Grammatical Translation Techniques

Theory of translation

Topic 3

Grammatical Translation Techniques

1. Grammatical transformations can be necessitated by the following factors:

a	a grammar phenomenon exists in the SL but is absent in the TL	He immediately came fully awake – Сон как рукой сняло
b	what is implied in the SL should be explicit in the TL or viсe versa	He opened his eyes – Он открыл глаза
c	the SL and the TL structures have different stylistic colorings	John was met by his brother – Джона встретил брат
d	the SL and the TL have different traditions of expressing one and the same idea	The city is built on terraces rising from the lake – Город построен на террасах, спускавшихся к озеру
e	the rules of expressing topic-comment relationship are different in the SL and the TL	There is a dog in the yard – Во дворе собака

Read the sentences and say what necessitated transformations:

	The snake hissed away leaving me frigid with fear – Змея зашипела и уползла, а я продолжал стоять, не мог пошевелиться от страха
	If he were here, he would help us – Будь он здесь, он бы нам помог.
	He entered the room, his children behind him – Он вошел в комнату, вслед за ним вошли его дети
	At the first knock every window in the street became alive with female heads – После первого стука из окон домов по всей улице стали выглядывать женщины.
	Keep walking – Не останавливайся
	Nowadays one can often see women smoke – В наши дни на улицах много курящих женщин
	The book made him feel sorry for the characters – Ему было жаль героев книги
	A match glared in the dark – В темноте вспыхнула спичка.
	He shrugged a careless shoulder – Он беззаботно пожал плечами
	He felt well – Он чувствовал себя хорошо

 

2. Study the information and be ready to discuss expansion, and addition. Provide your own examples.

· Unlike explication, which is performed for lexical reasons, expansion is of grammatical character. It consists in using a TL word combination to render the meaning of a SL word, or in using a TL sentence to render the meaning of a SL phrase. We resort to expansion if the traditions of the TL do not allow us to preserve the SL grammar (We can’t translate the sentence He is a poor speller word for word, because in the Russian language there is no noun with the same meaning. That is why we restructure it in the following way: Он делает много орфографических ошибок). To perform expansion the translator should analyze the grammatical and lexical semes of a SL word or word combination and look for a means to preserve them in the TL.

· addition is used when the original is felt to be insufficient because the TL system requires redundancy (He felt fine – Он чувствовал себя прекрасно; В руках она держала книгу – She had a book in her hand). Besides, we use addition to supply additional information, which a non-native listener may fail to get from the context: (He lived in Kent – Он жил в графстве Кент).

What factors from task 1 can necessitate expansion and addition? Explain.

3. Translate the following items commenting on the techniques.

· Such was Tolstoy’s fame (expansion) that Yasnaya Polyana became a place of pilgrimage (expansion).

· Он поднял руку (addition) и почесал затылок (addition).

· He worked at “ Mars ” (addition + transliteration).

· It was a busy night (expansion): the bar was busy, the crap table was busy, the ping-pong table was busy (expansion).

· Adamson, sixtyish (expansion), was prominent in community affairs (expansion).

· After (expansion) Paris or London, Washington looks provincial.

 

4. Read the information and be ready to explain the essence of expansion and compression. Prepare your own examples:

· The opposite of expansion is compression (Германия занимает одно из ведущих мест по экспорту оптических приборов – Germany is a key exporter of optical instruments). We resort to compression in order to avoid redundancy, i.e. to imply what had to be explicit in the SL.

· Language economy also manifests itself in Omission, which is the opposite of addition. Omission is used when a complete reconstruction of the original sounds inappropriate semantically or is felt to be redundant (Он чувствовал себя прекрасно – He felt fine; She had a book in her hand – В руках она держала книгу).

What factors from task 1 can necessitate compression and omission? Explain.

5. Translate the following items relying on the suggested techniques.

· Он решил, что не вымолвит больше ни слова, так как, по его мнению, всё равно от этого не было никакого проку (compression).

· СССР занимал первое место в мире по производству угля (compression).

· Он умел с достоинством проигрывать, но когда выигрывал, был совершенно невыносим (compression).

· Harry kneaded (concretization) his forehead (omission) with his knuckles (omission + concretization).

· I’m from Devonshire (addition + transliteration).

 

6. Translate the sentences into the TL and comment on the transformations.

· It was a white tiled, gleaming-tapped bathroom.

· It was a dehumanized apartment.

· Modern Italy is an underbathroomed and overmonumented country.

· He has always been a hearty eater.

· The actors will appear in the soon-to-be-released film.

· It was a handsome man; he clerked at some forwarding department and roomed a very small lodging not far from his office.

· Накинув на волосы косынку, она выбежала во двор.

· С тех самых пор мы ни разу не встречались.

· На таких людей, как он, нельзя полагаться.

· Змея с шипением уползла.

· Harry tookhis face out of his hands, opened his eyes, and stared around his bedroom as though expecting to see something unusual there.

· В пятницу мы должны были все вместе ехать в Рыбное, но с утра Кира почувствовала себя неважно и мы поехали вдвоем.

 

7. Read the information and be ready to explain the essence of sentence breaking and sentence joining. Prepare your own examples:

· One more translation device similar to expansion is sentence breaking, which consists in translating one simple SL sentence as a complex or compound TL sentence.

There are some structures that require this transformation:

· complex objects: I hate his behaving in this way;

· infinitive structure with the preposition “for”: I am anxious for her to pass the exam;

· infinitive structures indicating a subsequent action: She woke up to find her mother making breakfast;

· nominative with the infinitive constructions: The number of hospital beds is expected to increase twofold;

· infinitive of purpose constructions: He ran faster to finish first, etc.

· The opposite of sentence breaking is sentence joining (it is similar to compression). This device consists in using a simple TL sentence to render the meaning of a complex or compound SL sentence.

8. Translate the sentences and say what techniques were used.

· Harry had arrived at Hogwarts to find that heads turned and whispers followed him wherever he went.   · My aunt found him smuggling doughnuts into his room yesterday.   · Она повернулась к плите и увидела, что соус пригорает. · She would have been nice-looking if she hadn't been wearing a look that suggested there was a nasty smell under her nose. · He crossed to the window, and drew back the curtains to survey the street below. · Проснувшись рано утром, миссис Мейкин увидела, как два грабителя выносили из дома ее телевизор. · The lunar highlands are believed to date back almost to the moon's formation about 4,000 million years ago. · To achieve such perfection will prove his extraordinary progress in fencing.

 

9. Read the information and be ready to explain the essence of replacement. Prepare your own examples:

The essence of replacement (= functional substitution) is substituting one thing by another. There are several types of replacement:

· substitution of word forms (сани – sledge, часы – watch),

· substitution of parts of speech (to shrug a careless shoulder – небрежно пожать плечами),

· substitution of sentence parts (The book made him feel sorry for the characters – Ему было жаль героев книги),

· substitution of sentence types (While I was eating my eggs, these two nuns with suitcases came in - Я ел яичницу, когда вошли эти две мо­нахини с чемоданами).

 

10. Translate the sentences using the types of replacement suggested.

· They were halfway through their plates of eggs and sausages when Mr. Weasley jumped to his feet, waving and grinning at a man who was striding toward them (sentences types). · Clutching their purchases, Mr. Weasley in the lead, they all hurried into the wood, following the lantern-lit trail (sentences types). · His private life is the subject of much speculation (sentence parts). · Hiroshima was atombombed without the slightest mercy (sentence parts). · Europe is growing increasingly concerned about the escalation of tensions in the Middle East (sentence parts). · He crowded a lot of adventures into his young life (parts of speech). · При более близком рассмотрении открывается совершенно иная картина (sentence parts). · Он вёл себя очень уклончиво (parts of speech). · His light-mindedness got him involved into a hazardous undertaking (sentence parts).   · В первые послевоенные годы система ценностей несколько изменилась (sentence parts). · В результате землетрясения многие люди остались без крова (sentence parts).   · Her new movie had a lot of exposure in the media (parts of speech). · При сгорании угля образуется углекислый газ (sentence parts).

 

11. Read the information and be ready to explain the essence of antonymic translation. Prepare your own examples:

One more translation device is antonymic translation. Antonymic translation is substituting a negative sentence with an affirmative one and vice versa (She is not unworthy of your attention – Она вполне заслуживает вашего внимания).

12. Use antonymic translation as a transformation technique.

· Force is wrong, and two wrongs never make a right.   · Keep walking! · На солнце лежать нельзя. · К двери не прислоняться! · She wasn’t looking too happy. · Я приду только, если меня позовут. · Она уехала с твердым намерением вернуться лишь тогда, когда обзаведется надежным мужем и двумя-тремя детьми.

13. Read the information and be ready to explain the essence of transposition. Prepare your own examples:

Transposition consists in changing the word order necessitated by topic-comment relationships. In the Russian language we place the known information in the beginning of a sentence while the new one is placed at the end. In the English language it is customary to use such structures as there is/are and articles to show which information is new to the listener or reader.

 

14. Use transposition where necessary.

· In 1922 a new leader arose in Britain. · Недавно в Москве состоялась пресс-конференция. · Jet take-off noise limits are to be introduced.   · В начале месяца обозначились изменения в позиции правительства.

15. Match the terms denoting translation techniques with their Russian equivalents.

Расширение, перестановка, объединение предложений, антонимический перевод, компрессия, членение предложений, опущение, добавление, функциональная замена.