Ivanov Nikolai V.

The article presents a view on translation as a complex and multidimensional phenomenon. Five aspects of the nature of translation are highlighted in regard to the lingual structure, culture, semiotics, sense (cognition) and communicative pragmatics. These aspects constitute different features of translation reality. Dealing with every aspect of translation, the article discriminates between translation and the usual behavior of a language sign in speech. Translation must be studied as a whole while taking into consideration all the aspects of its nature. The abovementioned aspects of translation, on the one hand, are interconnected, but, on the other hand, are opposed to each other. The language-related and cultural factors account for differences in translation, as the sense and communicative pragmatics represent the basis for achieving translation identity. The integrative approach to translation demands enhancing a static comparative text analysis with a dynamic view of translation as a semiotic phenomenon in the process of its development in speech. Methodologically, a dynamic view rests on the dialectics of philosophical categories of identity and difference, immobility (rest) and mobility (change). The contensive side of translation is formed by the opposition of sense and reference. This opposition accounts for the interpretative nature of translation. To prove the theoretical views, the article presents an analysis of English-to-Russian and Portuguese-to-Russian translation examples. The article may be useful to all those interested in general and specialized translation.

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.