Theory of translation (english and russian)
General issues, history, grammar (finite verb forms, causative constructions etc.), semantic (translating realia and terms) and pragmatic (functional styles, etc) problems of translation. Russian-English and Russian-English-Chinese Transliteration Chart.
| Рубрика | Иностранные языки и языкознание |
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| Язык | английский |
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2. Pushkin cannot be called a translator.105 B. Tomashevsky wrote that Pushkin despised translation and considered it to be the work of minor journalists. Y. Levin supported this view by claiming that Pushkin had no consistent translation system. He regarded translation as a kind of school to study creative writing.106 Translation was never an objective in his work.
3. A compromise point of view was expressed by P. Kopanev.107 Pushkin did not work out a theoretical system of translation, but his casual statements, assessments, and translations are of great value. They demonstrate his attention to literary translation as a linguistic means of developing Russian culture. He was always well informed about Russian and translated literature, although he held translation in low esteem.
Notwithstanding this wide scope of theoretical views on Pushkin's role in translation, the following should be taken into account:
* Pushkin's translations are inseparable from his original creative writings (his translations are rather his own poems, as they are usually very far from the source texts);
* His translations are based on various theoretical principles: there are accurate, free, shortened translations and adaptations;
* Pushkin translated only great works of literature, never paying attention to minor, secondary works. Thus he contributed to the enrichment of Russian culture.
M. Lermontov is often mentioned, along with Pushkin, among the representatives of the “realistic tradition of translation”. Like Pushkin, Lermontov treated translated works as if they were his own creations.108 He emphasized some elements of a work at the expense of other elements. He also increased the stylistic pathos of his translated work, adding tragic or pathetic notes to it. He would insert his own extracts in translations. His translations (from T. More, H. Heine, A. Mickiewicz and others) did not mention the source author (that was typical of the day). From time to time, the poet simultaneously used several sources, sometimes by different authors. In a word, for Lermontov there existed no borderline between his own poetic work and translation.
A great role in Russian translation theory was played by Vissarion Belinsky. In the 1830s, Belinsky tried his hand in translating but he was great not as a translator but as a translation critic who emphasized the translator's noble mission in bringing together cultures, and developing the nation's aesthetic feelings, developing the language.109 It was Belinsky who contrasted prose translation with poetry translation in theory. In prose translation, he said, one cannot either add or reduce anything, or change the text. The purpose of translation is to substitute the source text, including all its drawbacks. The poetry translation, he thought, can be adapted to the tastes and requirements of the reading public. Some years later, though, he changed his attitude to poetry translation, believing that a translated poem should render the source text as closely as possible.
On the whole, this period of Russian translation is characterized by the special role of the translator who appeared as a creator, a poetic activist, rather than the servant of an original author or text.
§4. TRANSLATION IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY
The second half of the 19th century saw a great increase in the volume of translated literature. During this period there was a gradual decline in poetry and a rise of prose. Beginning about 1860, Russian culture was dominated by a group known as the "intelligentsia," a word that the English borrowed from the Russian but which means something rather different in its original Russian usage (`raznochintsy”).110 They did not speak or read foreign languages, which required a greater number of translations. The quantitative increase led to a qualitative decrease. Most translations of that period were very far from the original texts, as they rendered only the outline of the source text rather than its style.
This period witnessed a change of status for translated literature. In the early 19th century, translation was regarded as part and parcel of the author's original creative work (it is not by chance that Gnedich, famous for his translations, was portrayed among great Russian authors in Novgorod's monument to the thousandth anniversary of Russia.) While in the early 19th century foreign literary works were adopted by Russian literature, the situation changed drastically in the late 19th century: translated literature was shunned from the original fiction. Translated works began to be regarded as foreign literature related to Russian literature only by the new language expression they acquired. The second half of the 19th century separated the translator and the author, by subordinating the former to the latter.
One of the most outstanding poets and translators of the time was Afanasy Fet, who wrote delicate love lyrics and translated classics (Horace, Virgil, Ovid, Catullus) and German poets. According to K. Chukovsky, Fet the translator and Fet the poet are absolutely incomparable.111 Fet the poet is superb. He is superior to Fet the translator. As a translator, Fet took great care of the poetic form, nearly neglecting the sense, so that some of his poems could be understood only with reference to the source text. Fet himself did only word-for-word translations, justifying his position by comparing the translation with a picture: even the worst picture will better familiarize a person with Venus de Milo than can any verbal description. Such is the translation. It might sound clumsy in another language but it should cause the reader to feel the force and magnitude of the original.112
Why is it possible that Fet, such a splendid lyrical poet, could be so clumsy and tongue-tied in translation? Scholars explain this by Fet's agnosticism, that is, his philosophical belief that nothing can be known in depth, that only perceptible phenomena are objects of exact knowledge.113 This attitude of the poet is reflected both in his impressionist poetry where he represented only his own impressions of the intangible world, and in his translations where he reproduced the unattainable content of the source text. Thus Fet, who literally showed in translation somebody else's feelings, was opposed to Zhukovsky, who gave voice to his own, subjective feelings in translation.
In contrast to Fet's were the translation principles of Irinarkh Vvedensky, known for his free translation of C. Dickens and W. Thackeray. Vvedensky called translators, first and foremost, to read the source text carefully, to associate themselves with the author and, then, to move the author to our community and answer the question: in what form would the author express his ideas if he lived with us, in this country?114 When translating, he would typically add pages which had nothing to do with the source text. While criticizing Vvedensky's work, K. Chukovsky said that his translation was in fact a sneer at Dickens, uncontested by the Russian educated public.115
Another translation method was characteristic of Alexei K. Tolstoy, who introduced pragmatic requirements into translation. “We should not translate words, and sometimes not even sense; what is important is to convey the impression.”116 Translation should have the same impact upon the reader as has the original text.
Tolstoy's principle was developed by a revolutionary democrat M. Mikhailov, who denied literal translation and even thought it possible to make form substitutions to produce the same effect upon the reader as does the source text. Similar ideas were shared by V. Kurochkin.
§5. TRANSLATION AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
The 1880-90's is considered to be “hard times” for translation.117 In this period, the culture of translation was in decline. Translators downplayed the specific features of source texts, lost their stylistic peculiarities and were often too wordy. For instance, according to translation practices of the time, even the great Russian author Leo Tolstoy did not strive for accurate translation. When translating a short novel by Maupassant, Le Port, he gave the story another title (Франсуаза) and noted that it was not his translation but rather a story after Maupassant. Many people considered translation to be an easy job, requiring only good knowledge of a foreign language. Therefore, translations were often mediocre and uncreative. Theoretical work suffered a decline. Critics gave very superficial reviews.
The best translator of the time was P. Veinberg, who translated Shakespeare and Heine. Later translation theorists and critics reproached him for his lack of artistic form, for simplifying works.118
In that period it was claimed that great authors cannot make good translations, as they cannot give up their own creative work and be subordinate to a translated author.
Nevetheless, the end of the century marked the development of the school of philological translation,119 carried out A. Veselovsky, F. Zelinsky, F. Batyushkov. They introduced into Russian translated literature editions in which a translated text was accompanied by substantial philological commentaries.
The end of the century also witnessed a rebirth of untranslatability theory, which was propounded by the Ukrainian linguist Alexandre Potebnya.120
The period from the 1890s to 1917 was one of intellectual ferment, in which mysticism, aestheticism, Neo-Kantianism, eroticism, Marxism, apocalypticism, Nietzscheanism, and other movements combined with each other in improbable ways.121 The Symbolists saw art as a way to approach a higher reality. The first wave of Symbolists included Konstantin Balmont (1867-1942), who translated a number of English poets and wrote verse that he left unrevised on principle (he believed in first inspiration), and Valery Bryusov (1873-1924), a poet and translator of French Symbolist verse and of Virgil's Aeneid, who for years was the leader of the movement.
§6. TRANSLATION IN THE 20TH CENTURY
This century is remarkable for both its translation practice and its considerable theoretical development. It gave rise to the theory of translation as a special subject, devised by V. Komissarov, A. Fedorov, A. Shveitser. R. Minyar-Beloruchev, L. Barkhudarov and others. Their ideas were widely acknowledged, both in Russia and abroad.
As for fiction translation, there grew up two schools: the first analyzes translation in the aspect of literature studies (K. Chukovsky, I. Kashkin, V. Rossels, et al.); the other is the linguistic approach (A. Fedorov, L. Barkhudarov, V. Komissarov, V. Krupnov, Y. Retsker and others.)
The scope and amount of literary translations has been increasing. In the 1930s, Maxim Gorky started the World Literature series. Since 1955, the monthly Inostrannaya Literatura has been publishing the latest prose and poems in translation. Many talented translators became known and respected during this period; among them M. Lozinsky, S. Marshak, E. Kalashnikova, N. Shchepkina-Kupernik and many others.
Special attention was paid to translating literature from and into languages of former Soviet republics and minor languages of indigenous people of Siberia and the North. To work with these languages, a method of interlinear translation (подстрочный перевод) has often been used.
This century gave rise to scientific and technical translation. In the world, over 100,000 journals are published in different languages, which include 4 million articles; about 200,000 inventions are patented annually; over 250,000 scientific works are written.122 Due to the enormous amount of information necessary for translation, MAT (machine-aided translation) systems have progressed; the All-Union Center for Scientific and Technical Translation (Moscow) was one of the largest institutions involved in developing machine translation. Structural linguistics and communication theory have been introduced into the study of translation.
This century also witnessed the rise of a new type of interpretation, simultaneous interpretation, theoretically based on the works of G. Chernov, A. Shiryayev123.
PART III. GRAMMAR PROBLEMS OF TRANSLATION
Chapter 1. FORMAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOURCE TEXT AND TARGET TEXT
Source language and target language texts differ formally due to a number of reasons of both objective and subjective character. Objective reasons are caused by the divergence in the language systems and speech models. Subjective reasons can be attributed to the speaker's choice of a language form.
Thus, systemic dissimilarity of forms takes place when one of the languages lacks some grammar category and, therefore, has no corresponding form. For example, English possesses the morphological categories of the article or the gerund lacking in the Russian language; whereas in Russian there is a category of adverbial participle (деепричастие) missing in the English language. To translate these forms, one has to compensate them or restructure the sentence. Unique categories in one of the languages can occur at the syntactic level as well. For example, English absolute constructions, complex object and complex subject (with the infinitive and participle), are alien to the Russian language. Therefore, they require special attention from students of English.
On the other hand, there are linguistic phenomena that exist in both languages but differ in some details, which also causes difficulties in translation. For example, passive voice is found both in English and Russian, but in English it is represented by the indirect and prepositional passive construction (He is given a book. He is asked for.) but the Russian language has only the direct passive construction (Книга дана ему).
Objective reasons for formal dissimilarities include differences in word combination norms and models that make up language traditions. For example, in English it is possible to say Table I lists… but in Russian the similar structure is ridiculous (*Таблица 1 перечисляет…). It is much more “Russian” to verbalize the source of information as the adverbial modifier of place: В таблице 1 перечислены…
Similar structures in both languages can be used with different frequency in different types of text. Violation of the frequency rate can lead to awkward language usage. For example, an English scientific text utilizes more simple sentences, whereas in Russian one can find an abundance of complex sentences.
Thus the objective reasons for formal dissimilarities can be classified into those caused by the language system, by norm and by usage.
Subjective reasons for formal alterations in the target text are accounted for by a communicator's (or translator's) personal intention, emphasis or preference. These reasons include the communicative structure of the utterance, that is, emphasis on the logically stressed word that can lead to the change of syntactic structure:** See Chapter 8 §1 A woman entered the room. - В комнату вошла женщина.
They also include pragmatic adaptations of the sentence to the receptor by adding or reducing some information in the utterance (which results in complex rather than grammar transformations): WSU is located in Pullman, WA. - Вашингтонский университет расположен в городе Пулман, штат Вашингтон.
Translator's idiolect, or his/her individual language system distinguishing him/her from another person, is also responsible for the difference in formal alterations: He fell a week before Armistice was declared. - Он пал за неделю до того, как объявили перемирие. The translator chose here a complex sentence instead of a simple one (Он пал за неделю до объявления перемирия), perhaps because this structure was more typical for his idiolect than the second one.
Thus, difference in formal structures of the source and target texts can also be accounted for by the communicator's logical accentuation, as well as by the pragmatic adaptation of the utterance to the receptor and translator's idiolect. These reasons are of a subjective character, as compared with the first group.
Chapter 2. TRANSLATING FINITE VERB FORMS
§1. TRANSLATING TENSE AND ASPECT FORMS
Every student of English has been challenged by the difference between English and Russian tense and aspect categories. To begin with, in English there are four major aspect groups (Simple, Progressive, Perfect, Perfect Progressive), showing how the action is performed, multiplied by four time indicators (Present, Past, Future, Future in the Past.) In Russian there are three time indicators, called tenses (Present, Past, Future), and two aspects, perfective and imperfective. Therefore, English and Russian forms are not parallel, though some regularities might be observed between them.
English Simple (Indefinite) tenses denoting regular, permanent actions correspond to the Russian imperfective aspect: Water boils at 100є Centigrade. - Вода кипит при 100єC. When expressing an action as a single fact, a Simple tense corresponds to the Russian perfective form: When I heard the news, I walked faster and faster. - Когда я услышала эту новость я пошла быстрее. Very often the contrast between the meanings expressed by a Simple tense is seen in the microcontext: a single action is indicated by a verb-noun predicate: She gave a cry. - Она вскрикнула. (Cf. She cried hoarsely. - Она хрипло кричала.); by a phrasal verb: She cried something out. - Она что-то выкрикнула.; or by parallel (homogeneous) predicates: He cried something unintelligible and rushed past. - Он крикнул что-то невнятно и пронесся мимо.
Progressive tenses, denoting temporary continuous actions, correspond to the Russian imperfective form: He first became interested in drama when he was working abroad. - Он впервые заинтересовался драматургией, когда работал за границей. The same holds true in reference to permanent actions expressed in emotional speech: You are always coming late! - Вечно ты опаздываешь! But when expressing a future action, especially a `matter-of-fact' future, the English Progressive corresponds to the Russian perfective: Spring is coming. Birds will be flying back soon. - Идет весна. Вскоре прилетят птицы.
English Perfect forms, when expressing a completed action, correspond to Russian perfective verbs: I haven't finished yet. - Я еще не закончила. By the time we got there the rain had stopped. - К тому времени, как мы добрались туда, дождь уже прекратился. To render the meaning of completion expressed by the Perfect verb, a translator has to use the technique of compensation and extension by introducing adverbs implying completion: уже, еще, etc. Therefore, there is no need, when translating from Russian into English the sentence Я уже прочел эту книгу, to use the adverb already. I have read the book is enough to express the completed action.
When a Perfect tense expresses a multiple action that took place in the past and can happen in the future, the English verb corresponds to the Russian imperfective form: I've met Ann's husband. - Я встречала мужа Энн. I have eaten at that restaurant many times. - Я ел в этом ресторане много раз.
It is not infrequent that Perfect tenses require lexical compensation in translation: Russian literature has possessed the feeling of the sole. - Русская литература всегда характеризовалась чувством одиночества. I have lived here for two years. - Я прожил здесь два года и до сих пор живу. He had been a captain. - Когда-то он был капитаном.
Perfect Progressive tense forms denote an action begun before another action and continued into it; they correspond to the Russian imperfective forms: He has been studying Japanese for three years. - Он изучает японский язык уже три года.
There is also asymmetry in expressing tense distinctions in English and Russian. Russian future tenses correspond to English present tense forms in adverbial clauses: Если он придет, я дам вам знать. - If he comes, I'll let you know. When the English present tense is used to denote the near future, in Russian the present tense form alternates with the future: We are going downtown in some minutes. - Мы пойдем/идем в город через несколько минут. The train arrives in five minutes. - Поезд прибудет через пять минут.
The English Present Perfect or Present Perfect Continuous verb is usually translated by the Russian past tense verb, since it indicates a `prepresent' action: Who has eaten my soup? - Кто съел мой суп? Who has been eating my soup? - Кто ел мой суп?
What are the possible traps for the translator beside this asymmetry? Care should be taken with the connotation of the tense forms: in emotional speech the English Progressive and Simple tenses seem to exchange their aspect characteristics: the Progressive form indicates an exaggerated permanent action and the Simple verb denotes an action taking place at the moment of speech, the speaker's emphasis being placed on the circumstances rather than the action itself. In this case the corresponding degree of expressiveness in Russian can be reached by lexical compensation: She is always complaining! - Вечно она жалуется! Why don't you write? - Ну, почему ты не пишешь?
Lexical compensation is often a way out in contrasting tense and aspect forms: «Почему ты не знаешь правила?» - «Я учил.» - «Учил, да не выучил.» “Why don't you know the rule?” - “I learnt it.” - “You tried to, but failed.” I sobbed a little still, but that was because I had been crying, not because I was crying then. - Я еще всхлипывала, но это потому, что я плакала перед этим, а не потому, что я ревела в этот момент.
Inexperienced students of translation, though they have studied the rule of Sequence of Tenses in their grammar class, are sometimes not aware that this rule does not exist in Russian. Therefore, when translating from Russian into English, they are likely to do word-for-word translation (or rather “tense-for-tense” translation), which is not correct in Russian: I knew he was in the village. - Я знал, что он в деревне (rather than Я знал, что он был в деревне.) The latter Russian sentence corresponds to the English I knew he had been in the village.
§2. TRANSLATING PASSIVE VOICE FORMS
English and Russian passive forms are different both in type of form constructions and in frequency.
English passive voice is used more frequently due to the various types of construction it occurs in. Whereas Russian passive voice construction is formed only by transitive verbs requiring a direct object when used as an active voice structure, English passive is classified into four types of construction:
a) direct passive: A book was given to him. It has a corresponding Russian passive voice form: Книга была дана ему.
b) indirect passive: He was given the book. This form is translated by the corresponding Russian active voice verb in the impersonal sentence: Ему дали эту книгу.
c) prepositional passive: The article was not referred to. - На эту статью не ссылались. The corresponding Russian impersonal sentence is also with the active verb.
d) adverbial passive: The room hasn't been lived in. When translated into Russian, the passive construction is substituted by an active one, sometimes a subject of the sentence is introduced: В комнате никто не жил/не живет.
Thus, only one type of English passive construction has a direct correspondence in Russian. But not all English direct passive constructions can be transformed into Russian passive, since the verb transitivity in English and Russian does not coincide. Cf. to enter the room - войти в комнату, to join the party - вступить в партию, to follow somebody - следовать за кем-то, to attend the meeting - присутствовать на собрании, to influence somebody - влиять на кого-то: The next morning this event was reported by all the papers. - На следующее утро об этом событии сообщили все газеты.
Care should be taken when translating English parallel passive verbs, since they may correspond in Russian to the verbs of different cases: He was trusted and respected. - Ему доверяли и его уважали. In this case the Russian sentence requires repetition of the pronominal object (ему - его); otherwise, the sentence would sound grammatically incorrect (*Ему доверяли и уважали).
As for passive forms, there are two types in English: be-passive and get-passive. The latter is mostly used to indicate the starting point of the action: They got married. - Они поженились. The get-passive is also used to express negative connotation, when the object of the action undergoes something unpleasant or dangerous:1124 В е й х м а н Г. А. Новое в английской грамматике. - М.: Высшая школа, 1990. - С.39.24 He got hurt. - Он ушибся. (Он обиделся.) He got injured in a road accident. - Он получил травму во время дорожной аварии.
In Russian there are also two passive verb forms. They derive from the parallel synthetic and analytical forms: строился - был построен. The difference between the forms is either semantic or stylistic. As for their meanings, the analytical form denotes a state, whereas the synthetic form expresses a process: Дом был построен этой бригадой. - Дом строился этой бригадой. In English this difference is rendered by the Simple and the Progressive forms, respectively: The house was built by this team. - The house was being built by this team. When no agent of the action is mentioned, the Russian synthetic verb form can be substituted in English by the prepositional noun predicative: Мост строится с прошлого года. - The bridge has been under construction since last year. Or the difference between the forms can be stylistic: while the analytical form is used in literary or academic works, the synthetic form in colloquial speech can also denote a fact, not a process, thus corresponding to the English The house was built by this team.
As for the synonymy of the indefinite personal active and passive forms in Russian, the difference lies in style: the passive form is more formal: George was invited to spend the month of August in Crome. - Cf. 1) Джордж был приглашен провести август в Кроуме. 2) Джорджа пригласили провести август в Кроуме.
One challenge of translating is the English “double passive”. It takes place when the main predicate is used in the passive voice and the following infinitive is also passive: The treaty is reported to have been signed by both parties. In translation, the predicate can be substituted by the active verb: Сообщают, что договор уже подписан обеими сторонами. The principal clause can also be substituted by a parenthetical one: Как сообщают, договор уже подписан обеими сторонами. Or the passive infinitive can be substituted for the active one, so that the sentence subject turns into the sentence object: The prisoners were ordered to be shot. - Было приказано расстрелять пленников. Finally, there might be a substitution by the noun: The music is intended to be played on the piano. - Музыка предназначена для игры на фортепьяно.
§3. TRANSLATING THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD FORMS
In both English and Russian the Subjunctive Mood expresses a hypothetical, unreal action. In Russian, there is only one form: the past form of the verb + the particle бы: Я хотел бы пойти туда. (In informal speech, though, the verb can be omitted, with only the particle expressing the hypothetical action: Чайку бы! Sometimes the Russian subjunctive form can be reduced to the conjunction чтобы only.) In English, unlike Russian, there are many verb forms to express the subjunctive mood: synthetic forms be/do, were/did; analytical forms should/would, do/have done, might/could do/have done, may/can do, had done, which is a challenge for a fledgling translator.
Usage of the English subjunctive forms depends on the clause structure and semantics of the main verb. Thus, adverbial clauses of condition presuppose the usage of the were/ did or had done forms: Если бы я только знала… - If only I knew (had known), nominative (object, subject, attributive, predicative, that is, nominal part of the predicate) clauses predetermine the usage of (should) do forms: Предлагаю, чтобы он это сделал. - I suggest that he (should) do it. On the other hand, clauses of the same syntactic function vary depending on the meaning of the main verb. For example, in object clauses that depend on the verb wish, the were/did form can be used (I wish it were summer), as well as had done forms (I wish he had not discussed it with you yesterday.) In clauses depending on information verbs and expressing proposition the (should) do form is used (In the year 325 A.D. it was decreed that Easter fall on the first Sunday after the full moon following the first day of spring.). If a clause depends on the verb denoting anxiety, the can (could) / may (might) forms are used: I am afraid that he could forget it.
The Russian subjunctive mood form does not indicate time relations, there being only one verb form. In English a speaker shows time distinctions by the verb forms: If I had known it yesterday and if I knew it now… I wish I could help you (now). I wish I could have helped you in that accident. To render in Russian the meaning of the English sentence one has to compensate the English verb form by some modifier indicating time: If she were in New York, she would certainly call you. - Если бы она сейчас была в Нью-Йорке, она бы, конечно, позвонила вам. If you had followed your father's advice and gone into the army, you would probably be a colonel by now. - Если бы ты тогда послушал совета своего отца и пошел бы в армию, сейчас ты, возможно, был бы уже полковником. If the meaning of time is clear from the context, a zero transformation is employed in Russian: The demonstration would have passed off quite peacefully, had the organizers taken a few elementary precautions. - Если бы организаторы предусмотрели элементарные меры безопасности, демонстрация прошла бы вполне мирно.
To render some structures, the “problematic condition” in particular, it is necessary to substitute the subjunctive mood by the future tense form of the indicative mood, compensating lexically the specific construction meaning: Should I not be promoted, I'm going to have to go out and look for a better-paying job. - Если все же меня не повысят в должности, я буду вынужден уехать в поисках лучше оплачиваемой работы.
Constructions with the `wish'-clauses often require antonymous translation: I wish she were here. - Жаль, что ее здесь нет. I wish you had not said it to him. - Жаль, что ты ему это сказал.
It is not infrequent that English and Russian sentences differ in degree of certainty or uncertainty expressed by the mood construction. An English sentence shows more vividly the speaker's attitude to the situation, whether s/he considers the situation real or unreal. Cf. It looks as if he were sick. (I am not sure). - It looks as if he is sick. (He really is but I wouldn't like to sound categorical.) In Russian this subtle difference in meaning is lost: Кажется, он болен.
Chapter 3. TRANSLATING NON-FINITE VERB FORMS
§1. TRANSLATING THE INFINITIVE
The challenges in translating the English infinitive are due to its specific forms, functions and structures.
Unlike Russian, the English language possesses a number of forms of the same verb: the Simple infinitive, the Continuous infinitive, the Perfect infinitive, the Perfect Continuous infinitive. The first two forms indicate actions simultaneous with that of the main predicate: Я рада, что вижу вас. - I am glad to see you. Я рада, что читаю эту книгу. - I am glad to be reading the book, or the future actions: Я рада, что пойду туда. - I am glad to go there. The Perfect and Perfect Continuous infinitives denote actions prior to that of the predicate: Я рада, что увидела вас. - I am glad to have seen you. Я рада, что читала эту книгу. - I am glad to have been reading the book. On the other hand, the difference between the Simple / Perfect and Continuous / Perfect Continuous forms of the infinitive lies in expressing either a fact (incomplete or completed) or a process, respectively:
рад, что делаю (каждый день) - glad to do (every day)
рад, что делаю сейчас - glad to be doing
рад, что буду делать - glad to do
рад сделать (что сделаю) - glad to do
рад, что сделал - glad to have done
рад, что делал - glad to have been doing.
The actual meaning of the infinitive can be determined by the context only.
English infinitive functions can also be a stumbling block for a fledgling translator. The attributive function of the infinitive can cause difficulties in translation due to its modal meaning: This is a book to read. - Вот книга, которую можно (нужно) почитать. The type of modal meaning can be seen from the context: When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it. (Emerson) - Когда природе предстоит что-то сделать, она создает гения, который может сделать это. However, it is not always necessary to verbalize the modal meaning in Russian: The latest reports from Europol, the organization to be established for the coordination of police work in all the countries of the European Union, indicates that it has not yet been able to agree on a single working language. - В последних докладах Европола, организации, созданной для координации работы полиции во всех странах Европейского Союза, отмечается, что в вопросе о едином рабочем языке согласия еще не достигнуто. As is seen from the examples, the attributive infinitive usually has the meaning of a future action/state.
The function of some adverbial infinitives presents difficulties in translation. For example, the English infinitive can be used to denote a subsequent event or a parallel action, which is often confused with the infinitive of purpose: Iron combines with oxygen to form rust. - Железо соединяется с кислородом и образует ржавчину. The infinitive in this function is usually rendered by a parallel finite verb: (In many rooms, one wall or another was overgrown with black-green mold.) … In some rooms, the mold grew thickly halfway down a wall, only to stop in a sharp horizontal line, as if cut by a knife. - (Во многих комнатах одна-две стены были покрыты темно-зеленой плесенью)…В некоторых комнатах плесень густо покрывала полстены, и резко прерывалась, словно ножом была проведена горизонтальная линия.
This infinitive should be distinguished from the infinitive of purpose: Live not to eat, but eat to live. - Живи не для того, чтобы есть, но ешь для того, чтобы жить.
When translating the infinitive of result, a translator should take care to render properly the connotation of the construction: the infinitive with too implies a negative meaning, while the infinitive with enough suggests a positive one: She is too old to go there. - Она слишком стара и не поедет туда. She is old enough to go there. - Она достаточно взрослая и может поехать туда.
Infinitive constructions are the most challenging problem. They are usually translated by a clause. For instance, the Complex Object construction: We expect them to pay us by Friday. - Мы ожидаем, что нам дадут зарплату к пятнице.
When translating the Complex Subject construction, it is recommended that the finite verb be translated first, and then the subject and the infinitive be joined to form a clause: After a few minutes the men were seen to be running in all directions. - Через несколько минут увидели, что эти люди бегут в разные стороны. The letter seems to have been opened. - Кажется, письмо уже вскрыли. The main verb of the sentence is translated with the indefinite or impersonal form (кажется, видели) or with a parenthetical phrase (конечно, по-видимому, очевидно): The reporters were certain to misunderstand his attendance... - Конечно, журналисты неправильно истолковали его присутствие .., or by an introductory phrase (согласно сообщению, как сообщают): The EPO is expected to make a final decision in the near future. - Как ожидают, Европейское патентное ведомство примет решение в ближайшем будущем.
When dealing with the for-to-infinitive construction, a translator substitutes an English simple sentence with a Russian complex one, i.e. s/he does the partitioning of the sentence: She arranged for the office to be opened by one of the security people. - Она устроила так, что офис открыл один из охранников. In some cases this type of construction can be rendered by a compound sentence: He was a very nice fellow, you had only to say you wanted something for him to give it to you. - Он был очень славный малый: стоило вам только сказать, что вам что-то нужно, и он тут же давал это вам.
Special difficulties can arise from the Absolute construction with the infinitive. This construction usually has the meaning either of concession or of successive events: With so much to say, the two said nothing. - И хотя этим двоим так много надо было сказать, они не сказали ничего. The resolution calls for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied territories, with a peace conference to follow. - В резолюции содержится призыв вывести израильские войска с оккупированных территорий, после чего будет созвана мирная конференция.
To summarize, the ways of translating English infinitives are as follows:
by the infinitive: To err is human. - Человеку свойственно ошибаться.
by the noun: The best way to make children good is to make them happy. - Лучший способ воспитания хороших детей - это сделать их счастливыми.
by the participle: The problem to be considered in Chapter 2 is concerned with the article. - Вопрос, рассматриваемый в главе 2, касается артикля.
by the clause: Вопрос, который будет рассмотрен в главе 2, касается артикля.
by homogeneous, that is, parallel, verbs: He went to Australia to fall sick there. - Он поехал в Австралию и там заболел.
§2. TRANSLATING THE GERUND
The gerund is not a regular equivalent of the Russian adverbial participle (деепричастие). It is closer to the verbal noun than to the adverbial participle.
The gerund can be translated by the following means:
the noun: A woman's idea of keeping a secret is refusing to tell who told it. - Представление женщины о том, как надо хранить секрет, - это отказ сообщить, кто ей его рассказал.
the infinitive: There's nothing more tragic in life than the utter impossibility of changing what you have done. - Нет ничего трагичнее в жизни, чем абсолютная невозможность изменить то, что ты сделал.
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