Kitabı oxu: «Исследуем. Проектируем. Предлагаем», səhifə 12

The declaration was a typical ultimatum. Prime Minister of Japan Kantaro Suzuki convened a press conference and said: "No comment. We continue to think about it". The thing is that the representatives of the allied countries understood his words differently. Suzuki made the mistake of using the word "mokusatsu", which could mean "no comment", but also "we reject it". Only 10 days after the press conference, Truman, the President of the USA, clarified what "rapid and complete annihilation" means. We will never know whether the course of events would have changed in the case of a correct translation.

5. Treaty of Waitangi

Sometimes translation errors are unintentional, and sometimes they are committed for the sake of changing the true meaning of something. Indicative in this respect is the Treaty of Waitangi, which the Maori of New Zealand signed in 1840. In fact, this document meant the transformation of the island into a British colony.

The British and the Maori signed two copies of the treaty, one in English and the other one in Maori. Both texts are similar, except for the most important detail. The Maori text says that the locals allow the British to stay on the island in exchange for permanent protection from the British Empire. The English version, however, says that the Maori are subordinated to the British crown in exchange for protection from the British Empire. So, is that a trick or a contract?

6. The word which cost 71 million dollars (and one human life)

In 1978, Willie Ramirez was in hospital in Florida with a very serious condition and his relatives could not explain what had happened to him, since they did not know English. They told the doctors that they assumed that Ramirez had food poisoning. The medical staff, who supposedly understood Spanish and English, translated the word "poisoned" as intoxicated, which in English applies only to people who have taken an excessive dose of drugs or alcohol. Although Ramirez believed that he had gastroenteritis, in reality it was a cerebral hemorrhage. However, the doctors, believing that the patient had been intoxicated, prescribed a completely wrong treatment. Because of this negligence, Ramirez suffered paralysis of four limbs (tetraplegia), and the hospital had to pay him $ 71 million in compensation.

The influence of errors on the perception of a work

It is well known that in English all nouns that do not point to the gender of human beings formally belong to the middle genus, and the absence of inflexions opens up great opportunities for writers to attribute gender characteristics to the characters. So, Shakespeare decided to name the elf from the "Midsummer Night's Dream" Mustard Seed. Elf was, apparently, male, but if the reader or the viewer likes to perceive him as a girl, Shakespeare does not interfere with this, especially since in the Elizabeth elf theater, in any case, the boy had to play. Perhaps, the idea is that the elf is sexless, without indication of gender. In English in such cases the transition from the neuter gender to the male and female is carried out with equal probability. As the name Mustard Seed becomes more common than the average, whereas the Russian "Горчичное зерно" is purely middle: the Russian grammatical gender almost never affects the context.

But the tradition of the Russian language does not provide for the names of its own grammatical middle genus (names such as "Vavilo" and "Danilo" never bow completely in the middle genus and almost always have an alternative option in -a), moreover, insists on attributing the name to a specific grammatical genus, corresponding to the real sex. There are, of course, diminutive names of a generic kind, like "Zhenya" and "Valya," and sometimes words of the feminine kind can be used as nicknames for male characters (in Russian translations of Shakespeare – Башка, Основа, Пена), but note – in both cases we are talking only about a-declination, grammatically indistinguishable for masculine and feminine genera. That is why the literal translation – Горчичное зерно – sounds in Russian incomparably less easily and naturally than the Mustard Seed of the original. The reader (and in the perspective of the director) has difficulties abstracting from this middle-class – he "sees" it, whereas the Englishman behind Mustard Seed sees what his imagination or a specific theatrical performance will tell him.

Even more difficult is the case with the names of generic characters, acting as the proper names of the characters, whose gender is fully defined and known from the text. A classic example from German is Heine's story about pine and palm trees translated by M.Lermontov. As I. Chistova writes, "Lermontov did not take into account the essential grammatical generic differences for Heine. In German, "pine" is of masculine gender, "palm" is feminine. Therefore, Lermontov's poem is written not about the separation of lovers, as in Heine, but about the tragedy of loneliness, the insuperable disunity of people". Lermontov "pulled" behind him the inertia of the Russian grammatical gender. With an English translator, this would not happen – he would simply supply the pine and palm with the relevant pronouns he / his and she / her. Strangely enough, in most cases Russian translators just do not realize the gender of the character as a special problem. It is the translation of fiction that is the sphere in which one can see that the concept of "gender" has some objective methodological meaning. In fact, animals have males and females (wolf – she-wolf, rooster is chicken). Yet, what if inanimate objects act in the text? What "sex" can be a rose? In the majority of literary traditions it appears to be of the feminine gender, but in Shakespeare's 99^th sonnet it suddenly assumes the masculine gender. And this is not a grammatical convention, as the image of the rose in all cultures familiar with this flower is closely related to the love theme. Rose as "she" is the traditional substitute for the beloved. And in this Shakespeare’s poem the sonnet's addressee is a young man, so it is quite logical that the rose is of the masculine gender.

Difficulties of translation

All the above examples confirm that errors in translation significantly affect the perception of the work or even the course of events. Therefore, it is worthwhile to know what difficulties the translation may face in order to prevent these mistakes.

Many Russian phrases are cumbersome in comparison with those in English. It also happens that not every word can be translated from one language to another. This can affect the nature of the sentence translated from English: Coffee, chocolate, men. Some things are just better rich.

In the English phrase a play on words is used. "Rich" in English can mean "wealthy" and "saturated". In Russian, with a literal translation, you face the problem of choice. In Russian there is no word that simultaneously would have two same meanings and which could be equally used for coffee, chocolate and men.

There are no endings in English. One way to transfer the relationship between words is to use prepositions or postpositions. The latter occur in stable verbal combinations:

to look – смотреть,

to look after – заботиться о ком-либо,

to look for – искать что-либо.

The same verb with different prepositions acquires new meanings which can be completely unrelated to the root word.

Let us recall the joking assertion about the "scarcity" of the English language and the "wealth" of Russian: Green green gets green. – Зеленая трава зеленеет.

And yet the English word "green" in this sentence is both an adjective, a noun, and a verb. For English, this is a common situation, while in Russian such "copies" will rarely be found.

Also, many homophones can bring a lot of difficulties. Homophones are words that are the same in sound, but have different spelling and meaning:

write – писать, right – правильно, правый.

For an untrained ear, even incomplete homophones can become a problem:

beside – возле, около, besides – кроме того, помимо.

As it is clear from the above information, the main difficulties of translation are homophones, phrasal verbs, idioms, word play. All this can affect the translation and become a fatal mistake.

Conclusion

In my research, I analyzed the topic of errors while translating from English into Russian. The main conclusion is that errors in translation can often be fatal and lead to a distorted perception of information. Details are really important, because the perception of the text can change drastically if you miss something. After reading and learning about the high importance of the details in translation, I hope that translators, even amateurs, will pay more attention to them and translate the text more accurately. I can advise novice specialists to pay attention to phrasal verbs, ambiguous phrases and to use a dictionary of English idioms. In conclusion, I do hope that my work will help novice translators to avoid mistakes.

Литература

1. Begin-English. URL: http://begin-english.ru/ (дата обращения: 20.02.2018).

2. Журнальный зал: список изданий. URL: http://magazines.russ.ru/ (дата обращения: 20.02.2018).

3. ИноСМИ. URL: http://inosmi.ru/ (дата обращения: 20.02.2018).

4. Бархударов Л. С. Что нужно знать переводчику // Тетради переводчика. Вып. 15. М., 1978.

5. Рецкер Я. И. Что же такое лексические трансформации? // Тетради переводчика. Вып. 17. М., 1980.

Идеальная школа – миф или реальность?
The Perfect School – Myth or Reality?

Смирнова Мария

ГБОУ города Москвы «Школа № 1575»

Руководитель:

Солосина Оксана Анатольевна, учитель английского языка

Introduction

Problem

The problem with “dream schools” is that we think they have to be something that instantly impresses everyone; something difficult to achieve, something that only “the best people” can have, something that everyone wants. However, there may be one college that is the best fit for you, but chances are it will not be “perfect”.

Relevance of the selected topic: Sooner or later, all of us face the issue of choosing school/college/university etc., and there comes the rush and stress of choosing the right one, and of course we want to enter the best of the best, and in this project, I will try to complete the mission.

Purpose : make a booklet “The Perfect School – Myth or Reality” to help students choose an educational institution.

Education is one of the topics of heated discussion nowadays. Everybody has to choose an institution at least twice in their lifetime, but that choice is an important decision and a lot of things depend on it. Therefore, students are often scared of making a wrong decision and do need guidance.

While making my project, I used information from different websites and my own experience. There were plenty of columns and articles on the topic, all the authors had their own points of view. The product we will have at the end is a result of collaboration and careful sorting of data about “The Perfect School – Myth or Reality”.

Main Body

I have divided this project into several sections, each of which tells about characteristics of YOUR perfect school. I am going to break some stereotypes and tell you the truth. I hope all that information will help students to make a mature decision, because entering a good institution is literally 50% of your future success.

Ready to be successful?

What we usually pay attention to:

• The first thing we consider while choosing school, or any institution is its quality, its rating at the state and international levels. Yet if you really want to choose a good one, you should pay attention to details. Have you ever thought what makes the quality of schools higher or lower? We are going to explore this issue.

Rating

The most common thing we usually look at while searching schools is a percentage of successfully graduated students. This number also makes the rating of the school. Students must pass tests in certain subjects (the number and kinds of the subjects depend on the school) in order to graduate. State governments and independent groups use the percentages of students who pass the tests to determine school ratings.

Ratings are also affected by the perceived strength of the faculty of the schools and the resources that are available to students.

So, the main definition of school is what kind of students it educates. However, if you are not bright enough, your chances to pass the entry tests for those schools are low.

Profile

Obviously we choose a college according to our subject preferences and our profile. You may be more into liberal arts, biology, or technical science, that depends on you. However, there’s a point: we often prefer an institution degree to the more accurate direction of training, and that causes lower productivity and studying unnecessary subjects, which totally puts you on the wrong way.

What do representatives of institutions accentuate while advertising them:

Lately I have visited an event “Presentations of world innovative schools” where the heads of different schools presented their advantages.

Here are the most common points they underlined:

• Educational (Learning), Facilities (laboratories, libraries, halls, campus, technology, accommodation, meals)

• New Learning Methods (Problem method, method of project training, global contexts)

• Socializing (Teamwork, collaboration, etc.)

Dear Ms. Liusvaara,

We are Moscow students you met after the conference “City for Education” on the 8th of September. We had a small talk and you wished us “Be happy and study hard” and we promised to be in touch.

That is why we are writing to you hoping to become friends with your students and teachers.

We officially became an IB School only a year ago and your speech grabbed our attention as we found that we have a lot of things in common. Your school is much more experienced than ours.

We would like to learn how make our school a better one by communicating with you and your students.

We are 4-year MYP students and we would like to communicate with our peers, share the experience and master skills of IB students.

In the enclosed pictures, you will see our smiling faces.

Looking forward to your answer.

Sincerely yours, Maria, Nikolay, Slava and Lisa

Above you can see a picture of mine, my studying group and Ms. Liusvaara after the conference.

I also searched some information about this school on the internet, and here are some positive points:

• One would often hear that the best schools are those that are strict. Finnish schools are not of the kind, they are usually very informal places with teachers and students sharing ideas. They have a unique way dealing with students and this could be the reason why they are so successful.

• Also, Finnish schools seem to have a different philosophy. They believe in equality and making school feel like home. That means that they not only focus on ‘good’ students, but also provide extra assistance and support for students who need it.

• Another reason why the schools may be so successful is the teachers. Teachers in Finland are seen as very important. They are well respected, and the field of education is considered to be a science, with its own methodology and principles. Every teacher studies for at least five years before they can teach.

So, it seems that the Finnish education system has found a ‘formula’ that works successfully in that country. Their example can serve as a model for other countries.

Mistakes to Avoid in Choosing a College

1. Rushing the process. Finding the right college takes time and effort, not to mention research and often a lengthy application process. Waiting until the last minute is never a good idea. It takes the most important factor out of the equation – you.

2. Being a follower. Following a boyfriend, girlfriend, best friend to the college of their choice may seem like a good idea at the time because you want to be near them, but this is one of the most pivotal points in your life, too. You need to remember to make the best decisions for yourself and, if your relationships are strong, they will outlast time and distance anyway.

3. The legacy lure. We are aware of the commandment states “Honor thy father and mother.” However, only considering colleges your parents, siblings or other family members went to in order to follow in their footsteps may not be in your best interest. It is always better to explore your options and find the right fit for your personality.

4. Rebellion. In contrast, only considering colleges your parents DO NOT want you to go is not beneficial either. Sometimes they have some good insight that might help you decide on what is best for you. Never choose a college out of spite. This is sure to lead you down a path of regret. Choose a college based on what you want, not based on what someone else does not.

5. Location, location, location. Whether you are a homebody who wants to stay close or an escape artist who wants to get as far from home as possible, the location should be a factor in choosing a college, not the sole decision maker.

6. Pushy parents. Letting your parents decide which college is right for you or being forced by your parents to attend a certain school is not healthy. You need to think about what you want out of a college. After all, you are the one attending the school.

So… let us say you have a couple of colleges/schools/universities in mind.

In my opinion, there are two things that influence the level of the institution: tutors and authorities (and as tutors are the reflection of authorities, let us consider the characteristics of teachers).

Now to perfectly define which one is YOUR dream institution, you should absolutely explore the process from within, try to penetrate into it and have a small talk with a few tutors. You can usually do it during the open day, but if you are lucky, you probably can do it on a random day, of course, if tutors have time to talk to you.