Translation of Zoonyms

The role of animals in human life has always been extremely high, especially in the early days of

mankind, when people and animals coexisted in a natural neighborhood. The inclusion of our
knowledge about the fauna in figurative human characteristics is a natural stage in the
development of languageIn this regard verbs formed from the notion-names of animals
(zoonyms) are of particular interest to us. In the linguistic literature, zoonyms are also known as
animalisms, zoometaphors, zoolexems, zoomorphisms, comparative phrases with animalistic
component, word combinations with component-names of animals, etc.
Animal idioms:
Eager beaver-a person who is excited about doing certain work;
Cash cow-a good way to make money
Bull in a china shop- a person with no tact who upsets others or upsets plans
Hold your horses- wait and be patient.
Zoonyms are assigned to animals’ proper names or nicknames. multiple anthroponyms: English
speech widely uses both derivatives such as abbreviated forms: Mag, Sam, Ben and diminutive
forms with the suffix -y or – ie, Molly, Nicky, Maggie. In the Russian language, there are forms
with a suffix – ‘ka’: Vas’ka, Mishka, Son’ka, Muska, and Fil’ka. Sometimes, jokingly respectful
names copy more official forms of treatment, such as Vasily Timofejevich – the nickname of the
cat, Aksinya Ivanovna – the nickname of a pig, Ivan Ivanovich – the nickname of the goose.
Also, in Russia, fashionable foreign anthroponyms, such as Jerry, Jack, Barbie, Tom, and Ralph,
became popular. Conversely, a similar trend in English zoonomia fails.
Cry wolf- causee alarm without reason;
Cloud cuckoo land- a fantasy land;
Donkey’s years- a long time. in the United States in recent years, the most famous nicknames for
pets (primarily cats and dogs) were Max, Maggie, Buddy, Bailey, Jake, Sam, Molly, Nicky, Coco,
Sadie

Intercultural communications in translation

Cross-cultural communiation- implies a comparison of and contrast between particular aspects of
communication between cultures.
Intetcultural communication- the communication between people from different cultures
Along with that, the globalization of cultures actualizes the concept of intercultural
communication. In many areas, such as linguistics, literary criticism, culture studies, sociology,
psychology, new researches are devoted to the problem of intercultural communication.
The view of translation as of a means of intercultural communication follows from the idea of
language as a culture component, and culture - as an aggregate of material and spiritual
achievements of the society, including all the varied historical, social and psychological features
of the ethnos, its traditions, views, values, institutions, behavior, living conditions – in short, all
the sides of its life and consciousness, including language. Benefits of intercultural
communication: willingness to accept differences;
Personal growth through increased tolerance;
Dialogue;
Cooperation;
Developing a positive attitude towards otherness;
Increased international, national, and local commerce;

Translation of Onomatopoeia
The word onomatopoeia comes from the combination of two Greek words, onoma meaning
"name" and poiein meaning "to make," so onomatopoeia literally means "to make a name (or

sound)." That is to say that the word means nothing more than the sound it makes. Many
onomatopoeic words can be verbs as well as nouns. "Slap" for instance, is not only the sound
that is made by skin hitting skin, but also the action of hitting someone (usually on the face) with
an open hand.
Words related to water or other liquids often begin with sp- or dr-. Words that indicate a small
amount of liquid often end in -le (sprinkle/drizzle).
Splash, Spray,Sprinkle,Squirt,Dribble,Drip, drizzle,
Vocal soundsSounds that come from the back of the throat tend to start with a gr- sound,
whereas sounds that come out of the mouth, through the lips, tongue and teeth, often begin
with mu-.
giggle
growl
grunt
gurgle
mumble
murmur
bawl
belch
chatter
Collisions can occur between two or more objects. Sounds that begin with cl- usually indicate
collisions between metal or glass objects, and words that end in -ng are sounds that resonate.
Words that begin with th- usually describe dull sounds like soft but heavy things hitting wood or
earth.
bam
bang
clang
clank
clap
clatter
click
clink
ding
jingle
screech
slap
thud
thump. Words related to animal noises often have long vowel sounds, such as "oo" or "ay." If
you've spent time in other countries, you may know that animals speak different languages too.
Depending on where a chicken is from, for example, she might cluck-cluck, bok-bok, tok-tok,
kot-kot or cotcotcodet. We'll stick with English here:
• arf
• baa
• bark
• bray
• buzz
• cheep
• chirp
• chortle

Translation of proper and geographical names

 Translation has many challenges, one of which is the problem of translating proper nouns
(PNs), a term used here interchangeably with the term 'proper names,' adequately from
one language to another. The focus of this study lies within translation of personal names,
which are a subclass of proper nouns.
 The translation of proper names has often been considered as a simple automatic process
of transference from one language into another, due to the view that proper names are
mere labels used to identify a person or a thing. Contrary to popular views, the translation
of proper names is a non-trivial issue, closely related to the problem of the meaning of
the proper name."
 Every proper name, such as those below, will be written with capital letters:
 a) Names of persons, animals or singularized things. Examples: Peter,
 Albert, Plato.
 b) Geographical names: America, Spain.
 When the article officially forms part of the proper name, both words will start
 with capital letter: El Salvador, The Hague. The name that accompanies
 proper names of place when they are part of the toponym: Mexico City; Sierra
 Nevada.
 c) Last names: Smith, Brown.
 d) Constellation, star or planet names strictly considered as such.
 e) Zodiac sign names: Aries, Taurus, Libra.
 f) Cardinal point names, when we refer explicitly to them.
 g) Civil or religious feast names.

Translation of humour and colloquialism

• Definition of colloquialism
• 1- a colloquial expression"Chicken out" is a colloquialism for "to lose one's nerve."
• 2- a local or regional dialect expression"Bodacious" originated as a
Southern colloquialism.
• 3- colloquial stylethe appeal of the author's colloquialism
• His English is very good, but he has trouble understanding certain colloquialisms.
• Latin colloquium, from colloqui to converse, from com- + loqui to speak
 • A word or phrase that is not formal or literary and is used in ordinary or familiar
conversation.
• ‘the colloquialisms of the streets’
• mass noun The use of colloquialisms.‘speech allows for colloquialism and slang’
• a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to
imitate informal speech
• an expression not used in formal speech, writing or paralinguism. Colloquialisms can
include words (such as "y'all", "gonna" or "grouty"), phrases (such as "ain't nothin'",
"dressed for bear" and "dead as a doornail"), or sometimes even an
entire aphorism ("There's more than one way to skin a cat"). Colloquialisms are often
used primarily within a limited geographical area.

Humour
Translation studies and humour studies are disciplines that have been long-established but
seldom looked at in conjunction. This volume uses literature as the common ground and
examines issues of translating humour within a range of different literary traditions. It begins
with an analysis of humour and translation in every day life, including jokes and cross-cultural
humour, and then moves on to looking at humour and translation in literature through the ages.
• She has a quirky sense of humour.
• У нее очень своеобразное чувство юмора.
• He was in no humour to listen.
• Он был не в настроении слушать.
• The thin partition that divided his mirth and good humour from his anger.
• Тонкая граница, которая отделяет его веселье и хорошее настроение от его
гнева.
• You really have a warped sense of humour (=think strange and unpleasant things are
funny).
• У тебя весьма извращённое чувство юмора (=считать смешными странные и
неприятные вещи).
• “dry humour” or “dry humor” (as Americans spell it) is humour told in a “dry” way,
without emotion (e.g. seriously). So you tell a joke like it’s not a joke, in a matter-of-fact
kind of way — in this sense, dry humour can be said to be all about the delivery of the
joke.
• It is an implied or indirect kind of humour, often with an emphasis on how the joke is
told.
The examples of Glasgow slang:
Slang:
Crap-bag – coward;
Punters-fellow gang members;
Malky-weapon;
Snide gear-unfashionable clothes
Sleekit-cunning
Peter-policee or prison cell;
Figure of speech: Assonance
• A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is figurative language in the form of a single word
or phrase. It can be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with
literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal
meaning of the words.

This is the repetition of identical or similar vowel sound in a series of words. Phrases and/or
syllables. For ex, clap your hands and stamp your feet.
Try to light the fire;It beats…as it;Sweeps…as it;Cleans.
Assonance is a resemblance in the sounds of words or syllables either between their vowels
(e.g., meat, bean) or between their consonants (e.g., keep, cape)
• However, assonance between consonants is generally called consonance in American
usage
• The two types are often combined, as between the words six and switch, in which the
vowels are identical, and the consonants are similar but not completely identical. If there
is repetition of the same vowel or some similar vowels in literary work, especially in
stressed syllables, this may be termed vowel harmony
The rain in spain falls mainly in the plains.
He struck a streak of bad luck-consonance;
There was a fleet of sleeping geese-assonance;
The pig put on a few pounds-allitiration;
How now brown cow-assonance;
The sun made my skin sizzle-alliteration.
• She seems to beam rays of sunshine with her eyes of green.
• In this example, the speaker uses assonance to describe a pretty woman. Assonance
occurs in the repeating vowel sounds of seems, beam, and green.

Lexical problems of translation

Comissarov writes the following about contextual modification, “The contextual modification
may extend the connotative meaning of the word. The translator is greatly concerned about the
adequate reproduction of this part of the word semantics, since it has an impact upon the whole
text.”
A propos of adequacy, we shall mention the method elaborated by Y. Retzcker that consists in
overcoming difficulties concerning lexical aspect of translation. He tried to single out types of
correspondence between two lexical units in ST and TT.
His classification runs as follows:
Equivalent
Equivalent is a word or phrase which completely coincides with that from the original text. For
example: rose – роза.
Analogue
Analogue is a word or phrase which is quite close to the SL word meaning, but without complete
coincidence. One may figure out the meaning analyzing the synonymic string of this word and
find the most appropriate variant. For instance, reliable – достоверный,
надёжный, magnificent – изумительный, чудесный. Adequate Substitution which has 3 types:
1. Logical development of the idea of the word (interpreting)
2. Antonymous translation
3. Compensation (the usage of completely different means of TL to convey the meaning of the
word from SL. It happens when translator deals with proverbs or idioms).
Lexical Substitution
There are 3 kinds of Lexical Substitution:
• Differentiation of the word meaning
• Generaliriation of the word meaning
• Substitution based on cause-effect relations
Due to the semantic features of language the meanings of words, their ability to combine with
other words, their usage, the “place” they hold in the lexical system of a language do not concur
for the most part. All the same “ideas” expressed by words coincide in most cases, though the
means of expression differ.
The principal types of lexical correspondences between two languages are as follows: 1)
Complete correspondences; 2) Partial correspondences; 3) The absence of correspondences [1:
96].
Let’s deal with them more exactly.
1) Complete lexical correspondences.
Complete correspondence of lexical units of two languages can rarely be found. As a rule
they belong to the following lexical groups:
- proper names and geographical denominations:
- the months and days of the week, numerals.
- scientific and technical terms (with the exception of terminological polysemy).
2) Partial lexical correspondences.
While translating the lexical units partial correspondences mostly occur. That happens when a
word in the language of the original conforms to several equivalents in the language it is
translated into. The reasons of these facts are the following [2:5].
1. Most words in a language are polysemantic. That’s why the selection of a word in the
process of translating is determined by the context.
2. The specification of synonymous order. However, it is necessary to allow for the nature of
the semantic signs which an order of synonyms is based on. Therefore, it is advisable to account
for the concurring meanings of members of synonymic orders, the difference in lexical and
stylistic meanings, and the ability of individual components of orders of synonyms to combine.

polysemantic — adjective having multiple meanings

A polysemantic word, as has been shown, is a word having several meanings or lexical-semantic variants.
These lexical-semantic variants possess both lexical and grammatical features which are closely
interwoven. These different meanings or lexical-semantic variants of polysemantic words are revealed in
the context. By the term “context” is understood the minimum stretch of speech determining each
individual meaning of a word.
The context individualises the meaning of the word, brings it out, reveals the intended lexical-semantic
variant. It is in this sense that we say that the meaning of a polysemantic word is determined by the
context. The term context comprises both the narrow or micro context and the wide or macro context. The
narrow context implies sentence or even a word combination, e.g.: bright star – яркаязвезда; bright wine
– прозрачное вино; bright day – светлый день; bright reply – блестящий ответ; a bright boy
– способный, смышленый мальчик. The following examples illustrate the importance of the context in
translation.
The construction of the UNO was no simple or easy task.
This explains the peculiar construction of the Security Council.
In the first sentence the word “construction” has the meaning of “act of devising and forming” (Webster
III), in the second sentence the meaning is “structure”.
These different contexts bring out different lexical-semantic variants of the word “construction” which
are reflected in the Russian translation.
Создание ООН было не простой и не легкой задачей.
Это объясняет своеобразную структуру Совета Безопасности.
The importance of the context for translation is obvious. The micro context implies not only lexical but
also syntactical ambient elements, e.g.: the elm stood before the house – перед домом стоял вяз;
he stood a whisky and soda – он угостил меня виски с содовой водой.
The context or the situation not only reveals the intended meaning of a polysemantic word but also its
concrete or abstract, its direct or transferred meaning.
A dictator relies upon his army and police force. – direct meaning
Диктатор опирается на свою армию и полицию.
The whole army of words – вся масса слов – transferred meaning.
An army of insects – туча насекомых – transferred meaning
He was crippled in the Vietnam war.
Он был искалечен на войне во Вьетнаме.
The criminal forces of reaction and anti-détente aim at crippling international cooperation.
Цель преступной поджигательной политики реакционеров и противников разрядки
– подорвать международное сотрудничество.

NARRATION TRANSLATION SOLUTIONS

When you need narration translation services, your work is done the second you hand over the
project to us.
We handle every step of the narration translation process from A to Z, whether you’re working
on a simple, 3-day project or a complex, multi-month undertaking. Narration, subtitling, and
voice-overs are key to today’s video projects—from advertisements to corporate training videos.
And because we’ve been in this business for more than 2 decades, we’ve built relationships with
studios and voice-over talent across the country, giving you access to the best talent out there.
In our decades of narration translation, we’ve worked with some of the largest companies in the
United States, offering them clear, effective narration for internal communications and external
projects.
No matter the project, you’ll work with the same project manager throughout the process, who
sets up and adheres to a workflow that fits your timeline and budget.
You can expect quality and timely delivery, whatever the project. Common video project types
include:
Advertisements
State-of-the-company addresses
Training videos
Ethics and compliance videos
Sexual harassment and data security trainings
Software recordings with audio prompts
E-learning projects
uncountable, countable the act or process of telling a story, especially in a novel, a film/movie or
a play
• The novel constantly switches between first-person and third-person narration.
2. countable a description of events that is spoken during a film/movie, a play, etc. or with music
NARRATION SCRIPTS present special challenges for translators. Because they are intended to
be read aloud, their style and format must make them easy to read and easy to understand when
heard. And because they often accompany recorded visual images, there may be severe restraints
on the length and structure of sentences.
What Are Narration Scripts?
By "narration scripts," I mean primarily scripts for the overdubbed narration of videos, films,
CD-ROMs, and other multimedia presentations. Typical examples include scripts for public
relations videos for companies, government agencies, and other organizations; guides to
factories; descriptions of technologies or products; educational and training videos; in-flight
entertainment and advertisements; television commercials; and video and film documentaries. A
related category is scripts for live presentations, such as by speakers at trade shows and
conferences. (In this paper, I do not discuss the translation of dubbed or subtitled dialogue for
dramatic films.)
How Are Narration Scripts Different from Other Types of Translation?
In most translations, the translator can assume that the translated text will be presented to readers
in written form. With narration scripts, though, the end user - the viewer of a video, the listener
to a speech - does not see a written text. Instead, the written translation is converted into speech
through a key intermediary: the narrator. To create good narration scripts, the translator must
understand what narrators do and the restrictions under which they work.

In order to obtain a high-quality translation of advertizement and commercials it is

necessary to understand the principle of organization of commercials texts, slogans,
catalogs, etc. The advertizing copy can be attributed to instructive texts. Thus the main
objective of the advertizing text is to provoke reaction or to force the person to make any
action through persuasion or offer to try something. When translating advertizing copies a
translator should consider a range of linguistic and culturological features: syntactic,
semantic, and intercontextual.

Drink producers caught it bad either. At the beginning of work in the market of China the
name Coca-Cola was read as "Kekoukela" which can be rendered as "Bite a wax tadpole"
or "A mare filled with wax" – variants of translation that depend upon a dialect. After that the
company investigated about 40.000 to find the necessary phonetic equivalent –
"kokoukole". The new word is translated as "Happiness in a mouth". Similar translation is
worthy respect. Everybody remembers the slogan of Pepsi about generation, in China it
was translated as "Pepsi will pull out your relatives from a grave". And the harmless phrase
of Schweppes producer "Schweppes Tonic" was translated into Italian as "Water from
Schweppes toilet bowl".

Basic essentials which should be considered when carrying out translation of advertizing
copies and commercials: simplicity of structure, short sentences, conventionality of style,
and vagueness of images. Superficial character of advertizing copies can put any translator
on the spot. In order to receive a high-quality translation it is necessary to remember: any
advertizing copy is aimed at striking the reader (listener) at the expense of queerness of
language chunks. When translating first of all it is necessary to be focused on the message
instead of a message form. After all the advertizing industry is involved in infinite fight on
drawing attention of customers when all need to be struck, thus all written and unwritten
rules on structuring the text can be nullified, or can be taken into account on the contrary.
First of all the translator working on the advertizing copy should pay attention to language of
message. Although abundance of advertizing messages contain very little or are practically
deprived of verbal information, relying on the visual message of accompanying images with
intellectual associations which arise in mind when viewing image. When translating
advertizing copies it is necessary to consider cultural aspects, and from time to time for the
reason given the translator should render the nonverbal message by verbal means, and it is
always necessary to keep in mind culturological nuances of the country in which the
translated advertizing copy will be used.

Audiovisual translation – What is it about?

As I already explained in a previous post for Translation Boutique, audiovisual translation is
just one possible job specialization of many that we can find as professional translators related to
translation and interpretation. Although the majority of audiovisual work is in English there are
sometimes opportunities to do projects in German, French and other languages too.
This certain kind of translation always caught my attention and I wanted to do some research on
its theoretical side. An academic article for researchschool.org by Delia Chiaro describes
audiovisual translation as follows:
Audiovisual translation (AVT) is the term used to refer to the transfer from one language to
another of the verbal components contained in audiovisual works and products. Feature films,
television programs, theatrical plays, musicals, opera, Web pages, and video games are just some
examples of the vast array of audiovisual products available and that require translation. As the
word suggests, audiovisuals are made to be both heard (audio) and seen (visual) simultaneously
but they are primarily meant to be seen.[1]

Some of the typical characteristics that define audiovisual translation are speech and
changing registers:
Speech. With this characteristic we refer to the ability to symbolize a previously translated
natural and spontaneous dialogue. It might sound easy, but it is not. What is logical to one person
in a certain context might seem totally out of place for another person. For that reason, a
translator should be able to transfer written language on to the screen without adding strange
expressions or demanding an unreasonable, unnatural effort on part of the character who is
speaking.
Changing registers. Contrary to the other specialized forms, audiovisual translation is
characterized by suffering from changes in registers. Instead of working on a well-defined topic
we are confronted with a great variety of possible registers. Among these are children’s
programs, detective series, horror movies or documentary films on nature. One of audiovisual
translation’s advantages is that it permits the translator to learn something new about any
possible topic every day. That is why it is not surprising that translators often have a wide and

pretty broad cultural and general knowledge.

Whilst I am telling you about the main characteristics, I wouldd also like to mention so
AVT - it means AudioVisual Translation: opposite to common assumption, it is not only about
films (this is the domain of film or screen translation), but also about TV, computer games, video
games, videoclips and even theatre plays - everything that is multimodal and includes more than
one mode of reception, for example, not only the visual one, but also the aural one.
Multimodality means that a translator has to take into consideration other layers of reality, not
only the textual one: "...interlingual translation is based on translating sense of texts, and in case
of AVT the sense is the sum total of meaning of image, text and sound and relations taking place
between them - a translator cannot ignore the visual aspect while translating" In other words,
AVT can be also called intersemiotic translation - translating one semiotic complex into a
different one.[1]
History and popularity of AVT modes[edit]
Subtitling[edit]
This is the oldest of all AVT modes. The first forms of today's subtitles were introduced just
after the beginning of cinema, in the form of intertitles, texts appearing between the frames in
silent films. In 1927, when sound films appeared, so called talkies, first subtitles emerged. The
very first sound film, The Jazz Singer, created the need for translating it for foreign audiences: in
1929 the film had its premieres in France and Italy.[2]
It is popular predominantly in English-speaking countries, whereas in Poland only 8.1% of
viewers prefer this mode.[3]
Dubbing
This mode in Poland is commonly used for animations, children's films and adventure films such
as The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, or the Harry Potter saga.[4] The most famous
examples of dubbed children's films (or those which audience is intended to be consist at least
partially of children) are Shrek or Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra.
However, in numerous countries, dubbing is one of the most popular modes - it is even the
dominant one.
Popularity of dubbing in Europe.Countries in red - use dubbing exclusively, both for films and
TV
For example, in Germany every foreign film is dubbed and a particular actor has his or her own
dubbing actor, e.g. Robert de Niro is always dubbed by the same German actor.[5]
Voice-over
This is the least popular of the three main modes. Its use is restricted to the countries of the
former Eastern Bloc, for example Poland or Russia. It takes a form of a single voice (usually
male) reading the roles of all actors, even women and children. The method is fairly popular
among viewers, because of its accessible form not requiring reading and intellectual work (you
only have to listen to the voice), and it is the most commonly used form on Polish TV. A survey
from 2002 shows that it is the preferred form for 50.2% of Poles. [6]
Subtitling[edit]
It is a mode which consists of a text (one or two lines) appearing at the bottom of the screen,
simultaneously to characters' utterances. As the name suggests, subtitles appear at the bottom,
but it is possible to encounter them in the middle or even at the top of the screen. It happens only
if the frame makes it impossible for the subtitles to appear in their usual position. A different
kind of subtitling is surtitling, also known as supertitling. It is used in theatre and opera to help
the audience understand a foreign-language play.