11,12. Differences in the transfer of information between languages

Words may have secondary meanings, & these are dependent on the context. Second lng will always have an equivalent of the primary meaning, but the translator should be careful as the secondary meaning can not match at all. E.g. take Russian word “родители” (the interaction of the meanings “parents” & “ancestors”). It’s the case of metonymy, which appears in many lngs, but not every lng will have exact equivalent in the other.

* The kettle is boiling (but it’s the water!) – чайник закипел

* плавать на экзамене – to get lost at the exam

Lexical items may also reflect attitudes, emotions in addition to purely factual information.

*Inquisitive vs. curious (любознательный / любопытный)

As to collocations that belong to the same group every lexical item will tend to occur in the lng with a particular range of other lexical items. The meaning is practically the same but different words are combined to indicate this meaning. Each word has different collocational possibilities & a collocational range of equivalent words between lngs will not be identical especially in secondary meanings.

*Tailor / dressmaker /seamstress

*Handsome man / beautiful woman

*A pack of wolves / a school of fish / a flack of birds

Sometimes the preposition may change the meaning of the whole structure.

*Anxious about / anxious forIt’s not enough for the translator to learn isolated words & phrases. He should know words in contexts (collocations).Only 4% of lng units are phraseological. Collocation challenges are far greater in number. The translator should learn the most frequently used patterns. E.g. colour+with+emotion*Red with anger*Blue with coldBUT when we speak about collocations we should assume that they do not coincide in different lngs:слабые успехи = poor progressправильные черты лица = regular featuresCollocations in different lngs have different structures use different prepositons.

Confident of himself=уверен в себеJumped with joy=подпрыгнул от радостиSometimes a shade of meaning may present a certain challenge.We should do our best to prevent a riot.I should do my best to prevent my sister from dating this man.Sometimes every shade of meaning may have a collocation of its own.He started smoking. - He started to smoke.He is a free man. – He is free of money. I’m mad about the movie. – I’m mad of his tone.

13. Translation of culture-bound vocabulary.

The challenge here is in situation itself, not in traditions. The cultural situation creates phenomena that are not typical of any other country. The translator has to consult different sources concerning the country’s culture.

*Drugstore – аптека + закусочная

*Sorority – a group of females living together, a kind of society with certain rules, no man is allowed.

*Fraternity – the same for males.

Culture bound words occur when a TL concept is not known in the SL.

*прописка- mandatory registration

If we deal with culture-bound words we have to consider the words that don’t have an equivalent in the TL because they haven’t been invented yet, and the words that cannot have any equivalent because they don’t present in the TL culture.

*Sputnik – satellite (later) – the case is psychological not linguistic.

*A TV-dinner – еда из полуфабрикатов (реклама по ТВ)

When we deal with words denoting places, flora and fauna we usually loan words. Transcription is the best of presenting the idea. E.g. “jungle, prairie, steppe, tundra (= a marshy plain or Siberian swamp). The realia are also words denoting dances, musical instruments:

*Былина – a folk legend

*Божба – swear words, an oath.