Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Presented by:
Supervised by:
Lviv-2022
2
Table of contents
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...3
CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE NOTION OF
TRANSLATION……………………………………………………………………...6
1.1. Translation as a means of cross-cultural communication……………………...6
1.2. Translation strategies: a review and comparison of theories………………....10
1.2.1. The notion of translation strategy………………………………………10
1.2.2. Translation strategies' typologies………………………………………12
1.3. Translation transformations and their types…………………………………..14
CHAPTER II. PECULIARITIES OF TRANSLATING THE NOVEL OF JOJO
MOYES ‘ME BEFORE YOU’………………………………………………………22
2.1. Specifics of translation the novels of Jojo Moyes………………………………22
2.2. Analysis of transformations in the translation of ‘Me before you’ by Jojo Moyes
into Ukrainian………………………………………………………………………..24
Conclusions………………………………………………………………………….30
References…………………………………………………………………………...32
3
Introduction
• highlight the statistical profile of Jojo Moyes’ novel ‘Me before you’.
Research methods. In the process of research, the transformation method
was applied in order to identify all possible methods of transformation during
translation; comparative – to compare the structures of both languages and establish
their common and distinctive features; the method of content analysis is used to
highlight the characteristics of the author's idiolect through a comprehensive
analysis of its lexical, syntactic and stylistic aspects. The quantitative method is
used to confirm the typicality of certain features in the artistic speech of the writer
in the novel.
The scientific novelty of the work lies in the attempt to study the idiolect of
Jojo Moyes in the novel ‘Me before you’ as a synthesis of basic lexical, syntactic
and stylistic elements, which allows linguistic and stylistic analysis of speech at
different levels of the text.
6
transformation "of this meaning into a plan, formation and formulation of utterances
in another language" [8, 14].
The dominant function of translation is cognitive-educational - through
translation knowledge is obtained in various fields, especially in the field of science
and education, which encourages the spiritual growth of society as a whole.
This, in turn, raises the cultural level of each person, forms an understanding
not only of the cultural and historical processes of the past, but also affects future
generations by synthesizing different cultures and creating new trends.
Culture in the context of intercultural communication is a set of spiritual,
historical, social and psychological features of an ethnos, all aspects of its life and
consciousness, including language. From these interpretations logically follows the
essence of translation, which is a complex and diverse activity, in which - when
replacing one language with another - there is an interaction of different cultures, ie
different mentalities, traditions and lifestyles. The dialogue of two or more cultures
contributes to overcoming ethnocentrism and cultural distance, involves the
interaction of cultures, leads to a clearer organization in the human mind.
Accordingly, translation has an evaluative and educational function, as it has a
formative influence on ideology, values, morals and ethics. Translation spiritually
integrates and consolidates humanity, creates a world community, making common
achievements of individual achievements of peoples in various spheres of world
development. At the same time, translation protects its language, protects the
identity of its culture, is the bearer of the spirit and needs of its time, its locality and
the tradition of the community and its culture. [3]
8
At the same time, the position of the translator remains unchanged - he creates
the appropriate language code for both parties. Note that at the coding stage, the text
of the original is first analyzed to fully understand and distinguish its semantic
depth, and then the process of synthesis - the creation of the original text. In this
case, the text of the translation is always secondary to the original, as the translator's
work is limited to finding the most appropriate linguistic equivalents.
The process of bilingual communication involves intercultural
communication, and therefore translators are constantly faced with the problem of
interpreting the cultural aspects that are inherent in the original text, as well as how
to successfully reflect them in the language of translation.
Native speakers of different languages may perceive the world somewhat
differently, due to the peculiarities of each language [5, p. 38-39]. Therefore, it is
critical in the process of translation to get acquainted with the cognitive base of the
linguistic and cultural community, in the language of which communication is
carried out.
Many scholars believe that the reproduction of cultural realities in the target
language is the primary task of the translator in intercultural communication,
because each language group has its own cultural and specific features [78, p. 94].
They can predict discrepancies in perceptions of the world or traditions, and thus
generate conflict situations.
Conventionally, all cultural barriers to translation can be divided into three
major groups:
• barriers caused by different "language pictures" of the world.
• obstacles due to differences in the way of life (translation of realities);
• obstacles due to differences in civilizations and their inherent value systems.
The first obstacle is related to the difference in "linguistic pictures of the
world" or ways of reflecting objective reality in different languages. It is believed that
each language creates its own picture of the world, forcing to see the world through
the conceptual prism of a particular language. The difference between these concepts
should be taken into account when translating.
10
The second group involves taking into account when translating the specifics
of life and lifestyle of a certain people. This also includes gaps - a nationally specific
element of culture, which is reflected in the language of its speakers, but is not clear
to the speakers of another linguistic culture and therefore impossible to translate. In
the narrow sense, a gap is the absence of a word in the lexical system of a language to
denote a certain concept. For example, "Huge" is a typical Scandinavian
phenomenon, which means a mood of coziness and comfortable communication with
a sense of well-being and satisfaction. This also includes the signs and rules of folk
ethics: in Eastern cultures it is uncultured to enter the house in shoes, in Slavic
culture it is indecent to be indoors in outerwear, and so on. Accordingly, such non-
verbal components affect both the subject situation and, therefore, must be taken into
account by the translator.
The third obstacle is due to the difference of civilization. The perception of the
text directly depends on the ideas, traditions, ideals formed in a particular culture or
civilization. For example, suicide is considered one of the most terrible acts in Slavic
culture, and is therefore perceived as something negative. In contrast, in Japanese
culture, more than half of all art is characterized by the suicide of a noble heroine or
hero as the main plot technique and is considered the best completion of a work of
art. Therefore, the perception of a work of art by Europeans, Asians and Slavs will be
different. It is important for the translator to take into account the essence, mood and
connotations of the original text for their qualitative expression in the translation.
Thus, translation is one of the possibilities of direct international
communication, and its task is to create such foreign language texts, which in
structural, substantive and functional terms could become a full-fledged replacement
for the original text.
Alekseeva [1], V.V. Demetskaya [6], T.P. Andrienko [3], which studies the term
"translation strategy", we can conclude that there is no unambiguous interpretation of
this term, in addition, different scholars, and sometimes even in the works of one
scientist can be found variations of this term, namely: “strategy", "translator's
strategy", "translator's behavior strategy during translation", "methods of depicting
the translation process", "cognitive regulation of translation discourse".
American translator, historian and translation theorist L. Venutti [7, p. 240]
notes that the term "strategy" is used in translation studies to denote a wide range of
translator's actions – from the choice of text to the choice of method of reproduction
of language units. Thus, the strategy is usually aimed at solving many translation
problems.
German linguist H. Krings believes that translation strategy is a conscious plan
of action of a translator to solve a specific translation problem within a specific
translation task [18]. According to V.V. Sdobnikov, "translation strategy is a program
of translation activities, formed on the basis of the general approach of the translator
to the translation in a certain communicative situation of bilingual communication,
which is determined by the specific features of this situation and the purpose of
translation, and, in a way, determines the nature of professional behavior translator
within a certain communicative situation "[15, p. 172].
Russian researcher I.V. Voinich considers the translation strategy as a "joint
plan of action of the translator", due to a set of its basic settings aimed at achieving
the goals that consciously or unconsciously sets the translator [5, p. 8].
Interesting in the context of the proposed study is the opinion of Ukrainian
researcher T.P. Andrienko, who considers strategy as a "cognitive regulation of
translation discourse" [3, p. 58] and believes that the strategy guides the translator in
solving translation problems and explores the cognitive-discursive mechanisms and
conditions of strategies, as well as their subordinate tactics and techniques of
translation, it aims to transform the concept of source text for integration into
conceptual and linguistic picture the world of the target language; the strategy is
interactive and guides the organization of the translator interaction between the
12
author and the addressee of the message, combines procedural and effective aspects
of translation; the strategy is included in the context of the activity, subordinated to
its goals and rules, and manages lower-order translation activities, which consist in
defining tactics and choosing translation techniques.
Thus, based on the analyzed definitions, we define "translation strategy" as an
algorithm of translator's activity, which assumes the presence of certain translation
tactics and techniques in order to transform the concept of the source text for
integration into the conceptual and linguistic picture of the world of translation.
units of source text into units of translation text. L.K. Latishev identifies 3 main
reasons for the use of translation transformations:
1. Differences in the systems of the original language and the language of
translation.
2. Discrepancies between the norms of the original language and the language
of translation.
3. Discrepancy of usage (rules of situational use of language), operating in the
environment of native speakers of the source language and the language of translation
[7, p. 76].
E.V. Breus motivates the need to use translation transformations by the fact
that the original text is transmitted through translation correspondences that have not
only a different linguistic expression in the target language, but also a different set of
seven from the original, and this creates the need for various translation
transformations [6, p. 13].
Therefore, we can generalize that all the reasons for the use of translation
transformations are reduced to two main ones: objective and subjective. For objective
reasons, there are transformations associated with cultural differences between the
two languages, with differences in grammatical structures of languages.
Transformations in this case are a means of maximizing the embodiment of the
original in translation. Subjective reasons include: lack of time for interpretation, the
translator's own style, the level of his competence and the fact whether the translator
is a native speaker of the original language or the language of translation. Subjective
reasons lead to a kind of distortion of the original text.
Thus, the main reason for the application of translation transformations is the
uniqueness of the language and its structure. Each language is divided into functional
levels as phonetic, morphological, lexical, word-formation, syntactic, within which
there are its own features, which are precisely the causes of inconsistencies
encountered in translation. After analyzing the original, the translator tries to change
the text so that the perception of the translation corresponds to the effect in the source
language. However, this is often realized through structural and semantic changes,
17
which are due, in turn, to lexical and grammatical differences between languages (in
a broad sense - the difference between the respective cultures).
Translation transformations involve certain interlingual changes in order to
find the most accurate translation equivalent. Throughout the development of
translation theory, scholars have formulated various types of classification of
translation transformations.
Recent studies show that various researchers have dealt with the classification
of translation transformations: L.K. Latyshev, Y.Y. Retsker, L.S. Barkhudarov, O.D.
Schweizer, J. Darbelne and J.-P. Vine, A. M. Fitterman, T.R. Levitska and others.
However, even today there is no single classification of translation transformations.
As L.K. Latyshev notes, it is also useful for a translator to know the basic types
of translation transformations and to be able to use them. In his opinion, possession
of these tools is as valuable for a language mediator as for a chess player possession
of a repertoire of standard solutions in typical situations [7, 27].
It is worth briefly considering what are the main types of transformations
identified by some of the above researchers. L.K. Latyshev [7, 78] identifies the
following types of transformations, taking into account the nature of deviations from
interlingual correspondences:
• morphological - replacement of one categorical form by another or several;
• syntactic - change the syntactic function of words and phrases;
• stylistic - change the stylistic color of a piece of text;
• semantic - a change not only in the form of expression of content, but also the
content itself, ie, by which the situation is described;
• mixed - lexical-semantic and syntactic-morphological.
J.J. Retsker distinguishes only two types of transformation: grammatical and
lexical. In this case, grammar involves changes in parts of speech or members of a
sentence. J.J. Retsker refers to the lexical concretization, generalization,
differentiation of meanings, compensation for losses that occur in the translation
process [6, 87].
18
ensure the adequacy of the translation of the original. Each translator uses convenient
and specific techniques, which ultimately should not affect the quality of translation.
The language of Jojo Moyes' characters reflects the state of modern spoken
language of British and Americans of different ages and social groups, which allowed
us to study the characteristics of the functioning of Americanisms in the language of
individual members of these language communities. Americanisms included not only
certain lexical items that appeared in the United States and differed from the British
versions, but also words and phrases that differed in spelling and grammar. As for the
translation of the phenomena considered by us, the bulk of them have functional
analogues in the Ukrainian language, so their transmission is not difficult. To
translate means to express correctly and completely by means of one language what
has already been expressed earlier by means of another language [1, p. 395].
Artistic translation is a kind of art, as a result of which a work in the original
language is reproduced in another language. Speaking about the peculiarities of the
translation of literary texts, it should be noted that there are a number of requirements
that the translator must meet to create the most complete representation of the
original in a foreign language.
The fact is that the translator of a literary text can also be called a writer. B.
Chukovsky said that a translator is most likely a talent. He does not photograph the
original, he reproduces it creatively [2, p. 134]. The work must be translated so that
the style of the author and the plot of the literary text are preserved in full. The
difficulty of such a translation is to convey the original charm of the work, while
maintaining the interest of the reader. Translators need to have a stock of background
knowledge and, like writers, need a multifaceted life experience that continually
replenishes their stock of impressions. The main task of translating any work of art is
to achieve adequacy. To do this, the translator needs to perform a number of
transformations to fully convey the information of the source text.
I would like to note that one of the main literary techniques used by the author
is the antithesis. The novel presents two completely different people, and, therefore,
Jojo Moyes uses different lexical and expressive means of constructing images of his
24
characters. Modern text includes a set of language signs, which the author skillfully
uses in the novel, which does not cause the reader difficulty in understanding the text.
Thus, the reader's interpretations of the text in the process of its perception, ie the
relevance of its semantic space, are adequate, clear, close to the life of the modern
reader.
It is safe to say that the question of the study of Americanism remains open, as
any language is constantly evolving and changing. It should be noted that there are
many classifications of lexical transformations. Every translator has the right to use
any of them, without forgetting the main task of the translator. And the main purpose
of translation of any work of art is adequate translation. In order to achieve adequacy,
the translator must be able to make appropriate transformations (transformations) for
the correct transmission of information contained in the original text to the reader.
more often used when translating words with a very broad meaning such as thing,
fine, good, to be, to do,to have, to get, to feel, to come etc. In our case, a literal
translation «ти не допомагаєш» reproduced by a colloquial phrase «І ти туди
ж!» [11, p.179], which is much more appropriate in the context of the situation and
really conveys the message of the hero.
In contrast, the method of generalization is used, which provides for the
expansion of meaning in the language of translation:
The reception of semantic development provides a clearer translation in
comparison with the original «Excellent» [26, p. 221] translated in the novel as
«Чудова думка».[11, p. 180] Since the word situationally depends on its use, such
clarification is actually necessary to reproduce the content of the novel.
Antonymous translation involves the transformation of the affirmative
construction into a negative or vice versa: «Для нас варте, мамо» – «It wasn’t
nothing to us, Mum» [11, p.183; 26, p.225]
A complete transformation allows you to more accurately express the opinion
of the author, especially when the literal translation does not provide the correct
semantic load: «So I just want to make the most of things» [26, p. 222]. Because «to
make the most of things» in English is an idiom, which in Ukrainian translates as
«використовувати повною мірою (на повну міру, цілком, ущерть)», that is, the
detonative meaning is preserved, but it is logical to adapt the translation for the
correct connotation – «Я просто хочу брати якомога більше від життя» [11,
p.180]
When transferring repetitions in the Ukrainian language, there are very
frequent cases of their partial or complete absence at the lexical level in the
translation text (reduction technique), they are mainly reflected through synonyms,
because the Ukrainian language tends to avoid lexical uniformity.
The term «grammatical transformation» as the transformation of an English
sentence in the process of translation must be understood conditionally. We highlight
the method of transposition, replacement, addition and omission.
26
Due to the differences in the word order of the English and Ukrainian
languages, the dominant type among translation transformations is the transposition
(of constructions or phrases): «Тріна закотила очі, не підводячи їх від книжки, яку
читала за обіднім столом» – «Treena, studying at the dining-table, rolled her
eyes.» [11, p. 178; 26, p. 219]. We see that the inversion in the English version is
immediately after the subject, while in the Ukrainian translation the inversion is
placed after the appendix. In addition, the method of concretization is used:
«studying» used in the sense «читати книжку».
Also, the transposition can be at the word level:«Ти завжди маєш бути
безгрішною, милосердною, усе знати та вміти владнати будь-яку ситуацію.» –
«You’re meant to be this serene, all-knowing, gracious person who can handle every
situation.» [11, p. 177; 26, p. 218].
Another technique is a replacement, and in the process of translation, both
grammatical units - word forms, parts of speech, sentence members, types of
syntactic connections, etc., can be subjected to it, as well as lexical, in connection
with which we can talk about grammatical and lexical replacements.
«Тату, не драматизуй» – «You’re being dramatic, Dad.» [11, p.179; 26, p.
220].
In this example, the adjective becomes a verb.
Grammatical structures are also replaced: «Обід? – Тато склав руки на
животі та невдоволено виставив щелепу» [11, p.178]. In the Ukrainian version of
the two-part sentence, passivity is conveyed in the English original: «Lunch?’ said
Dad, his arms crossed across his stomach, his jaw set in indignation» [26, p. 219].
Sometimes the context requires the addition of certain semantic components in
order to better understand the content and thought. Therefore, the method of addition
is used «Одне заняття на тиждень. Дві години» – «One two-hour class». [11, p.
179; 26, p. 220] In this example, differentiation is used at the same time - one
sentence in the original language is divided into two in the target language. In
addition, such clarification performs an amplifying function in the context. To
confirm, give another example «Я чекала продовження» – «I waited.» [11, p.147;
27
26, p. 224] Since the literal translation changes the situational connotation, it is
advisable to specify that the heroine expects to continue to express his opinion to
another character.
The needs of the context sometimes determine the use of the omission
technique: «Я затрималась у батьків набагато довше, ніж планувала» – «I
stayed much later into the evening than I had intended, said goodbye to my family,
climbed into my car and drove home» [11, p.183; 26, p. 226]. The omitted part of this
sentence is that Louise says goodbye, gets in the car and goes home, because the
emphasis is on the conversation between her mother's sister and Louise. And the fact
that Louise is going is mentioned below «Моя сестра розреготалась. Я зачинила
двері машини та завела двигун» – «My sister laughed, and closed the door of the
car as I started it» [11, p.184; 26, p. 227]. This avoids tautology in translation. Or:
«The smell of weed hit me first, so strong I almost reflexively held my breath rather
than inhale» In the Ukrainian version there is no comparative share: «Мене окутало
запахом трави. Запах був таким сильним, що я інстинктивно затамувала
подих» [26, p.184; 11, p. 227], however, the content was not affected.
From the point of view of lexical transformation, these are techniques of
semantic development – techniques used to facilitate the perception of the text by
native speakers of the Ukrainian language.
Among the lexical-semantic transformations we find in the novel narrowing,
expansion, emphatization, neutralization.
Note that almost all lexical and semantic techniques are combined with lexical
and grammatical ones, so it can be difficult to unambiguously determine the
technique that is used to translate one sentence.
Rarely, but still the narrowing technique is used in the novel: «Work had
reached a misery point». [26, p. 219] English phrase «misery point» is transformed
into Ukrainian «апогей»: «Муки на роботі сягали апогею» [11, p.177]. In addition,
the translation uses the technique of emphatization – increasing emotionality in the
language of translation: «муки на роботі» reproduce the English word – «work». At
the same time the method of semantic development is used.
28
to in 33% of cases; lexical and semantic transformations were used the least – 17%.
According to these results, the following visual diagram was obtained:
60%
50%
50%
40%
33%
30%
20% 17%
10%
0%
lexical grammatical lexical and
transformation transformation semantic
transformation
Conclusions
Today in linguistics there is a growing interest in the text, which is studied in
various aspects and interpreted in various fields of humanities. The text is considered
by researchers as a structural-semantic formation, a kind of complex unity,
characterized by communicative integrity, semantic completeness, logical,
grammatical, semantic connections.
The following researchers studied the semantic space of the text: Alefirenko
N.F., Arnold I.V., Babenko L.G., Halperin I.R., Kukharen V.A., Lukin V.A.,
Nikolina N.A., Brekle N.E., Dressier W., Eco U..
Also, the author in the literary text used the omission of auxiliary verbs in
interrogative sentences, truncated constructions, interruption of the story, expressed
in three points. It should be noted that the frequent use of such graphics means the
cessation of speech and non-communication.
The author deliberately uses these techniques to create and convey a difficult
tense situation in the situation. In conclusion, I would like to note that one of the
main literary techniques used by the author is the antithesis. The novel presents two
completely different people, and, therefore, Jojo Moyes uses different lexical and
expressive means of constructing images of his characters. Modern text includes a set
of language signs, which the author skillfully uses in the novel, which does not cause
the reader difficulty in understanding the text.
Thus, the reader's interpretations of the text in the process of its perception, ie
the relevance of its semantic space, are adequate, clear, close to the life of the modern
reader. It is safe to say that the question of the study of Americanism remains open,
as any language is constantly evolving and changing.
It should be noted that there are many classifications of lexical transformations.
Every translator has the right to use any of them, without forgetting the main task of
the translator.
And the main purpose of translation of any work of art is adequate translation.
In order to achieve adequacy, the translator must be able to make appropriate
31
References
1. Андрієнко, Т. П. (2016). Стратегії і тактики перекладу: когнітивно-
дискурсивний аспект (на матеріалі художнього перекладу з англійської
мови на українську та російську): монографія. К.: Видавничий дім
Дмитра Бураго.
2. Бевз, Н. В. (2010). Переклад як культурний феномен: герменевтико-
комунікативний аспект: автореф. дис. на здобуття наук. ступеня канд.
філос. наук: спец. 09.00.04 «Філософська антропологія, філософія
культури». Харків.
3. Демецька, В. В. (2006). Теорія адаптації: крос-культурні та
перекладознавчі проблеми: монографія. Херсон: МП «Норд».
4. Колесник Р. С. (2009). Перекладач у тривимірному світі художнього
твору. Мовні і концептуальні картини світу. Київ: КНУ імені Т.
Шевченка. Вип. 26. С. 76–80.
5. Корунець І. В. (2003). Теорія і практика перекладу. Вінниця: Нова книга.
448 с.
6. Кочан І. М. (2008). Лінгвістичний аналіз тексту. К.: Знання, 423 с
7. Лановик, М. Б. (2006). Проблеми художнього перекладу як предмет
літературознавчої рефлексії: автореф. дис. на здобуття наукового ступеня
доктора філол. наук: спец. 10.01.06 «Теорія літератури». К. Ребрій, О. В.
(2012). Сучасні концепції творчості у перекладі: монографія. Х.: ХНУ
імені В. Н. Каразіна.
8. Максімов С. Є. (2006). Практичний курс перекладу (англійська та
українська мови) Теорія та практика перекладацького аналізу тексту для
студентів факультету перекладачів та факультету заочного та вечірнього
навчання: Навчальний посібник / С. Є. Максімов. К.: Ленвіт, 157 с.
9. Миколишена Т. В. (2018). Перекладацька домінанта як основа успішного
перекладу. Збірник наукових праць "Південний архів". Сер.: Філологічні
науки. Херсон. Вип. 73. С. 203–206.
33
Illustrated literature
26. Мойєс Дж. (2017). До зустрічі з тобою ; пер. з англ. Н. Хаєцької. Харків.
384 с.
27. Moyes J. (2012). Me Before You. London. 480 p.