Types of translation equivalence.

Pragmatic adaptation.

Translating an advertisement or notice the translator always thinks toward whom his translation isto be oriented. Sometimes you not only have to guess what type of readership is your translation will interest or attract you have ti swivel your translation toward the readership to pay constant attention to the effect of positive, negative and value-free words. Therefore, a translation should involve a kind of pragmatic adaptation to prove the preservation of the original communicative effect. This adaptation should ensure that the text of translation conveys the same attitude to the reported facts as does the original text it means that the comical should not be replaced by the tragical one. Translation of the maintenance instruction is considered good if after reading a technician will be able to operate the appropriate piece of machinery correctly. E. Nide introduced the concept of “ dynamic equivalence” which should be judged not against the original but against the reader’s reaction.

3. Aspects of translating process. The situational and semantic-transformational models of the TP.
Translating process includes two mental processes - understanding and verbalization. First of all the translator understands the contents of the ST, reduces the information it contains to his own mental program, then he develops this program into the TT.
A translation model is a conventional representation of the process of translating describing mental operations by which the ST or some parts of it may be translated, irrespective of whether these operations are actually performed by the translator.
The situational (or referential) model is based on the identity of the situations described in the original text and in the translation. In the situational modal this intermediate level is extralinguistic. It is the described reality, the verbal representation of the facts of life. The process of translating consists in the translator getting beyond the original text to the actual situation described in it. This is the first step of the process, i.e. the breakthrough to the situation. The second step for the translator is to describe the situation in the TL. This model includes both linguistic and extralinguistic factors.
As Prof. Miram has stated, according to the transformational approach translating is viewed as the transformation of objects and structures of the SL into those of the TL. Transformation in translation is any replacement of a SL unit by its equivalent in the TL. Transformations may be observed at the phonological, orthographic, morphological, lexical, syntactic, stylistic, pragmatic levels.
At the phonological level substitution of phonemes occurs. This is observed through such way of translation as transcribing. Transformations at the orthographic level are performed during transliteration. At the morphological level morphemes (both word-building and word-changing) ot the SL are transformed into those of the TL. For instance, English word-building suffixes "-tion, “-sion ” may be transformed in the process of translation into Ukrainian "-ція ”, "-ка ”: revolution — революція, preparation - підготовка. At the lexical level we observe transformations ot word combinations, substitutions of idioms, like: in blue mood - не в dy'ci. Syntactic transformations comprise a broad range of structural changes, from the reversal of the word order in a sentence to the division and integration of sentences in the process of translation.

4. Lexico-semantic transformations in translation.
Transformation is any change of the Source text at any level (syntactic, semantic, lexical) of the language during translation.
Lexical transformations change the semantic core of a translated word. They can be classified into the following groups:
1.Lexical substitution, or putting one word in place of another. It often results from the different semantic structures of the source language and target language words.
can be of several subtypes:
a) Specification, or substituting words with a wider meaning with words of a narrower meaning: Will you do the room? – Ты уберешься в комнате?

b) Generalization, or substituting words of a narrower meaning with those of a wider meaning: People don’t like to be stared at. – Людям не нравится, когда на них смотрят.
c) Modulation is a logical development of the notion expressed by the word: But outside it was raining. -– Но на улице шел дождь.
2. Compensation is a deliberate introduction of some additional element in the target text to make up for the loss of a similar element in the source text. The main reason for this transformation is a vocabulary lacuna in the target language. For example, one of the Galsworthy’s characters was called a leopardess. But there is no one-word equivalent of the same stylistic coloring in Russian. Therefore, the translator compensated the word by using the word тигрица to characterize the lady.

3.Metaphoric transformations are based on transferring the meaning due to the similarity of notions. The target language can re-metaphorize a word or a phrase by using the same image (Don’t dirty your hands with that money! – Не марай рук этими деньгами!).

 

5. Aspects of translating process. The communicational, denotative and distributional models of translation.
A translation model is a conventional representation of the process of translating describing mental operations by which the ST or some parts of it may be translated, irrespective of whether these operations are actually performed by the translator.
The communicational theory of translation was suggested by O.Kade and is based on the notions of communication and thesaurus.
Communication may be defined as an act of sending and receiving some information which is called a message. Information may be of any kind (e.g. gestures), but we shall limit ourselves to verbal communication only. Naturally, while communicating we inform others about something we know and we use our system of interrelated data which is called a thesaurus. We shall distinguish between two kinds of thesauruses in verbal communication: language thesaurus and subject thesaurus. Language thesaurus is a system of our knowledge which we use to formulate a message, whereas subject thesaurus is a system of our knowledge about the contents of the message. In monolingual communication there are two actors, sender and recepient, and each of them uses two thesauruses. In bilingual communication there three actors: sender, recepient and intermediary (translator). The translator has two language thesauruses (of the SL and the TL) and performs two functions: decodes the source message and encodes the target one to be received by the recipient (terminal user of the translation).
According to the denotative approach the process of translation consists of the following steps:
• translator reads/ hears a message in the SL;
• translator finds a denotatum and concept that correspond to this message;

• translator formulates a message in the TL relevant to the above-mentioned denotatum and concept.
According to the denotative model of translation the relationship between the source and target word forms is occasional rather than regular.

e.g A stitch in time saves nine. - Гарна ложка до обіду.

The distributional model of translation developed by G.Miram seems also appropriate for the description of translation since it rests on such an objective modeling basis as distribution.
1.Linguistic distribution is an ability of language units (parts of words, words and word combinations) to occur in the text together.
2.Distribution pattern reflects meaning and combinatorial potential of lexical units,
3.Distribution of lexical units in the text reflects the fragmentation of the real world in human mind.
For instance, the distributional set of the word "stone" (a set of words with which this word occurs together in the text) embraces such lexical units as “heavy”, “brown”, "gray", “round”, 'throw ", "grind " etc.
So, according to the distribution approach translation is a process of matching the distribution patterns of the source and target language units.

MAIN TYPES OF TRANSLATION

Though the basic characteristics of translation can be observed in all translation events, different types of translation can be singled out depending on the predominant communicative function of the source text or the form of speech involved in the translation process. Thus we can distinguish between literary and informative translation, on the one hand, and between written and oral translation (or interpretation), on the other hand.

Literary translation deals with literary texts, i.e. works of fiction or poetry whose main function is to make an emotional or aesthetic impression upon the reader. Their communicative value depends, first and foremost, on their artistic quality and the translator's primary task is to reproduce this quality in translation.

Informative translation is rendering into the target language non-literary texts, the main purpose of which is to convey a certain amount of ideas, to inform the reader. However, if the source text is of some length, its translation can be listed as literary or informative only as an approximation. A literary text may, in fact, include some parts of purely informative character. Contrariwise, informative translation may comprise some elements aimed at achieving an aesthetic effect. Within each group further gradations can be made to bring out more specific problems in literary or informative translation.

Literary works are known to fall into a number of genres. Translators of prose, poetry or plays have their own problems.

The translator of a belles-lettres text is expected to make a careful study of the literary trend the text belongs to, the other works of the same author, the peculiarities of his individual style and manner and sn on. This involves both linguistic considerations and skill in literary criticism.

A number of subdivisions can be also suggested for informative translations, though the principles of classification here are somewhat different. Here we may single out translations of scientific and technical texts, of newspaper materials, of official papers and some other types of texts such as public speeches, political and propaganda materials, advertisements, etc., which are, so to speak, intermediate, in that there is a certain balance between the expressive and referential functions, between reasoning and emotional appeal.

In technical translation the main goal is to identify the situation described in the original.

A written translation can be made of the original recorded on the magnetic tape that can be replayed as many times as is necessary for the translator to grasp the original meaning. The translator can dictate his "at sight" translation of a written text to the typist or a short-hand writer with TR getting the translation in written form. In written translation the original can be read and re-read as many times as the translator may need or like.

There are two main kinds of oral translation — consecutive and simultaneous. In consecutive translation the translating starts after the original speech or some part of it has been completed. Here the interpreter's strategy and the final results depend, to a great extent, on the length of the segment to be translated. If the segment is just a sentence or two the interpreter closely follows the original speech. As often as not, however, the interpreter is expected to translate a long speech which has lasted for scores of minutes or even longer. In this case he has to remember a great number of messages and keep them in mind until he begins his translation. To make this possible the interpreter has to take notes of the original messages, various systems of notation having been suggested for the purpose. The study of, and practice in, such notation is the integral part of the interpreter's training as are special exercises to develop his memory.

In simultaneous interpretation the interpreter is supposed to be able to give his translation while the speaker is uttering the original message. This can be achieved with a special radio or telephone-type equipment. The interpreter receives the original speech through his earphones and simultaneously talks into the microphone which transmits his translation to the listeners. This type of translation involves a number of psycholinguistic problems, both of theoretical and practical nature.

EQUIVALENCE IN TRANSLATION

There are 5 levels of equivalence.

First level: (1) Maybe there is some chemistry between us that doesn't mix.- Бывает, что люди не сходятся характерами. (2) A rolling stone gathers no moss. - Кому дома не сидится, тот добра не наживет. (3) That's a pretty thing to say. - Постыдился бы!

From the examples we can see that common to the original and its translation in each case is only the general intent of the message, the implied or figurative sense. This part of the contents which contains information about the general intent of the message, its orientation towards a certain communicative affect can be called "the purpose of communication". Thus we can deduce that in the first type of equivalence it is only the purpose of communication that is retained in translation.

The second level of equivalence can be illustrated by the following examples:

He answered the telephone. - Он снял трубку.

It was late in the day. -Близился вечер.

This group of examples is similar to the first one, as the equivalence of translations here does not involve any parallelism of lexical or structural units. Most of the words or syntactical structures of the original have no direct correspondences in the translation. Besides the purpose of communication there is some additional information contained in the original that is retained. Thus in this group of translations the equivalence implies retention of two types of information contained in the original — the purpose of communication and the indication of the situation.

In the third level of equivalence the part of the contents which is to be retained is still larger. This type of equivalence can be exemplified as follows:

London saw a cold winter last year.- В прошлом году зима в Лондоне была холодной.

You are not serious? -Вышутите?

In this case the translation retains the two preceding informative complexes as well as the method of describing the situation. In other words, it contains the same general notions as the original. This means that the translation is a semantic paraphrase of the original.We can now say that the third type of equivalence exemplified by the translations of the third group, implies retention in the translation of the three parts as the purpose of communication, the identification of the situation andthe method of its description.

The fourth level of equivalence can be illustrated by the following samples:

He was never tired of old songs. - Старые песни ему никогда не надоедали. I don't see that I need to convince you. He вижу надобности доказывать это вам.

The fourth type of equivalence presupposes retention in the translation of the four meaningful components of the original: the purport of communication, the identification of the situation, the method of its description, and the invariant meaning of the syntactic structures.

Last but not least, comes the fifth level of equivalence. Here we find the maximum possible semantic similarity between texts in different languages. These translations try to retain the meaning of all the words used in the original text:

I saw him at the theatre.- Я видел его в театре.

The house was sold for 10 thousand dollars.- Дом был продан за десять тысяч долларов.

Here we can observe the equivalence of semes which make up the meaning of correlated words in the original text and the translation; parallelism of syntactic structures implying the maximum invariance of their meanings; the similarity of the notional categories which determine the method of describing the situation; the identity of the situations; the identical functional aim of the utterance or the purport of communication.

HANDLING STYLISTIC DEVICES.

To enhance the communicative effect of his message the author of the source text may make use of various stylistic devices, such as metaphors, similes, puns and so on. Coming across a stylistic, device the translator has to make up his mind whether it should be preserved in his translation or left out and compensated for at some other place.

Metaphors and similes though most commonly used in works of fiction, are not excluded from all other types of texts.".

Many metaphors and similes are conventional figures of speech regularly used by the members of the language community. Such figurative units may be regarded as idioms and translated in a similar way. As in the case of idioms (see 2.2) their Russian equivalents may be based on the same image (a powder magazine — пороховой погреб, white as snow — белый как снег) or on a different one (a ray of hope — проблеск надежды, thin as a rake — худой как щепка). Similarly, some of the English standard metaphors and similes are rendered into Russian word for word (as busy as a bee — трудолюбивый как пчела), while the meaning of others can only be explained in a non-figurative way (as large as life — в натуральную величину).

More complicated is the problem of translating individual figures of speech created by the imagination of the ST author. They are important elements of the author's style and are usually translated word for word. Nevertheless the original image may prove inacceptable in the target language and the translator will have to look for a suitable occasional substitute.

A similar tactics is resorted to by the translator when he comes across a pun in ST. If the SL word played upon in ST has a Russian substitute which can also be used both literally and figuratively, a word-for-word translation is possible:

Some stylistic devices may be ignored by the translator when their expressive effect is insignificant and their reproduction in the target text would run counter to the spirit of TL. One of the oldest and most commonly used stylistic devices in English is alliteration. Many headings, strings of epithets and other phrases in English texts consist of words which begin with the same letter. As a rule, the formal device cannot be reproduced in the Russian translation where it would look rather bizarre and often distort the meaning of the phrase. There are, however, infrequent exceptions when the repetition of the initial letters assumes a particular communicative value.

Still more infrequent is the reproduction in translation, of another common English stylistic device, the so-called zeugma, when a word enters in several collocations within one sentence each time in a different sense, e.g.:

(The man)... took a final photograph of Michael in front of the hut, two cups of tea at the Manor, and his departure.

In Russian such usage is outside the literary norm (cf. Шли три студента: один - в кино, другой - в сером костюме, а третий - в хорошем настроении).

A stylistic effect can be achieved by various types of repetitions, i.e. recurrence of the word, word combination, phrase for two times or more. A particular type of repetition is the reiteration of several successive sentences (or clauses) which usually includes some type of lexical repetition too, e.g.:

England is a paradise for the well-to-do, a purgatory for the able, and a hell for the poor.

Англия — рай для богачей, чистилище для талантливых и ад для бедняков.

 

Education and Training

Although interpreters and translators typically need at least a bachelor’s degree, the most important requirements are that they be fluent in two languages (English and at least one other language). Many complete job-specific training programs. It is not necessary for interpreters and translators to have been raised in two languages to succeed in these jobs, but many grew up communicating in the languages in which they work.

Important Qualities

Business skills. Self-employed and freelance interpreters and translators need general business skills to manage their finances and careers successfully. They must set prices for their work, bill customers, keep records, and market their services to build their client base.

Concentration. Interpreters and translators must have the ability to concentrate while others are speaking or moving around them.

Cultural sensitivity. Interpreters and translators must be sensitive to cultural differences and expectations among the people whom they are helping to communicate. Successful interpreting and translating is not only a matter of knowing the words in different languages but also of understanding people’s cultures.

Dexterity. Sign language interpreters must be able to make quick and coordinated hand, finger, and arm movements when interpreting.

Interpersonal skills. Interpreters and translators, particularly those who are self-employed, must be able to get along with those who hire or use their services in order to retain clients and attract new business.

Listening skills. Interpreters and translators must listen carefully when interpreting for audiences to ensure that they hear and interpret correctly.

Speaking skills. Interpreters and translators must speak clearly in the languages they are conveying.

Writing skills. Interpreters and translators must be able to write clearly and effectively in the languages they translate.

 

 

Pragmatic adaptation.

Translating an advertisement or notice the translator always thinks toward whom his translation isto be oriented. Sometimes you not only have to guess what type of readership is your translation will interest or attract you have ti swivel your translation toward the readership to pay constant attention to the effect of positive, negative and value-free words. Therefore, a translation should involve a kind of pragmatic adaptation to prove the preservation of the original communicative effect. This adaptation should ensure that the text of translation conveys the same attitude to the reported facts as does the original text it means that the comical should not be replaced by the tragical one. Translation of the maintenance instruction is considered good if after reading a technician will be able to operate the appropriate piece of machinery correctly. E. Nide introduced the concept of “ dynamic equivalence” which should be judged not against the original but against the reader’s reaction.

3. Aspects of translating process. The situational and semantic-transformational models of the TP.
Translating process includes two mental processes - understanding and verbalization. First of all the translator understands the contents of the ST, reduces the information it contains to his own mental program, then he develops this program into the TT.
A translation model is a conventional representation of the process of translating describing mental operations by which the ST or some parts of it may be translated, irrespective of whether these operations are actually performed by the translator.
The situational (or referential) model is based on the identity of the situations described in the original text and in the translation. In the situational modal this intermediate level is extralinguistic. It is the described reality, the verbal representation of the facts of life. The process of translating consists in the translator getting beyond the original text to the actual situation described in it. This is the first step of the process, i.e. the breakthrough to the situation. The second step for the translator is to describe the situation in the TL. This model includes both linguistic and extralinguistic factors.
As Prof. Miram has stated, according to the transformational approach translating is viewed as the transformation of objects and structures of the SL into those of the TL. Transformation in translation is any replacement of a SL unit by its equivalent in the TL. Transformations may be observed at the phonological, orthographic, morphological, lexical, syntactic, stylistic, pragmatic levels.
At the phonological level substitution of phonemes occurs. This is observed through such way of translation as transcribing. Transformations at the orthographic level are performed during transliteration. At the morphological level morphemes (both word-building and word-changing) ot the SL are transformed into those of the TL. For instance, English word-building suffixes "-tion, “-sion ” may be transformed in the process of translation into Ukrainian "-ція ”, "-ка ”: revolution — революція, preparation - підготовка. At the lexical level we observe transformations ot word combinations, substitutions of idioms, like: in blue mood - не в dy'ci. Syntactic transformations comprise a broad range of structural changes, from the reversal of the word order in a sentence to the division and integration of sentences in the process of translation.

4. Lexico-semantic transformations in translation.
Transformation is any change of the Source text at any level (syntactic, semantic, lexical) of the language during translation.
Lexical transformations change the semantic core of a translated word. They can be classified into the following groups:
1.Lexical substitution, or putting one word in place of another. It often results from the different semantic structures of the source language and target language words.
can be of several subtypes:
a) Specification, or substituting words with a wider meaning with words of a narrower meaning: Will you do the room? – Ты уберешься в комнате?

b) Generalization, or substituting words of a narrower meaning with those of a wider meaning: People don’t like to be stared at. – Людям не нравится, когда на них смотрят.
c) Modulation is a logical development of the notion expressed by the word: But outside it was raining. -– Но на улице шел дождь.
2. Compensation is a deliberate introduction of some additional element in the target text to make up for the loss of a similar element in the source text. The main reason for this transformation is a vocabulary lacuna in the target language. For example, one of the Galsworthy’s characters was called a leopardess. But there is no one-word equivalent of the same stylistic coloring in Russian. Therefore, the translator compensated the word by using the word тигрица to characterize the lady.

3.Metaphoric transformations are based on transferring the meaning due to the similarity of notions. The target language can re-metaphorize a word or a phrase by using the same image (Don’t dirty your hands with that money! – Не марай рук этими деньгами!).

 

5. Aspects of translating process. The communicational, denotative and distributional models of translation.
A translation model is a conventional representation of the process of translating describing mental operations by which the ST or some parts of it may be translated, irrespective of whether these operations are actually performed by the translator.
The communicational theory of translation was suggested by O.Kade and is based on the notions of communication and thesaurus.
Communication may be defined as an act of sending and receiving some information which is called a message. Information may be of any kind (e.g. gestures), but we shall limit ourselves to verbal communication only. Naturally, while communicating we inform others about something we know and we use our system of interrelated data which is called a thesaurus. We shall distinguish between two kinds of thesauruses in verbal communication: language thesaurus and subject thesaurus. Language thesaurus is a system of our knowledge which we use to formulate a message, whereas subject thesaurus is a system of our knowledge about the contents of the message. In monolingual communication there are two actors, sender and recepient, and each of them uses two thesauruses. In bilingual communication there three actors: sender, recepient and intermediary (translator). The translator has two language thesauruses (of the SL and the TL) and performs two functions: decodes the source message and encodes the target one to be received by the recipient (terminal user of the translation).
According to the denotative approach the process of translation consists of the following steps:
• translator reads/ hears a message in the SL;
• translator finds a denotatum and concept that correspond to this message;

• translator formulates a message in the TL relevant to the above-mentioned denotatum and concept.
According to the denotative model of translation the relationship between the source and target word forms is occasional rather than regular.

e.g A stitch in time saves nine. - Гарна ложка до обіду.

The distributional model of translation developed by G.Miram seems also appropriate for the description of translation since it rests on such an objective modeling basis as distribution.
1.Linguistic distribution is an ability of language units (parts of words, words and word combinations) to occur in the text together.
2.Distribution pattern reflects meaning and combinatorial potential of lexical units,
3.Distribution of lexical units in the text reflects the fragmentation of the real world in human mind.
For instance, the distributional set of the word "stone" (a set of words with which this word occurs together in the text) embraces such lexical units as “heavy”, “brown”, "gray", “round”, 'throw ", "grind " etc.
So, according to the distribution approach translation is a process of matching the distribution patterns of the source and target language units.

Types of translation equivalence.

Equivalence consists of the concept of sameness and similarity; it has the same or a similar effect or meaning in translation.
Nida argued that there are two different types of equivalence, namely formal equivalence—which is referred to as formal correspondence—and dynamic equivalence. Formal correspondence 'focuses attention on the message itself, in both form and content', unlike dynamic equivalence which is based upon 'the principle of equivalent effect'.
Formal correspondence consists of a TL item which represents the closest equivalent of a SL word or phrase. Nida and Taber make it clear that there are not always formal equivalents between language pairs. They suggest that these formal equivalents should be used wherever possible if the translation aims at achieving formal rather than dynamic equivalence.

Dynamic equivalence is defined as a translation principle according to which a translator seeks to translate the meaning of the original in such a way that the TL wording will trigger the same impact on the TC audience as the original wording did upon the ST audience.
Roman Jakobson introduced the notion of 'equivalence in difference'. He suggests three kinds of translation:
• Intralingual (within one language, i.e. rewording or paraphrase)

• Interlingual (between two languages)

• Intersemiotic (between sign systems)
Jakobson claims that, in the case of interlingual translation, the translator makes use of synonyms in order to get the ST message across. This means that in interlingual translations there is no full equivalence between code units. According to his theory, 'translation involves two equivalent messages in two different codes'