28. Ways of conveying referential meaning

As one of the main tasks of translation is to render the exact meaning of words, it is important to consider here the three types of lexical meaning which can be distinguished. They are: referential, emotive and stylistic.

Referential meaning (also called nominative, denotative or cognitive) has direct reference to things or phenomena of objective reality, naming abstract notions and processes as well. Referential meaning may be primary and secondary thus consisting of different lexical Semantic Variants (LSV).

Lexical transformations which are practically always required in the rendering of referential meaning in translation are caused by various factors. They may be classed as follows:

a) different vision of objects and phenomena and different approach to them;

It is common knowledge that one and the same object of reality may be viewed by different languages from different aspects: the eye (of the needle – ушко иголки).

All these words (naked eye – невооруженный глаз; fortnight – две недели; next door – соседний дом) describe the same facts and although formally not correlated they are equivalents.

b) different semantic structure of a word in the SL and in the TL;

Divergences in the semantic structure of words of the S and T languages are one of the primary cases of lexical transformations. These divergences are connected with certain peculiar features of a word or a group of words.

c) different valency or collocability;

The aptness of a word to appear in various combinations is described as its lexical valency or collocability which amounts to semantic agreement. Collocability implies the ability of a lexical unit to combine with other lexical units, with other words or lexical groups. A word as a lexical unit has both paradigmatic and syntagmatic collocability.

d) different usage.

Traditional usage of words of word combinations is typical of each language. Traditional S.L. and T.L. usage or clichés do not coincide. The words forming such clichés often have different meanings in the two language but they are traditionally used to describe similar situations. The problem of the proper selection of equivalent words and clichés can be solved only if the peculiarities of the correlated languages are taken into consideration, e.g: She never drank boiled water. Она никогда не пила сырой воды.

This factors usually presents little difficulty for the translator but it must never be overlooked, otherwise the translator may lapse into literal translation.

29. Ways of conveying realia

Realia – a lexical element which indicate ethnic notions (notions, which are common only for one culture). Realias are considered to be non-equivalent lexis.

This group consists of words denoting referents unknown in the target language – things, objects, notions, features of national life, customs, habits, etc. the words of this group bear a distinctly national character and are tied up with the history of the people speaking that language, the growth of its culture, its way of life and traditions. Cultural discrepancy accounts for the appearance of words which are untranslatable in the literal sense of the word. Yet there are different ways of rendering these words in translation and of overcoming the so-called “barrier of untranslatability” (cultural untranslatability). The words belonging to this group cover a wide range of denotation, e.g. speaker, parliament, public school, landslide, coroner, teach-in, drive-in, know-how, striptease, brain drain, backbencher, grill-room,etc.

There are three ways of rendering realias in translation.

1. by Borrowings

The borrowed words may be either transliterated or transcribed, e.g. ale –эль, roastbeef – ростбиф, sweater – свитер (transliterated borrowings). Parliament – парламент, striptease – стриптиз, speaker – спикер, know-how – ноу-хау, establishment – истэблишмент (transcribed borrowings).

2. By translation loans

House of Commons – Палата Общин, backbencher – заднескамеечник, brain trust – мозговой трест.

3.By Descriptive or Interpreting Translation

Landslide – победа на выборах с огромным перевесом голосов;

a stringer (америк.) – частично занятый корреспондент, труд которого оплачивается из расчета количества слов;

a conservationist (environmentalist) – человек, озабоченный загрязнением или уничтожением окружающей среды.

Differences in cultural background frequently require detailed additions which are explanatory. What is familiar to the native reader may be unfamiliar to the reader of the translation. Additions in this case make up for the implicit information, contained in the text.