3. Translation of Internationalisms (Borrowings) and the Problem of False Friends

Internationalisms (Borrowings)

Borrowing is a word or phrase which has been taken from one language and used in another language.

Borrowed terms often pass into general usage, for example in the fields of technology ("software") and culture ("punk"). It can be pure (without any change, when speakers pronounce them as they are pronounced in the original language), e.g., lobby (English) and лобби (Russian), or it can be naturalized (when speakers pronounce it according to the sound system of their own language), e.g., globalization – глобализация (Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics, p. 57).

False Friends

False friend is a word or expression in one language that, because it resembles one in another language, is often wrongly taken to have the same meaning

Classification of False Friends

№	Type of false friend	English	Russian
1	The Russian word coincides with the English word only in one or two meanings.	Import - 1) импорт; импортирование (ввоз в страну товаров из-за границы); 2) значение, смысл, суть, сущность	Импорт - ввоз
2	The Russian word has the meanings which the English word has not. It occurs when the word is borrowed into Russian and English from the third language.	Auditorium - аудитория (помещение)	Аудитория - 1) помещение для занятий - auditorium; 2) слушатели - audience
3	The word has both coinciding and different meanings in Russian and English.	Expertise - 1) экспертиза; экспертная оценка; 2) квалификация, компетентность, компетенция специальные знания; профессиональные знания	Экспертиза - 1) изучение экспертами, экспертная оценка - (expert) examination; assessment; 2) комиссия экспертов - commission of experts
4	The Russian and the English words have the same or very similar form in both languages, but their meanings are absolutely different.	Pathetic - 1) жалостный; трогательный, умилительный; 2) душераздирающий; 3) грустный, задумчивый, печальный; 4) жалкий, вызывающий презрение	Патетический – высокий, возвышенный, приподнятый, торжественный, патетичный

Discussing false friends of a translator it should be noted that some of them differ in their denotative meaning. For example, the English noun politician means a person actively engaged in politics, esp. a full-time professional member of a deliberative assembly and is translated as политик, государственный/политический деятель. The Russian false friend политикан sounds disparagingly in this case, because it stands for a person who engages in politics out of a wish for personal gain, as realized by holding a public office.

Lecture 4

Translation of Word Combinations

1. Translation of Free Word Combinations

Translation of Attribute Groups

The attribute group consists of two words.

In these word-combinations the right noun is a prop word (опорное слово) and the left noun is a determiner (определяющее).

Most often the prop word is considered the first member, and the determiner is the second member. But there are cases when it is absolutely appropriate to translate such word combinations from left to right, for example, security forces - службы безопасности.

From the structurally-semantic point of view attribute word-combinations are divided into two groups:

Type of the word-combination	English example	Russian translation
Adjective / Participle + noun (A / P + N)	Operating budget	Операционный [текущий] бюджет
Noun + noun (N + N)	Labour victory	Победа лейбористов (но не Лейбористская победа)

The attribute group (or the nomial word-combination) can be introduced by articles, possessive pronouns (this, that), indefinite pronouns (some, any), negative pronouns and nouns in the possessive case. They serve as syntactic words but not as members of word-combinations. As a rule they refer to the prop word.

One should bear in mind that these syntactic words are the markers of the left border of the word-combination, and the marker of the right border cannot be anything but a noun.

Ex: some rebranding tips – some tips on rebranding

Helpfully, she later shared some rebranding tips with the Financial Times.

Позже она любезно согласилась поделиться некоторыми советами по возрождению бренда с журналистами газеты Financial Times.

In order to understand the noun + noun word combination correctly it is necessary to establish a sense connection between its members. Quite often to achieve this aim the translator has to restructure the attribute group, using a suitable preposition which will connect both nouns into a logical word combination.

Ex: property administration = administration of property (управление недвижимостью)

Translation of Three-Member Word-Combinations

This kind of word-combinations differs from the two-member one by the fact that there is one more third element, which is the extreme (крайний) left member.

Type of the word-combination	Word-combination	Translation	Explanation
N + N + N	Family size norm	Норма размера семьи (средний размер семьи)	1) the norm of size - норма размера; 2) the size of a family - размер семьи
A / P + N + N	Minimum wage legislation	Законодательство о минимальной заработной плате	1) wage - заработная плата; 2) minimum wage - минимальная заработная плата; 3) wage legislation - законодательство о заработной плате

Most often the third member is closely connected with the first one, but in any case the correct translation depends upon the context.

NB! The ability to define the current structural type is very important for the correct understanding:

Ex: the forward car wheels = 1) передние колеса а/м;

2) колеса передней а/м

Translation of Multinuclear Nomial Combinations

The multinuclear nomial combination consists of four and more members. They can be represented by the following structures: N + N + N + N, N + A / P + N + N, A / P + N + N + N, A / P + N + N + N + N, N_abbr. +A + N + N + N, A + N + A + N + N + N, A / P + N + N + N + N + A + N, and others.

The table below contains some examples of such word combinations. As in the previous cases to translate them correctly you should start with the head noun and proceed in reverse or­der to the initial word, analyzing the semantic interrelations between the components of the multinomial.

Type of the word-combination	Word-combination	Translation	Explanation
N + N + N + N	Customer relationship management system	Система управления взаимоотношениями с клиентами	1) the system of management; 2) management of relationship; 3) the relationship with customers 4) the system of customer relationship management
N + A / P + N + N	Government-controlled gas company	Контролируемая государством газовая компания	1) the company; 2) the gas company; 3) the gas company controlled by the government
A / P + N + N + N	Common market grain prices	Цены на зерно на мировом рынке	1) the prices; 2) the prices for grain; 3) the prices for grain on the market; 4) the market is common
A / P + N + N + N + N + A + N	Long-Term-Disability workers compensation medical benefits	Медицинские выплаты в качестве компенсации для работников с долговременной нетрудоспособностью	1) benefits - выплаты; 2) medical benefits; 3) workers compensation benefits (пособие по нетрудоспособности); 4) disability benefits (пособие по нетрудоспособности); 5) long-term disability

Translation of attributive quotations or multicomponent word combinations with internal predication also requires special skills. As a rule, they are represented by the structure: noun (in the function of a prop word) + quotation.

Ex: ‘Hands off Syria’ call – Призыв «Руки прочь от Сирии»