Translation of pseudo-international words

There is a distinct group of words which constitute a special difficulty for the translator, the so-called pseudo-international words. International words are mostly words of Greek, Latin and French origin which have a more or less similar phonetic form in many languages. They express not only scientific, social and political notions but everyday things and notions as well: electronics – электроніка; dynamic – динамічний; calorie – калорія; elegant – eлегантний. These words have become an indispensable part of the vocabulary of different languages. Their referential meaning is in most cases identical. But there is another category of international words which as part of the lexical system of different languages have acquired in these languages novel semantic features – different semantic structures, additional lexical-semantic variants, different connotations and different usage. The Ukrainian language borrows these words most often as terms and they tend to be monosemantic while in the English language they are usually polysemantic. Although warned against them translators are often deceived into making errors by purely formal resemblances.

The rabbit was lying in a depression between two clods. (F. Norris)

A dictionary gives the following meanings of the word depression: 1.пригнічений стан, депресія; 2.ек. депресія, застій; 3.послаблення, зменшення; 4.низина, западина, улоговина.

This sentence was rendered in a translation published in the late twenties as Кролик лежав у якійсь депресії між двох купин.

There were attempts to sabotage key services in Santiago.

Робилися спроби вивести зі строю основні об’єкти комунального обслуговування в Сант-Яго.

The meaning of the Ukrainian word саботаж is narrower.

We are told that BBC television this autumn will give a massive coverage to the general election.

Повідомляють, що нинішньої осені передачі Бі-бі-сі по телебаченню будуть широко освітлювати парламентські вибори.

Sometimes the referential meanings of international words coincide, while their contextual meanings do not.

Britain’s world wide exploitation was shaken to the roots by colonial liberation movements.

Колоніальна могутність Англії була підірвана повністю національно-визвольним рухом у її колоніях.

The contextual meaning of the word “exploitation” is metonymical – the power of colonial systems was based on exploitation. A similar metonymic transference of the word эксплуатация – могутність is rendered to in the Ukrainian translation.

Benches gleamed empty and crimson under the light, their occupants haveng gone to tea. (C.P.Snow).

Усі члени палати лордів пішли пити чай, і спустошені лавки виблискували червоною оббивкою в електричному світлі.

The Ukrainian loan word окупант is used only in a special sense as a military term with negative connotations whereas the English word is polysemantic. The addition члени Палати лордів has been made for pragmatic reasons.

Sometimes pseudo-international words may have different connotations in spite of practically identical referential meanings. Thus the word прогресс has usually only positive connotations while the word “progress” has a wider range of connotations – positive, neutral and negative.

For instance, the title of John Bunyan’s book “The Pilgrim’s Progress” is an allegory depicting man’s progress towards perfection. The Ukrainian traditional translation is “Шлях пілігрима” (до досконалості) – positive connotations.

Her progress about London during that first week was one thrilling adventure. (H.Walpole).

Її прогулянки по Лондону в той перший тиждень були суцільною захопливою пригодою. – (neutral connotations).

Hogarth’s series if engravings “Rake’s Progress” has distinctly negative connotations. The traditional translation is «Життя гульвіси».

Different usage of pseudo-international words is often a stumbling block to translators, e.g.

Once upon a most early time there was a Neolithic man. R.Kipling).

Давним давно, ще в кам’яному віці, жив да був один чоловік.

The adjective “Neolithic” has its counterpart in Ukrainian – неолітичний, but its use is confined to scientific prose. It would not be suitable in a tale for children. So the translator introduced a traditional combination – чоловік, що жив в кам’яному віці – resorting to a redistribution of semantic components.