CONTEXT AND ITS ROLE IN TRANSLATION

The meaning of equivalents practically does not depend on the context, so to translate them one should merely look them up in a dictionary. The demand to consult dictionaries is essential. No guesswork is allowed in translation: a word should be either known or looked up; otherwise there is always a risk of translation the word "data" as "дата" or "billet" as "билет" or writing some other nonsense of the kind.

It is much more difficult to translate those words of SL which are characterized by partial correspondence to the words of TL. Such words are mostly polysemantic. That is why in order to translate them correctly it is necessary first of all to state which particular meaning of such a word is realized in the utterance. The most reliable indicator in this case is the context in which the word is used.

They usually differentiate between linguistic context and extralinguistic context (or context of situation). Linguistic context in its turn is subdivided into narrow (context of a phrase or a sentence) and wide (utterance-length context or sometimes context of the whole text). Very often the meaning of a word is revealed in the minimum context, i.e. in a phrase ("green" - зеленый, юный, незрелый, etc., but there is no problem in translating the phrase "green trees" - "зеленые деревья" or "green years" - "юные годы"). However, there are such cases when we need at least a sentence to see what the word means, e.g. "I'll be sitting in the 3rd carriage from the front of the train" - "Я буду в третьем вагоне от начала поезда". The whole sentence is necessary here to understand the meaning of the word "carriage" and to choose the variant "вагон" but not "экипаж, повозка".

Sometimes linguistic context is closely connected with extralinguistic factors. It may be illustrated by the following sentence:

... he came to be convicted of perjury... in Wakawak,

Cochin China…, the intent of which perjury being to rob

a poor native widow and her helpless family of a meager plantain-patch, their only stay and support in their bereavement and desolation.

(Mark Twain)

The word "plantain" denotes either "банан" or "подорожник". In the sentence there is no direct indication of the type of plant. However, we know that the events took place in Cochin China, where the climate is quite suitable for bananas, not for "подорожник". Moreover, it is said in the sentence that the plantain-patch was the "stay and support" which gave the family either food or profit. All this settles the problem of choice: in this case "plantain" means "банан".

The context of the situation becomes especially important if the linguistic context is not sufficient for revealing the meaning of the word. When one of G.B.Shaw's characters warns his interlocutor not to drive him too far, it is necessary to know that they are both sitting in the parlor and not in any vehicle, so the verb "to drive". is used in the meaning "привести в какое-то состояние, довести до..." It may so happen that linguistic context does not give any clue to the meaning of the word. Especially often it is the case with neologisms that do not correspond to any words in TL. To understand the word "Reagangate", which appeared in American newspapers in 1983, one must remember the notorious political scandal called "Watergate" in 1972-1974 and know some facts characterizing political methods or President Reagan. Only in this extralinguistic context can we understand the meaning of the word "Reagangate" - 'a new political scandal revealing dishonest methods used by Reagan during the election campaign and resembling the methods once used by Nixon'.

So translation of any word begins with contextual analysis of its meaning after which it becomes possible to choose correctly the corresponding word of TL. All types of context can help to identify the meaning of words in SL characterized by partial correspondence to the words of TL, as well as the meaning of words that do not correspond to any words of TL. Translation of the latter group causes many difficulties and requires special means.