IX. Transformations in translation

Translating transformations are the numerous and qualitatively various interlingual reorganization which are carried out for achievement of translating equivalence regardless of divergences in the formal and semantic systems of two languages.

In the science of translation the term «transformation» is used in order to show the relations between the initial and eventual linguistic expressions. It supposes replacement of one form of expression by the other one in the process of translation that is figuratively called reorganization or transformation. Thus, the translating transformations described below are the interlingual operations of «re-expression of the sense» essentially.

There are different points of view concerning the division of transformations according to their type, but the most of authors agree that the basic types of transformations are the grammatical and lexical ones. In the same turn, these transformations are divided into subspecies.

It is necessary to underline that such the division is to a great extent approximate and conditional. These two types of elementary translating transformations are rarely met «in a pure form» in practice as they usually combine with each other assuming the character of difficult and complex transformations.

I. Grammatical transformations

The translation from one language into the other one is impossible without grammatical transformations. Grammatical transformations are, first of all, reorganization of the sentence that is the change of its structure, and various replacements of both syntactic and morphological order. Grammatical transformations are conditioned by the different reasons of grammatical and lexical character, although the basic part is acted by the grammatical factors that suppose the distinctions in the composition of languages.

At comparison of grammatical categories and forms of the English and Ukrainian languages the following phenomena are usually revealed:

1) The absence of one or the other category in one of the used languages.

2) The partial coincidence.

3) The complete coincidence.

A necessity in grammatical transformations naturally appears in the first and second cases only. In Ukrainian in comparison with English, such grammatical categories are absent, as the article or gerund, as well as the infinitive and participating complexes and absolute nominative construction.

The partial coincidence or lack of coincidence in the meaning and usage of the corresponding forms and constructions also requires grammatical transformations. Such phenomena can be attributed to this as the partial lack of coincidence of category of number, the partial lack of coincidence in the forms of passive construction, incomplete coincidence of forms of infinitive and participle, some distinctions in expression of modality etc.

In the first turn, the article will be considered as it, both definite and indefinite one, regardless of the extremely abstract meaning, quite often requires the semantic expression in translation. As it is generally known that articles have the pronominal origin as the definite article originated from the demonstrative pronoun, and indefinite article arose from the indefinite pronoun, which ascends to the numeral «one». These primary meanings of the articles are sometimes become apparent in their modern use. In such cases their lexical meaning must be passed in translation, otherwise the Ukrainian sentence would be incomplete and inexact one, as a denotational meaning of the articles semantically is inalienable part of all the semantic content of the utterance. Its historical connection with a numeral is evident in the example below:

Yet H. G. (Wells) had not an enemy on earth.

Однак у Герберта не було жодного ворога у світі.

The meaning of the definite article quite often is required to be passed in translation, especially when it stands before a numeral.

Only in the fields where talent cannot be hidden have the young conquered – the theatre, music, computers etc.

Молодь висувається тільки у тих випадках, коли не можна приховати природного обдарування, а саме до театральної, музичної, комп’ютерної та іншої діяльності.

From the examples mentioned above it is clearly seen that the ignoring of lexical, and sometimes the grammatical meaning of the article, would result in the incomplete or inexact transmission of the content during translation.

In Ukrainian the infinitive complexes, which are so widespread in English, are absent. There are the examples of translation of the infinitive complex with the preposition «for»:

On its return journey the spacecraft must be accelerated to some 25,000 m.p.h. for it to enter the earth’s orbit.

При поверненні швидкість космічного корабля повинна бути доведена приблизно до 25 000 міль за годину, щоб він зміг перейти на земну орбіту.

In this case the infinitive complex is translated by the additional final clause.

However, the grammatical transformations are often necessary at passing the corresponding forms and constructions on account of some divergences in their meaning and use. For example, such divergences are observed in the use of category of number.

United Nations Secretary General has strongly criticized South Africa, Rhodesia and Portugal for their policies in Africa.

Генеральний секретар ООН піддав критиці Південну Африку, Родезію і Португалію за політику, яку вони проводять в Африці.

The noun «policy» has no plural form, as the word «policy» is the form of a plural from a noun «politician» that is a political figure.

In regard to the uncountable nouns, especially those that express abstract notions, then there the quantity of lacks of coincidence can be greater. For example:

Ink	Чорнила
Money	Гроші
News	Новини
To keep the minutes	Вести протокол
To live in the suburbs	Жити в пригороді
On the outskirts	На околиці
Grapes	Виноград

The divergence is revealed in some cases of the infinitive usage. The Ukrainian infinitive has neither perfect, nor continuous form.

Thus, all the phenomena mentioned above such as the absence of the corresponding form, partial coincidence, distinctions in a character and use of form cause a necessity in grammatical transformations during translation. Grammatical transformations can be subdivided into two types that are transpositions and replacements.