- •Theory of translation Topic 2 Lexical Translation Techniques
- •Read the information, be ready to speak about generalization, provide your own examples:
- •Read the sentences and say which of the synonyms should be used in them (each synonym is to be used only once). Explain your choice by specifying the differential seme responsible for the meaning.
- •Translate the sentences into Russian. Say what translation techniques you used to render the meaning of the synonyms.
- •Study the information, be ready to speak about modulation, provide your own examples:
- •Translate the sentences into Russian using the translation techniques suggested.
- •Study the information and be ready to discuss transliteration and transcription, provide your own examples.
- •Translate the following names a) if they are the names of biblical personages, b) if they are the names of real people. Comment on the translation techniques you used
- •Use loan translation to render the meaning of the following words and phrases.
- •Translate the sentences into the tl using explication or implication.
- •Translate the sentences into the tl using commentary if necessary.
- •Read the information and prepare to discuss metaphorization, demetaphorization, emphatization, and neutralization. Provide your own examples.
- •Translate the sentences into the tl and comment on the transformations.
- •Study the information and get ready to discuss compensation. Provide your own examples.
- •Match the terms denoting translation techniques with their Russian equivalents.
Study the information and be ready to discuss transliteration and transcription, provide your own examples.
Transliteration consists in creating a formal representation of the letters of the SL word with the TL graphical means (C.Eceнин – S.Esenin).
Transcription, on the other hand, is a formal representation of the phonemes of the SL word with the TL graphical means (C.Eceнин – S.Yessenin).
The device is seemingly simple to use, meanwhile there is a number of rules the translator should know in order to handle the device properly:
It is necessary to learn the rules of transferring Cyrillic letters into Latin ones (see the table).
Cyrillic alphabet – Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet – Cyrillic alphabet
а – a
к – k
ф – f
a – а, э
j – дж, ж, й
s – с, ш
б – b
л – l
х – kh
b – б
k – к
t – т
в – v
м – m
ц – ts, c
c – с, ц, к
l – л
u – у, ю
г – g, gh
н – n
ч – ch
d – д
m – м
v – в
д – d
о – o
ш – sh
e – и, е
n – н
w – у, в
е – e
п – p
щ – shch
f – ф
o – о, оу
x – кс
ё – e
р – r
ы – y
g – г, дж
p – п
y – и, й
ж – zh, j
с – s
э – e
h – х
q – к
z – з, ц
з – z
т – t
ю – yu
i – и, ай
r – р
и – i
у – u
я – ya
It is important to take into account the culture (synchronic and diachronic) to which the name belongs, for the same name will be translated differently if originating from different cultural backgrounds: King George = Король Георг; George Clooney = Джордж Клуни; George Sand = Жорж Санд.
It is important to know what phenomenon the name denotes, for one and the same name can be translated differently if meaning different phenomena: Bloody Mary can be translated as Мария Кровавая (a historic personage) and Кровавая Мэри (a cocktail).
When dealing with geographical names and names of inanimate objects it is sometimes necessary to add the name of the class: Financial Times = газета Файнэншл Таймс.
The translator should check whether there is no ready-made correspondence and only then use transliteration or transcription: English Channel can only be translated as Ламанш. It should never be translated as Инглиш Чэнел or Английский канал.
What groups of words (see task 1) can be translated with the help of transliteration/transcription? Think of your own examples.
Translate the following names using the table given above if necessary.
Чехов, Салтыков-Щедрин, Москва (a city), Москва (a river), Georgia (a state), Georgia (a country), «Правда», Genghis Khan, Don Quixote.