In this case the noun “things” is translated by a generalizing word. But there are also cases when this word requires concretization.

He came in sight of the lodge, a long, low frowning thing of red brick.

(A.Wilson).

Он увидел домик привратника, длинное низкое, хмурое здание из красного кирпича.

Special attention should be paid to the translation of verbs of wide meaning, such as: to come, to go, to turn, to say, to tell, to get, to die and others. They are rendered either by concrete words suitable to the context or by verb equivalents used in corresponding collocations.

So far 65 people have died in floods in Dacca province.

По имеющимся сведениям, 65 человек утонуло (погибло) во время наводнения в провинции Дакка.

At the by-election victory went to the labour candidate.

На дополнительных выборах победу одержал кандидат лейбористской партии.

The rain came in torrents. – Полил сильный дождь.

The canary got out of the cage. (D.Eden).

Канарейка выпорхнула из клетки.

Concretization is often resorted to in the translation of verbs of saying.

“Father!” she cried, “the diamond is gone!”

“Are you out of your mind?” I asked her.

“Gone!” says Penelope. “Gone, nobody knows how!” (W.Collins).

«Отец!» закричала она, «алмаз пропал».

«Да ты с ума сошла!» воскликнул я.

«Исчез», повторила Пенелопа. «Исчез, и никто не знает каким образом».

Another verb which has become partially desemntized is the verb “to involve”. Its concrete lexical meaning, its lexical-semantic variant is largely dependent on the context.

“I’ll tell you what… you are not involved. You are remote”. (Irwin Show).

«Вот что я вам скажу…вас это не трогает. Вы стоите в стороне».

Concretization is often resorted to in translating the verb “to be” in different functions. The principle of semantic agreement is to be observed in such cases.

…first he was terrified, then he was sick, then he was in Paris.

…сначала он испугался, потом его затошнило, потом он оказался в Париже. (Josephine Tey).

Generalization

Generalization is the opposite of concretization. In this case a SL word of concrete meaning is rendered by a TL word of general meaning. This type is not so wide-spread and occurs less frequently than concretization. May be this is due to the fact that abstract and desemantized words in English form, a numerous and diversified group, thus supplying a linguistic base to this type of transformation, whereas generalization appears to be lacking a similar linguistic foundation.

Sometimes generalization is resorted to for pragmatic reasons in order to avoid expanded explanations or footnotes.

And so the Mad Hatter Scheme – as it was later to be called – was launched.

И так началось осуществление этой безумной затеи, как впоследствии Гарри Поллитт и члены редколлегии шуточно называли план издания первой ежедневной газеты Коммунистической партии Британии.

In those days the British communist Party had neither money, no premises. “The Mad Hatter is an allusion to a character in Lewis Carrol’s well-known book “Alice in Wonderland”. The suggested translation is based on generalization. Besides, recourse has been taken to interpreting translation.

Here are some examples of this type of lexical transformation.

In the Arctic of today the frozen face of the deep is changing and man seeks a scientific explanation for its growth and shrinkage.

Ледяной покров Ледовитого океана суйчас меняется, и люди ищут научное объяснение этому явлению.

Much more than an effective gun control is going to be needed to cure America of the plague of violence that afflicts it.

Для того, чтобы избавить Америку от эпидемии насилия, недостаточно одного только строгого контроля над продажей оружия.

There is a tendency in the English language to use nouns denoting measures of weight, distance, length, etc. in describing people and things which do not require such precision in their description. This method of description is foreign to the Russian practice and recourse is usually taken to generalization.

He was a young man of 6 feet two inches.

Это был высокий молодой человек.