- •Theory of translation
- •Contents
- •Part I. General issues of translation chapter 1. What Is Translation? § 1. Translation studies
- •§ 2. Semiotic approach
- •§ 3. Communicative approach
- •§ 4. Dialectics of translation
- •Inseparability of form and meaning.10
- •4.Translation and culture are inseparable.
- •§ 5. Translation invariant
- •§ 6. Unit of translation
- •Chapter 2. Types of translation § 1. Classification criteria
- •§ 2. Machine translation
- •§ 3. Translation and interpreting
- •§ 4. Functional classification
- •Chapter 3. Evaluative classification of translation § 1. Adequate and equivalent translation
- •§ 2. Literal translation
- •§ 3. Free translation
- •§ 4. The concept of ‘untranslatability’
- •Chapter 4. Translation Equivalence § 1. Types of equivalence
- •Equivalence
- •§ 2. Pragmatic level
- •§ 3. Situational level
- •§ 4. Semantic paraphrase
- •§ 5. Transformational equivalence
- •§ 6. Lexical and grammatical equivalence
- •§ 7. The levels of equivalence hierarchy
- •Chapter 5. Ways of Achieving Equivalence § 1. Types of translation techniques
- •§ 2. Translation transcription
- •§ 3. Transliteration
- •§ 4. Cаlque translation
- •§ 5. Grammar transformations
- •§ 6. Lexical transformations
- •§ 7. Complex transformations
- •Chapter 6. Translation Models § 1. Translation process
- •§ 2. Situational model of translation
- •§ 3. Transformational model of translation
- •§ 4. Semantic model of translation
- •§ 5. Psycholinguistic model of translation
- •Notes to part I
- •Part III. Grammar problems of translation
- •Chapter 1. Formal differences between source text and target text
- •Chapter 2. Translating finite verb forms §1. Translating tense and aspect forms
- •§2. Translating passive voice forms
- •§3. Translating the subjunctive mood forms
- •Chapter 3. Translating non-finite verb forms §1. Translating the infinitive
- •§2. Translating the gerund
- •§3. Translating the participle
- •§4. Translating absolute constructions
- •Chapter 4. Translating causative constructions §1. Types of causative constructions
- •§2. Constructions with causal verbs
- •§3. Constructions with the verbs to have, to get
- •§4. Causative constructions with non-causal verbs
- •Chapter 5. Translating pronouns §1. Translating personal pronouns
- •§2. Translating possessive pronouns
- •§3. Translating relative pronouns
- •§4. Translating the pronoun one
- •§5. Translating the pronouns каждый / все
- •§6. Translating partitive pronouns some / any
- •§7. Translating demonstrative pronouns
- •Chapter 6. Translating the article
- •§1. Translating the indefinite article
- •§2. Translating the definite article
- •§3. Translating the zero article
- •Chapter 7. Translating attributive clusters §1. Features of the attributive phrase
- •§2. Translating the attributive cluster.
- •Chapter 8. Syntactic changes in translation §1. Communicative structure of the english and russian sentence
- •§2. Word order change due to the functional sentence perspective
- •§3. Sentence partitioning and integration
- •Chapter 9. Difference in english and russian punctuation §1. Principles of punctuation in english and russian
- •§2. Differences in comma usage
- •§3. Using the dash
- •§4. Using quotation marks
- •§5. Using the colon and semicolon
- •§6. Using the ellipses
- •§2. Interaction of word semantic structures
- •§3. Word connotation in translation
- •§4. Intralinguistic meaning
- •Chapter 2. Translating realia §1. Culture-bound and equivalent-lacking words
- •§2. Types of culture-bound words
- •§3. Ways of translating culture-bound words
- •§4. Translating people’s names
- •§5. Translating geographical terms
- •§6. Translating published editions
- •§7. Translating ergonyms
- •Chapter 3. Translating terms §1. Translation factors
- •§2. Translation technique
- •§3. Terms in fiction and magazines
- •Chapter 4. Translator’s false friends
- •Chapter 5. Phraseological and metaphorical translation §1. Metaphor and the phraseological unit
- •§2. Interlingual metaphoric transformations
- •§3. Ways of translating idioms
- •§4. Challenges in translating idioms
- •Chapter 6. Metonymical translation §1. Definitions
- •§2. Lexical metonymic transformation
- •§3. Predicate translation
- •§4. Syntactic metonymic transformations
- •Chapter 7. Antonymic translation §1. Definition
- •§2. Conversive transformation
- •§3. Shifting negative modality
- •§4. Reasons for antonymic translation
- •Chapter 8. Differences in russian and english word combinability §1. Reasons for differences in word combinability
- •§2. Translation of adverbial verbs
- •§3. Translating condensed synonyms
- •Chapter 9. Translating new coinages: differences in russian and english word building
- •§1. Compounds
- •§2. Conversion
- •§3. Affixation
- •§4. Abbreviation
- •Notes to part IV
- •Part V. Pragmatic problems of translation
- •Chapter 1. Translation pragmatics
- •§1. Concept of pragmatics
- •§2. Text pragmatics
- •§3. Author’s communicative intention
- •§4. Communicative effect upon the receptor
- •И молвил он: «в былое время
- •На голове стою.»
- •§5. Translator’s impact
- •Chapter 2. Speech functions and translation §1. Language and speech functions
- •§2. Interpersonal function and modality in translation.
- •§3. Expressive function in translation
- •§5. Conative function in translation
- •Chapter 3. Functional styles and translation §1. Functional style, register: definition
- •§2. Translating scientific and technical style
- •§3. Translating bureaucratic style
- •§4. Translating journalistic (publicistic) style
- •Chapter 4. Rendering stylistic devices in translation
- •§1. Translation of metaphors and similes
- •§2. Translation of epithets
- •§3. Translation of periphrase
- •§4. Translation of puns
- •“Bother! Said Pooh… “What’s that bit of paper doing?”
- •§5. Translation of allusions and quotations
- •Chapter 5. Translation norms and quality control of a translation §1. Norms of translation
- •§2. Quality control of the translation.
- •Chapter 6. Translation etiquette §1. Professional ethics, etiquette, and protocol
- •§2. Code of professional conduct
- •§3. Protocol ceremonies
- •Notes to part V appendix 1. Russian-English Transliteration Chart
- •Appendix 2. Russian-English-Chinese Transliteration Chart
- •Учебное издание Зоя Григорьевна Прошина теория перевода
- •Part II. History of translation Chapter 1. Western traditions of translation § 1. Translation during antiquity
- •§ 2. Translation in the middle ages
- •§ 3. Renaissance translation
- •§ 4. Enlightenment translation (17-18th c.)
- •§ 5. Translation in the 19th century
- •§ 6. Translation in the 20th century
- •Chapter 2. History of russian translation § 1. Old russian culture and translation
- •§2. Translation in the 18th century
- •§ 3. Russian translation in the first half of the 19th century
- •§4. Translation in the second half of the 19th century
- •§5. Translation at the turn of the century
- •§6. Translation in the 20th century
- •Notes to part 2
§3. Word connotation in translation
Even words having the same referential (denotative) meaning are not full equivalents as far as their connotation is concerned. Thus, an English-Russian dictionary gives two translations for the word dog: собака, пёс. The former translation equivalent is neutral, the latter is colloquial, expressive. Since the English word dog is more general, it is only a partial equivalent to пёс.
Or the Russian word дохлый is not a full equivalent of the English dead, as is given by the Oxford Russian dictionary145.Дохлый is a very informal, expressive word, whereas dead is its neutral counterpart.
Not only the denotative (referential) meaning of the word, but also its connotative shades should be taken into account in translating:
Emotional coloring: doggie – пёсик, bunny – заенька. The Russian language is known to be abundant in diminutive suffixes (солнышко, ложечка, чашечка). Since these suffixes are not as typical in English as in Russian, they are lost in translation: День склонялся к вечеру. По небу медленно ползли легкие розовые облачка. (В. Арсеньев) - Evening was near, and light pink clouds crept slowly across the sky. (Transl. by V. Shneerson.)
Stylistic overtone: to begin (neutral) vs. to commence (poetic); husband (informal) – spouse (formal); спать (neutral) – почивать (poetic);
Associations: nations have different associations connected with this or that word. Thus, in English the word blue is often associated with something unpleasant: to look blue – иметь унылый вид; to be blue – иметь плохое настроение; to tell blue stories – рассказывать неприличные истории; to be in a blue funk – быть в ужасной панике; to be in the blue – пойти по плохой дорожке; to burn blue – быть дурным предзнаменованием. The word blue corresponds to the Russian adjectives синий and голубой. Синий is often associated with unpleasant things: синий от холода (blue with cold), синий чулок (blue stocking), гори оно синим пламенем (to the hell with something). Голубой has usually positive connotations: голубые мечты (sweet dreams), голубой песец (blue fox), голубой экран (TV screen); на блюдечке с голубой каемочкой (on a silver platter).
Another example: in English, a chicken is used derogatory to refer to a cowardly person: Why won’t you jump? Are you a chicken? In Russian, цыпленок is associated with a helpless little creature and is often referred to a small child that needs help.
In translation, the connotative meaning is sometimes lost either because of the neutral text that requires no expressiveness or because of the lacking connotative equivalent (to commence – начинать; вечор - yesterday). Usually, these connotatively partial equivalents are compensated in the text (within the same sentence or even in the surrounding sentences). We can illustrate it by the following sentence from Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer. In the episode of fighting with a Model Boy, Tom teases the boy about his hat: “Smarty! You think you are some, now, don’t you? Oh, what a hat!” And the boy answers, ”You can lump that hat if you don’t like it. I dare you to knock it off – and anybody that I’ll take a dare will suck eggs.” In the Russian text, the highly colloquial, slangish words and expressions are compensated by slang words and very informal syntactic constructions in both Tom’s utterance and the boy’s sentence:
Ишь, вырядился! Подумаешь, какой важный! Еще и в шляпе!
Возьми да и сбей, если не нравится. Попробуй, сбей – тогда узнаешь.