GRAMMATICAL TRANSFORMATIONS

It is well known that languages differ in their grammatical structure. Apart from having different grammatical categories they differ in the use of those categories that seem to be similar. This naturally results in the necessity to introduce some grammatical changes in the translated version of any text. These changes depend on the character of correlation between the grammatical norms of SL and TL. Various as they are, all the possible changes may be classed under four main types: transpositions (перестановки), replacements (замены), additions (добавления), and omissions (опущения).

1. Transpositions. There may appear a necessity to rearrange elements of different levels: words, phrases, clauses or even sentences. Transposition of words and phrases may be caused by various reasons: differences in the accepted word order in SL and TL, presence or absence of emphasis, differences in the means of communicative syntax.

. Speaking of word order, it would be more accurate to say that to change word order really means to rearrange not so much words but parts of the sentence When translating from English into Russian one has to change word-order because normally it is fixed in English while in Russian it is relatively free: "George has bought some new things for this trip..." (Jerome K.Jerome) - "К этой поездке Джордж купил кое-какие новые вещи..." or "Джордж купил к этой поездке кое-какие новые вещи..." or "Джордж купил кое-какие новые вещи к этой поездке", which depends (in this particular case) on the rhythm of the whole utterance. But such freedom of choice is rather rare, since the word order of the Russian sentence is not as arbitrary as it seems to be. The position of a word in the sentence is often predetermined by its communicative function. In the English sentence "... I realized that a man was behind each one of the books" (R.Bradbury) the rhematic function of the noun "man" is indicated by the indefinite article. In order to make it the rheme of the Russian sentence it is necessary to put it in the final position: "... я понял, что за каждой из этих книг стоит человек". Another example: "A certain man. was seen to reel into Mr. Twain's hotel last night..." - "Вчера вечером видели, как в отель, где проживает мистер Марк Твен, ввалился некий человек..."

Transposition of clauses is also used to preserve the semantic and communicative balance of the whole sentence: "The sun had got more powerful by the time we had finished breakfast…" (Jerome K. Jerome) - "К тому времени, как мы позавтракали, солнце припекало уже вовсю..." If the Russian sentence began with the principal clause ("Солнце припекало...") the logical meaning would be different - the sentence would state the time by which the sun got more powerful, while the real meaning of the sentence is to show what was the state of things by the time they finished their breakfast and had to decide upon further course of action.

Transposition of sentences does not become necessary very often. However, it helps sometimes to render the meaning which is expressed by the Past Perfect form in the English text, so as to indicate the succession of actions or events: "The village of St.Petersburg still mourned. The lost children had not been found" (Mark Twain) - "Пропавших детей так и не нашли. Городок Сант-Питерсберг оплакивал их".

2. Replacements. Replacements are also made at different levels.

A. To conform to the demands of the grammatical system of TL it may become necessary to change the grammatical form of a

word: "fifteen thousand dollars" - "пятнадцать тысяч долларов" ("thousand" - singular, "тысяч" - plural), "And your hair's so lovely" - "У тебя такие красивые волосы ", etc.

B. They often have to replace one part of speech by another. Most frequent replacements of this type are the following: a) English nouns with the suffix -er denoting the doer of an action are usually replaced by verbs in Russian: "I'm a moderate smoker " (J.D.Salinger) - "Я мало курю ", "When George is hanged Harris will be the worst packer in this world" (Jerome K.Jerome) - "Когда Джорджа повесят, хуже всех на свете укладывать вещи будет Гаррис". However, if such a noun denotes a person's profession the replacement is not recommended: when Holden Caulfield describes a girl, saying "She looked like a very good dancer" (J.D.Salinger), it should be translated "Похоже, она здорово танцует", but the sentence from S.Maugham's "Gigolo and Gigolette" "Stella was a good ballroom dancer", characterizing Stella's professional skill, should be translated "Стелла была хорошей исполнительницей бальных танцев". English deverbal nouns (usually converted from verbs) may be translated by verbs (especially if they are used in the construction "to give (to have, to make, to take) + N: "to give somebody a lift " - " подвезти кого-то". "He gave us all a look " (S.Maugham) - "Он взглянул на нас", etc. b) They often replace nouns by pronouns and vice versa. In the story "The Broken Boot" by J.Galsworthy Bryce-Green says to Caister: "Haven't seen you since you left the old camp ". "The old camp" is a phrase with an extremely wide and vague meaning, it means "some place we used to be at together and some people we were somehow connected with", so it is quite adequately translated "Не видел Вас с тех пор, как Вы ушли от нас ". The pronoun "нас" here is substituted for the noun "camp" (or, to be more exact, for the nominal phrase "the old camp"). A noun is substituted for a pronoun in the following example: "... and Harris sat on it, and it stuck to him., and they went looking for it all over the room" (Jerome K.Jerome). At first sight it seems possible to translate the sentence as it is: "... Гаррис сел на него, и оно к нему прилипло, и они принялись искать его. по всей комнате". However, the sentence is "overloaded" with pronouns, the more so because the Russian "его" can denote both Harris and the butter. That is why it is necessary to replace some pronouns by nouns to make the situation clear and the sentence more readable: "... а Гаррис сел на этот стул, и масло. прилипло к его брюкам., и они оба принялись искать его по всей комнате".

Occasionally some other replacements may become necessary.

However, it must be remembered that the choice of parts of speech influences the general stylistic coloring of the text, cf. "бросить взгляд" and "взглянуть", "хранить молчание" and "молчать", etc. Russian abstract nouns are usually more appropriate in newspapers and official texts, short-form adjectives and passive participles are somewhat bookish and should be avoided if possible when rendering colloquial speech, which means that part of speech replacements may be caused sometimes by purely stylistic considerations.

C. Replacement of parts of the sentence. The most frequent among such replacements is that of substituting an object for the subject and vice versa. It is very helpful in translating English passive constructions. Statistics shows that in English they use passive constructions much more often than in Russian. Moreover, in English these constructions in themselves are not marked stylistically while in Russian they are mainly bookish and official, cf.: "мне дали интересную книгу" and "мне была дана интересная книга". The essence of this replacement is in making the subject of the English sentence the object of the Russian version: "She was brought here last night" (Ch.Dickens) - "Ее. принесли сюда вчера вечером". If the English sentence has an object denoting the doer or the cause of the action, it automatically becomes the subject of the Russian sentence: "The psychiatrist was shocked by the smile” (R.Bradbury) - "Эта улыбка. поразила психиатра". If the subject of the English sentence denotes some place or time it may be replaced by an adverbial modifier in translation: "Anyway, the corridor was all linoleum and all..." (J.D.Salinger) - "А в коридоре у нас - сплошной линолеум" (translated by P. Райт-Ковалева). This transformation is regularly used when the subject of the English sentence is expressed by a noun denoting some message: "the text (the telegram, the letter, etc.) says..." - "в тексте (в телеграмме, в. письме и т.д.) говорится (сказано)”. Occasionally this transformation is applied to other nouns in the function of the subject.

D. One of the most important syntactic peculiarities of the English language is the existence of secondary predication created by various participial and infinitive constructions. These constructions are included in the structure of simple sentences in English while Russian simple sentences have only one predicative center. This may lead to the necessity of substituting Russian composite sentences for simple sentences of the original text: "I remember a friend of mine buying a couple of cheeses at Liverpool" (Jerome K.Jerome) - "Я помню, как один мой приятель купил в Ливерпуле пару сыров" (a simple sentence in English and a complex sentence in Russian); "I let the day slip away without doing anything at all" (Mark Twain) - "Прошел целый день, а я так ничего и не предпринял" (translated by Н.Тренева) (a simple sentence in English and a compound sentence in Russian).

Sometimes two or more simple sentences may be joined together to form one sentence (simple or composite) in translation; usually they do it for logical, stylistic and rhythmical reasons: "I made my way into the smoking-room. I called for a pack of cards and began to play patience." (S.Maugham) - "Я отправился в курительную комнату, спросил себе колоду карт и принялся раскладывать пасьянс"; "Quite the reverse is the truth in the case of great men. The nearer you go to them, the smaller they seem" (G.Mikes) - "С великими людьми ­все наоборот: чем вы к ним ближе, тем они кажутся мельче".

On the other hand, English composite sentences with formal, purely grammatical subjects (introductory 'it', 'this', etc.) often correspond to Russian simple sentences: "This was hardly what I intented" (G.B.Shaw) - "У меня были совсем другие намерения"; "It's the natural, original sin that is born in him that makes him do things like that" (Jerome K.Jerome) - "Его толкает на все эти проделки врожденный инстинкт, так сказать, первородный грех." (translated by М.Салье).

A long and syntactically complicated sentence containing secondary predication may be translated by several simple sentences: "A few months ago I was nominated for the Governor of the great State of New York, to run against Mr. Stewart L.Woodford and Mr. John T.Hoffman on an independent ticket” (Mark Twain) - "Несколько месяцев назад моя кандидатура была выдвинута на пост губернатора великого штата Нью Йорк. В качестве кандидата от независимых мне предстояло выступать против мистера Стюарта Л.Вудфорда и мистера Джона Т.Хоффмана."

E. In some cases it is possible to replace the principal clause by a subordinate clause (and vice versa) if it helps to conform to the logical and stylistic norms of TL: "They put him under laughing-gas one year, poor lad, and drew all his teeth, and gave him a false set, because he suffered so terribly with toothache..."(Jerome K. Jerome) - "Он так жестоко страдал от зубной боли, что однажды его, беднягу, усыпили, под наркозом вырвали все зубы и вставили искусственные челюсти." His suffering with toothache is here the main thing the author stresses; to show how terrible his sufferings were he says that they had to draw all his teeth; that is why it is but logical to state the main idea in the principal clause, while the clause which is principal in the English sentence becomes subordinate in Russian.

F. A different type of syntactic bond may be used in translation instead of that used in the original text, i.e. subordination may be replaced by coordination and vice versa. Generally speaking, subordination is more frequently used in English than in Russian, since subordinating words in English are rather vague semantically while in Russian they state rather definitely the character of semantic connection between the clauses. The conjunction "while" does not really indicate any temporal connection between the actions in the sentence "Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn carpet" (O'Henry), so it is hardly possible to translate it "... в то время как...” Such translation would create a humorous effect which was not intended here by the author. It is much better to introduce co-ordination instead of subordination: "Один раз руки ее дрогнули и она замерла на мгновение, а на потертый ковер скатились две слезинки."

G. Syndetic connection used in English sentences is not always appropriate in Russian, so it would often create a wrong stylistic effect if preserved in translation. That is why asyndetic connection of parts of the sentence is rather regularly used in Russian instead of the English polysyndeton: "It made them nervous and. excited, and. they stepped on things, and. put things behind them; and. then couldn't find them when they wanted them; and they packed the pies at the bottom, and put heavy things on top, and. smashed the pies in" (Jerome K. Jerome) - "Они волновались, нервничали; они роняли то одно, то другое, без конца искали вещи, которые сами же перед тем ухитрялись спрятать. Они запихивали пироги на дно и клали тяжелые предметы сверху, так что пироги превращались в месиво" (translated by М.Салье).

So, the following types of replacement may be used in order to overcome difficulties created by differences in the grammatical systems of SL and TL: A. Replacement of word-forms (замена форм слова). B. Replacement of parts of speech (замена частей речи). C. Replacement of parts of the sentence (замена членов предложения). D. Replacement of a simple sentence by a composite one and vice versa (замена простого предложения сложным и наоборот). E. Replacement of the principal clause by a subordinate one and vice versa (замена главного предложения придаточным и наоборот). F. Replacement of subordination by coordination and vice versa (замена подчинения сочинением и наоборот). G. Replacement of syndetic connection by asyndetic and vice versa (замена союзной связи связью бессоюзной и наоборот). Within the fourth type (replacement of a simple sentence by a composite one and vice versa) they also single out two additional varieties: joining several sentences together (объединение) and dividing a long sentence into several shorter sentences (членение).

3. Additions. It is very difficult to say whether this transformation is lexical or grammatical: it is both. Its lexical aspects have already been discussed: it is necessary to make some explanations of transcribed words, describe those notions which have no names in TL, add the words which are implied but not expressed in the structure of attributive phrases, etc. However, in all these cases the structure of the sentence is involved, that is why the transformation is considered to be grammatical. Sometimes there appear grammatical reasons for adding new words: it happens when some meaning is expressed grammatically in the original text while there is no way of expressing it grammatically in TL. E.g. in English they use articles to differentiate between an author and his creation: "... the jewel of his collection - an Israels..." or "... Madame Lamotte, who was still in front of the Meissonier ”. (J.Galsworthy). In Russian it is necessary to add the word "картина": "... жемчужина его коллекции - картина Исраэлса..." and "... мадам Лямот, которая все еще стояла перед картиной Месонье ". Another example: the existence of the special possessive form (George's, Harris's) in English allows to use names in the absolute possessive construction: "Of course, I found George's and Harris's eighteen times over…" (Jerome K. Jerome). In Russian the corresponding grammatical form is that of the genitive case, the use of which would create an undesirable ambiguity: "... находил Джоржа и Гарриса". So it is necessary to add the word "щетка" implied in the English sentence: "Конечно же, щетки Джоржа и Гарриса попадались мне раз восемнадцать, если не больше...". In this way the translated version restores as it were the complete structure of the original sentence some elements of which might be only implied and not expressed materially. When using the transformation of addition one should be very careful to add only that which should really be added. It requires good knowledge of deep structure and surface structure grammars of both SL and TL and ability to analyze semantic and pragmatic aspects of a text.

4. Omissions. This transformation is seldom structurally obligatory, it is usually caused by stylistic considerations and deals with redundancy traditionally normative in SL and not accepted in TL. A typical example of such redundancy is the use of synonymic pairs in English: "..their only stay and support...." (Mark Twain) - both the words mean "поддержка", "опора". There is no need to translate them both, one is quite enough: "их единственная поддержка" or, according to the demands of the context, "единственное, что спасало их от голода" (translated in the same way as any one of these words would be translated).

Sometimes it is recommended to omit semantically empty "tags" of declarative and interrogative sentences: "British to the backbone, that's what I am." (S.Maugham) - "Англичанин до мозга костей!" "I can't leave the room and send myself to you at the same time, can I.?" (G.B.Shaw) "Не могу же я уйти из комнаты и в то же время прислать самого себя к вам!" They sometimes recommend omitting logical redundancies and repetitions to achieve what is called "compression of the text". However, it must be remembered that logical redundancy of speech and various repetitions are used by writers to characterize the personage's individual manner of speaking, his way of thinking, etc. In such cases omissions are not allowed.

 

* * *

These are the main types of grammatical transformations. It should be born in mind, however, that in practice it is hardly possible to find these elementary transformations in their "pure form": in most cases it is necessary to combine them.

 

TRANSLATION OF SPECIFICALLY ENGLISH

GRAMMATICAL FORMS AND CONSTRUCTIONS

To translate English grammatical forms and constructions one should not necessarily look for the same forms and constructions in Russian - there may be none. Nevertheless, it is always possible to translate them adequately since it is not the form itself but its meaning and function in the sentence that should be rendered in translation. That is why translation of any such unit should begin with its semantic and functional analysis. It can be illustrated with the problem of rendering the definite and indefinite articles. Unless articles have some special role in the sentence or some additional meaning, they are not translated at all - they are merely omitted. However, there are cases when articles are used to mark the rheme of the sentence. Here again there is no need to translate the article itself: it is necessary to find the proper word order placing the noun which is the rheme of the English sentence in a rhematic position in Russian (most often it is the final position). Sometimes, besides their usual meaning of definiteness or indefiniteness articles have some additional meaning, e.g., the indefinite article used with personal names has the meaning "some, a certain", showing that someone is unknown to the speaker. Such meaning should be rendered by corresponding means of the Russian language: "a Mrs. Smith" ­" некая миссис Смит, какая-то миссис Смит". The indefinite article may also coincide in its meaning either with the pronoun "one" ("I remember a friend of mine buying a couple of cheeses…" - "Я помню, как один мой приятель...") or with the numeral "one" (" a stitch in time saves nine" - " один стежок, сделанный вовремя..."). There are many more meanings which the article may combine with its main grammatical function ("New English-Russian Dictionary" edited by I.R.Galperin lists 11 meanings of the indefinite article and 9 meanings of the article "the"). In this respect translation of articles does not differ from translation of other words - first its meaning should be analyzed and then a proper word of TL can be chosen.

The same is true of prepositions and conjunctions. It is most important to remember that even such a "simple" conjunction as "and" has at least 10 different meanings; in different contexts it may correspond to the Russian "и" ("John and Mary"), "a" ("they stayed at home, and we left" - "они остались дома, а мы ушли"),"неужели" ("And you did it?" -" Неужели Вы это сделали?"), etc.

Speaking of conjunctions, it should also be mentioned that besides their main function (connecting and introducing different clauses and parts of the sentence) they enter idiomatic constructions the meaning of which cannot be guessed: ­it should be known or looked up in the dictionary ("She is sixty if (she is) a day" - "Ей добрых шестьдесят лет" или "Ей не меньше шестидесяти лет" "if anything" - "если уж на то пошло, во всяком случае, как бы то ни было").

One and the same preposition is also translated differently in different constructions and contexts (see 17 meanings of the preposition "on", the same number of meanings of the preposition "of", etc.).

As for the so-called notional parts of speech, they may differ in SL and TL in the set of syntactic functions that they fulfil in the sentence. That is why translation should always be based on a thorough syntactic analysis since it is not the grammatical form itself but rather its function in the sentence that predetermines the way of translation. For example, before translating an infinitive it is necessary to state its role in the sentence - to see if it functions as a subject, object, attribute, or adverbial modifier, etc. If it is an adverbial modifier, it is essential to see its type - an adverbial modifier of purpose, of result, of attendant circumstances, etc. After this functional and semantic analysis it is possible to render the infinitive into Russian using any part of speech in the corresponding function (or changing the structure of the sentence in order to express the same idea according to the norms of TL).

It is impossible to warn a beginner against all possible difficulties. However, it seems reasonable to point out some English constructions that are most likely to cause trouble.

Most frequent among them are the so-called absolute constructions. There are two main difficulties in dealing with them: first of all they are not always easy to recognize and besides they do not correspond to any particular construction of the Russian language. Based on secondary predication, these constructions usually express some additional thought, something that happens in connection with the main action, but still "outside" it. Unlike subordinate clauses, absolute constructions are characterized by rather a vague semantic connection with the main body of the sentence. It is often hard to say if the construction indicates time or cause of the main action - it may indicate them indiscriminately. As a rule, constructions coming before the main body of the sentence have temporal, or causal, or conditional meaning; constructions coming after the main body express some attendant circumstances or serve as an adverbial modifier of manner.

They usually single out four structural types of absolute constructions:[2] 1) nominative participial constructions - "... I got them to be quiet, when - enter Admiral Ass, in full regalia, epaulettes quivering with indignation." (Bel Kaufman); 2) nominative constructions without a participle - "And, chin on hand., he stared through his monocle into an empty cup" (J.Galsworthy); 3) participial constructions without the subject - "Being liable himself to similar unlooked-for checks from Mrs. Chick., their little contests usually possessed a character of uncertainty that was very animating" (Ch.Dickens); 4) absolute constructions with the preposition "with" - "With renewed handshaking and messages to be delivered to Miss Lawson., we at last made our exit." (A.Christie). Knowing these structural types, it is easier to identify such a construction and differentiate it from expanded secondary parts of the sentence.

There are four possibilities in translating absolute constructions, though they do not directly correspond to the four types of constructions themselves.

1. If the type of semantic connection between the absolute construction and the main body of the sentence is more or less definite, a subordinate clause may be used in translation: "... those things having been invariably found on Mr. Twain's person... they felt compelled to give him a friendly admonition." (Mark Twain) - "... и так как вещи эти впоследствии неизменно обнаруживались у мистера Твена,... они сочли своим долгом сделать ему дружеское внушение."

2. However, it is not always possible to choose the proper type of the subordinate clause: "Bessie and Abbot having retreated, Mrs Reed... thrust me back and locked me in, without further parley" (Ch.Bronte). Really, did she do it after Bessie and Abbot retreated or because they retreated? Evidently, both ­after and because she got rid of those women who were less cruel than she was. In Russian such an indiscriminate way of expressing time and cause in one subordinate clause is impossible, so other ways should be sought. The best way to combine these meanings is to use an adverbial-participial construction (деепричастный оборот): "Отослав Бесси и Эббот, миссис Рид снова затолкнула меня в комнату, не вступая больше ни в какие объяснения".

3. Being very close functionally to English absolute constructions, Russian adverbial-participial constructions are more limited in usage, since the action indicated by them should always be performed by the subject of the sentence, which is not necessarily the case with English absolute constructions. If neither a subordinate clause nor an adverbial-participial construction can be chosen for translation, an absolute construction can be rendered by a separate sentence or an independent clause joint by co-ordination: "Miss Arundell walked home, Bob trotting sedately at her heels…" (A.Christie) - "Мисс Арендэлл пошла домой, и Боб спокойно побежал за ней.".

4. Finally, an absolute construction can be translated with the help of a Russian prepositional phrase with the preposition "c": "Coffee-cup in hand, Mr Scogan was standing in front of the... bookshelf" (A.Huxley) - "Мистер Скоуген с чашкой в руках стоял перед... книжной полкой." It should be noted, however, that such phrases are practically never employed to translate English absolute constructions with the preposition "with". There are some other English constructions that are rather difficult: not so much for translation but for understanding (as soon as they are understood correctly they are translated according to the principles already discussed). First of all they are the so-called causative constructions having the general meaning of making somebody do something or causing some action, effect, etc. It is necessary to remember that besides the typical causative constructions with the verbs "to make", "to force", "to cause" and constructions with the verbs "to have” and "to get" ("to have somebody do something", "to get somebody to do something", "to have, get something done"), there exists another way of expressing this meaning:

to

Verb + smb + into + smth (or doing smth),

out of

as in "to talk somebody into (out of) something" - "уговорить (отговорить) кого-то делать что-то", "to laugh somebody out of a habit" - "отучить кого-то от привычки, посмеявшись над ней", e.g. "Managed herself to death, damn her." (J.Collier) - "Своим умением все организовывать довела себя до смерти, черт побери." The first verb in such constructions usually denotes the way, the manner in which some effect or action was caused.

Another type of constructions causing misunderstanding, comes close to comparative constructions: "as... as ever", "as... as any (or anything)", "as much as doing something", etc. These constructions do not contain any real comparison. The phrases "as... as ever (any, anything)" denote the superlative degree of some quality or high intensity of some feeling or state: "it's as simple as anything" - "это же совсем просто". "He will be as peeved as anything" - "Он будет страшно раздражен", etc. The phrases "not (or never) as much as doing something", "no more than", "much less" are used as emphatic means of expressing the idea that somebody cannot or does not want to do something, or never happened to do it.

Close to those pseudo-comparative constructions come phrases with the word "too", "cannot + be + too + Adj." or "cannot + Verb + too + Adv.". They are synonymous to the phrases "to be very + Adj." and "to do (smth) very + Adv": "One cannot be too careful" - "Нужно быть очень осторожным".

Generally speaking, translation of specifically English grammatical constructions consists of two stages: first it is necessary to understand their meaning and then find a corresponding way of expressing it in Russian. For the purpose of translation, grammar does not exist separately. It is not the grammatical form but the grammatical meaning that is of primary concern for a translator or an interpreter. A mistake in grammar (whether it is a misunderstood construction of SL or a wrong variant in TL) always tells on the sense and logic of the text. As soon as the sense and logic of a sentence stop to be transparent it is necessary to stop and look for a mistake in the translation.