3. Translation of Internationalisms and Pseudo-Internationalisms

Internationalisms proper are words that have more or less similar phonetic form and carry the same meaning in three or more world l-ges,

e.g. electronics, cybernetics, etc.

Most of internationalisms go back to ancient l-ges. Greek and Latin terminological elements are used to form new words that denote new notions and phenomena,

e.g. plastic operation,

cyberspace, etc.

2.3.3. Pseudo-Internationalisms or “false friends of a translator” differ in meaning in two l-ges either completely or partially, in some of the elements of their semantic structure (semes),

e.g. complexion –

elevator –

TV gave a magazine coverage to the elections –

Secular and religious materials –

Apart from genuine internationalisms there exist many international translation loan units of lexicon. These have a generally common structural form but rarely a similarity in sounding,

e.g. citric acid – лимонна кислота

specific gravity – питома вага

outer space – відкритий космос

weightlessness - невагомість

Identification of internationalisms, genuine or loan, presents no difficulty if they are monosemantic units. It becomes much more difficult in the case of polysemantic units which are common in modern English and less frequent in Ukrainian,

e.g. conductor ----- кондуктор - genuine internationalism

провідник - (electr.) international loan word

диригент - pseudo-international meanings

керівник

провід (дріт)

громовідвід

artistic ------- мистецький civil ------ громадянський dramatic - раптовий

художній цивільний непередбачений

артистичний ввічливий, чемний драматичний

To avoid mistakes in tr-n we should carefully consider the environment of a word,

e.g. a fit of depression –

depression of trade –

the structure of the sentence –

a multi-storeyed structure –

4. Translation of non-equivalent lexicon

A SL unit regularly used to translate a TL unit is referred to as its translation equivalent.

Equivalents are divided into single (regular) and multiple (variant). Single equivalent is the most stable and regular way of translating a definite SL unit in all (or almost all) cases, and thus relatively independent on the context. Most terms, proper names, geographical names and some common names and phrases have single equivalents,

e.g. capitalism - капіталізм, House of Commons – Палата громад, Roosevelt - Рузвельт, Eugene O’Neal – Юджин О’Ніл, Cleveland - Клівленд, dog-collar - ошийник, etc.

Multiple equivalence is a set of regular ways of tr-ting a definite SL unit. The choice between equivalents is determined by the context,

e.g. attitude – ставлення, позиція, політика; actual – справжній, дійсний, поточний.

There also exist units which have no regular equivalents in TL. Non-equivalent lexical units may be presented by neologisms, specific units of national lexicon (realia), and less known names which have to be translated by occasional contextual equivalents (conservationist, baby-sitter, baby-boomers, etc.). All this concerns only two l-ges involved in the process of tr-n. A SL unit having no equivalent in the TL may have equivalents in l-ges other than TL.

The existence of l-ge units having no equivalents in the TL does not suggest that they cannot be translated or that they are tr-ted with less accuracy than units having direct equivalents. The following kinds of occasional contextual equivalents may be used:

1. Borrowings reproducing the form of a SL word: tribalism - трайбалізм, know-how – ноу-хау, impeachment - імпічмент. Such equivalents are created by transcription or transliteration. They may gradually become stable and regular in TL.

2. Translation loans (calques) reproducing the morpheme structure of a word or constituents of a set expression: brain drain - відтік мізків, people of good will – люди доброї волі, etc. Many occasional equivalents become widely used in tr-n and gradually enter TL lexicon.

3. Analogues created by substitution of SL unit with a TL unit which is the closest in meaning: drugstore - аптека, afternoon – вечер (R), надвечір’я (U). These occasional equivalents are adequate for the given context only. “Afternoon” does not mean “вечер”; however, if the participants of a conference have morning and afternoon sessions the tr-n will be «дневное и вечернее заседание». American drugstores are places where they sell newspapers, items of personal hygiene, soft drinks, snacks, ice-cream, etc. Therefore the occasional equivalent “аптека” cannot be used to translate the following sentence: “Food is awful in drugstores.”

4. Lexical substitution created by one of the tr-n transformations: “exposure” has no direct equivalent in U/R. Thus, in tr-ting the sentence “He died of exposure” the transformation of specification or expansion can be employed: “Він помер від застуди”; “Він помер від сонячного удару”; “Він замерз у снігах”, etc.

5. In case all the above mentioned methods seem impossible to use, the method of description can be employed: landslide – перемога на виборах переважною більшістю голосів; brinkmanship – мистецтво ведення політики на межі війни; coroner – слідчий, що проводить допити у випадках насильницької чи наглої смерті. In some cases both a tr-n loan and a description in the text or in a footnote are used. The description being used once, later the tr-tor may use the loan or transcription only.