Different vision and usage

One and the same object of reality can be seen by different languages in different aspects. This is reflected in different usage, e.g.

Hot milk with skin on it - Горячее молоко с пенкой.

English singles out the outer covering and Russian the boiling form.

School-leavers - выпускники школы

In English teenagers leave the school while in Russian the school "releases" them into the world.

The city is built on terraces rising from the lake (The Times, 1957) - Город построен на террасах, спускавшихся к озеру. Не folded his arms across his chest, crossed his knees (Taylor Caldwell) - Он сложил руки на груди, положил ногу на ногу.

This factor presents less difficulty for the translator into Russian than for the translator into English. The difficulty arises when such words are used figuratively as part of some lexical stylistic device.

"Instant history, like instant coffee, can sometimes be remarkably palatable, at least it is in this memoir by a former White House aide who sees L.B.J. as "an extraordinary gifted President who was the wrong man from the wrong place at the wrong time under the wrong circumstance", (Time, 1969). «Современная история, как и такой же современный продукт, как растворимый кофе, иногда бывает удивительно приятна, по крайней мере это так в рецензируемых мемуарах бывшего помощника президента, который характеризует Джонсона как «удивительно способного президента, который был неподходящим человеком, родом из неподходящего места, в неподходящее время, при неподходящих обстоятельствах».

То render the simile the translator is forced to resort to an addition: такой современный продукт, как...

Sometimes, due to a different vision the meaning of a word in the source-language is wider and less differentiated and corresponds to two or more correlated words in the target language. E.g. "Blue" corresponds to two Russian words: синий, голубой.

The Russian equivalents of "purple" are «пурпурный, фиолетовый, синий». The choice of the equivalent depends on the linguistic or extra-linguistic context: purple robes of Roman emperors - пурпурные одеяния римских императоров; purple ink - фиолетовые чернила; purple shades - синие тени.

2. Divergences in the Semantic Structure

Divergence in the semantic structure is one of the primary causes of lexical transformations. These divergences are connected with peculiar features of a word or a group of words. Even words, which seem to have the same meaning in the source language and the target language are not identical. Most often primary meanings of such words coincide while their derivative meanings do not. "Semantic correlation between two languages is not to be interpreted as semantic identity. Due to complexity of semantic structure "one-to-one" correspondence between the semantic structure of correlated polysemantic words in the S.L. and T.L. is scarcely possible.

Not infrequently similar meanings of Russian and English words differ in some components. This phenomenon is usually reflected in dictionaries where more than one Russian equivalent is listed under the same meaning of the English word. For example, the primary and the secondary meanings of the adjective "gloomy" are rendered in English-Russian dictionaries by two Russian words: 1) тёмный, мрачный 2) мрачный, унылый. The use of two Russian equivalents proves that the semantic volume of the English meaning is wider and requires two Russian words for an adequate rendering.

The analysis of the polysemantic word "mellow" shows that it can apply to a variety of objects and notions: fruit, wine, soil, voice, man. Each sphere of its application corresponds to a different derivative meaning and each meaning has two or more Russian equivalents.

1. спелый, мягкий, сладкий, сочный /о фруктах/; 2. а. выдержанный, старый; б. приятный на вкус/о вине/; 3. подобревший, смягчившийся с возрастом /о человеке/; 4. мягкий, сочный, густой /о голосе и красках/; 5. а) рыхлый; б) плодородный, жирный /о почве/; 6. разгов. весёлый, подвыпивший. /БАРС/

3. Different Valency

The aptness of a word to appear in various combinations is described as its lexical valency or collocability. The lexical valency of correlated words in different languages is not identical. This is only natural since every language has its syntagmatic norms and patterns of lexical valency. Words, habitually collocated, tend to constitute a cliché, e.g. bad mistake, high hopes, heavy sea (rain, snow), etc. The translator is obliged to seek similar cliches, traditional collocations in the target-language: грубая ошибка, большие надежды, бурное море, сильный дождь /снег/.

The key word in such collocations is usually preserved but the collocated one is rendered by a word of a somewhat different referential meaning in accordance with the valency norms of the target-language:

trains run - поезда ходят;

a fly stands on the ceiling - на потолке сидит муха;

It was the worst earthquake on the African continent (D.W.) - Это было самое сильное землетрясение в Африке.

Labour Party pretest followed sharply on the Tory deal with Spain (M.S.1973) - За сообщением о сделке консервативного правительства с Испанией немедленно последовал протест лейбористской партии.

Different collocability often calls for lexical and grammatical transformations in translation though each component of the collocation may have its equivalent in Russian, e.g. the collocation "the most controversial Prime Minister" cannot be translated as «самый противоречивый премьер-министр».

"Britain will tomorrow be welcoming on an official visit one of the most controversial and youngest Prime Ministers in Europe" (The Times, 1970). «Завтра в Англию прибывает с официальным визитом один из самых молодых премьер-министров Европы, который вызывает самые противоречивые мнения».

"Sweden's neutral faith ought not to be in doubt" (Ib.) «Верность Швеции нейтралитету не подлежит сомнению».

66666666The collocation "documentary bombshell" is rather uncommon and individual, but evidently it does not violate English collocational patterns, while the corresponding Russian collocation - документальная бомба - impossible. Therefore its translation requires a number of transformations:

"A teacher who leaves a documentary bombshell lying around by negligence is as culpable as the top civil servant who leaves his classified secrets in a taxi" (The Daily Mirror, 1950) «Преподаватель, по небрежности оставивший на столе бумаги, которые могут вызвать большой скандал, не менее виновен, чем ответственный государственный служащий, забывший секретные документы в такси».

Translation of Monosemantic Words

Monosemantic words are comparatively few in number. There are the following lexical group of monosemantic words: (1) antroponyms, (2) geographic names, (3) names of institutions, organisations, periodicals, (4) scientific and technological terms.

Monosemy is typical of numerals, names of months, days of the week, etc.

Rendering of Antroponyms

The function of antroponyms is purely nominative. They help to identify a person. There are two ways of rendering them: transcription and transliteration.

Transcription is now universally accepted. Mary - Мэри, Jack - Джек, Hailey - Хейли , etc. Tradition, however, still plays an important role. Some well-known names are rendered according to the tradition. Thus, it is George Bernard Show - Джордж Бернард Шоу (not Шо). King George is - король Георг, King Charles I - король Карл Первый.

Some "telling names" in fiction are translated:

Тяпкин-Ляпкин - Slap-Dash, Humpty-Dumpty - Шалтай-Болтай.