Transformations in the process of translation

1. The kind of major and minor alteration in the structural form of language units performed with the aim of achieving faithfulness in translation are referred to as translator’s transformations. They are carried out either because of the incompatibility of the TL means of expression, which makes the transplantation of some SL units to it impossible, or in order to retain the style Of the SL passage and thus maintain the expressiveness of the SL sense units. Naturally, not all sense units need to be structurally transformed, they remain unchanged or little changed. Among these:

1) Most of genuine internationalisms, some idiomatic expressions, culturally biased notions: gentleman -джентльмен, finita la commedia - ділу кінець.

2) Many of loan internationalisms, which have in the TL the same meaning, often the same structural form but a different phonetic structure: the complex sentence - складне речення, subordination - підрядний зв'язок;

3) almost all proper nouns of various subclasses: Floy – Флой, Newton -Ньютон, Ohio – Огайо, General Motors Corp. But some of them are partly transformed: Charles V - король Карл п'ятий, Leghorn – Ліворно, "Sport"- американська спортивна газета "Спорт", etc.

Translation of sense units at the language level, i.e., at the level they belong to in the SL, represents nothing else than a process of constant transformations. The most frequent of these are the following two:

1) " inner " or implicit transformations taking place at the lexical/ semantic level of the TL as compared with the corresponding SL units;

2) " outer " or explicit transformations causing some alterations in the TL as compared with the structure of the corresponding sense units of the SL units.

A vivid illustration of "inner" transformation is realized in genuine internationalisms through their synonymous or polysemantic meanings: idiomatic - ідіоматичний / фразеологічний but also властивий, характерний, притаманний, imitation - імітація, наслідування, сурогат, замінник (imitation coffee); national -національний, народний/ державний, збройний (national forces of Ukraine - збройні сили України).

The outer transformation is performed in the process of translation practically on any type of the SL sense unit; already the change of the Roman type (шрифт) for the Ukrainian or Arabic one presents an explicit or outer transformation (Lviv Львів). A kind of combined explicit and implicit transformation may take, too: John may have three outer/ explicit realizations of its implicit meanings in Ukraine: Джон, Папа Іоанн Павло Другий -Pope John Paul II, King John І - король Іоанн І.

Outer transformation: -the Hebrides - Гебридські ocтpови, Labrador - півострів Лабрадор, Ладозьке озеро - Ladoga.

- at the phonetic/phonological level: ceremony - [ 'serimeni] -церемонія; some have partly transformed phonetic, i.e., outer structure: Ireland [aielend] Ірландія, Маіnе [mein] Meн, Rwanda [ ru:'andə] Руанда, Tunisia - Туніс (країна), Tunis - Туніс (столиця),

- the sense of several simple words may be expressed through word-groups: advance - робити успіх, примерзнути - to get chilled, vice versa: easy-going -добродушний, first-rate - першорядний, mother-in-law -свекруха/теща.

- when a word-group notion is translated through a common word: little Mary (jocul) - шлунок, Lord Harry -чортяка.

- when a word combination is rendered through a sentence structure: Nosy Porker -людина, яка втручається в чужі справи, Lazy Susan -столик, на якому розвозять/подають бутерброди до чаю.

All these outer transformations were prearranged by the semantic aims, i.e., they were used to express as fully and faithfully as possible the sense of SL units in the TL.