Theory of translation (english and russian)

Most typically, when translating foreign speech from English into Russian, a translator has to violate Russian rules of morphological and syntactic bonds between the words to show a foreign accent.

A non-traditional way of rendering Russian words in the speech of English teenagers was found by the translator of Anthony Burgess's novel ”Заводной апельсин”, V. Boshniak. Burgess used Russian words, sometimes distorted, but written in Latin letters, to make the text sound strange for an English-speaking reader, to produce an ironic effect upon the receptor. This is mostly youth slang or neutral words, the meaning of which is incomprehensible for an English reader. To produce the same strange effect upon the translation reader, the translator borrowed a transliterated form of these Russian words and wrote them in Latin letters: Тут мы уже выступали этакими pai-malltshikami, улыбались, делали благовоспитанный zdrasting…²²¹¹ Б ё р д ж е с с Э. Заводной апельсин /Пер. с англ. В. Бошняка - Л.: Худож. лит., Человек, 1991. - С. 15.¹¹

Substandard speech includes four-letter and other taboo words as well as agrammatical forms and constructions. To maintain communicative adequacy in translation, it is necessary to understand that, transferred from one culture into another, these forms may provide a different, often inappropriate response from the receptor if translated too literally. In English many words of this type (abundant in videos) sound less rude than they do in Russian. Therefore, they are often neutralized in Russian translation.

This tactic is vital in oral translation of negotiations, interviews and the like. If there happens to be a participant who prefers an obscene word, the professional etiquette will not allow an interpreter to translate it. An experienced interpreter will soften the expressiveness of the word. A good example was provided by R. Minyar-Beloruchev's practice. As a simultaneous interpreter, he happened to be translating Nikita Khrushchev at the Communist Parties leaders' meeting in Moscow (1959). When the leader of Albanian communist party began to criticize Khrushchev for reducing help to Albania, the latter blew his cool, «И этот человек обос…л нас с ног до головы, туды его мать!» What should a simultaneous interpreter do in his booth? Minyar-Beloruchev, who was translating into French, used a milder phrase, of the kind “this man has thrown mud at me from head to toe”. At first this translation infuriated the General Secretary's assistant, but in some minutes Krushchev sent his thanks to the interpreter, as he did not want his rude expressions to be heard in all the languages.²²¹² Ч у ж а к и н А., П а л а ж ч е н к о П. Мир перевода, или Вечный поиск взаимопонимания. - М.: Валент, 1997. - С.87-88.¹²

Agrammatical phrases purposefully used by the author to create a character can be compensated by other agrammatical forms typical of the speech in the target language or by colloquial structures, also typical of uneducated people. An example from “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” illustrates the case: Tom and Huck Finn are wading through the graveyard: “Hucky, do you believe the dead people like it for us to be here?” Huckleberry whispered: “I wisht I knowed. It's awful solemn like, ain't it?” “I bet it is.”²²¹³ T w a i n M. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. - Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1960. - P.84.¹³ In the Russian translation, Huck's incorrect forms are compensated by low colloquial syntactic constructions:

Как ты думаешь, Гек, мертвецы не обидятся, что мы сюда пришли,

Я почем знаю. А страшно как, правда?

Еще бы не страшно.²²¹⁴ Т в е н М. Приключения Тома Сойера. Приключения Гекльберри Финна. Рассказы. / Пер. с англ.Н. Дарузес - М.: Худож. лит., 1971. - С.72.¹⁴

§4. COMMUNICATIVE EFFECT UPON THE RECEPTOR

A target text should convey the same information as the source text and produce the same impact on the receptor as does the source text.²²¹⁵ Ч е р н я х о в ск а я Л. Некоторые закономерности речевой деятельности применительно к теории перевода. - Тетради переводчика. - Вып. № 8. - С. 9.¹⁵ To get full information from the text, the receptor must have adequate background knowledge. This knowledge may not be enough if the receptor is not well acquainted with the source language culture. New realia, habits and customs are usually commented upon by a translator.^** See Part IV, Chapter 2 Sometimes a translator uses commentary notes in the text, but they are inconvenient, as they distract the reader's attention. It is also possible to place a commentary in the footnote. But most typically, explication is given after the text or, more rarely, before it.

Besides extended commentaries, a translator can use a technique of explicatory translation: вчера мы купили коробку «Птичьего молока». - We bought a box of candies “Bird Milk” yesterday. Irrelevant information can be reduced from the text or generalized, if its explanation distracts the reader's attention: “I'm very busy,” Ollie answered as he sat in a worn Naugahyde chair. (Grisham) - «Я очень занят,»- ответил Олли, сидя в потрепанном дерматиновом кресле.

Substitutions, the aim of which is to make the text closer and more comprehensible for the receptor, are not infrequent in translation. A good example of substitution is provided by V. Nabokov's Аня в стране чудес, a translation of Alice in Wonderland by L. Carroll. Addressing the tale to a young reader, Nabokov replaced some English realia with their Russian analogues (for example, when Alice grew so tall that her feet seemed to be almost out of sight, she started planning how she would send them presents to the following address: Alice's Right Foot, Esq.

Hearthrug,

near the Fender;²²¹⁶ C a r r o l l L. Alice in Wonderland. - М.: Прогресс, 1979. - С. 47.¹⁶

Nabokov simulated a Russian address:

Госпоже Правой Ноге Аниной,

Город Коврик

Паркетная губерния²²¹⁷ К э р р о л л Л. Аня в стране чудес / Авторизов. перев. с англ. В. Набокова - М.: Сов. композитор, 1991. - С. 9.¹⁷),

and changed the names into Russian (Alice - Аня, Mary-Anne - Маша, Pat - Петька). He even used Russian poetry allusions instead of English nursery parodies written by Carroll:

“ `You are old, father William,' the young man said,

`And your hair has become very white;

And yet you incessantly stand on your head -

Do you think, at your age, it is right?'

“ `In my youth,' Father William replied to his son,

I feared it might injure the brain;

But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,

Why, I do it again and again.' ” (a parody on R. Southey)

These lines are generally unfamiliar to a Russian child. To make a Russian reader enjoy the parody, Nabokov alluded to Lermontov lines, known by every Russian schoolchild:

Скажи-ка, дядя, ведь недаром

Тебя считают очень старым:

Ведь, право же, ты сед

И располнел ты несказанно.

Зачем же ходишь постоянно

На голове? Ведь, право ж, странно

Шалить на склоне лет!

И молвил он: «В былое время

Держал, как дорогое бремя,

Я голову свою…

Теперь же, скажем откровенно,

Мозгов лишен я совершенно

И с легким сердцем, вдохновенно

На голове стою.»

Regarding the receptor's comprehension of the text, another problem arises - rendering the historical overtone of a text. A source text can be distanced from the target language receptor not only in culture, but also in time. Books belonging to earlier literature are understood differently by source language readers and target language readers, due to the difference in their knowledge and cultural backgrounds. How can a translator solve the problem of conveying a historical coloring? There are two main ways: 1) using an archaic syntax and vocabulary, typical of the target language works (for example, when translating from English into Russian, using 18^th century Russian, of the type: Правда, чтоб видеть сие явственнее еще, потребно самому иметь и очи и чувства ипохондрические; но я, благодаря бога! будучи оными всещедро одарен, надеюсь представить вам самую живейшую картину тех лиц и особ, с коими я на берегу часто общался. - Н. Новиков); 2) using today's syntax and some archaic words and culture-bound words for the local and historical coloring. This can be exemplified by an abstract from Gulliver's Travels by J. Swift: My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the third of five sons. He sent me to Emanuel College in Cambridge, at fourteen years old, where I resided three years, and applied myself close to my studies; but the charge of maintaining me (although I had a very scanty allowance) being too great for a narrow future, I was bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent surgeon in London, with whom I continued four years; and my father now and then sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learning navigation, and other parts of the mathematics, useful to those who intend to travel, as I always believed it would be some time or other my fortune to do. The translator did some partitioning and other transformations to make the text better adapted to the contemporary reader, retaining the culture-bound words (unfortunately, some information was necessarily reduced): Я уроженец Ноттингемпшира, где у моего отца было небольшое поместье. Когда мне исполнилось четырнадцать лет, отец послал меня в колледж Иманьюела в Кембридже. Там я пробыл три года, прилежно занимаясь науками. Однако отцу было не по средствам дольше содержать меня в колледже, поэтому он взял меня оттуда и отдал в учение к выдающемуся лондонскому врачу мистеру Джемсу Бетсу, у которого я провел четыре года. Все деньги, какие изредка присылал мне отец, я тратил на изучение навигации и других отраслей математики. Эти науки всегда могли пригодиться в путешествии, а я был убежден, что судьба предназначила мне сделаться путешественником. (Transl. by B. Engelgardt)

The first method may be misleading in the sense that it can make the reader imagine him/herself reading a Russian original rather than a translation. Therefore, translators mostly prefer the second way of rendering historical texts.

§5. TRANSLATOR'S IMPACT

In the attempt to make a good translation, a translator, nevertheless bears the influence of cultural and literary trends typical of the time, which effect his/her outlook and have a certain impact on the translation. It brings us back to the history of translation. It is known that Vasily Zhukovsky, translating Byron, avoided all themes of rebellion from the poet's works, as they were alien to the translator. On the other hand, he emphasized the religious motifs in Byron's poems. He adjusted Byron's poetry to himself, which allowed V. Belinsky to say that he was a poet rather than a translator.

Another example of ideological incursion in translation was Voltaire's translation of Hamlet's soliloquy, not as a meditation on death, but as a diatribe against religion.²²¹⁸ R o u t l e d g e E n c y c l o p e d i a … - P. 109¹⁸

These days it is considered necessary for a translator to follow only the source language author, sometimes at the expense of his/her own artistic work.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the quality of translation is dependent on translator's personal knowledge, intuitions and artistic competence.

Chapter 2. SPEECH FUNCTIONS AND TRANSLATION

The expressive, or emotive, function is closely connected with the interpersonal function, as it also shows a person's attitude to what s/he is talking about, the emotions s/he feels when saying something, irrespective of any response.²²²⁹ N e w m a r k P. A Textbook of Translation. - New York, London a.o.: Prentice Hall, 1988. - P.39.²⁹ It shows the mental state of a person in relation to what s/he is talking about.

Most typically the expressive function is met in colloquial speech, in fiction, in journalistic register.

Researchers have described some components that make up the expressive function:²²³⁰ Ш а х о в с к и й В. И. К проблеме трансляции коннотативных компонентов переводимой единицы содержания текста оригинала // Тетради переводчика. Вып. 17. - М.: Международные отношения, 1980. - С.28-30.³⁰

emotive semes (emosemes)

expressive semes (expressemes)

appreciative semes (appresemes)

stylistic semes (stylesemes)

pragmatic semes (pragmemes)

Emotive semes, or emosemes, are bits of meaning, with the help of which a person expresses emotions. “You old fool,” said Mrs. Meade tenderly… (Mitchell) - “Ах, ты, дурачок,' - нежно сказала миссис Мид…The word tenderly shows positive emotions expressed in the first words, which makes a translator choose a diminutive form of address in Russian and reduce the adjective old (compare the opposite meaning of the phrase “Ах, ты, старый дурак”). As has been described in Part IV Chapter 9 §3, expressive affixes are a cultural and linguistic peculiarity of Russian. Though they exist in English (-let, -ster, -ard, -kin, --ling), affixes of this type are used far less frequently.

Emotions (regret, annoyance, etc.) can be expressed not only by notional emotive words, but also by interjections: Since we did not succeed, why, we must try again. - Раз мы потерпели неудачу, что ж, надо попытаться снова.

Modal verbs can also contribute to expressing emotions, for example, irony. This is typical of the modal verbs would, could and might: “And then Harry got drunk.” “He would do, wouldn't he!” - “И затем Гарри напился.” “Это так на него похоже!” You could help me with the dishes! - Мог бы помочь мне с посудой!

Expressive semes (expressemes) intensify the denotative meaning either by special intensifying phrases or by creating an image through a metaphor or simile.

Intensification can involve the use of adverbs. The position of an adverb can be decisive in meaning and it, therefore, effects the translation: They attacked him violently. - Они напали на него со всей силой (physical assault is implied.) They violently attacked him. - Они подвергли его яростным нападкам (verbal assault is implied.)²²³¹ Б у з а р о в В. В. Основы синтаксиса английской разговорной речи. - М.: Просвещение, 1986. - С.117.³¹

In informal American English, the phrases sort of and kind of are used as intensifiers before any part of speech, including the verb: “He doesn't have any job,” Maxwell explained. “He just sort of hangs around various labs and lends a hand.” (M. Wilson) - “У него нет работы,” - объяснил Максуэлл. “Он вроде как крутится возле разных лабораторий и помогает.” He is kind of clever. - Он вроде умный. In Russian, particles and adverbs are widely used as intensifiers.

Special syntactic constructions are used to intensify the expression: Don't I know that! -Мне ли не знать этого! Who should come in but the mayor himself! - Кто бы вы думали вошел - сам мэр! Look here, Father, you and I have always been good friends, haven't we? - Слушай, папа, мы с тобой всегда были хорошими друзьями, правда?

Comparisons, similes and metaphors have good expressive power.^** See Part IV, Chapter 5 (translating idioms); Part V, Chapter 4 (translating similes and metaphors) …Я открыла глаза, смотрю: она, моя голубушка, сидит на постели, сложила вот этак ручки, а слезы в три ручья так и текут (Л.Толстой). - …I opened my eyes and looked: there she was, the darling, sitting on the bed with her hands clasped so, and the tears came streaming out of her eyes (Transl. by S. Lubensky). The Russian idiom течь в три ручья is substituted here by a metaphorically charged verb, converted from a noun. This sentence illustrates another typical dissimilarity of Russian and English. Russian communicators tend to apply zoological metaphors to addressing people (in this sentence we deal with the appositive metaphor: моя голубушка). These images are alien to foreigners. English-speaking people use quite a definite set of expressive means in this case.^** See §4 of this chapter.

Appreciative semes (appresemes) are responsible for the speaker's approval or disapproval of a situation. It is interesting to know that in Russian and English semes for disapproval prevail over approbation semes (there are more words for blaming than for praising).²²³² Ш а х о в с к и й В. И. Категоризация эмоций в лексико-семантической системе языка. - Воронеж: Изд-во Воронеж. Ун-та, 1987. - С. 158.³² “You are a fine honest rogue, Scarlet!” A rogue! Queer that the term should hurt her. She wasn't a rogue, she told herself vehemently. (M. Mitchell) - “Ты прекрасная убежденная плутовка, Скарлет!” Плутовка! Странно, что это слово так ранило ее. Она вовсе не плутовка, яростно повторяла она. A sudden combination of words with different appreciative connotation does not soften the negative meaning of the word rogue and this contrast must be rendered in translation.

Context plays a very important role in determining the appreseme. Depending on the situation, the phrase What a man! can be translated with approval: Какой человек! Ну и человек! Вот человек! Вот это человек! or with disapproval: Что за человек! Ну и тип! Prosody of the utterances would also be different.

Russian diminutive and pejorative forms of address (Ванечка - Ванька) are usually lost for an English-speaking person, unaccustomed to such forms: Ванечка, подожди минуту! (И. Куприн) - Vanya! Wait a minute.

Stylistic semes (stylesemes) lower or elevat the tone of speech. K. Chukovsky illustrates stylesemes with his well-known denotative synonyms: Светловолосая дева, чего ты дрожишь? Рыжая девка, чего ты трясешься?

Stylistic semes regulate semantic agreement of words. The following sentences seem odd or humorous because they include words with opposite stylistic charges: He commenced to scratch his back. Графиня хлебала щи с аппетитом. Since not all stylistically charged words have equivalents of the same style in the target language, there is a possible trap for a translator to lose a styleseme or change it.

Pragmatic semes (pragmemes) arouse communicator's particular background associations. These semes are most difficult to render, since they may fail to coincide even for representatives of the same ethnic culture but of different generation (the phrase “союз нерушимый” will evoke nostalgic feelings of the former country, the USSR, with an elderly person, but it practically says nothing to a teenager, who does not know the anthem of the USSR and has no such association).

Translation from one language into another is far more complicated. Stars and Stripes, Star-Spangled Banner, Old Glory sound pompous to an American who recognizes the paraphrase for the national flag of the USA. But the representatives of other nations may miss this pragmeme.

Different people do not have the same symbolic associations. For Uzbeks, the moon is associated with a girl's beautiful face, which is reflected in their folklore. But A. Pushkin used this image in the opposite sense: Кругла, бледна лицом она, как эта глупая луна.

Thus ethnic and cultural differences between peoples interfere with translation and require thorough investigation on the part of the translator and subtle work at conveying all expressive semes.

How can a translator obtain adequate translation or, to use the term by E. Nida, dynamic equivalence?

Among the most frequently used techniques for obtaining the text expressive function in translation are compensation and substitution. Particularly common is asymmetrical compensation, that is, using a compensated element in some other place of the text. This can be illustrated with an extract from “The Catcher in the Rye” by J. Salinger. Holden is describing his brother: He just got a jaguar. One of those little English jobs that can do around two hundred miles an hour. It cost him damn near four thousand bucks. He's got a lot of dough, now. - Купил себе недавно «ягуар». Английская штучка, может делать двести миль в час. Выложил за нее чуть ли не четыре тысячи. Денег у него теперь куча. (Пер. Р. Райт-Ковалевой) Some of the expressive words (damn, dough) are lacking in this translation. But their expressiveness is compensated by other words, (more emphatic than their English correspondences - выложил, штучка, куча) and elliptical Russian sentences.

§4. PHATIC FUNCTION IN TRANSLATION

Phatic function is the function for maintaining, supporting and ending a friendly contact. The term is derived from Latin for, fatus sum, fari “to talk”. The term was introduced in the book The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages by the British ethnographer Bronislaw Malinowski (1935) who was the first to notice that at parties small talk, lacking any particular information, is unavoidable.

The phatic function is used for calling somebody's attention, greetings and other etiquette formulas, interruptions, vocatives, small talk, etc. These means are called phaticisms - they are normal for social communication, which gave grounds for Peter Newmark to call them “the usual tramlines of language”.²²³³ N e w m a r k P. A Textbook … - P.40.³³

Phrases for calling attention and asking to repeat. A universal means for calling attention is Excuse me… - Простите. In Russian this phrase is often accompanied by an address word: Простите, девушка, вы не скажите… In English communication address forms are not used as often as in Russian. In America, the phrase I beg your pardon / Pardon is no less frequent than Excuse me.²²³⁴ Т о м а х и н Г. Д. Реалии - американизмы. - М.: Высшая школа, 1988.³⁴

Either of these English expressions can be used for echoing questions or requests, when a person has not heard or understood something. Russians in a similar situation tend to ask Что?, which, if literally translated into English (What?), sounds rather impolite.

Forms of address. The English-speaking community uses the titles Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms. [miz, mэz]. The titles Mrs. and Miss are opposed to Ms. on the basis of the marital status of a female. The title Ms. has been widely used for females from older teenagers upwards, especially in American English, since the 1970s, when it began to be used by women who did not want to be known according to whether or not they were married. Although in common use now, this title still carries associations of feminism.

The title Mrs. may be used either with the married woman's forename (Mrs. Mary Brown) or, more formally and more rarely, with her husband's name (Mrs. John Brown). In the latter case, her name is translated as госпожа Браун, супруга Джона Брауна.

The title Miss, placed before the name of an unmarried woman or girl, is becoming rare. It is still used in British English, though, as a respectful form of address by pupils to a woman teacher.

Translation of these titles depends on the text register. In official business register these titles are translated as господин, госпожа. In newspaper and magazine articles these titles are usually reduced in the Russian text (except for officialese). In fiction, the titles are usually transcribed: мистер, миссис, мисс in order to retain a national coloring of the text. There does not exist, as yet, a transferred term for Ms.

Beside these universal forms of address, a person may be called by his/her position or vocation: Your Excellency! - Ваше превосходительство! Г-н посол! (addressing the ambassador); Mr. President - Г-н президент; Mr./Ms. Chairperson - г-н/г-жа председатель, Prime Minister - г-н премьер-министр, Ladies and gentlemen - дамы и господа, Officer - г-н офицер (addressing a policeman, a customs officer), Doctor - доктор (a medical doctor), My lord - милорд (addressing a judge, a priest), Father - батюшка (a priest), Professor (Brown) - профессор (Браун) (addressing a British professor, formally), Doctor Brown - доктор Браун (addressing American professor, formally), waiter/waitress - официант(ка), porter - носильщик, nurse - нянечка, сестра. The last three forms of English address have recently been considered somewhat impolite. A universal form of address in the service sphere is sir or madam, which signal respect to a customer. But they are transliterated only when applied to a foreign (not Russian) situation: Can I help you, sir/ma'am? - Чем могу помочь, сэр/мадам? When addressing a Russian customer, no title is usually used.