Translation of words having no equivalents in TL

Such words are usually qualified as equivalent-lacking (V.N.Komissarov, A.L.Korallova, A.V.Fyodorov), the so-called “реалии” or words containing background information (V.S.Vinogradov, G.D.Tomakhin, V.V.Oshchepkova), “untranslatable” units in translation (S.Vlakhov, S.Florin), lacunar lexis (Yu.A.Sorokhin, G.V.Bykova), non-equivalent and partially-equivalent lexis (Ye.M.Vereshchagin, V.G. Kostomarov), background lexis (V.V.Vorobyov, G.D.Tomakhin) which point at the varied nature of words that are referred to this category. In view of this it is possible to speak about two approaches to the definition of words having no correspondences in TL. In a broad sense, they comprise various units which do not have correspondences in TL for different reasons (neologisms at the time of their appearance, geographic names which are seldom used, etc). In a narrow sense, they are confined to words that denote cultural concepts which can be further subdivided into classes depending on their extralinguistic reference (ethnographic, mythological, administrative, political, etc).

In regard to cross-cultural studies words having no equivalents can be described as motivated and non-motivated. In the former case their absence is due to the absence of notions in the notional system of the people, while in the latter case there are empty cells in the vocabulary system for a certain familiar notion (e.g. первогодок – young of animal less than one year old).

From a translator’s point of view there is sufficient material to analyze ways of rendering such units in translation on the basis of two types of dictionaries: traditional translation or bi-lingual dictionaries and dictionaries of the new generation including lingua-countrystudy and lingua-cultural dictionaries that are culture-oriented. Traditional translation dictionaries (ORED 1999, NERD 2000) confine the information they give in TL only to conventional linguistic information (translating meaning with minimum explanatory notes to avoid ambiguity, e.g. каша – kasha (dish of cooked grain or groats). Minimal explanatory notes used alongside transliterations in stead of rather clumsy periphrastic correspondences prove to be more useful in translating words denoting specifically Russian or Soviet concepts, in addition to indications of style or usage, grammatical information, phraseology, etc. As for background information related to an object named (the uses of an object, associations with it, value attitude to it accepted in a certain community, etc) which determines cultural connotations of language units denoting a given object it is left outside such language oriented dictionaries.

A much greater amount of extralinguistic background information which is varied in its nature is provided in translation countrystudy dictionaries, including the latest editions of “Great Britain. Linguacountrystudy Dictionary” by A.R.Room, L.V.Kolesnikov, et al; “Linguacountrystudy Dictionary: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” by G.D.Tomakhin, L.K.Genina (see the references).

Lingua-cultural dictionaries appeared first as monolingual dictionaries among which the most well known are Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture published in 1992 and Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners which came out in 2002. In Russian lexicography the first translation dictionary of this type was created by V.V.Kabackchi [The Dictionary of Russia, 2002]. The lingua-cultural approach was adopted as a basic principle in compiling a Russian-English dictionary of cultural words in the social, economic and cultural spheres [Чанышева, Дьяконова 2007].

The analysis of ways of presenting words denoting cultural concepts in the mentioned dictionaries enables us to establish the following means:

1) borrowed translation which includes:

a) transcription, e.g. Wellcome Foundation – Уэллком фаундейшн (крупная фармацевтическая компания), candy-floss – кэнди-флос (сахарная вата), the Beeb (coll) – Биб / Би-би-си; speed – спид (наркотик из группы стимуляторов);

b) transliteration or /and + transcription, e.g. canter – кантер (легкий галоп); strip poker – стрип- покер (покер с раздеванием);

c) loan-translation, e.g. pusher – толкач (торговец наркотиками), Inter-City train – междугородный поезд; canned music – консервативная музыка; музыка в записи;

2) analogues, e.g. ‘Omnibus’ – «Кругозор» (еженедельная телепрограмма о мире искусства), old salt – морской волк, square – консерватор; cheesecake – «лакомый кусочек» (фотография полураздетой или обнажённой женщины), букв. сдобная ватрушка; Highway Code – правила дорожного движения (ПДД); cottage loaf – деревенский хлеб;

3) descriptive / periphrastic translation, e.g. fielder – полевой игрок в крикете; brunch – плотный поздний завтрак в выходной день; L-plates – таблички «за рулём ученик»; folk museum – музей народного творчества.

4) combined translation which may be based on combining several ways of translation simultaneously, e.g.

borrowed translation + explanatory translation, e.g. old – maid – «старая дева» (карточная игра: игроки подбирают и сбрасывают парные карты); blue chip – синяя фишка (надёжная акция какой-либо компании); happy hour – весёлый час (время, когда алкогольные напитки в баре продают по сниженным ценам);

borrowed translation + analogue, e.g. I-spy – «Вижу, выходи!» (детская игра типа пряток); twos and threes – «двойки и тройки» (детская игра, напоминающая игру ‘третий лишний’).

The examples show that in the vast majority of cases the so-called background information which may not be known to a TL reader is supplied in the form of additional comment that contains various data related to the following:

origin, e.g. college pudding – пудинг «колледж»; предполагают, что такие пудинги впервые подавали в Нью-Колледже;

quotations, e.g. winter of discontent – «зима недовольства» (цитата из «Ричарда III» Шекспира); corridors of power – коридоры власти (first used by C.P. Snow in “Homecomings”with reference to ministries on Whitehall).

associations, e.g. Downstairs – живущие внизу, слуги; в богатых особняках живущие в полуподвале, в отличие от хозяев, живущих наверху;

encyclopaedic information about an object in question, e.g. D. Notice – меморандум: цензурный меморандум, направляемый английским правительством СМИ и запрещающий в интересах национальной безопасности предавать гласности определенную информацию; retrosexual – ретросексуал: человек, тратящий минимум денег на гардероб и не обращающий чрезмерное внимание на то, как он выглядит, в отличие от метросексуала (metrosexual).

value attitudes, goodwill – the good reputation and dood relations that a company has with its customers, and how much these are worth if the company is sold – условная стоимость деловых связей.

It should be noted in conclusion that in conditions of globalization languages tend to influence one another greatly which is seen in the phenomenon of transplants requiring no translation of SL units, e.g. VIP – зал, трансакции по SWIFT.

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