Articles

The article explores the cognitive nature of sense interpretation in translation and the role of translator/interpreter who reveals the sense meant by the sender of the source language (SL) message and conveys it in the target language (TL). The objective of the article is to study the interaction of competence and interpretation factors in translation. The tasks closely related to the objective are as follows: to identify linguistic and extralinguistic factors that bring about the need for interpreting the sense in the SL, to show the specifics of interpretation in the LSP-texts and to present the typology of translation difficulties that can be coped with by sense interpretation. The findings of the research have shown that the translator is capable of performing his/her professional tasks only if he/she has a mastery of professional translator competences — the communicative, extralinguistic and specialized ones that enable him/her to resort to the key cognitive mechanism of translation — inferencing — that serves as a basis for interpreting sense in translation. While grasping the meaning of the SL message, the translator moves from the reference to sense and derives inferences. When reverbalizing the sense in the target language in moving from the sense to reference, the translator generates implicatures targeted at the TL message recipient. Inferences and implicatures are based on the common presuppositional knowledge of the SL message sender, TL message recipient and the translator who has to perform the approximation or interactive alignment of this knowledge. The interactive alignment is possible if the translator is well-versed in the knowledge of presuppositions in the language and conceptual word view of both the source and target languages. There are two types of presuppositional knowledge: that of language structures related to interlanguage asymmetries, including discursive features of the text cohesion and coherence that are also linguo-specific and referents (that connect language to extralinguistic situations), and that related to the extralinguistic situation (encyclopedic information about the world around us, culture and specific domains of knowledge and respectively translation). The article also presents the typology of the key translation difficulties caused by the inter-language asymmetries, which result in the need to interpret the sense in the SL message and to formulate IT in the TL using its linguo-specifi c means. These translation difficulties are illustrated with interesting examples from the LSP-texts that need a special precision in translation quite frequently understood by any beginner translator as the need to preserve the expression form in the TL, which leads to word-for-word translation or transcoding. The understanding of the role of interpretation in translation of LSP-texts helps to observe the norms of TL style and usage while at the same time it makes it possible to render the meaning and sense of the SL as was meant by the message sender.

N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” and its Chinese translation are taken as an example for study. The author alternately analyzes translation examples from the point of view of representativeness at the phonetic level, the level of word-formation models, as well as at the grammatical, lexical and syntactic levels, from different points of view investigating the causes of errors in Russian-Chinese translation. Methods: comparative analysis, generalization, correction and systematization. Findings: achieving the representativeness of a translation at the microlevel does not affect its representativeness at the macrolevel, but errors in translations that have not reached representativeness at the macrolevel can manifest themselves at any of the microlevels. Conclusions: in their professional practice, translators should strive for representativeness of translation not only at the macrolevel, but also make every effort to achieve representativeness at the microlevels described above. This will allow them to carry out the translation closest to the source text and reproduce as accurately as possible the ideological content that the author of the source text wanted to convey to the reader.

Object. The purpose of the article is to study translation solutions in the Russian translation of Xi Jinping’s speech at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Methods. The analysis of translation decisions in Chinese leader’s speech Russian translation is carried out using the translation-oriented method, which allows us to study the main processes occurring in the translator’s language consciousness when choosing a translation solution by translation text’s analysis. In addition, the study used general scientific methods, incl. descriptive analysis, deduction and induction, and generalization. Using a random sample, we selected speech utterances in text of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping report at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. At first, we searched ideologemes, set expressions, idioms, political terms etc. in original Xi Jinping’s speech. After that we were subsequently extracted from the translation text and compared them. The translation method analysis chosen by the translator was carried out, the assessment of the correctness of the translation solution in accordance with the requirements for the quality of the translation, as equivalence and adequacy. Findings. As a result, it was found that translation decisions in the transfer of the speech of the political leader of China most often come down to direct translation, especially in cases of interpreting metaphors, ideologies and political terms with Chinese characteristics. In some cases, the direct transmission of such vocabulary does not make it possible to make the translation adequate and understandable for the Russian-speaking recipient, and therefore casts doubt on the correctness of the translation decision made and poses a threat to effective international political communication between the two countries. Conclusions. Improving the skills of choosing translation decisions will improve the quality of translation of the speeches of Chinese political leaders into Russian, which requires a deeper study of cognitive decision-making mechanisms in Chinese-Russian political speech’s translation.

The paper discusses the conceptual foundations of a modern exercise book designed to train translators working with the most popular German-language genres, which include journalistic discourse, which is represented by extensive corpora of texts. The authors describe the key linguistic problems and factors influencing the quality of written translation from a foreign language into Russian. The most important factors seem to be logical, institutional, economic and social ones. Their totality largely determines the genre structure and belonging of the text to a certain type of discourse. In the course of the analysis of linguistic means and external factors, the authors come to the conclusion that it is necessary to develop a series of exercise books on the theory and practice of translation aimed at solving specific translation problems and developing specific knowledge, skills and abilities to work with foreign cultural content containing ideological and value components, conflictogenic factors, and subject to the influence of ambisemia. To comprehensively solve the problems associated with the preparation of translators, it is proposed to apply a systematic approach that integrates logical, institutional, economic and social factors.

This article discusses the history and some problematic aspects of teaching Russian in China — educational programs in universities, the level and number of teachers, textbooks, and the content of classes. The first three problems with the development of relations between China and Russia are being resolved, but the latter needs special attention.

The interest in the study of the category of epistemic modality is associated with the allocation of their new classification and consideration of the means of their linguistic objectification. Among the little-studied problems are linguistic means of expressing epistemic modality of credibility, actualizing the denotative correlation with parts of speech and receiving an equivalent representation of their lexical meaning. The article deals with the semantic analysis of epistemic adverbs in the framework of logical analysis. The aim of the article is to study the semantics of epistemic adverbs in terms of the realization of the credibility of the contents in English. These lexemes are considered in the contexts of their functioning. The scientific innovativeness of the article is at the heart that this article examines the correlation of epistemic adverbs and verbs of mental activity: know, think, suppose, doubt, etc. The objectives of the study are to describe the classification of epistemic adverbs according to the degree of expression of credibility of the contents; to analyze epistemic adverbs of credibility of the contents in the texts of fiction; to identify the correlation of epistemic adverbs and verbs of mental activity: know, think, suppose, doubt, etc. The contexts where epistemic adverbs function in texts of fiction are identified and described. The article argues that epistemic adverbs have a denotative correlation with mental verbs and receive an equivalent representation of their lexical meaning. The author concludes that according to the contexts of their functioning, their lexical meanings inherent in epistemic verbs, namely mental verbs, are manifested.

Research methods include scientometric and content analysis, clustering. The research materials are represented by monographs, scientific papers and publications in periodicals on the topic of the communicative-functional translation theory by Chinese authors. The study sample consisted of 6209 scientific papers extracted from the CNKI database. They were divided into three clusters, viz. review, theoretical and applied research. In each cluster, the author identified the key words of the direction and carried out a quantitative assessment of the structure of publication activity with an assessment (a % share of the total sample size).

As a result, the predominance of applied research into the communicative-functional theory in the works of Chinese researchers over theoretical ones was found, which proves the author’s hypothesis about the emphasis Chinese scientists put on the pragmatic tasks of the development of translation studies. It is concluded that studies of the communicative-functional approach in Chinese translatology are generally characterized by the breadth and coverage of various areas of translation, but from the perspective of theoretical depth there is still room for their further development.

In this study, the author made an attempt to review the current state of the study of translation from the standpoint of the communicative-functional approach, but found that this approach still needs further theoretical understanding, further adaptation and integration with traditional ideas of Chinese translation studies. It was also revealed that it is promising to deepen the theoretical basis of the communicative-functional approach for applied research of the Russian-Chinese and Chinese-Russian approach and to develop didactic issues of teaching translators based on this approach in order to achieve better results in the translation of texts and improve Sino-Russian communication.

The paper presents an attempt to explain the phenomenon of correspondence in translation through the notion of truth. The truth of translation is conceived as a complex category that manifests itself through a system of functional oppositions. The central object of this study, contrastively combining all the aspects of translation, is transformation. The paper stands against a unilateral structural linguistic view on the phenomenon of transformation, considering transformation as an interpretative means of translation combining invariable and variable sides. The paper equates transformation to interpretation in translation. In translation the interpretation is represented by transformation. Constructively any interpretation unfolds from its invariable side to its variable side. In the usual scenario of communication, interpretation represents a transition from the linguistic form to the sense where the sense is variable representing a common field of understanding shared between communicants. In translation, the sense is the invariable side; consequently, the interpretation unfolds from the sense to the linguistic form. The link between the invariable and variable sides in translation is treated in terms of inductive logic. The equivalence is seen through the category of transitivity (a potential substitutability of semantic elements on the basis of the same sense). The truth of translation is a binary category with the sense being its foundation and the referential semantic side being its boundary where semantic variability up to some limits is supposed. The interrelationship between the boundary and the foundation of the truth is the matter of analytical work of interpreter. The truth of translation is subject to the logical verification and falsification procedures. The logical procedures precede the translation forming the base of the subsequent decision the interpreter takes to choose an equivalent. The paper deals also with the function of style, sociocultural and figurative nuances in translation. From this perspective, categories of foreignization and domestication in their functional interconnection are taken into consideration. Their interconnection means that one category may result from the other. The paper presents a number of examples of English-Russian and Portuguese-Russian translation. The paper may be of interest to specialists in translation studies, contrastive linguistics and general linguistics.

With the continuous deepening of relations between the PRC and the Russian Federation, sports exchanges and cooperation between the two countries are becoming more and more active, and China’s demand for sports translators with Russian as their working language is also growing. At the same time, the holding of the 24th Winter Olympic Games imposes new requirements for the training of professional translators in Chinese universities. Currently, the effectiveness of training specialists in this field in higher educational institutions in China leaves much to be desired, which leads to a serious shortage of sports translators from Russian into Chinese. Object: to propose strategies and consider models for training Russian language translators based on market needs. Methods: comparative analysis, generalization, correction and systematization. Findings: the main reasons for this shortage are: lack of a sufficient number of applicants who want to learn Russian; lack of motivation for students to learn Russian; lack of a clearly defined strategy for training specialists in this direction; similarity of educational programs in the specialty “Russian language”; lack of qualified teachers teaching “sports Russian”; lack of new educational materials and textbooks in this area. Conclusions: in order to overcome the above bottlenecks, higher educational institutions of the People’s Republic of China should be aware of the current situation and actively respond to it, namely, to study scientific models for training sports translators from the Russian language, develop rational curricula, form professional teachers, improve student teaching methods, produce new teaching materials and accelerate the training of interdisciplinary specialists who speak Russian well, have sports knowledge, creative thinking and an open worldview. These measures are designed to facilitate the work on the training of Russian language translators in Chinese universities and are designed to facilitate the work on the training of Russian translators in Chinese universities.

Sight interpreting is an important part of the interpreter training process. The methodology of teaching sight interpreting should correspond to the characteristic features of this type of interpreting and at the same time serve as a preparatory stage for further simultaneous interpreting training. In order to improve the quality of training of Russian-Chinese and Chinese-Russian interpreters working within the framework of the One Belt, One Road initiative, an independent course “Sight interpreting” is offered at the School of Russian studies of Beijing Foreign Studies University (hereinafter referred to as BFSU). This article focuses on the features and difficulties of this type of translation activity and describes the whole process of teaching at BFSU in order to provide a methodological experience for the training of professional interpreters.

In the article it is shown that the gap between learner lexicography and cognitive methodology can, and should be, narrowed in an ongoing way and on a step-by-step basis. Dictionaries for learners of English are becoming increasingly corpora-based, and this factor brings foreign language users closer to authentic (or real) English. At the same time, however, bilingual dictionaries lag behind as they do not always take into account the results of research work related to thinking processes, mental lexicon, and cognitive mechanisms of language learning and language use. It is therefore essential that different aspects of learner lexicography be examined, updated and adapted to the most recent discoveries of cognitive linguistics and cognitive methodology. With this in mind, it is demonstrated in the several successive subsections of the present article how illustrative phraseology, i.e. select lists of collocations and utterances, included in the learner’s business dictionary, can be re-worked and reorganized through the synchronization of cognitive and communicative planes for teaching both Business English and translation for business purposes to advanced Russian-speaking students at English Departments at universities across the Russian Federation. The main goal is twofold: to bridge the gap between theory and practice, and to combine the author’s conception of Business English with the author’s theory of translation for business purposes. The combination of the two original conceptions makes it possible to re-structure the list of headwords comprising both core business terms and high-frequency lexical items within the third edition of the learner bilingual business dictionary. The underlying cognitive-communicative methodology is applied to all the five elements of the dictionary entry, viz. the headword, its English-based definition, its Russian equivalent (or equivalents), the Russian-based definition of the headword, and the listing of high-frequency collocations and contexts that illustrate how the word or the core business term should be used in spoken and written business discourse.