Translate the following sentences paying attention to causative constructions of “to have/get smth done” type in italics:

1. Italy’s rap star Jovanotti had his fans worried recently, when he started to sing about the rain forest, the fight against drugs and the sorry state of Italian politics.

2. Lloyd George was believed to have had the beer deluded in pubs near centres of ammunition production during the first world war, in order to keep the wheels of the home front turning without a hiccup.

3. Mr. Herbane had got his face scratched and his finger bitten by the cat, trying to catch her for a second experience in killing and bringing to life. (Th.L Peacock)

4. The congressman from our district, General Fulgham, assured me some days ago that he would use his influence to get my book published at an early date. (O. Henry)

5. Nearly 1,600 birds died, 25 crofts had their vegetables condemned and 2,000 sheep were moved from affected grazing areas as a result of the Braer tank (oil spill) disaster in Shetland, the House of Lords was told yesterday. (“G.”)

6. A technical dispute between big brewers and Customs and Excise could have beer and lager drinkers foaming at the mouth: the alcoholic strengths of many brands are to be cut while the prices — already too high for many — remain the same. (“Ind.”)

7. Alan Clark, the colourful former defense minister, had his career “destroyed by woman,” his wife Janice claims in a documentary to be shown at the weekend. (“T.”)

8. At the Old Courthouse he was booed by a large crowd of farmers and their wives. “Have those damned oafs moved on,” he snarled at Sir Giles. “I will not be subject to hooliganism.” (T.Sharpe)

Topic 17: lexical replacements

In lexical transformations different replacements of specific lexical units (words and word combinations) of SL by the units of TL, which are not their lexical equivalents, take place. Here the replaced units if taken separately have other referential meanings, than the meanings of the units of TL. More often here we meet three cases: concretization, generalization and replacement, based on cause and effect relations (replacement of cause by effect and visa versa).

17.1. Concretization

This type of lexical transformations is used in translating words with wide and non-differentiated meaning. The essence of this transformation lies in translating such words of SL by the words with specified concrete meaning in TL. When translating from English into Ukrainian they use it more often in verbs. If English verbs mostly denote actions in rather a vague general way, Ukrainian verbs are very concrete in denoting not only the action itself but also the manner of performing this action as well “to go (by foot, by train, by plane, etc.)” – “йти пішки”, “їхати поїздом”, “летіти літаком”, etc.; “to get out” – “вибиратися”, “виходити”, “вилізати”, “висаджуватися”, etc. The choice of a particular Ukrainian verb depends on the context. It does not mean, Of course, that the verb “to go” changes its meaning under the influence of the context. The meaning of “to go” is the same, it always more or less corresponds to Ukrainian “переміщатися”, but the norms of Ukrainian require a more specified nomination of the action.

This transformation is applicable not only to verbs but to all words of wide semantic range, no matter to what part of speech they belong: adverbs, adjectives or nouns.

The noun thing, which has very abstract and vague meaning the same as stuff, point or camp, is used to denote practically anything, often remaining stylistically neutral (The Shorter Oxford Dictionary denotes the word “thing” as “an entity of any kind”, “that, which is or may be in any way an object of perception, knowledge or thought”). In Ukrainian, however, nouns with such a general meaning are less universal, besides, they would belong to colloquial register which often makes it impossible to use them in translation. E.g. thing if translated by way of concretization may have the meanings: штука, річ, предмет, справа, факт, випадок, обставина, витвір, істота:

things look promising – становище багатообіцяюче

how are things? – ну, як справи?

as things go – за нинішніх обставин

take off your things – роздягніться

he is a mean thing – він підла тварюка

oh, poor thing! – о бідолаха!, о сердешний!

it is just the thing – це саме те

good things – ласощі

I am not quite the thing today – я сьогодні нездужаю

near thing – небезпека, якої ледве вдалося уникнути

no such thing – нічого такого, зовсім ні

to know a thing or two – дещо знати; розуміти що до чого

to make a good thing of smth. – скористатися з чогось

to make a regular thing of smth. – регулярно займатися чимось

to see things – марити, галюцинувати, etc.

In many cases the words like thing are omitted at all in translation:

She is a pretty thing. – Вона гарненька.

above all things – насамперед, передусім, головним чином among other things – між іншим

and things – і таке інше

it amounts to the same thing – це те ж саме

At this point she is right – тут вона має рацію

Let’s buy bread, vegetables and perhaps some other stuff –

Купімо хліб, овочі та, може, щось ще.

In case when such words must be given some Ukrainian equivalent a word with more concrete meaning denoting this particular thing or stuff which is meant by the author, should be found:

I’ve bought this stuff in the neighboring grocery.

Я купила всі ці продукти в найближчому продовольчому супермаркеті.

…this madman stuff that happened to me…

…ідіотська історія, яка зі мною трапилась…

…all the dispensary stuff…

Усі медичні препарати (або ліки)

You have never done a single thing in all your life to be ashamed of

За все своє життя ти не скоїв жодного ганебного вчинку.

The verbs of motion come and go are concretized in translating into Ukrainian, i.e. the way of motion is specified: приходити, прибувати, приїжджати, підходити, підбігати, припливати, прилітати; go – іти, ходити, їхати, відправлятися, сходити, приходити, плисти, летіти.

The concretization of words of speaking: say and tell also takes place – говорити, розповідати, казати, сказати, промовити, мовити, повторити, відзначити, зауважити, стверджувати, повідомити, висловитись, висловлюватись, спитати, заперечити, наказати, звеліти:

So what? I said.	„Ну так що?“ – спитав я.
“Hello”, I said when somebody answered the goddam phone.	Алло! – Вигукнув я, коли хтось підійшов до цього триклятого телефону.
She had said that she was in bed and ill.	Беккі писала, що вона хвора й лежить у ліжку.
He told us we should always pray to God.	І нам теж радив завжди молитися Богу.
He told me to come right over, if I felt like it.	Він звелів хоч зараз приходити, якщо треба.
Thanks for telling me, – I said.	Дякую, що попередила! – кажу.

The device of concretization is also used in rendering other words with broad meaning:

Dinny waited in a corridor which smelled of disinfectant (Galsworthy).

Дінні чекала її в коридорі, що просяк карболкою.

Disinfectant – дезінфікуючий засіб (the word acceptable in official-scientific genre) – in fiction concretization is needed.

The same can be illustrated by the verb “to be”:

The clock is on the wall.

Годинник висить на стіні.

The apple is on the plate and the plate is on the table.

Яблуко лежить на тарілці, а тарілка стоїть на столі.

In all these cases, though, “to be” preserves its general meaning “знаходитись”.

He is at school.	Він вчиться в школі.
He is in the Army.	Він служить в Армії.
He was at the ceremony.	Він був присутній на церемонії.
The concert was on Sunday.	Концерт відбувся в неділю.
The book is on the table.	Книга лежить на столі.
The picture is on the wall.	Картина висить на стіні.
He’s in Holliwood (Sal.)	Він живе в Голівуді (В іншому контексті могло б також бути „Він працює в Голівуді“)
I was in his office for about two hours, I guess.	Я просидів у нього в кабінеті години з дві.
That was her first summer in Maine.	Вона... тільки перше літо проводила в Мейні.
Then her blouse and stuff were on the seat. Her shoes and socks were on the floor, right underneath the chair, right next to each other.	Блузка та все інше лежало на сидінні, а туфлі, зі шкарпетками, скрученими всередині, стояли поруч під стільцем.
“Name something you’d like to be”.	Скажи, ким би ти хотів стати.
Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were the old couple, and they were very good.	Альфред Лант та Лінн Фонтанн грали старе подружжя, вони дуже гарно грали.
“He may have to stay in Hollywood and write a picture about Annapolis... Guess who’s going to be in it!”	Може йому знадобиться залишитись в Голівуді та написати сценарій про Аннаполіс... Вгадай, хто в ній буде зніматися?
Like most young Frenchmen of his generation he was athletic.	Як і більшість французів його покоління, він захоплювався спортом.
She is in bed.	Вона лежить у ліжку.

The words of general purpose like the man, the woman, the person, the creature are replaced by concrete proper names or nouns: старий, солдат, прохожий, хазяйка, собака, кішка.

Concretization is caused by the necessity to complete the phrase, achieve figurativeness and avoid repetition.

We had strolled over.	Ми підійшли до її паркану.
You could hear him putting away his toilet articles (Sal.)	Чутно було, як він збирає свої мильниці та щітки.
I don’t know of any landowner around here who begrudges those children any game their father can hit (To Kill a Mock...)	Я не знаю в нас у районі такого землевласника, котрий би пошкодував для цих дітей зайця.
Mr. Raynold sat up against the tree-trunk.	Містер Рейнольд притулився до дуба.

It is necessary to take into consideration not only denotative but connotative meanings as well. The verb “to employ” is usually translated as “наймати, приймати на роботу”. But if Mark Twain’s character is “accused of employing toothless and incompetent old relatives to prepare food for the foundling hospital”, of which he is warden, the verb acquires a shade of negative meaning (he is said to have used his position in order to pay money to his relatives for the work which they could not do properly); so it should be translated by a less “general” verb – e.g. “прилаштувати, влаштувати по знайомству”.

The English pronoun “you” deserves special attention. It can be translated only with the help of differentiation, i.e. either “ти” or “ви”. The choice depends on the character, his age, social position, relations and the situation in which he speaks. One should remember that the wrong choice can destroy the whole atmosphere of the narration.