4. Equivalence in Translation: Types of Equivalents

According to the degree of correspondence:

1. regular:

a) permanent (one-to-one correspondence);

b) variable (one-to-many correspondence);

2. occasional.

According to the units being used:

1. lexical;

2. phraseological;

3. grammatical.

5. Models in Translation

Translation model — a conventional description of mental operations on speech and language units, conducted by a translator, and their explanation.

Translation model is used in machine translation to help the machine perform exactly the same way as a real translator does in the process of translation. Some of them are good for this and some are not.

Four types: situational, semantic, transformational, semantic-transformational.

6. Situational model (definition, stages, pros and cons)

Situational model — a type of model, when not words, but ideas are translated. It is based on the identity of the situations described in the ST and TL. Extralinguistic factors are important.

Stages:

breakthrough to the situation;

description of the situation in TL.

Advantages: the translator can make several choices: he can borrow the foreign word, equate it with a similar TL realia, invent a new TL word, etc.

Disadvantages: it does not describe the mechanism of translation itself, it doesn’t help machine translation.

7. Semantic model (definition, example, stages, pros and cons)

Semantic model is one that places special emphasis on semantic structures of the source and target texts.

Stages:

analysis: to single out the meaningful elements of the original (switch from idiomatic SL to the SL basic language) — John likes Ann → John, like, Ann;

translation: choose the TL units that most closely express the same content elements (switch from the SL basic language to the TL basic language) — John → Джон (он, парень…), like → нравиться, Ann → Энн (она, девушка…);

synthesis: to verbalize the semantic categories of TL (TL basic → TL idiomatic — Джон нравится Энн; Джону нравится Энн).

Advantages: gives a good explanation of the translation equivalence and reasons for translation failures when irrelevant semes have been taking into consideration; explains the mechanism of selecting one variable among synonyms: chosen synonym has the greatest number of relevant semes similar to the SL word.

Disadvantages: process of singling out semes is very difficult; ignores connotations of the word and the function of the text.

8. Transformational model (definition, example, stages, pros and cons)

Stages:

analysis: SL structures are transformed into nuclear structures of SL (I saw him enter the room. I saw him. He entered the room.);

translation: basic units of SL are translated into the basic units of TL (Я видела его. Он вошел в комнату.);

synthesis: basic units of TL are transformed into the terminal structures of TL (Я видела, что он вошел в комнату.)

Advantages: provides us with transformation techniques; explains how we translate equivalent-lacking structures; important for teaching translation because it recommends to transform a complex structure into simple ones; good for machine translation.

Disadvantages: inability to explain the choice of the transformation made; the facts of translation equivalence on the situational level; ignores sociocultural and extralinguistic aspects.