Some Difficulties of Translating English Phrasal Verbs into Russian
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2. The style and way of the exposition should be the same as in the original;
3. The translation should be read with the same easiness as the original works.
The translation is the multifaceted phenomenon and some aspects of it can be the subjects of the research of different sciences. In the frames of the science of translation psychological, literature critical, ethnographical and other points of translation as well as the history of translation in one or other country are being studied. According to the subject of research we use the knowledge of the psychology of translation, the theory of art and literary translation, ethnographical science of translation, historical science of translation and so on. The main place in the modern translation belongs to linguistic translation, which studies the translation as linguistic phenomenon. The different kinds of translation complement each other and strive to detailed description of the activity of the translation.
The theory of translation puts forward the following tasks:
1. To open and describe the common linguistic basis of translation, that is to show which peculiarities of linguistic systems and regularities of the language operation are the basis of the translating process, make this process possible and determine its character and borders;
2. To determine the translation as the subject of the linguistic research, to show its difference from the other kinds of linguistic mediation;
3. To work out the basis of classification of kinds of the translating activity;
4. To open the essence of the translating equivalence as the basis of the communicative identity of the original texts and the translation;
5. To work out the common principles and the peculiarities of construction of the peculiar and special translation theories for the different combinations of languages;
6. To work out the common principles of the scientific description of the translation process as actions of a translator of transforming the original text to the translating text;
7. To open the influence on the translating process of pragmatic and social linguistic factors;
8. To determine the idea “the translating norm” and to work out the principles.
It is common knowledge that in order to provide an adequate translation, the translator must be able to sense nuances in the semantics of both the source-language and target-language texts. English phrasal verbs (e.g. give up, break in, fall out) are of great interest to me in this respect because they possess quite a number of semantic, grammatical and stylistic peculiarities, sometimes making their accurate translation into Russian difficult. Of course, in dealing with the translation of such lexical units into his or her native language, the translator can consult the appropriate bilingual dictionary, but what about the profound comprehension of why this or that phrasal verb is translated only this and not any other way?
To get a good idea of English phrasal verbs' semantic nuances, let us first look at their conceptual features. In theory, phrasal verbs are generally considered to be idiomatic combinations of a verb and an adverbial particle. The exact status of the latter is still being debated, scholars being divided on whether it is an adverb, prepositional adverb, postpositional prefix, special part of speech, etc. However, here we are interested only in the features of adverbial particles.
In general, the main function of phrasal verbs is conceptual
categorization of reality in the speaker's mind. They denote not only
actions or states as "ordinary" verbs do, but also specify their spatial, temporal or other characteristics. This ability to describe actions or
states more precisely, vividly and emotionally is determined by the
adverbial components of phrasal verbs. By combining with these elements, verbs of broader meaning are subjected to a regular and systematic
multiplication of their semantic functions. While the English verb has no
consistent structural representation of aspect, adverbial particles either
impart an additional aspective meaning to the base verb (e.g. the durative
verb sit merges with the particle down into the terminative phrasal verb
sit down) or introduce a lexical modification to its fundamental semantics.
In most cases adverbial elements denote the general spatial direction of
the action or express its qualitative or quantitative characteristics, like
beginning (set out), duration (bum along), completion (think out), intensity (hurry up), and so on.
Obviously, such semantic peculiarities of English phrasal verbs
must influence the process of their translation into the Russian language, which has a highly developed system of verbal prefixes. In addition to
their function that is analogous to that of English prefixes, Russian
verbal prefixes resemble English adverbial particles in their semantic
functions, also indicating various qualities of actions and states. Like
adverbial particles in English, Russian prefixes are lexically strong. For
example, the Russian prefix "раз-" denotes 1) division into parts
(раскрошить); 2) distribution, direction of action in different directions
(разъехаться); 3) action in reverse (разминировать); 4) termination of
action or state (разлюбить); 5) intensification of action (расплясаться)
[The Oxford Russian Dictionary]. Thus, in translation from English into
Russian, the meaning of the English adverbial component of the phrasal verb
is mostly conveyed by using the Russian prefix that reflects the character
of the described action or state most accurately. To a greater degree, this
refers rather to nuances of semantics than grammar.
When dealing with translation of English phrasal verbs or pre-
analysis of their adverbial elements' meaning, one should always keep in
mind their astounding polysemy, which sometimes borders on homonymy.
Compare the following: take in 4 (to receive sb in one's home with welcome, as a guest) and take in 12 (to deceive sb) (Longman Dictionary of Phrasal
Verbs). It holds true for Russian prefixes as well, the same ones rendering
different shades of meaning in different uses (see examples above). That is
why it seems almost impossible to create a consistent rigid system of
lexical correspondences between English adverbial particles and Russian
prefixes, without encountering numerous debatable problems.
Strictly speaking, proper translation of English phrasal verbs to a high degree depends on the context in which they are used, which suggests the appropriate interpretation of the described action. Having stated the specific characteristics of the action denoted by a certain phrasal verb, one can seek a Russian counterpart prefix, which is the closest in rendering the same idea and meets the lexical and grammatical requirements of translation into the target language.
For example, the sentence "The attack had gone across the field, been held up by machine-gun fire from sunken road, encountered no
resistance in the town, and reached the bank of the river" [E. Hemingway, A
Way You'll Never Be] should be translated as «Атака развертывалась на лугу
и была приостановлена пулеметным огнем с дорожной выемки, не встретила
отпора в городе и закончилась на берегу реки». According to the Longman
Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, in the above context the phrasal verb hold up
has the following meaning: 2. to delay (sth or sb). The Russian prefix "при-
" adequately renders the idea that the attack was delayed just for a while.
The sentences "There was a little fire there. Nancy built it up, when it was already hot inside" [W. Faulkner, That Evening Sun] have the
following translation: «В очаге еще были горячие угли, она их раздула, и
пламя вспыхнуло". The adverbial particle up in the phrasal verb build up
imparts the idea of increasing the size of the fire and shows the
intensification of the action. According to the definition given in the
Oxford Russian Dictionary, the most appropriate Russian prefix should be
"раз-", indicating the intensification of action.
For the sentence "Three or four times while I was going through
their envelopes, I was tempted to get up and make a formal protest to
M.Yoshoto" [J. D. Salinger, De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period] the best
translation would be "И когда я просматривал их работы, меня не раз так и
подмывало вскочить и обратиться с официальным протестом к мосье Йошото", as
there is a proper semantic correspondence between the adverbial element
through in the phrasal verb going through and the Russian prefix "про-" in
the verb "просматривал", both denoting exhaustive action.
English phrasal verbs can be highly idiomatic, their meanings
being unpredictable from the sum of their constituents' meanings (e.g. take
in (to deceive), lay down (to build), let on (to tell a secret). In such
cases, where the context or professional experience fail to reveal the
sense of a phrasal verb, a good explanatory or bilingual dictionary can be
of great help to the translator. For example, for a person who is not a
native speaker of English, in the sentence "He liked to break in his
assistants slowly" neither the context, nor the adverbial element of the
phrasal verb hint at the real meaning of the combination break in.
According to the Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, the phrasal verb
break in has the following "unexpected" meaning: 4. to help (smb) to become
accustomed (to work, etc.) . The Russian edition of this very dictionary
(Английские фразовые глаголы. Англо-русский словарь, Russkiy Yazyk
Publishers, Moscow, 1997) treats this meaning in the same way: 4. вводить
(кого-л.) в курс (новой работы и т.п.).
I think that a thorough study and consequent understanding of semantic correspondences in the English and Russian verbal systems can be quite a powerful tool in the translator's arsenal.
Practical translation
The Porsche crept along the street like a sleek black panther.
Hugging the curb, its engine purred so deep and low it sounded like a
predator’s growl.
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