Chapter 13. Translation studies and grammar (cont.)

13.1. Ways of rendering the English article(s) in Russian translation

The category of the article exists as an obligatory one in English, but it is absent in Russian which raises various translation problems depending on the choice of a SL text:

• when translation is made from English into Russian a translator has to think about means of compensation that are available in Russian to render the functions of the English articles;

• when translation is made from Russian into English a translator has to choose a proper article to use before a noun taking into account a number of linguistic and extralingustic factors.

For the purposes of translation it is expedient to discuss the definite and indefinite articles separately since each of them is characterized by a certain set of functions which are important to convey appropriately in translation. Translation practice reveals a number of ways of dealing with the definite articles used in various fuctions which are outlined below:

1) a pure grammatical function when the article serves as a marker of a noun (substantivized nouns, some groups of proper and other nouns, usage by force of tradition), the Pentagon, the Hague, the rich, the Swiss, etc. A translator may resort to two ways of handling such cases: (a) the definite article is just dropped as the grammatical function is not retained in translation when the presence of the article does not alter grammatical properties of a noun, e.g. the White House – Белый дом, the BBC – БиБиСи, the Museum of Modern Art – Музей современного искусства.

(b) the function of the definite article is retained in the proper choice of the morphological form of a noun, e.g. the poor – бедняки (but not бедняк), the French – французы (but not француз), e.g. I’m simply going to say, “Soak the rich”.- Скажу одно: «Тряхните богатых». The grammatical meaning of the definite article can also be rendered by a combination of morphological forms and lexical means, e.g. the Smiths – Смиты/семейство/ клан Смитов.

2) the thematic role of a noun is determined by the definite article which serves to point out the starting point of information in the communicative structure of an utterance. In translation it is possible to make up for this use of the definite article in several ways:

(a) a syntactical means of compensation, i.e. by word-order, e.g. There was a knock on the door. – В дверь постучали.

(b) various lexical means, mostly adjectives, e.g. Under the circumstances they are not willing to join our club – При сложившихся обстоятельствах они не желают вступить в наш клуб.

(c) a combination of both grammatical and lexical means of compensation, e.g. At this there was a slight halt in the natural reply. – Вместо ответа на самый, казалось бы, естественный вопрос последовада маленькая заминка.

3) demonstrative force of the definite article connected with its etymology is rendered by various means:

(a) demonstrative pronouns (этот, тот, та, те, те, etc), e.g. I hope we never live to see the day when a thing is as bad as some of our newspapers make it. - Надеюсь, мы не доживем до того дня, когда дела будут обстоять так плохо, как изображают некоторые наши газеты.

(b) adjectives, restrictive advervs, often in combination with grammatical means, e.g. Speeches measured by the hour die with the hour. – Речи, длящиеся часами, только в эти часы и помнятся.

4) emphatic function of the definite article which is not restricted to the superlative degree marker. Like in many other cases proper rendering of the article is accompanied by various translation transformations on different levels bringing about changes in the lexical composition and underlying structure, e.g. I’m glad to be going – this is the loneliest place in the world - Я рад, что ухожу. Во всем мире не найти другого места, где было бы так одиноко.

The English indefinite article is also capable of performing a number of functions like the definite article and both the articles often correlate in the same utterance. Means of compensation for the indefinite article available in Russian are also rather diverse and they include the following:

1) a syntactical means (word-order) is employed when the indefinite article is used to indicate the rheme of an utterance, e.g. Not every difference of opinion is a difference in principle. – Не всякое расхождение во мнениях – расхождение принципиальное.

It stands to reason that modifications are often indispensable in an utterance, e.g. An important maxim to remember is “Don’t be an amateur”- Следует помнить важное правило: «Никакого дилетантизма».

2) numerals, indefinite pronouns (один, некий, какая-то, кто-нибудь) are used to deal with the etymological meaning of the indefinite article, e.g. Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his countryit is a sign that he expects to be paid for it. – Когда кто-то говорит о своей любви к родине, это означает, что он рассчитывает на вознаграждение.

Quite often it is possible to restructure the whole utterance and turn it into an impersonal sentence in Russian when there is no need to think about a special way of rendering the article, e.g. A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it. – Можно соорудить себе трон из штыков, но сидеть на нем нельзя.

3) emphatic pronouns and adjectives replace the indefinite article used for emphasis in an English sentence, e.g. This White House is a prison. I am in jail. – Этот Белый дом - сущая тюрьма. Я словно в заключении.