick, oil disaster, oil lobby.
2. Rule: adverbial relations answer the
questions Why? When? Where to? Where?
How? On what occasion? etc.
a) Adv. modifier of place: A house of
Commons debate, her Broadway debut, the
beach house. (to be continued)
Translation of N+N Attributive
Groups - 2
b) Adv. modifier of time: the Boer War title,
holiday snaps.
c) Adv. modifier of cause: inflation fears,
cholera death.
d) Object: dam builders, price explosion,
earthquake prediction.
e) Translation synonymous to Possessive case:
pilot error, the Radley house.
Translation of N+N
Attributive Groups - 3
f) Attr. constructions built on similarity:
A toothpaste smile, the Hound of the
Baskervilles atmosphere.
g) Contextual translation:
a one-day-old chick man
the Greek Island young man.
Translation of Attributive
Clusters
• The attributive cluster is a group of
words with a key noun and a number of
attributive components modifying it (7 +
2).
• The order of attributes is not random. In
English the rule for the order of
attributes is «OPSHACOM»: a nice long
new black Chinese wooden pen.
Translation of Attributive
Clusters
Rule: care should be taken not to confuse a
head word with its attribute:
control system - система управления vs
system control - управление системой.
book
medicine book
dog medicine book
home dog medicine book
Translation of Attributive
Clusters - 2
Translate carefully!
The poll tax
the poll tax states
the poll tax states governors
the poll tax states governors conference
NB! Usually the translation starts with the
final word of such a multi-member
attributive group.
Complex Transformations
1. He is a three-time loser at marriage.
Он был три раза неудачно женат.
2. May I trouble you to pass the salt?
Передайте соль, пожалуйста.
Complex Transformations - 2
3. I don’t think you’re right.
Думаю (боюсь), вы не правы.
4. But he turned out badly, he drank,
then took to drugs.
Но из него ничего хорошего не вышло
– он начал пить, потом пристрастился
к наркотикам.
Communicative Structure of the
English and Russian Sentence
Rule: Each sentence develops from a known
piece of information called the theme to a
new one called the rheme and the sentence
analysis in this case is referred to as
functional sentence perspective. In the
Russian sentence the rheme is placed at the
end, in English it is mainly initial or
elsewhere.
The Location of the Rheme
1. A boy entered the
room.
2. He went to London.
3. He delivered a
lecture yesterday.
1. В комнату вошел
мальчик.
2. Он поехал в Лондон.
3. Вчера он читал
лекцию.
Determiners of the Rheme in
the English Sentence
1. The indefinite article: A waitress came to
their table.
2. «No» with the subject: No machinery is
needed to perform this test.
3. Intensifying words (or phrases): Only the
educated are free.
Determiners of the Rheme in
the English Sentence - 2
4. Inverted constructions: There is a book
on the desk.
5. «By-agent» in the passive construction:
The telephone was invented by Bell.
Home assignment - 1
Proshina Z.G.Theory of translation.
1. Pp.40-42: Grammar transformations.
2. Pp.121-124: Translating attributive clusters.
3. Pp.44-46: Complex transformations.
4. Pp.125-128: Functional sentence perspective
and translation.
Read and make notes. Be able to explain them.
Home assignment -2
1. Read: Романова С.П., Коралова А.Л.
Пособие по переводу. С.91-96.
Make copies. Be able to discuss the
material.
2. Read: Казакова Т.А. Практические
основы перевода. С. 210-223.
Pay special attention to Pp.222-223.