Rendering of Geographical Names in Translation

Geographical names are an integral part of the Ukrainian language, so tradition is very strong in this group of words. They are usually rendered according to the usage of earlier days, e.g. England – Англія, Scotland – Шотландія, Ireland – Ірландія.

Some geographical names have their translation equivalents in Ukrainian: Cape of Good Hope – Мис Доброї Надії, Easter Island – Острів Пасхи, etc. usually geographical names of this type are token names, as they are named after the name of the holiday on which they were discovered.

Rendering of Names of Months, Seasons and Days of the Week

The names of the seasons, months and days of the week come very close to proper names. They are rendered by their Ukrainiancounterparts: spring – весна, Monday – понеділок, Varch – березень, etc.

Rendering of Numerals

This group of words comes very clise to terms. Their Ukrainiancounterparts are naturally used in translation: ten – десять, hundred – сто, thousand – тисяча.

Rendering of Scientific and Technical Terms

Terms are generally associated with a definite branch of science or technology. They tend to be monosemantic in the given branch of science or technology and therefore easily call forth the required concept. They are translated by corresponding Ukrainian terms: calorie – калорія, equator – екватор, polysemantic – багатозначний, etc. but it should be borne in mind, that one and the same term may have different meanings in different branches of science and technology, e.g.: line – 1) контейнер, поточна лінія; 2) трубопровід, etc. thus a term may sometimes be polysemantic, e.g.: power (phys.) – сила, потужність, энергія; power (math.) – ступінь.

There is a special group of words of terminological nature: names of animals, birds, plants, natural elements, e.g.: tiger – тигр; cat – кішка; swallow – ластівка; lily-of-the-valley – конвалія; drought – засуха; rain – дощ; lightning – блискавка, etc.

The names of the rare or little known animals or plants are as a rule monosemantic and have full equivalents: coyote – койот; armadillo – броненосець; porcupine – дикобраз; baobab – баобаб.

Rendering the Names of Streets

The names of streets are transcribed: Bayswater Road – Бейсуотер роуд.

The names of streets in historical novels which sometimes happen to be token names are translated, e.g. the “Economist” publishing office is in Threadneedle street – редакція журналу «Экономіст» розташовується на Треднидл стріт but “tailors lived in Threadneedle street” – кравці жили нав улиці Голка з Ниткою.