34. Socioligical variations of English.

English language as all languages is not a homogeneous system, it consists of many subsystems: territorial & social dialects. Standard English comprises several varieties:

-American English;

-Canadian English;

- Australian English;

-British English.

These are the major accepted variations of English, but nowadays scholars speak of many other “Englishes”. The existence of all those subsystems gives a number of challenges for a translator. *chemist`s shop(Br ) = drugstore(Am )= аптека

*pavement(Br) = sidewalk(Am) = тротуар

*fanlight(Br ) = transom(Am) = фрамуга

*shop(Br ) = store(Am) = магазин

*litter bin(Br) = trash can(Am) = урна для мусора

Territorial dialects cannot be accepted as purely regional varieties of English. We may call them social-regional varieties. They are determined not only in language terms, but also in geographic & social terms. They are certain facts that influence translation in many respects. In rendering dialect characteristics the translator does not only convey regional features, but the social markers as well, looking for the equivalents in the TL that have the same regional & social characteristics.

*They did the old woman in (Pygmalion). – они укокошили старушку

*You did not give the idea away. – Ты так и не оставил эту идею. (Australian slang – give away – оставлять, переставать)

*They were alive, but they had given up on themselves. – Они были живы, но потеряли веру в себя. (AmE – give up – перестать верить)

*AmE get away –трогать с места; get lost – обламываться(разг)

At the same time compensation is widely used. Sometimes the marker is purely phonetic. So we can use lexical compensation for phonetic dialect. The 2 major varieties of Standard English (American & British) have very much prominent distinctive features & they influence the process of translating. This influence is different when you translate into English or into Russian. When you translate into Russian the problem is of understanding & proper interpretation. It should be voted that seemingly identical lexical items might take different denotational meanings in British & in American. *Oxford faculty – факультет

*Harvard faculty - профессорско-преподавательский состав

To diagnose the meaning properly the translator should find out the origin of the text. Sometimes differences of 2 variations influence not only denotational meaning but just one of its components. These partial semantic divergences are also important for translation. *To ship materials (cargo). Both in British & in American variations “to ship” denotes transportation. But in British it means doing transportation by sea & in American any means of transportation is suitable. Semantic differences between British & American English may affect not only words, but also phrases. *Public school – (US) school for primary & secondary grades that is maintained at public expense; (Br) – only exclusive schools sometimes boarding, most often for boys, which prepare students for universities: Some of them prepare people for public service. Translating articles or books, the translator should make sure what the country is. Essential semantic differences affect the system of numbers. *Billion – (US) 1000000000 (Br) 1000000 Equally important are the differences between measures of weight. Some of the units in British & in American do not coincide. Lexical differences in languages affect not only denotational but also connotational meaning as well. *Politician – (US) acquires some negative connotation. (Br) neutral meaning *Aggressive – (US) energetic, persistent (Br) negative connotation There is a lot of confusion. But the most difficult is when the translator has to produce texts, oriented at any English speaking person, regardless of his/her nationality. So the choice of wording should be based on very different principles. Preference should be given to linguistic forms, which possess no local coloring. Unfortunately it’s not always possible to find a neutral word for a term. The translator should explain what he really means, but the publishers in most cases prefer British variant.