CONTEXT AND CONTEXTUAL SUBSTITUTION IN TRANSLATION

Translation is a process of rendering a text, written piece or a speech in other languages.What differentiates translation from retelling or other kinds of text transfer is that translation is a process of creating an original unity out of the contexts and forms of the original. Of major importance is the semantic identification of a translation with its source text(ST).The presumption of semantic identity between ST and target text(TT) is based on the various degrees of equivalence of their meanings. The translator usually tries to produce in target language (TL) the closest possible equivalent to ST. However, words or other units of translation(UT) in a source language(SL) have neither a direct nor permanent equivalent in the TL, due to grammatical, semantic and socio-cultural differences between the SL and TL.The meanig(s) that a word or a ST unit refers to in most cases can only be understood through its context of use.To solve the problems of variable equivalence and non-equivalence in different contexts, the translator creates an occasional equivalent or contextual substitution by using one or more translation methods.Since equivalence is established between only two units of translation in a language pair, a ST unit has its equivalent(s) in one TL, but may have no equivalents in other TL. Furthermore, a ST unit can be translated into different languages by using the same or, more often, different translation devices.Using examples of translation across three languages from English to Russian and Vietnamese, this article discusses six of the most frequently used semantic transformations : concretization, generalization, modulation, antonymic translation, full rearrangement and compensation.