25. Transformations

In the process of translation a Source Lang Text as a whole or its segments may undergo varied modifications that are known in the theory and practice of translation as translation transformations. Translation transformations are numerous and varied changes which are made to achieve adequacy in translation. We distinguish lexical, grammatical and lexico-grammatical transformations.

The group of lexical transformations include such modifications as:

1.Transliteration (spelling a foreign word using TL alphabet: kidnapping – кіднепінг, London – Лондон, Macbeth – Макбет);

2.Transcription (pronunciation of the foreign word, represented by TL letters: Greenpeace – Грінпіс, businessmen – бізнесмен,);

3.Loan translation / calque Кэлк: skyscraper – хмарочос, green card – зеленакарта).

There are such lexico-semantic transformations as:

a) concretization (a detailed description of a peculiar phenomenon / notion: Коли ми були вКиєві, я замовила борщ в ресторані традиційної української кухні – As we visited Kyiv I ordered Borscht (red beet soup) in the restaurant of traditional Ukrainian cuisine;

b) generalization (a SL unit/word combination, replaced by more general notion in the TL: I wouldn’t go there, not for all the tea in China – я нізащо на світі не пішла б туди;

c) modulation Jane never blames me – Джейн завжди мене розуміє);

The group of grammatical transformations comprises such modifications as:

1) Word-for-word translation (syntactic structure of a SL sentence, preserved as corresponding grammatical constructions of the TL; g. He read a newspaper – Він читав газету);

2) Grammatical replacement

In some cases it is impossible to use either grammatical or lexical transformations, hence to provide an equivalent translation a translator is to employ such lexico-grammatical transformations as 1) antonymical translation, 2) explicatory translation and 3) compensation.