Suggested Topics for Discussion

1. What is pragmatics? What is the difference between semantics, syntactics and pragmatics? What relationships can exist between the word and its users?

2. What role do the pragmatic aspects play in translation? Can correlated words in SL and TL have dissimilar effect upon the users? How should the pragmatic meaning of the word be rendered in translation?

3. What does the communicative effect of a speech unit depend upon? What factors influence the understanding of TT? What is background information?

4. What are the relationships between pragmatics and equivalence? Can semantically equivalent speech units in ST and TT produce different effects upon their readers?

5. How is the translation event oriented pragmatically? Is its only purpose to produce the closest approximation to ST? What additional pragmatic factors may have their impact on the specific translation event?

6. How is the translating process oriented toward a concrete TR? What does "dynamic equivalence" mean? What is the pragmatic value of translation?

7. What additional goals may the translator pursue in the translating

process? In what way can such a "super-purpose" influence the process? Can the translator play some "extra-translational" roles in his work?

8. What is the pragmatic adaptation of TT? What are the main factors necessitating such adaptation? What changes may be introduced in the translating process due to the pragmatic requirements?

Text

THE PATH OF PROGRESS

(1) The process of change was set in motion everywhere from Land's End to John O'Groats. (2) But it was in northern cities that our modern world was born. (3) These stocky, taciturn people were the first to live by steam, cogs, iron, and engine grease, and the first in modem times to demonstrate the dynamism of the human condition. (4) This is where, by all the rules of heredity, the artificial satellite and the computer were conceived. (5) Baedeker may not recognize it, but it is one of history's crucibles. (6) Until the start of the technical revolution, in the second half of the eighteenth century, England was an agricultural country, only slightly invigorated by the primitive industries of the day. (7) She was impelled, for the most part, by muscular energies — the strong arms of her islanders, the immense legs of her noble horses. (8) But she was already mining coal and smelting iron, digging canals and negotiating bills of exchange. (9) Agriculture itself had changed under the impact of new ideas: the boundless open fields of England had almost all been enclosed, and lively farmers were experimenting with crop rotation, breeding methods and winter feed. (10) There was a substantial merchant class already, fostered by trade and adventure, and a solid stratum of literate yeomen.

Text Analysis

(1) What geographical points are called Land's End and John O'Groats? What area is meant in the phrase 'from Land's End to John O'Groats"? Does "to set a process in motion" mean "to begin it"?

(2) How would you understand the phrase "our modern world was born in northern cities of Britain"? What is meant by the "modern world"? Does the phrase imply the political, economic or technical aspects of our civilization?

(3) Do the word "stocky" and "taciturn" give a positive or a negative characteristics of the people? How can people "live by steam"? Does the "dynamism of the human condition" mean that the living conditions of people can change quickly or that they do not change at all?

(4) What does the phrase "by the rules of heredity mean? Were the artificial satellite and the computer really invented, built or first thought of in the North of Britain?

(5) Who or what is Baedeker? What is a history's crucible? Is it a place where "history is made"? In what way does Baedeker not recognize the fact that history was made in the North of Britain? What places are referred to as historical in guidebooks?

(6) Why are the primitive industries said to "invigorate the country"?

(7) How can the country be impelled? Why are the people of England referred to as "islanders"? What kind of horses may be called "noble"? Why should their legs be "immense"?

(8) What is a bill of exchange? How can it be "negotiated"?

(9) Why should the open fields be enclosed? What were the enclosed fields used for? Does the word "lively" refer to the physical or to the mental qualities of the farmers? What is winter feed?

(10) How can a class be fostered? What kind of adventure is mentioned here? Has it anything to do with overseas voyages and geographical discoveries? What is the difference between a serf and a yeoman?

Problem-Solving Exercises

A. Pragmatic Aspects of Translation

I. Will the geographical names if preserved in the translation of sentence

(1) convey the implied sense to the Russian reader or should it be made more explicit in TT?

II. Describe the emotional effect of the Russian adjectives низкорослый,

приземистый, коренастый. Which of them will be a good pragmatic equivalent to the word "stocky" in sentence (3)?

III. Will the word-for-word translation of sentence (4) be correctly understood by the Russian reader: Именно здесь, по всем законам наследственности, были задуманы искусственные спутники и компьютеры? Give a better wording which will make clear that the English sentence does not imply that satellites and computers were actually designed in the 18th century.

IV. Translate the word "Baedeker" in sentence (5) in such a way as to make its meaning clear to the Russian reader.

V. What Russian figure of speech will be a pragmatic substitute for the

English "history's crucible" in sentence (5)?

VI. What associations has the Russian word островитянин? Can you use it as a substitute for the English "islanders" in sentence (7)?

VII. Which of the following Russian substitutes is pragmatically closer to the meaning of the English adjective "immense" in sentence (7): огромный, толстый, могучий?

VIII. Give different translations of the phrase "negotiating bills of exchange" in sentence (8) meant for the expert and for the layman.

IX. The term "enclosed" in sentence (9) implies some well-known economic processes in Britain's history. What Russian term has the same implication?

X. The word "adventure" in sentence (10) has historical associations absent

in its usual Russian equivalents: приключение, авантюра, рискованное предприятие. Suggest a translation which will have similar associations.

B. Other Translation Problems

XI. Is it good Russian to say процесс изменений был приведен в движение? If not, what will your suggest to render the meaning of sentence (1)?

XII. Compare the following Russian phrases as possible substitutes for the English "was born" in sentence (2): был рожден, возник, было положено начало, зародился.

XIII. Enumerate the most common ways of rendering into Russian the meaning of the English emphatic structure "it is ... that". (Cf. sentence

(2)0

XIV. Which of the following Russian substitutes, if any, would you prefer for the English "to live by" in sentence (3): стали широко использовать, стали жить при помощи, в чьей жизни главную роль стали играть?

XV. Compare the following Russian substitutes for the word "cogs" in sentence (3): шестерни, зубчатые колеса, зубчатые передачи. Make your choice and give your reasons.

XVI. Compare the following Russian phrases as possible substitutes for "by all the rules of heredity" in sentence (4): сюда уходят корнями, отсюда берут свое начало, отсюда ведут свою родословную.

XVII. Would you use the regular Russian equivalent to the English word "recognize" in sentence (5), that is, признавать or will you prefer упоминать, умалчивать or something else?

XVIII. Your dictionary suggests two possible translations of the word "crucible": плавильный тигель and суровое испытание. Can either of them be used in translating sentence (5). If not, why?

XIX. Would you use a blue-print translation of "the technical revolution" in sentence (6) or opt for a more common term промышленная революция?

XX. Choose a good substitute for the phrase "of the day" in sentence (6) among the following: того дня, того времени, современный.

XXL Does "industries" in sentence (6) mean промышленность or отрасли промышленности?

XXII. It is obvious that the phrase Она (страна) приводилась в движе-50

ние is no good. (Cf. "She was impelled" in sentence (7).) Suggest another Russian wording as a good substitute.

XXIII. Can the Russian word энергия ever be used in the plural? Would you use it in the plural in the translation of sentence (7)?

XXIV. What would you suggest as a good substitute for the pronoun "she" in sentence (8): она, Англия, англичане, в Англии?

XXV. Would you use the regular equivalents to the English "digging" in sentence (8), that is, the Russian verbs копать, рыть or would you opt for прокладывать, строить and the like?

XXVI. Try to list some Russian words which denote various operations with bills of exchange such as выдать, учесть (вексель).

XXVII. Have you heard the phrase овцы съели людей? What historical facts does it refer to?

XXVIII. Is the English word "feed" in sentence (9) closer in its meaning to the Russian корм or откорм ?

XXIX. What would you prefer as a substitute for the term "merchant class" in sentence (10): класс купцов, класс торговцев or something else?

XXX. Make your choice between the Russian words грамотный and образованный as substitutes for the English 'literate" in sentence (10).

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