Ш. Lexicological aspects of translation

As it has been pointed out in chapter I, the process of written or oral translating presents in reality different forms of decoding or transformation which the source language units undergo at the phonetic, morphological or syntactic levels: Cf.: ambition [aembijn] амбіція, geologist геолог, metaphor метафора, participate брати участь, пеgоtiаblе те(той), що піддається погодженню; рученьки beautiful little hands, лісовик (mythology) forest demon, etc. No lingual, i.e., structural or semantic identity have in the target language many English and Ukrainian specifically national notions of lexicon (culturally biased words), which are also to be decoded, i.e., transformed Cf.: Number 10 Downing Street Даунінґ Стріт №10 (резиденція прем'єр-міністра Великої Британії), haggis зварений у жирі овечий кендюх, начинений вівсяною кашею впереміш із посіченими потрохами; кутя cooked peeled wheat, barley or rice mixed with ground poppy seeds, raisins and parceled kernels of nuts, honey and a little boiled water, etc.

Neither are there in the target language direct semantic or structural equivalents for many idioms and stable expressions of the source language. Hence, they must be decoded, i.e., transformed, Cf.: Tom, Dick and Harry перший-ліпший (з), будь-хто (з), to go to the altar одружуватися, виходити заміж; клепки не вистачає nobody home, he has got a screw loose, etc.

A considerable number of other source language units, however, may maintain their lingual form little changed or unchanged in the target language, as in many proper names and genuine internationalisms: Alfred Альфред/Ельфред, Robert Frost Роберт Фрост, Boston Бостон, president президент, affiх афікс, phoneme фонема, motor мотор, cybernetics кібернетика, export експортувати, soc/a/соціальний, nationally національно, etc. Such and the like words are, in fact, not translated in the true sense of the word but turned into the target language in their phonemic (sometimes also in their orthographic) form/structure. These and some other problems, which are of academic interest not only for the beginning translator but also for the teacher constitute the subject-matter of the succeeding chapters of this work.

METHODS AND WAYS OF TRANSLATING VARIOUS PROPER NAMES

There are no finally established rules yet as to how different kinds and types of English proper names should be translated into Ukrainian, though Ukrainian proper names of people and family names are mostly conveyed on the basis of their phonemic structure, i.e., are transliterated in English. E.g.: Антоніна Antonina; Віра Vira; Лаврін Lavrin; Роман Roman; Авраменко Avramenko; Лавріненко Lavrinenko; Панібрат Panibrat; Іван Ivan; Тамара Tamara; Семен Semen; Петро Petro, Саливон Salyvon, etc.

Far from all Ukrainian proper names can be conveyed by way of literal translating, however. This is because some of our vowels and consonants have no equivalent sounds/phonemes in English and must be substituted for approximately similar sounds. Among these Ukrainian sounds and sound combinations are first of all those ones, which are rendered with the help of the letters or letter combinations и, й, ий, ій, я, ю, є, Ї, or partly through the letters ж, щ, х, ч, ц and palatalized consonants.

Ukraine as a newly independent state makes efforts to get rid of her former colonial past. One of the ways to assure this internationally was the adoption of the Romanization System which enabled the conveying of our personal names, family names (onomastics) and also all Ukrainian geographical names (toponymy) in accordance with some rules. Their system practically does not contain diacritics, i.e., different signs over or under the letters. The only sign of the kind being the sign ' for palatalization (cf. Щербань Shcherban', Львів L'viv) which is not difficult to add after a letter. This makes the system convenient and assured for direct and unambiguous reconstruction of any Ukrainian name form or word standing for a specifically national notion (реалія). E.g.: kutya or kutia, kobzar, varenyky, etc. The adopted Romanization System will also serve well as an aid to correct pronunciation of Ukrainian proper names by the foreigners, capable of reading the Roman letters, which more or less correctly convey the sounding forms of any Ukrainian name. The adopted Romanization System is internally consistent and based on sound linguistic principles. It is to be strictly observed by the students of foreign languages and the people responsible for its absolute implementation in this country and abroad. This is how the system is presented: