- •Introduction
- •Lecture 1. What a translator is and what a translator does
- •1.1. Notes on the Profession
- •1.2. Translator and Interpreter
- •1.3. Bilingualism
- •1.4. The Education of a Translator
- •1.5. Process and Result of Translation
- •1.6. Materials for Translation
- •Lecture 2. The role of the translator
- •2.1. The Qualities Each Translator/Interpreter Possesses
- •2.2. Don’ts of a Translator/Interpreter
- •2.3. What an English-speaking Client Expects of His Interpreter
- •2.4. Another Glimpse into the Future
- •2.5. Comparison with other Professions
- •2.6. The Five Year Itch
- •2.7. Industry Trends
- •2.8. The Last Word about the Profession
- •Lecture 3. The basic principles of the translation theory
- •3.1. Translation Theory as a Theory of Transformations
- •3.2. Problem of Non-translation
- •3.3. Extralinguistic Factor
- •3.4. The Subject Matter
- •3.5. Machine Translation
- •Lecture 4. Units of translation
- •4.1. Classification of Translation Units
- •4.2. Level of Intonation
- •4.3. Translation on the Level of Phonemes (Graphemes)
- •Lecture 5. Translation on the level of morphemes
- •5.1. Morpheme as a Unit of Translation
- •5.2. Some Insights into How to Become Word-conscious
- •5.3. Latin and Greek Prefixes
- •5.4. Latin Roots
- •5.5. Latin and Greek Borrowings in English
- •5.6. Dictionary of Greek and Latin Roots
- •5.7. Latin Roots in English
- •Lecture 6. Translation on the level of words
- •6.1. Examples of Translating on the Level of Words
- •6.2. Category of Gender in English and Ukrainian
- •Sonnet 66
- •Sonnet 40
- •Sonnet 58
- •Сонет 40
- •Сонет 58
- •Lecture 7. Singular and plural of nouns as a translation problem
- •7.1. Peculiarities of Singular and Plural in English and Ukrainian
- •7.2. Plural of Compound Nouns
- •7.3. Nouns Used Only in Singular
- •7.4. Nouns Used Only in Plural
- •7.5. Grammatical Disagreement of Singular and Plural of Nouns in English and Ukrainian
- •Lecture 8. The problem of translating articles and pronouns
- •8.1. Translation of Indefinite Articles
- •8.2. The Problem of Translating Pronouns
- •Lecture 9. “false friends of the interpreter”
- •9.1. Interpenetration of Words in Different Languages
- •9.2. Mistakes in Translation Related to Differences in Realia
- •9.3. Interlingual Homonymy and Paronymy
- •9.4. Examples of Translating Newspaper Clichés
- •9.5. Semantic Peculiarities of Medical Terms
- •Lecture 10. Translation on the level of word combinations
- •10.1. Problems of Translating Idioms
- •10.2. Etymology of Idioms: Weird History
- •Lecture 11. Translation on the level of sentence and text
- •11.1. Translation of Clichés and Formulas
- •11.2. Types of Proverbs and Their Translation
- •11.3. Translation on the Level of Text
- •Список літератури
Lecture 11. Translation on the level of sentence and text
11.1. Translation of Clichés and Formulas
In some cases it turns out, that even word-combinations can not serve as units of translation, and the equivalence can be set only on the level of sentences. It happens, when sentences under translation are idiomatic in their meaning, their meaning being not equal to the meanings of the words and word-combinations, constituting a sentence. As usual these are proverbs.
As it is evident from the examples, given below, in such kind of translation the whole sentence is the translation unit — meaning of the Russian sentence coincides with such of the English sentence, but within the sentences themselves any correlation between words or word-combinations is impossible to find.
Other types of clichés or formulas — different graffiti, signs, road signs, and courtesy formula (polite requests) belong to this category of phrases:
Keep off the grass. |
По газонах не ходити. |
Wet paint. |
Обережно, пофарбовано |
Slow, men at work. |
Тихий хід, дорожні роботи. |
Many happy returns of the day. |
Поздоровляю з днем народження. |
There’s a good boy. |
От хороший, от молодець. |
Keep your nose out of it. |
Не лізь, куди не просять. Не пхай свого носа туди, куди не слід. |
Stay out of our business. |
Не втручайся не в свої справи. |
A couple of examples of translation on the sentence level:
I have to admit it. |
Тут нічого не скажеш. |
Don’t even mention them to me. |
Терпіти не можу. |
But outside of that I don’t care much. |
...Але в цілому це нісенітниця. |
It should be noted, that in original sentences there is nothing idiomatic — their meaning is in total accord with the sum of meanings of isolated words; however, the translation is made on the level of the whole sentence, which comes forward as an inseparable translation unit.
11.2. Types of Proverbs and Their Translation
1. Absolute mono-equivalents — not numerous:
Habit is second nature. |
Звичка — друга натура. |
A good name is better than riches. |
Добра слава краща за багатство. |
Extremes meet. |
Крайнощі сходяться. |
Time is money. |
Час — гроші. |
2. Relative mono-equivalents — with partial divergence of figurativeness:
Великому кораблю велике плавання. |
A great ship asks deep waters. |
Мовчання — знак згоди. |
Silence gives consent. |
Одна ластівка весни не робить. |
One swallow doesn’t make a summer. |
Один розум добре, а два— краще. |
Two heads are better than one. |
Порожня бочка сильніше гримить. |
Empty vessels make most noise. |
Гарно сміється той, хто сміється останнім. |
He laughs best who laughs last. |
3. Some proverbs are rendered by means of the antonymous equivalent:
Не та собака кусає, яка гавкає. |
His bark is worse than his bite. |
Курчат рахують восени. |
Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. |
4. With full divergence of figurativeness — the most numerous group:
Хто старе згадає, тому око геть. |
Let bygones be bygones. |
Любиш кататись, люби й санчата возити. |
After dinner comes the reckoning. |
Лякана ворона і куща боїться. |
Once bitten, twice shy. |
Рибак рибака здалеку бачить. |
Birds of a feather flock together. |
Дерево, що скрипить, два віки стоїть. |
A creaking door hangs long on its hinges. |
У семи няньок дитя без ока. |
Too many cooks spoil the broth. |
Не помажеш, не поїдеш. |
Creaking wheel needs grease. |
5. Antonymic translation is used in the following proverbs:
В чужий монастир зі своїм статутом не ходять. |
Do in Rome as the Romans do (When in Rome do as the Romans do). |
Нема худа без добра. |
Every dark cloud has a silver lining. |
Шила в мішку не сховаєш. |
Murder will out. |
6. With divergence in number or word order:
Гра не варта свічок. |
The game is not worth the candle. |
Краплина по краплині і каміння зітре. |
Little strokes fell great oaks. |
Нема троянди без колючок. |
There is no rose without a thorn. |
Прийшла біда, відчиняй ворота. |
Misfortunes never come alone. |
Все добре, що добре закінчується. |
All’s well that ends well. |
Куй залізо, допоки гаряче. |
Strike while the iron is hot. |
Не все те золото, що блищить. |
All that glitters is not gold. (All is not gold that glitters). |
7. Selective translation: There are many synonymous proverbs in English, the same as in Russian, which may cause difficulties in choosing the most appropriate variant. The Russian proverb:
Краще синиця в руці, ніж журавель в небі.
corresponds to three English proverbs:
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Better an egg to-day than a hen to-morrow.
One to-day is worth two tomorrow.
The reverse examples with several synonymous Russian proverbs, obtaining one translation in English, also take place.