- •The notion of a translation equivalent
- •Translation equivalents to the units of various levels
- •Principles of classification of equivalents
- •The notion and kinds of context. The meaning of the word in context.
- •The choice of the equivalent in translation. Occasional equivalents.
- •Equivalent-lacking lexical and grammatical units
- •The principles of description of phraseological equivalents
Principles of classification of equivalents
Regular equivalents are classified according to the character of their relation to the SL unit and according to the level affiliation of the SL unit and its translation.
By the first characteristic, equivalents are divided into one-to-one (permanent) and one-to-many (variable, non-permanent) ones.
By the second characteristic they are divided into lexical, phraseological and grammatical equivalents. As it was already mentioned, in case it is necessary, interlevel equivalents are also described. Phoneme and morpheme equivalents are researched within the units of higher levels. Equivalents on the sentence level are either included with phraseological ones or are viewed as stock phrases.
ONE-TO-ONE EQUIVALENTS AND ONE-TO-MANY EQUIVALENTS
One-to-one equivalent is the most stable constant way of translating the given SL unit used in all (or almost all) cases of its occurrence in the original and, in this sense, is relatively independent from the context. Being the constant equivalent of the SL unit, the one-to-one equivalent reproduces its meaning to the fullest. Words that usually have one-to-one equivalents are terms, proper names, geographic names, as well as some everyday words and word combinations: oxygen - кисень, capitalism - капіталізм, House of Commons - палата общин, Roosevelt - Рузвельт, Eugene O'Neil - Юджин О’Ніл, Cleveland - Клівленд, doctrinarianism - доктринерство, contrabandist - контрабандист, dog-collar - ошийник etc. One-to-one equivalents may be for the word as a whole or only in one of its meaning (Cf. Senator - always «сенатор», a barrel - always «ствол» only in the meaning of «частина вогнепальної зброї»).
168. One-to-many equivalent is several regular ways of translating the given SL unit, the choice between which is determined by the context. In these cases each of the variable equivalents renders the meaning of the original unit with analogous meaning only partially: attitude – відношення, позиція, політика; actual – дійсний, справжній, поточний, сучасний. Both monosemantic and various meanings of polysemantic words may have variable equivalents: trade-union – профспілка, тред-юніон; Labour Party – робоча партія, лейбористська партія; sincerity – щирість, щиросердість, прямота, чесність; chamber – 1. кімната, світлиця, апартаменти; 2. зал, палата, конференц-зал; 3. контора, камера, кабінет, etc. Often variable equivalents are formed by synonyms or paronyms in TL: importance – важливість, значення, значимість; flying – літаючий, літальний, летючий.
The division into constant and variable equivalents usually refers to lexical and phraseological area.
In Grammar it all depends on the meaning of the lexical units and the organization of information in the utterance in general, so there are no constant grammatical equivalents. The variable equivalents in the field of grammar may be analogous forms in TL or different forms with a similar meaning. As often as not such equivalents are interchangeable and the translator has a free choice between them. In the following English sentence "He was a guest of honour at a reception given by the Soviet government" both the Russian participle «устроенном» and the attributive* clause «который был устроен» can be substituted for the English participle "given".
Он был почетным гостем на приеме, устроенном (который был устроен) советской молодежью для делегатов Всемирного форума молодежи, который открылся (открывшегося) в Москве в прошлую среду.