THE MYTH ABOUT TRANSLATABILITY

Vadim SDOBNIKOV Nizhny Novgorod Dobrolyubov State Linguistic University

Abstract

Traditionally, (un)translatability is considered in linguistic theory of translation as an undesirable phenomenon caused by the use of units that do not have correspondences in the target language. This lack of equivalence is usually explained by differences between the structures of the two languages and between the two cultures. The analysis of common views on the issue of translatability presented in the text-oriented approach to translation convinces us of the erroneous understanding of the essence of translatability. According to the communicative-functional approach to translation, the degree of (un)translatability is determined by the extent to which the translation conveys the communicatively relevant information necessary for the recipients of the translation to carry out their substantive activities. Reproduction of such information is the purpose of translation, and in a broader sense, the purpose of translation is to ensure the substantive activities of the recipients and commissioners of the translation by creating a text that meets their needs. The nature of the relevant information may vary from communication situation to situation and what appears to be untranslatable at the unit level may be insignificant or fully translatable at the level of the text as a whole. Keywords: (un)translatability, communicative-functional approach, text-oriented approach, communicative situation, relevant information.