Rendering of Geographical Names in Translation

 

Geographical names are an integral part of the Russian language, so tradition is very strong in this group of words. They are usually rendered according to the usage of earlier days, e.g. England – Англия, Scotland – Шотландия, Ireland – Ирландия.

Some geographical names have their translation equivalents in Russian: Cape of Good Hope – Мыс Доброй Надежды, Easter Island – Остров Пасхи, etc. usually geographical names of this type are token names, as they are named after the name of the holiday on which they were discovered.

 

Rendering of Names of Months, Seasons and Days of the Week

 

The names of the seasons, months and days of the week come very close to proper names. They are rendered by their Russian counterparts: spring – весна, Monday – понедельник, Varch – март, etc.

 

Rendering of Numerals

 

This group of words comes very clise to terms. Their Russian counterparts are naturally used in translation: ten – десять, hundred – сто, thousand – тысяча.

 

Rendering of Scientific and Technical Terms

 

Terms are generally associated with a definite branch of science or technology. They tend to be monosemantic in the given branch of science or technology and therefore easily call forth the required concept. They are translated by corresponding Russian terms: calorie – калория, equator - экватор, polysemantic – многозначный, etc. but it should be borne in mind, that one and the same term may have different meanings in different branches of science and technology, e.g.: line – 1) контейнер, поточная линия; 2) трубопровод, etc. thus a term may sometimes be polysemantic, e.g.: power (phys.) – сила, мощность, энергия; power (math.) – степень.

There is a special group of words of terminological nature: names of animals, birds, plants, natural elements, e.g.: tiger – тигр; cat – кошка; swallow – ласточка; lily–of-the-valley – ландыш; drought – засуха; rain – дождь; lightning – молния, etc.

The names of the rare or little known animals or plants are as a rule monosemantic and have full equivalents: coyote – койот; armadillo – броненосец; porcupine – дикобраз; baobab – баобаб.

 

Rendering the Names of Streets

 

The names of streets are transcribed: Bayswater Road – Бейсуотер роуд.

The names of streets in historical novels which sometimes happen to be token names are translated, e.g. the “Economist” publishing office is in Threadneedle street – редакция журнала «Экономист» помещается на Треднидл стрит but “tailors lived in Threadneedle street” – портные жили на улице Иголка с Ниткой.