The definition of the translator’s false friends

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The definition of the translator's false friends

Khalyapina A.S.

Abstract

Words that are used in different dialects or languages in different meanings are called pseudo-equivalents or "false friends of the translator". Their peculiarity is the kinship of origin, for this reason, related words with differentiated meanings are considered in this work. There is no consensus in the theory of translation on the phenomenon of false equivalence, therefore, the work will consider the statements of some linguists and scientists.

Keywords: equivalent, translation, languages, false friends, pseudo-equivalence.

A false equivalent is a word that is partially or completely close or similar in sound form to a foreign language but has a difference in meaning. This can also be called a delusion that arises when a person claims that two or more things are equivalent only because they have some similar characteristics, despite the fact that at the same time there are noticeable differences between them [3, p. 570-571].

To draw a parallel, equivalence overemphasizes the importance of the similarities between these items: it may involve emphasizing a personality trait that two people share, while ignoring the fact that many people also share that trait. However, equivalence leaves aside important differences between the things being compared: mentioning ways in which two people may be similar to each other while ignoring aspects in which they differ.

At the same time, it is precisely in translation theory that there is no consensus on the phenomenon of false equivalent. Among them one can highlight paronyms, homonyms, paralexes, and some types of borrowings, but this list cannot be limited, since there is no specific description of this phenomenon. False equivalents, also called pseudo-equivalents, are becoming one of the problems of translation between languages; their study is given special attention by researchers.

This concept is known to be called “the translator's false friend.” In 1928, the French scientists M. Kossler and J. Derocquiny, in their joint work “The False Friends of the Translator in English,” described this phenomenon as “literal translation.” [2, p. 570]. Since then, different languages have used many other names to denote this category of vocabulary.

Linguist, translator and author of translation textbooks Ya.I. Retzker described literalisms based on phonetic and graphic similarities, classifying them into groups. The first consisted of elementary literalisms. They include words that sound and spell similar, but have different meanings. The second group is semantic literalism (translation is carried out according to the most common meaning of the word according to the situation). If the translation is carried out under the psychological influence of the native language into a foreign one, this is the third group, grammatical literalism. The researcher believes that the transmission of literal information leads to both a violation of the norms of the target language and a distortion of the meaning of the statement in the original language [8, p. 101-110].

You can also highlight the statement of R.A. Budagov, who interprets this concept a little differently: “Although the phrase “false friends of the translator” is long and too open to become a term, it has nevertheless been termed in recent years. Firstly, this phrase apparently does not have an equal and shorter equivalent, and secondly, its very “openness” is attractive: it seems to remind us of the pitfalls that await everyone who deals with different languages” [4, 17-18]. He believes that false equivalents are lexical units that are similar in appearance to each other, but not functionally. They are similar in sound and spelling, but their usage is not similar in different languages.

The concept of "false equivalence" can also be considered as pseudoequivalence, as discussed earlier. In connection with lexical interference, by which O.Yu. Inkova understands the bilateral convergence of two or more lexical units of different languages, which is explained by their phonetic and semantic similarity. This leads to a violation of the language norm. When two languages come into contact, lexical interference is realized in the phenomenon of “false friends of the translator” [6, p. 5]. According to the researcher, an equivalent can be called false if words of two or more languages, similar in form and content, are capable of false identification when translated from one language to another.

The true reasons for the occurrence of false equivalents are unclear. False equivalents themselves are the result of either the mutual influence of languages or random coincidences. But in closely related languages they are based on related words that go back to common prototypes. Their total number and role turn out to be different for each pair of languages, determined by the genetic and historical connections of the languages.

S.V. Gretsova considers the following reasons for the emergence of false equivalents: the history of a language can contribute to the creation of a situation of bilingualism and the establishment of a language fashion for certain grammatical structures and lexical units that are taken from another language. On the other hand, the language itself has a large number of means of expression that can be updated in a certain period of time [5].

“False friends of the translator” are a pair of words in two languages that differ in meaning, but have similarities in pronunciation or spelling [1, p. 2-4]. This is how Akulenko V.V. explains. the phenomenon of false equivalent and proposes a classification, comparing English with Russian:

1. Lexical elements with different meanings, but identical spelling and pronunciation, having nothing in common. An apparently similar meaning is false, for example, in the expression “Design in these conditions is regulated by normative instruments” the translation of the word design is: “design in such conditions is regulated by normative documents.” As we can see, there is no word “design” that first comes to mind.

2. English vocabulary that coincides in one or more meanings with Russian words, but differs in other meanings. A frequent situation is when an English word with many meanings is similar to a word from the Russian language in only one. An example would be dramatic. It translates to impressive, significant, bright, attention-grabbing, not just dramatic or dramatic.

Such lexical elements constitute a special part of false equivalents, which deserves the attention of linguistic scientists. It is impossible to do without considering the problem of translating phraseological units, which also get in the way of translators' work. Such elements are, according to V.N. Komissarov, vocabulary that fully or partially coincides with the words of the target language. Phraseologisms provoke literal translation, since they are taken as free combinations of words [7].

Separately, it is worth highlighting phraseological tracing papers, which are stable combinations of words that arose through literal translation based on expressions from a foreign language. An example is the phrase “we made it (him)”, which translates as “get ahead of someone.” At the same time, it cannot be said that in phraseological tracings they cause great difficulties in translation, since tracing contributes to the development of vocabulary. Calques appear during communication and translation from one language to another, which leads to the mutual enrichment of vocabulary. However, it is necessary to find the right ways when transmitting information.

The similarity of phraseological units, which often have opposite meanings in different languages, is also a problem in the translation process. There are quite similar proverbs in English: “as the tree, so the fruit” and “every tree is known by its fruit”, but the meanings are directly opposite to each other. In the first case, this is folk wisdom, which implies that everything bad is inherited: “the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.” The second proverb contains an association with the commandments from the Bible - a person is known by his deeds, which translates as “a tree is known by its fruit.”

So, we can note that there is no clear understanding of the phenomenon of false equivalence, or as it is commonly called “pseudo-equivalence”. Linguists put different concepts and propose different functions for this phenomenon, but there is something that unites all the opinions cited and not mentioned by us: for some, an important condition for establishing pseudo-equivalence is the presence of etymological commonality, or the desire to translate literally. All the variety of statements indicates the complexity and heterogeneity of this phenomenon.

dialect pseudo-equivalent translator

Список литературы

1. Акуленко В.В. Вопросы интернационализации словарного состава языка/под ред. проф. А.В. Федорова. Харьков: Изд-во Харьковского ун-та, 1972. 215 с.;

2. Алексеева Т.С. PR и медиатексты в дискурсивной парадигме // Вестник ЛГУ им. А.С. Пушкина, 2013. - С. 104-113;

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