Введение в теорию и практику перевода (на материале английского языка)

For the purposes of translation an attribute may be transferred to another noun used in the same sentence outside the phrase. E.g. "dismal array of titles" in Mark Twain’s "Running for Governor" should rather be translated as "набор ужасных прозвищ", though in English the adjective "dismal" modifies the noun "array", not "titles".

7. Very often English attributive phrases are translated with the help of Russian adverbial phrases, especially in case of English

"to give a loud whistle" – "громко свистнуть", "to have a good dinner" – "хорошо (вкусно, как следует и т.д.) пообедать", etc.

8. Finally there are cases when due to different reasons it is impossible to preserve the structure of a sentence including an attributive phrase with a preposed attribute, so the structure of the sentence is changed completely: "a girl with whom he had previously had a slight party-going acquaintance" – "девушка, с которой он раньше лишь иногда встречался на вечеринках".

The choice of a particular way to translate preposed attributes is predetermined mainly by semantic relations between the components of the phrase, grammatical norm, and combinability of words in TL.

There is a specific type of preposed attributes in English – attributes with inner predication. Their translation mainly depends on their stylistic properties. If such an attribute is rather extended and used for the purpose of irony, it is usually translated by means of a subordinate clause (mostly an object clause): "one of those quick Send-me-two-hundred-by-messengerold-man-or-my-head-goes-in-the-gas-oven touches" (P.G.Wodehouse) – "одна из тех наскоро написанных записок, в которых обычно пишут: "Пришли мне, старина…" If it is not very long and no special ironical effect is intended it is better to find some laconic variant of translation using a preposed or postpositional attribute or sometimes even a noun without any attribute (if the meaning of this noun includes the characteristics which in English are expressed by the attributive phrase): "a 'God, you are wonderful' type of woman" – "восторженная женщина", "a grab-it-and-run… counter" – "место, где можно наскоро перекусить" or "забегаловка".

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Speaking about set phrases it is first of all necessary to differentiate between figurative and non-figurative set phrases. Non-figurative set phrases are translated according to the principles that have already been discussed in connection with words and free phrases. The main guiding principle here is to remember the norms of TL.

Figurative set phrases deserve special discussion. The main peculiarity of these phraseological units is their specific meaning that often cannot be deduced from the meanings of their components. It is the meaning of the whole, not of separate words, that should be rendered in translation. Based on imagery, phraseological units serve to make the text more expressive; they are also often responsible for the stylistic colouring of the text. Since the text in TL must be as expressive as it is in SL and characterized by the same stylistic colouring, it becomes very important to find an adequate variant of translating every phraseological unit.

There are four main ways to translate an image-bearing phraseological unit: 1) the image may be preserved as it is; 2) it may be partially changed; 3) it may be replaced by an utterly different image, and 4) a translated version may contain no image at all.

1. They usually preserve the image (and even the structure) of the so-called international phraseological units. Such units are mostly based on some historical, mythological, biblical, etc. references: "In the seventh heaven" – "на седьмом небе", "to go through the fire and water" – "пройти (сквозь) огонь и воду", "a blue stocking" – "синий чулок", "not to see the wood for the trees" – "за деревьями леса не видеть", etc. Such phraseological units of SL and TL are called equivalents. In case of equivalents, there arise no difficulties of stylistic or any other nature.