Theory of translation. Workshop 3. Grammatical Translation Techniques.

a) A grammar phenomenon exists in the SL but is absent in the TL (absolute constructions, statives, verbals, infinitives of subsequent action, etc.). The translator’s task is to find in the TL some different means which will express the meaning of the SL sentence or phrase adequately, for a complete restructuring of the SL sentence is impossible.

She glanced at her watch only to see that she was 5 minutes late – Она взглянула на часы и поняла, что опаздывает уже на 5 минут.

b) The TL and the SL systems have different laws of collocability. The translator’s task is to obey the laws of the TL and to introduce appropriate changes.

Не did not have much time at his disposal – У него оставалось мало времени.

c) The TL and the SL systems have different views on what information is redundant and what information is indispensible. The translator’s task is to obey the laws of the TL and to introduce appropriate changes.

He opened his eyes – Он открыл глаза.

d) Native speakers of the SL and the TL have different cultural backgrounds and what is obvious to a SL speaker is not necessarily so to a TL speaker. The translator’s task is therefore to supply additional information so as to illuminate misunderstanding.

I’m from Devonshire – Я родом из графства Девоншир.

e) The TL and the SL have different means of encapsulating information, i.e. different traditions of expressing one and the same idea. The translator’s task is to reformulate the original information with the help of TL means.

Не was eager to start climbing – Ему не терпелось начать подъем.

f) The SL structure and its TL counterpart have different stylistic colorings. The translator’s task is therefore not to recreate the SL structure exactly but to find a TL structure that will preserve the semantic meaning and will belong to the same stylistic register.

John was met by his brother – Джона встретил брат.

g) The SL and the TL have different ways of highlighting information which is new and important, i.e. their rules of expressing topic-comment relationship are different.

There is a dog in the yard – Во дворе собака.

The snake hissed away leaving me frigid with fear – Змея зашипела и уползла, а я продолжал стоять, не мог пошевелиться от страха

If he were here, he would help us – Будь он здесь, он бы нам помог.

He entered the room, his children behind him – Он вошел в комнату, вслед за ним вошли его дети

At the first knock every window in the street became alive with female heads – После первого стука из окон домов по всей улице стали выглядывать женщины.

Keep walking – Не останавливайся

Nowadays one can often see women smoke – В наши дни на улицах много курящих женщин

The book made him feel sorry for the characters – Ему было жаль героев книги

A match glared in the dark – В темноте вспыхнула спичка.

He shrugged a careless shoulder – Он беззаботно пожал плечами

He felt well – Он чувствовал себя хорошо

He immediately came fully awake – Сон как рукой сняло

The firemen had to pull down the barn, the sheds, the stacks of dry wood being a highly combustible material – Пожарные вынуждены были разрушить сараи и пристройки, так как штабеля сухих дров представляли собой легко воспламеняющийся материал.

Julia was paying no attention to what they said – Джулия не обращала внимания на их болтовню.

The city is built on terraces rising from the lake – Город построен на террасах, спускавшихся к озеру.

Не pulled himself together quickly – Он быстро взял себя в руки.

T.Kazakova singles out

V.Komissarov speaks about

L.Barkhudarov singles out

functional substitution,

conversion

grammatical substitution

• of word form,

• of part of speech,

• of sentence part,

• of sentence type

replacement (lexical-grammatical)

zero translation

syntactic assimilation

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antonymic translation

antonymic translation (lexical-grammatical)

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expansion

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addition (lexical-grammatical)

compression

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omission (lexical-grammatical)

transposition

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transposition (lexical-grammatical)

assimilation

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-

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joining sentences

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breaking sentences

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compensation (lexical-grammatical)

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