Lecture 9 Presentation

1.

Lecture 9
Types of Translation
Techniques
Transcription · Transliteration · Calque

2. Questions for discussion

1
Mechanical copying, or transfer of the source language
2
The main rules in transcription translation
3
Different systems for transliteration
Lecture 9 · Types of Translation Techniques
2

3. Mechanical copying: three techniques

1
2
3
Transcription
Transliteration
Calque
Copying the sound form of
the source word with target
language letters
Copying the letters of the
source word by letters of
another system
Translation by parts; for V.
Komissarov it is mechanical
copying
eau de cologne — одеколон
London — Лондон
hake — хек
Washington — Вашингтон
extralinguistic —
внеязыковой (тілден тыс)
carry-out — на вынос (алып
кетуге арналған)
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4. Calque: translation by parts

blueprint —
Calques
план (жоспар)
extralinguistic — внеязыковой (тілден тыс)
проект (жоба)
carry-out — на вынос (алып кетуге арналған)
старовер (ескі сенімді ұстанушы) — Old
Believer
Some linguists (V. Komissarov) consider calque mechanical copying. But the calqued word
changes, so the device is, to some extent, an actual translation with form transformations.
Lecture 9 · Types of Translation Techniques
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5. Translation transformations

Complete changes of the appearance of a translated word, phrase or sentence. In foreign theory
they are known as shifts of translation.
1
2
3
Grammatical
Lexical (semantic)
Complex
transformations of grammatical
form
Lecture 9 · Types of Translation Techniques
transformations of word
meaning
lexical and grammatical
together
5

6. Phonetic vs practical transcription

Phonetic
Practical (translation)
Intralinguistic: one language
Interlinguistic: two languages
Sounds depicted by special symbols on the basis
of articulatory and auditory identity
Sounds of the source word rendered by letters of
the target language
Anchorage /ˈæŋkərɪdʒ/ [Э́нкоридж]
Anchorage — Анкоридж
Oakland /ˈoʊklənd/ [О́укленд]
Oakland — Окленд
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7. English sounds in Russian

[θ, ð] → Т
Thatcher — Тэтчер, Thackeray — Теккерей
[θ] → С
Outdated: Galsworthy — Голсуорси
Greek th → Ф
Athens — Афины, Themistocles — Фемистокл
[w] + vowel → У
William — Уильям (Уильям), Wilder — Уайлдер
[w] + [u] → В
Woolf — Вулф, Wodehouse — Вудхаус
Traditional → В
Washington — Вашингтон, Walter Scott — Вальтер Скотт; German: Wagner
— Вагнер
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8. English sounds in Russian

[h] → Х / Г
Hailey — Хейли (Хейли), Hamilton — Гамильтон
Two forms are possible: Hoffman — Хофман, Гофман
[ŋ] → НГ
Jennings — Дженнингс
[ɜ:] → Ё
After a consonant: Burns — Бёрнс
Initial [ɜ:] → Э
At the beginning of a word: Earl’s Court — Эрлз-Корт
[æ] → Э / Е / А
Batman — Бэтмен, Jack — Джек, Glasgow — Глазго
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9. Russian sounds in English

Й→Y/I
Й→I
Е, Ё, Ю, Я → Y / I
End of word → Y: Толстой — Tolstoy
Троцкий — Trotsky / Trotski
Beginning of word: Йошкар-Ола — Ioshkar-Ola
Енисей — Yenisei, Югославия — Yugoslavia, Ялта — Yalta, Порфирьевич —
Porfirievich
Ж → ZH
Житомир — Zhitomir
Х → KH (rarely H)
Находка — Nakhodka
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10. Russian sounds in English

Ц → TS
Ч → CH / TCH
Целиноград — Tselinograd
Foreign words keep native form: Цюрих — Zurich, Цейлон — Ceylon, Цзянси —
Jiangxi
Чехов — Chekhov, Чайковский — Tchaikovsky
Щ → SHCH / SCH
Щелково — Shchelkovo
Ы→Y
Куйбышев — Kuibyshev
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11. East Asian names: Japanese and Korean

sh → С
L→Р
Tertiary translation
In Japanese words the English
sh lies between [s] and [ʃ]
The letter L can be a sound
between [l] and [r]
Asian words are translated
between English and Russian,
so each step needs care
Hiroshima — Хиросима
Kim Il Sung — Ким Ир Сен
высокоспециализированный
(жоғары
мамандандырылған)
shogun — сёгун (сёгун)
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12. Transliteration and its systems

One name, many forms: Лапшин
English: Lapshin / Lapšin
Major systems for Russian into English
BSI
British Standards Institution
ISO
International Organization for
Standardization
LC
Library of Congress
French: Lapchine
German: Lapschin
Italian: Lapscin
Polish: Lapszyn
Different languages have different equivalents for
Russian letters.
Lecture 9 · Types of Translation Techniques
PCGN
Permanent Committee on Geographic
Names
12

13. Choosing the closest form

Preferable
ruble, kopek, tsar
Avoid
rouble, kopeck, czar
Mute letters
Bibliographic citations
mute r is transliterated: Morning Star — газета
(газеті) «Морнинг Стар»
Transliteration is preferred to transcription:
mute e is omitted: Fosse — Фосс
Lecture 9 · Types of Translation Techniques
Arakin, V. Sravnitelnaja tipologija anglijskogo i
russkogo jazykov.
13

14. Transcription or transliteration?

Modern and outdated traditions
National traditions
Newton — Ньютон (transcription today)
The target form often follows the original
pronunciation:
M. Lomonosov, 18th century: Невтон
(transliteration)
Mozart — Моцарт
Dvořak — Дворжак
Singer — Зингер
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15. Chinese words: Wade–Giles and Pinyin

1892
Wade–Giles [ˈweɪd ˈɡaɪlz]
Used in the English-speaking world since 1892.
Proposed by British Orientalists Sir Thomas Wade
and Herbert Giles.
1958
Pinyin
Official in the People’s Republic of China since
1958: telegrams, mass media, education.
Мао Цзэдун — Mao Zedong (Pinyin), Mao Tse-tung (Wade–Giles)
Пекин — Beijing, Peking
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Пекин in Kazakh: Бейжің
15

16. Chinese into Russian: main correspondences

Pinyin
Wade–Giles
Russian
Example
ng
ng
н (hard)
kung fu — кун-фу
n
n
нь (soft)
fen — фэнь (фэнь)
o before ng
u before ng
у
Dong, Tung — Дун, Тун
R
J
Ж
renminbi — женьминьби
J
CH
ЦЗ
Jiang (Chiang) — Цзян
Z
TS
ЦЗ
Zang, Tsang — Цзанг
X
HS
С
Xianggang — Сянган
Q
CH
Ц
Qinghai — Цинхай
ZH
CH
ЧЖ
Zhejiang — Чжэцзян
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17. Chinese and Japanese: special cases

Voiced / voiceless
Japanese J → ДЖ / ДЗ
Irrelevant in Chinese: baihua, pai-hua — байхуа (байхуа)
jiu jitsu — джиу-джитсу, дзю-дзюцу
Japanese Z → ДЗ
Zen Buddhism — Дзэн Буддизм (Дзэн буддизмі)
Hard consonant
A speech sound with normal articulation, without raising the middle of the
tongue toward the hard palate: твёрдый (жуан)
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18. Summary

1
Copy
Transcription copies sounds; transliteration copies letters; calque translates
by parts.
2
Rules
English θ, w, h, ŋ, ɜ:, æ and Russian ж, х, ц, ч, щ, ы each have fixed
equivalents.
3
Systems
Russian into English: BSI, ISO, LC, PCGN. Chinese: Wade–Giles (1892) and
Pinyin (1958).
4
Traditions
Modern and national traditions often override the general rules.
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19. Glossary

20. Glossary: difficult terms

Term
Russian / Kazakh
Explanation and example
1. Transcription
транскрипция
Reproducing the pronunciation of a source word with
target language letters. hake — хек
2. Transliteration
транслитерация
Replacing the letters of the source word one by one
with letters of another alphabet. Лапшин — Lapshin
3. Calque (loan
translation)
калька
A word or phrase translated part by part. carry-out —
на вынос
4. Translation
transformations (shifts)
переводческие трансформации
(аударма трансформациялары)
Complete changes of the form of a word, phrase or
sentence: grammatical, lexical or complex.
5. Phonetic transcription
фонетическая транскрипция
(фонетикалық транскрипция)
Recording speech sounds with special symbols. Oakland
/ˈoʊklənd/
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21. Glossary: difficult terms

Term
Russian / Kazakh
Explanation and example
6. Intralinguistic
operation
внутриязыковая операция (тілішілік
амал)
An operation within one language only, such as
phonetic transcription.
7. Interlinguistic
operation
межъязыковая операция (тіларалық
амал)
An operation between two languages, such as practical
transcription.
8. Interdental sounds
межзубные звуки (тіс аралық
дыбыстар)
Sounds made with the tongue tip between the teeth:
[θ] think, [ð] this.
9. Palatalized consonant
палатализованный (мягкий) согласный
(жіңішкерген дауыссыз)
Pronounced with the middle of the tongue raised
toward the hard palate. fen — фэнь
10. Non-palatalized
(hard) consonant
твёрдый согласный (жуан дауыссыз)
Pronounced without raising the middle of the tongue.
kung fu — кун-фу
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22. Glossary: terms

Term
Russian / Kazakh
Explanation and example
11. Voiced and voiceless
consonants
звонкие и глухие согласные (ұяң және
қатаң дауыссыздар)
Voiced: vocal cords vibrate ([b], [d], [g]); voiceless: they
do not ([p], [t], [k]).
12. Romanization
романизация (латинизация)
(романизация (латын әрпімен жазу))
Writing words of a non-Latin script with Latin letters.
Wade–Giles and Pinyin.
13. Wade–Giles system
система Уэйда–Джайлза (Уэйд–
Джайлз жүйесі)
Romanization of Chinese by Wade and Giles, used since
1892. Mao Tse-tung, Peking
14. Pinyin
пиньинь
Official romanization of Chinese in the PRC since 1958.
Mao Zedong, Beijing
15. Tertiary translation
перевод через язык-посредник
(аралық тіл арқылы аударма)
Translation of words from a third language through an
intermediary such as English.
Lecture 9 · Types of Translation Techniques
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23. Memorization exercises

Exercises 1–6: test what you remember from the lecture

24. Exercise 1. Fill in the blanks

1
________ is copying the sound form of a source word by target language letters.
2
________ is copying the letters of the source word by letters of another alphabet system.
3
Translation by parts is called a ________.
4
The three categories of transformations: grammatical, ________ (semantic) and complex.
5
A ________ transcription is an intralinguistic operation.
6
A practical transcription deals with ________ languages.
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25. Exercise 1. Fill in the blanks

7
Interdental [θ, ð] usually correspond to the Russian letter ________.
8
In Greek words the interdental sound is rendered by the Russian letter ________.
9
English [w] before a vowel is rendered by ________, before the vowel [u] by ________.
10
The English [ŋ] is transcribed by the Russian combination ________.
11
Chinese words have been transliterated by the Wade–Giles system since ________.
12
Pinyin has had official standing in the PRC since ________.
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26. Exercise 2. Match terms and definitions

Term
Definition
1. Transcription
a) romanization officially used in the PRC since 1958
2. Transliteration
b) translation by parts
3. Calque
c) interlinguistic operation: source sounds rendered by target letters
4. Phonetic transcription
d) copying the letters of the source word by another alphabet
5. Practical transcription
e) romanization by British Orientalists, used from 1892
6. Wade–Giles
f) writing down speech sounds with special symbols in one language
7. Pinyin
g) copying the sound form of a source word by target letters
8. Translation transformations
h) complete changes of the appearance of a word, phrase or sentence
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27. Exercise 3. True or false?

1
Transliteration means copying the sound form of a word.
2
Calque is translation by parts.
3
Phonetic transcription deals with two languages.
4
Practical transcription is an interlinguistic operation.
5
In Greek words the interdental sound is rendered by Ф.
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28. Exercise 3. True or false?

6
English [w] before the vowel [u] is rendered by У.
7
Transliteration is preferred in bibliographical citations.
8
The Wade–Giles system was created by Russian linguists.
9
Nowadays Newton is known in Russia as Невтон.
10
The English ng in Chinese corresponds to the palatalized нь.
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29. Exercise 4. Match sounds and letters

English sound / letter
Russian equivalent
1. [θ] in Thatcher
A. Ё
2. [θ] in Greek words (Athens)
B. НГ
3. [w] before a vowel (William)
C. Ф
4. [w] before [u] (Woolf)
D. ЦЗ
5. [h] (Hailey, Hamilton)
E. У
6. [ŋ] (Jennings)
F. Т
7. [ɜ:] after a consonant (Burns)
G. С
8. [ɜ:] at the beginning (Earl)
H. Х / Г
9. Pinyin J (Jiang)
I. Э
10. Pinyin X (Xianggang)
J. В
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30. Exercise 5. Write in English letters

Write the Russian names in English letters.
1
Жуков
2
Хабаровск
3
Цветаева
4
Щукин
5
Ярославль
6
Югославия
7
Екатеринбург
8
Челябинск
9
Крым
10 Рыбинск
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31. Exercise 6. Answer from memory

1
What are the three categories of translation transformations?
2
Name the four major systems for transliterating Russian into English.
3
In what two ways can the English [h] be represented in Russian? Give examples.
4
Which two factors matter in the dispute between transcription and transliteration?
5
Which forms are preferable: ruble, kopek, tsar or rouble, kopeck, czar?
6
How are the Russian sounds ж, х, ц, щ and ы written in English letters?
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32. Translation practice

33. Exercise 7. Transcribe the names

Into Russian and Kazakh. Apply the lecture rules.
1
Kevin Hart
2
Will Smith
3
Taylor Swift
4
Cillian
Murphy
5
6
Emma
Watson
7
Wikipedia
8
Walmart
9
Hollywood
10 Houston
11 Springfield
12 Athens
Lecture 9 · Types of Translation Techniques
13 Thessaloniki
14 Netflix
Jack Black
15 Starbucks
33

34. Exercise 8. Translate the sentences

1
Elon Musk presented a new Tesla model in Austin.
2
Taylor Swift will give a concert in Edinburgh next summer.
3
The students watched a documentary about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
4
Many young people share videos on Instagram and YouTube.
5
My friend studies at Oxford, and her brother works in Houston.
6
Beijing hosted the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
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35. Exercise 8. Translate the sentences

7
Xiaomi has opened a new store in Shanghai.
8
We ordered a carry-out pizza and two coffees to go.
9
Cillian Murphy received an Oscar for the film Oppenheimer.
10
A Korean band from Seoul filled the stadium in London.
11
Mr. Thompson works at Microsoft in Seattle.
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36. Exercise 9. Words and phrases

Translate and say which technique is used: transcription or calque.
1
smartphone
2
start-up
3
social network
4
fake news
5
cloud storage
6
remote work
7
screen time
8
artificial
intelligence
9
carbon footprint
10
streaming
service
11 influencer
12 online banking
15 cyberbullying
16 e-commerce
13 takeaway
Lecture 9 · Types of Translation Techniques
14 fast food
36

37. Exercise 10. Chinese and Japanese names

Use the Pinyin and Japanese correspondences from the lecture.
1
Jiangsu
2
Xinjiang
3
Qingdao
4
Zhengzhou
5
Xiamen
6
Jinan
7
Guangzhou
8
Zhang Ziyi
9
Fukushima
10 Shinkansen
Lecture 9 · Types of Translation Techniques
11 judo
12 Hokkaido
37

38. Seminar questions

39. Seminar questions

1
Compare transcription and transliteration. When is each preferred? Give examples in English, Russian
and Kazakh (Mozart — Моцарт, Singer — Зингер).
2
Why can one Chinese name have two English forms (Mao Zedong / Mao Tse-tung, Beijing / Peking)?
How does the difference between Wade–Giles and Pinyin affect translation into Russian and Kazakh?
3
Is calque mechanical copying or actual translation? Give V. Komissarov’s view and modern examples in
Russian and Kazakh (social network, remote work, fake news).
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40. Seminar questions

4
Discuss modern, outdated and national traditions in rendering proper names (Newton — Ньютон /
Невтон; Washington — Вашингтон). What problems arise in a Kazakh text?
5
Choose five names (a person, a brand, a city, a Chinese or Japanese name, a Greek name). Show how
each is rendered in English, Russian and Kazakh and justify the technique.
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