Viktoriia Ivanilova
Donetsk National University
Scientific Supervisor: PhD, Krishtal S.M.
TRANSLATION OF THE REALIAS IN THE NOVEL
“HEART OF A DOG”
If a translator wants to create an appropriate translation, he or she should interpret the original text correctly. This is not possible without background knowledge. Realias are the major part of that knowledge. Pieces of literature cannot be translated, relying purely on linguistic knowledge. It is necessary to preserve all the elements and atmosphere of the literary work.
Key words: realia, translation, transcription, transliteration, loan translation, rough translation, descriptive translation.
Realias are units of the lexical level of a text, which traditionally create some difficulties in translation. Linguists have developed recommendations for translation of realias, however, it is necessary to examine each text separately to create an appropriate translation.
In the novel “Heart of a Dog” by M. Bulgakov realias are those of the most important components that create general atmosphere of the text. In the case of the wrong translation of realias the risk to undermine the whole concept of the novel would appear.
The material of the study consists of 226 realias that were obtained by continuous sampling of the novel “Heart of a Dog” by Bulgakov. Chosen realias are presented in the form of one-component and multi-component structures.
Such methods as transcription and transliteration, loan translation, rough translation and descriptive translation are usually used for translation of lexical items like realias. The careful examination of translation equivalents shows that the most popular ways to render realias are rough and descriptive translation. Quite often translation of realia does not seem possible; in such cases the translator replaces realias with neutral lexical units or just drops them.
The method of transcription and transliteration is used in the translation of foreign proper names, geographical names and names of different kinds of companies, ships, hotels, newspapers and magazines. It implies the mechanical rendering of realias from the source language to the target language with graphical means of the last one. In the case of transcription the original phonetic form is preserved, while during transliteration the original writing of lexical unit is copied with the help of letters of target language.
Loan translation means rendering of realias by replacing their parts – morphemes or words (in case of word combinations) – with their direct lexical equivalents in the target language. Loan translation allows translating realias with preservation of their semantic content.
Rough translation is often used when translating realias due to the fact that it can usually manage to convey subject content of such lexical units. The cost of this approach is the almost complete loss of stylistic colouring.
In the case of descriptive translation the realia itself is rendered with transcription or transliteration, and then the translator gives its definition. Descriptive translation, although it reveals the original meaning of the realias, has a serious drawback. It is usually extremely cumbersome and lengthy.
The most frequently used war to translate realias in the novel “Heart of a Dog” by Bulgakov in English is the rough translation. The main purpose of it is to present realias that are not present in the target language, to the potential reader in the most understandable form.
Eventually, the choice of the ways of translating realias depends on the nature of the text, the importance of realia in the context and of the nature of the realia itself.
References
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