Moscow University Translation Studies Bulletin. 2017. 2.

This article is an attempt to view translation as a decision-making process based on the concepts, categories and methods of the decision-making theory. The article presents the results of the experiment which made it possible to add new types of translation decisions and steps to existing ones as well as to analyze the notions of translation strategy and translation unit which are considered to be issues common to translation research.

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.

Mafia is used as a loan word in English and Russian alike. However, Italian mafia is a much more complex term with deep historical and cultural roots. The article discusses mafia-related terminology and ways to translate it into English and Russian. One of the best options is to use the so-called foreignization strategy, i.e. to retain the term in the source language while providing an appropriate explanation in the target language. To illustrate this point, the author defines the term omerta and suggests ways to translate it.

Untranslatable does not imply dead-ends in the process of translation. In fact, there are many translation strategies that can solve the problem. Non-equivalent words, idioms and special cultural expressions are often neglected in the field of translation. In this paper, we focus on the countermeasure for untranslatability in Russian-to-Chinese literary translation through the domestication, foreignization, interpretation and other translation strategies.

This article deals with the concept of word collocation as a syntagmatic characteristic typical of various functional styles. The results of the author’s analysis of designations of UK and US ministries and ministers functioning in the form of word collocations in media texts, reference texts, and fiction have revealed that the syntagmatic form of such word collocations can change depending on a particular functional style.

The article considers the value of freedom in phraseology of the English, German and Russian languages, as well as deals with the semantic and corpus analysis. Values are a significant category in languages and cultures regulating a person’s perception of the surrounding reality and social behavior. Research into the value of freedom through analyzing idioms makes it possible to reveal the ways of conceptualization of this notion in different languages, to define the role and influence of cultures on the specificity of the semantic field “political values,” as well as to find peculiarities of idioms’ semantics. The article is an analysis of idioms representing the freedom of speech and choice. The freedom of speech is shown as an opportunity to openly express one’s opinions as well as an appeal to fairness. It is reflected in the inner form and in the lexical structure of idioms. The corpus approach has shown that under the influence of the inner form synonymous idioms turn out to be significantly different to one another in various contexts; regular compatibility with different lexemes is revealed, many idioms also acquire additional meanings. The freedom of choice is reflected in expressions describing reforms, manifestations of patriotism and policies aimed at supporting the country.

The article describes various methods of making monolingual dictionaries and is a case study of the National Photocorpus of the Polish Language.

The authors analyze specific criteria for the selection of terms to be included in theological dictionaries. The following criteria are of special importance from the conceptual, theological and terminographical points of view: monoconfessional dictionary; confessional tolerance; conformity and variability of theological interpretation; differentiation of the Holy Scripture’s vocabulary, theological texts’ vocabulary, and general vocabulary; theological collocation of vocabulary. The authors also analyze tendencies in formulating definitions for terms to be included in theological dictionaries.

This article focuses on the translation of anthropology terms, the meanings of which do not coincide in the Russian and English languages despite their sound-graphic similarity. It is applied to such terms as ethnology, ethnography, anthropology and their Russian analogies: антропология, этнология, этнография.

To study the anthropology terms, the authors used a pragmatic approach, according to which terminology is viewed as a system that shapes an academic text. The translation of these terms is determined by their specificity.

Currently, the main research center of Russian ethnology is the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences; its name reflects the traditional approach to the interpretation of the terms of this academic discipline, where ethnology embraces a socio-cultural aspect of the study of man, whereas anthropology (a.k.a. physical anthropology in the United States) deals with the biological issues.

Although anthropology is inseparably linked with biology, at the same time, it is closely connected with social sciences as well. From this point of view, anthropology crowns natural sciences.

The result of the research has shown that after establishing discrepancies in the system of concepts expressed in terms of native and foreign languages, the inter-language harmonization of terminology within the framework of comparative terminology is possible.