Specialization.

Concretization of meaning (specialization) is the selection of more concrete or exact translation equivalents or invariants of meanings than those given in bilingual dictionaries. It is the choice of a more specific word in translation which gives a more detailed description of the idea than does the word in source text (Komissarov, Koralova).

Another term suggested by Komissarov, Koralova is explicatory translation.

It’s a very common lexical transformation employed in English-Ukrainian translation.

It often occurs among various translator’s transformations when he/ she deals with the following groups of lexical units:

· abstract nouns: He died of exposure (піддавання, вплив, дія);

· verbs of movement: leave, go, come, take, move, bring etc;

· polysemantic words (words with a wide range of reference) whose equivalents are too numerous to be listed in any dictionary. The role of the context in translating such words is very important;

· the so called ‘prop-words’ (words that have lost their primary meaning/ have delixicalized): thing, point, business, creature, pattern, stuff, etc;

· verbs say and tell;

· words having different valeur:

E.g.: “Thank you”, – said Margaret, feeling large and awkward and clumsy in all her limbs.

“Дякую вам”, – сказала Маргарет, почуваючи себе ніяково і не знаючи, куди подіти свої руки і ноги.

· constructions with the English verb to be always require specification

E.g.: There is a picture on the wall – The book is on the table

– На стіні висить картина; – Книжка лежить на столі;

– He is in Kyiv now

– Зараз він перебуває (знаходиться/ живе) у Києві);

· concretization may be stylistically predermined;

· it is often conditioned by translator’s orientation toward the reader; by the need to preserve the pragmatics of the source text in translation: the pragmatics of the source text should be as understandable to the target reader (TR) as they are to source reader (SR).

The outer form/ structure of the language unit may be deliberately changed when it requires a concretization. As a result the structure of the sense unit is often extended or shortened in the target language without changing its proper meaning (Korunets’)

E.g.: limbs – руки й ноги.

Examples to illustrate concretization

1. You have no business to say such a thing! (Galsworthy)

Ти не маєш права цього говорити.

2. He had left that same morning for Valencia with the car and the forty liters of petrol (Hemingway).

Вияснилось, що він іще вранці чкурнув до Валенсії разом з машиною і сорока літрами бензину.

3. Who can tell the dread with which that catalogue was opened and read! (Thackerey)

Хто здатен змалювати страх, з яким люди розгортали й читали ті списки!

4. Swithin did not exactly card and sing like a bird … (Galsworthy)

Свізін не те що співав і виспівув, наче соловей.

5. We drove up from Valencia with Thomas, and, as we sighted Madrid rising like a great white fortress across the plain from Alcala de Henares, Thomas said … (Hemingway)

Якось я й Томас їхали з Валенсії, і коли помітили Мадрид, що зводився над рівниною за Алькала де Генарес величною білою фортецею, Томас процідивкрізь зуби …

6. She had quite a reputation for saying the wrong thing … (Galsworthy)

Вона славилася тим, що завжди могла бовкнути щось недоречне.

7. They looked at my dress and mamma’s as if they had never seen a silk gown before (Ch. Bronte).

А як вони витріщились на моє і мамине вбрання! Так, наче зроду не бачили щовкової сукні (pragmatic toning)

8. The play went well from the beginning; the audience, not withstanding the season, a fashionable one, were pleased after the holidays to find themselves once more in a playhouse, and were ready to be amused (Maugham).

П”єсу публіка сприймала прекрасноз першої ж сцени. Незважаючи на те, що було літо, в залі збиралися вершки суспільства, публіка раділа з того, що після літнього відпочинку знову опинилася в театрі, й ладна була сміятися та аплодувати з найменшого приводу (неподходящее время года: после летнего перерыва).