False friends of translator in English: list with translation, examples. Classification of “false friends of the translator”

In modern linguistics, the synchronous-comparative method is becoming increasingly widespread. Originating in the 19th century, it has become increasingly popular, primarily among linguists of the Geneva and Prague schools, in Soviet linguistics, in France, the USA and other countries since the 30s of the 20th century. and mainly in recent decades. The role of comparative study contrastive study or comparative descriptive study, etc.) languages is especially increasing, in particular due to the wide possibilities for applying its findings in such areas as general and machine translation, teaching foreign languages, etc. This area of linguistic research is also stimulated by its connections with other important theoretical problems linguistics, including issues of bilingualism and multilingualism and language contacts.

The synchronic-comparative method is aimed at establishing similarities and differences in language structures, considered not from the perspective of development, but of functioning, that is, in terms of synchrony, and languages belonging to any language families and any historical periods can be compared. In fact, the attention of researchers is almost exclusively attracted to new languages in connection with applied problems. The comparison, carried out separately for each level of linguistic structure, can be based on a descriptive or structural methodology. But in any case, its ultimate goal is usually to establish the possibilities of transforming language systems in the process of translation or to establish the degree of similarity of individual elements and entire systems in the second and native languages being studied as a basis for preparing educational materials for teaching a foreign language.

In particular, the words of any two synchronically compared languages, from the point of view of their subject-logical relevance, can be in a relationship of either equivalence (more often - relative, within special areas of vocabulary - also absolute) or non-equivalence. Taking into account, in addition, the relationship between the sound (or graphic) side of equivalent words and the relationship between their syntagmatic and speech characteristics, one can further distinguish between the synchronic interlingual categories of absolute and relative synonymy, homonymy and paronymy. The role of interlingual synonyms is played by words of both languages that fully or partially coincide in meaning and use (and, accordingly, are equivalent in translation). Interlingual homonyms are words of both languages that are similar to the extent of identification in sound (or graphic) form, but have different meanings. Finally, interlingual paronyms include words of comparable languages that are not quite similar in form, but can cause false associations in more or less people and be identified with each other, despite the actual divergence of their meanings. In turn, interlingual synonyms can be divided into outwardly similar (to the extent of identification in the processes of contact and comparison of languages) and outwardly different. Non-equivalent vocabulary, as a rule, has a specific external form, although cases of interlingual homonymy and paronymy are also possible here.

Pseudo-international words - Lexical units in different languages are similar in form, but different in meaning. They are also called " false friends of the translator". At the end of the 60s, even a special dictionary of such “false friends” was published. Pseudo-international words also arose as a result of borrowing, but either the word was not borrowed in all meanings, but only in one, or two languages were borrowed from which The third is the same word, but with different meanings, or, finally, in the process of borrowing, the word undergoes a radical rethinking.

In the practice of translation and lexicographic work, as well as teaching foreign languages, interlingual relative synonyms of a similar type present particular difficulties, and also interlingual homonyms and paronyms. All these semantically somewhat heterogeneous cases are united by the practical circumstance that words associated and identified (due to similarity in terms of expression) in two languages, in terms of content or use, do not completely correspond or even completely do not correspond to each other. That is why words of this type received the name faux amis du traducteur --“false friends of the translator.” This term, fixed in French, and hence in Russian linguistic terminology, has an advantage over the parallel used German and English descriptive phrases (irrefuhrende Fremdworter, misleading words of foreign origin), that it can be attributed to any words of the corresponding type, without reducing them to a more special case - foreign words playing this role. It seems completely inaccurate to call this category of words only “interlingual homonyms,” which is rarely found in the literature. Finally, the name proposed by linguists of the Michigan School is less successful ( deceptive cognates) - (deceptive cognates), since the term “cognate” is traditionally associated in linguistics with the common origin of words in related languages, while the group of words in question is defined purely synchronically, regardless of their origin.

As noted by linguist L.I. Borisov, many other names have arisen in different languages to denote this category of words (for example, in Russian: false equivalents, interlingual homonyms, interlingual (interlingual) analogisms, pseudo-internationalisms, pseudo-equivalent pairs of words, etc.; in French: piiges, traquenards, йpines, trahisons, mots perfides, etc.). It is appropriate to quote the statement of P.A. Budagov, who substantiates the statement of this name in Russian: “Although the phrase “false friends of the translator” is long and too open to become a term, it is still termed last years" He argues that this phrase does not have an equal and shorter equivalent, and that the “openness” of the term seems attractive to him, as it reminds of possible pitfalls in translation. According to L.I. Borisova, the name “false friends of the translator” has the advantage that it accurately characterizes the translation phenomenon in which false identifications of international analogisms occur.

It is known that in the late 60s and early 70s, Soviet scientists conducted fundamental research into this category of words. In the works of V.V. Akulenko (1969, 1972), K.G.M. Gottlieb (1966, 1972), V.L. Muravyov (1969, 1974, 1985) presented the main theoretical provisions regarding false equivalents. At the same time, they compiled dictionaries and manuals of the “false friends of the translator.” They examine discrepancies between words that are similar in sound and spelling, but semantically or in usage are dissimilar in different languages.

The most complete definition of the concept “ translator's false friends" gives A.V. Fedorov: “A false equivalent is a word that completely or partially coincides (or is close to it) in sound or graphic form with a foreign word in the presence of complete etymological commonality between them, but has a different meaning (or other meanings) with a certain semantic similarity (related to one area of application)".

It is important to distinguish between “false friends of the translator” in oral and written forms of speech. This requirement is mandatory in the case of comparing languages with different scripts or, conversely, in the case of languages with a common script, but phonemically dissimilar vocabulary. For the Russian and English languages, with their similar types of writing, which are in regular correspondence, this distinction may in fact not be made, although the degree to which the compared lexemes are identified by bilingual persons, and here it turns out to be somewhat different in each of the forms of speech, and in certain cases the identification multilingual words generally occur only in one of the forms of speech (for example, Russian. geyser and English, geyser["gi:za] "bath water heater" are similar only in spelling).

According to R.A. Budagov, “false friends of the translator” pose a great danger in written speech. He argues that in oral translation it is possible to “bypass” a difficult or not entirely clear word, but in writing this is unacceptable. Therefore, the problem of “false friends of the translator” appears as a problem, first of all, of written speech, although the interpreter must also take it into account.

The works of V.V. deserve special attention in this area. Akulenko, who gave the rationale for “this broad, semantically heterogeneous bilingual category.” The author analyzes the sources of the appearance of “false friends of the translator”. They are the result of mutual influences of languages. His works clarify the concepts of “false friends of the translator,” “internationalisms” and “pseudo-internationalisms,” which were not differentiated by many authors and were used interchangeably. The scientist characterizes “false friends of the translator” as a semantically heterogeneous category of words, including international vocabulary /interlingual relative synonyms of a similar type/, pseudo-international words /interlingual homonyms/ and interlingual paronyms. His works provide a reasoned description of all three groups of words that make up the category of “false friends of the translator.” The works of V.V. Keltuyal emphasize the position that the divergence of the semantic content of parallel international words in different languages is a natural and inevitable process associated with the development of society.

Using a large amount of factual material, the author shows that each international word goes through its own path of semantic development in the corresponding language. The semantic evolution of international words occurs differently in different languages. It is determined by the specifics of the lexical-semantic system of a particular language. Some differences in the semantic structure of international words of different languages are natural and logical and do not change the international character of internationalisms.

Historically, “false friends of the translator” are the result of mutual influences of languages; in a limited number of cases they can arise as a result of random coincidences, and in related, especially closely related, languages they are based on related words, going back to common prototypes in the base language. Their total and the role of each of the possible sources in their formation turns out to be different for each specific pair of languages, determined by the genetic and historical connections of the languages.

In the English and Russian languages, words of this kind in the overwhelming majority of cases represent direct or indirect borrowings from a common third source (often international or pseudo-international) vocabulary or parallel derivatives from such borrowings. The results of actual English-Russian language contacts are significantly less represented: words of English origin in Russian and Russian origin in English, although among the borrowed words of this group there are sometimes significant differences with sample words, making it difficult for native speakers of the source language to understand their seemingly “own ” words in another language.

The number, degree of divergence and distribution of “false friends of the translator” by part of speech are different for different pairs of languages. But, in any case, their composition is generally the same for the speaker of each of the two compared languages, differing somewhat only in terms of interlingual paronymy.

In English and Russian, “false friends of the translator,” numbering several thousand words, are found within four parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs. IN large number In cases, this role is played not by single words, but by all representatives of the corresponding word-forming nests. Naturally, for people who speak the basics of the second language, false identifications occur only in the sphere of identical parts of speech: thus, nouns are associated with nouns, etc., but homonymy of parts of speech, as a rule, does not cause difficulties. From a semantic point of view, words that belong to similar or related semantic spheres or, in any case, may appear in similar contexts, are misleading; obviously coincidental lexemes that essentially do not occur in the same contexts (such as English, rock"rock" - Russian. rock), do not cause false associations. Differences in pairs of “false friends of the translator” can be outlined in conceptual content, realities, stylistic characteristics and lexical compatibility; in practice, all these types of discrepancies are often intertwined.

The discrepancies in the conceptual, subject-logical content of falsely identified English and Russian words reflect the uniqueness of the classifications of phenomena, properties and relations of the objective world, characteristic of the semantics of each language. So, for example, English, agony expresses a broad concept of mental and physical suffering and their manifestations, which is reflected in the English-Russian dictionary as:

1) death throes, agony (for example, agony of death, mortal agony);
2) severe physical pain, agony; as in the example from J. Galsworthy: "...Dartle seized his wife"s arm, and... twisted it. Winifred endured the agony with tears in her eyes, but no murmur...";
3) a sudden manifestation, explosion, attack of feelings, as in agony of fear“attack of fear”;
4) strong mental struggle, despair, grief, as in "Not is in agony because of this conflict of ideas." It's a Russian word agony means only death-struggle (eng., throes of death, death-struggle). English word artist conveys the concept of a representative of art in the broad sense of the word and, in particular, of representatives of some specific types of art:
1) a representative of art, an artist, an artist in general, as in a creative artist, a literary artist etc.; Wed from O. Wilde: "Last night she was a great artist. This evening she is merely a commonplace mediocre actress",
2) painter, graphic artist, as in illustrations by the best artists; figurative character has meaning 3) a master of his craft, as in an artist in words“master of writing.” Russian word artist conveys the concept, first of all, of a professional (hence, amateur) actor, which corresponds to English words actor(about a dramatic artist, film artist), artiste(about a professional musician, dancer, comedy, pop artist); combinations are especially conveyed ballet artist - ballet-dancer, opera artist - opera-singer. In second place are the meanings: artist in general, representative of art (cf. artist) and figurative, colloquial master of his craft (cf. artist and expression a good hand in (at) something).

Even in terms like English, revolution -- Russian revolution, representing a classic example of international words with the same meaning in many languages, specificity is outlined in both basic and derived meanings. The English word (leaving aside its homonym with the meanings of “rotation”, “turnover”) means any complete change in the structure of society, the system of managing society, a change in government, as well as a complete restructuring, a radical transformation of anything. In the English-Russian dictionary the first of these meanings is reflected as:

1) revolution (about progressive radical revolutions in socio-economic relations), for example, in the Revolution -- English revolution of the 17th century, the French Revolution -- French revolution of the 18th century, the October Revolution -- about the October Socialist Revolution;
2) coup d'etat, seizure of power, as in a palace revolution"palace coup";
3) political or (figuratively) other uprising, riot; for example, A. Cronin describes the speech of a group of junior doctors against the extortions of their boss as follows: "But listen, darling, we're going to start a revolution." The second meaning is reflected in the English-Russian dictionary in the form of two equivalents:
4) perestroika, disruption, revolution, revolution in any matter, such as a revolution in science"revolution in science" the industrial revolution"industrial Revolution";
5) change, change, as in examples from W. Thackeray (...the whole course of events took place a peaceful and happy revolution) and R. Stevenson ("/ hope that our sympathy shall survive these little revolutions undiminished"). The meanings of the Russian word revolution correspond only in the first and fourth cases to the meanings of the English word.

Of exceptional importance for a correct understanding of the meaning of words is taking into account their systemic connections. So, if the meaning of the Russian word novel can only be understood in contrast to words story, short story, short story etc. (where the basis of the opposition is the degree of coverage of the reflected life phenomena, and hence the greater or lesser form of the prose work), then English, romance How the term of literary criticism means a prose or poetic narrative of a heroic adventure or romantic love plan, as opposed to novel -- prosaic realistic everyday work (the basis of the opposition here is the degree of realism, “down-to-earthness” of the plot). English meaning medicine manifests itself only in the contrast between therapy, surgery, obstetrics, dentistry, sanitation and hygiene, characteristic of the English tradition (in particular, academic degrees are separately awarded in these areas, having different values; cf., for example. Bachelor of Medicine, abbr. M.V. And Bachelor of Surgery, abbr. Ch. IN. etc.); medicine, in addition to the general meaning of “medicine”, in English it means therapy, therefore the first of the above degrees is translated as “bachelor of therapy”. The word is medicine means only the totality of sciences about human diseases, their treatment and prevention (as opposed to veterinary medicine) and cannot be mechanically likened to its English counterpart.

Using the last pair of words as an example, one can easily illustrate the general rule that the discrepancies especially increase in the sphere of figurative meanings: for example, the English word medicine in its figurative meanings means:

1) a liquid medicine taken orally, a mixture (as opposed to injection, lotion, medical preparation, pill, ointment etc.),
2) witchcraft, magic (among backward peoples),
3) talisman, amulet; it's a Russian word medicine has a completely different figurative colloquial meaning “medic, doctor, doctors (collectively)”, which is translated into English as physician, colloquial doctor or familiar doc in singular or plural.

The degree of semantic discrepancies is different in various parts speech: the most specific meanings of adjectives and, often even more, adverbs. It is often impossible to deduce semantic discrepancies in words of a given nest belonging to one part of speech, knowing the discrepancies in words belonging to another part of speech. For example, adjectives absolute And absolute completely or almost completely coincide in most meanings and are interchangeable in translation, but it does not follow from this that the same relationship exists between adverbs absolutely And absolutely: the English word even in its basic meaning, which is close to Russian absolutely, does not always correspond to the Russian analogue for reasons of lexical compatibility (for example, to absolutely agree“agree without objection”, to vanish absolutely“to completely disappear”, etc.) and has three specific meanings (of course, undoubtedly, in grammar - regardless, colloquial - yes, of course); a Russian word in a meaning that unites both analogues can be translated into English only in a minority of cases (often conveyed by the words entirely, perfectly, entirely, utterly), with a connotation of "in general" when negated, it is conveyed as at all, and with the connotation “quite” - like quite, besides what does "regardless" mean? (irrespectively; in absolute terms etc.). In cases like really-- really semantic proximity observed in adjectives (real - real), completely disappears.

One should object to the widespread opinion that the supposed semantics of Russian words similar to English ones, including internationalisms, as a rule, is poorer compared to their English counterparts. This relationship is typical only for some cases when a Russian special term is compared with an English word that combines terminological and non-terminological meanings. But along with this, there are many other, including opposite, cases. Meanwhile, this belief, along with some other reasons, leads to a significant impoverishment of the description of Russian words in Russian-English dictionaries, who often recommend translating a very semantically complex Russian word with only one, outwardly similar, but semantically only relatively suitable analogue.

A significant place among the “false friends of the translator” is occupied by cases of interlingual homonymy and paronymy. Moreover, interlingual homonymy is always reversible, i.e., it is perceived as such by speakers of both languages. It can arise directly during the contact and comparison of languages (for example, English, mark -- Russian brand or English, family -- Russian surname, completely homonymous in modern usage), often intralingual homonyms are also involved in interlingual homonymic relations: for example, if English, crab I "crab, etc." and Russian crab are interlingual relative synonyms of a similar type, then English, crab II "wild apple tree" and crab III “slope, roll” are homonymous in relation to the first English word, and hence to its Russian analogue. Interlingual paronyms can also be bilateral and reversible, that is, misleading to speakers of both languages; this especially often occurs in cases where interlingual paronymy is based on intralingual paronymy: for example, English words specially - especially or at least concert -- concerto cause difficulties among the English themselves, and hence, naturally, among the Russians, associating in the Russian language with the words specially And concert. As a rule, however, interlingual paronymy is one-sided. So, mixing words like intelligence -- intelligentsia, history -- story, mayor -- major, principled -- principal possible for a Russian establishing analogies with words intelligentsia, history, major, principled, but not for an Englishman. And vice versa, only an Englishman can mix Russian pairs of words like standard - standard, farce - minced meat, pension - boarding house by analogy to words standard, farce, pension.

Differences in the subject-logical content of English and Russian “false friends of the translator” are in some cases associated with differences in the very life of peoples. In this case, comments about realities are inevitable, without which any purely linguistic comparisons will be incomplete. For example, a Russian translator needs to know the word academy what are they called:

1) special schools for adults (academies of music, of riding, etc.),
2) schools occupying an intermediate position between secondary and higher schools (military, naval academies),
3) in the past - private schools for children of rich parents (such as Miss Pinkerton's academy for young ladles from W. Thackeray). Therefore, it is inaccurate to use this word when speaking about Soviet universities and senior military educational institutions which are better called colleges.

Customs of word usage also play a significant role, sometimes (but not necessarily) associated with divergent realities. For example, for correct use Russian word rector The English translator should know that in the USSR this is the name of the head of any higher educational institution (cf. English, president, principal, vice-chancellor), whereas, when applied to English higher education, the term rector only the heads of Scottish universities and the heads of two of Oxford colleges (Exeter and Lincoln Colleges) are named.

Often, discrepancies in the meanings of English and Russian words are associated with new phenomena characteristic of modern reality; in this case, it is especially important that the translation takes into account the degree of familiarity of native English speakers with the relevant phenomena. Thus, what seems more difficult for the English reader is not to establish the relationship between English meanings and decade"decade" - Russian. decade"ten days", and the assimilation of a new fact of Soviet life - ten-day public campaigns called decades, in particular ten-day celebrations of the achievements of literature and art of one of the peoples of the USSR (English, ten-day campaign or ten-day festival). Word Ratio brigadier -- foreman clear only to persons who know the forms of labor organization in the USSR (in production teams - crews, work-teams, where foreman -- team-leader, crew-leader) and the British military rank system (Brigadier - brigadier general, intermediate rank between colonel and major general). In some cases, an inaccurate understanding of realities becomes not an isolated misunderstanding, but a traditional mistake of lexicographers, and hence many translators.

In addition, there is a need to take into account possible differences in the stylistic characteristics of associated words. Such discrepancies may accompany partial semantic differences, but they also occur in words with the same values. Therefore, it is impossible to fully understand a word and use it correctly without knowing its functional-stylistic and emotional-expressive connotations, and in some cases, restrictions on the place and time of its use. The most common differences in English-Russian comparisons are in functional-stylistic colors, that is, in the admissibility of using words primarily or exclusively in certain styles of speech. For example, even in a similar meaning “meeting of specialists” in English, consultation and Russian consultation do not completely coincide, since the first word is stylistically neutral, and the second has a bookish character. Even more noticeable are the stylistic differences in words like bark"boat" -- barge, where the first is classical poetism, and the second is stylistically neutral. Stylistic discrepancies make many words absolutely non-interchangeable in translation.

A significant type of stylistic differences are differences in evaluative, emotional and expressive colors. If the English word compilation“collecting, compiling” is quite neutral in this regard, then Russian. compilation has a connotation of disapproval, meaning “non-independent work based on the mechanical use of other people’s materials.” Emotionally expressive colors are especially often manifested in figurative meanings: an example is the use of such Russian words as subject, type, fruit, element, instance in the meaning of "person, personality". All these words, in addition to being assigned to casually colloquial or even familiar everyday speech, are characterized by a distinct disapproving connotation, which, when translated into English, has to be conveyed by various negative epithets with the words individual, person or stylistically more expressive: fellow and even devil.

There are frequent evaluative discrepancies, sometimes socially conditioned, in socio-political vocabulary: for example, in the reactionary bourgeois circles of the English-speaking countries, the word propaganda often associated with the concept of “lie”, “deception of public opinion”. One of the characters in the novel by the Australian writer D. Kyosak “Hot Summer in Berlin,” an American journalist, says: “Yes, this is exactly what ... we call “information” when it comes from us, and “propaganda” when others do it" (Chapter X). The same applies to the English word propagandist."In Anglo-Saxon society," writes Leonard Daub, " the right way to insult, humiliate or expose a person is to call him a propagandist" (Leonard W. Doob, Public Opinion and Propaganda, N.-Y., 1949, p. 231). True, in the usage of progressive journalism, these words are free from disapproving connotations and can be used in positive contexts, meaning the dissemination and in-depth study of any ideas, teachings, as well as persons engaged in relevant work.The meaning of the word is quite neutral and not recorded by most dictionaries propaganda"persuasion, persuasion", widely represented in modern English and American literature. Russian words propaganda, propagandist neutral in emotional and expressive terms and can be used in a wide variety of contexts. In recent decades, they have been increasingly used in relation to modern reality in the meaning of “dissemination of knowledge, cultural values” (in combinations like propaganda scientific knowledge, pedagogical propaganda, art propaganda, fiction propaganda and so on.); however, the first cases of synonymous use of words educator And propagandist date back to the 19th century.

Evaluative colors can even penetrate into terminology social sciences, reflecting the differences in ideology and social reality of the countries of both languages. Legal terms such as English speculation -- Russian speculation, are basically similar in semantics, but fundamentally diverge in evaluative colors. The famous English lawyer D. Pritt remarked: “Speculation” (speculation)... is not clearly interpreted in British law, although it can bring a person either to the dock or to the House of Lords; the Russian term is "speculation" (speculatsie), little, essentially different in meaning, found in the list of crimes listed in the Criminal Code... Characteristic are specific evaluative layers, often associated with the peculiarities of interpretation of meanings, in some borrowings that were exchanged between both languages. For example, unlike the Russian word decree"decree of a government agency" ukase - about Russian history; decree, edict -- about modern Soviet reality), English, ukase when applied to the life of countries in English, it means “an arbitrary, despotic act” and has a negative connotation. In contrast to the completely neutral businessman, which corresponds to Russian business man, Russian businessman has a negative connotation, meaning an unprincipled businessman.

Finally, one cannot ignore temporary and local restrictions on the use of “false friends of the translator”. Russian battle not only used in slightly different languages from English battle meanings: it occurs in literally the same meaning as the English word battle(“battle, battle”), but only in the language of the 18th century - early XIX century. Many difficulties are associated with the specific use of English words in different countries, primarily in the UK and the USA. A trivial example with the term gasoline, denoting "gasoline" in the UK, and "petrol" in America. It is also worth mentioning the case of the divergence in the meanings of terms for the largest numbers in British and American English. The English language of Great Britain, based here on the German model, uses the words billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion in the value of a million to the second, third, fourth and fifth powers. US English, based here on the French model, uses these words in the meaning of a million multiplied by 10 3, 10 s, 10 9, 10 12. This makes these words in their British understanding "false friends" in relation to the Russian language, as a result of which when translating using these words, it is necessary to take into account the country that is the source or destination of the translated text.

Differences in the lexical compatibility of the corresponding Russian and English words create significant difficulties in learning languages and in translation, but, as a rule, are not sufficiently reflected in bilingual dictionaries. It is assumed that such difficulties are almost always surmountable with conventional (not machine) translation, since the translator, relying on his linguistic instinct, “feels” in what combinations the words recommended in the dictionary are acceptable. This is generally true in relation to the native language, but usually applies to a much lesser extent to foreign languages. The situation is complicated by the fact that the preference given to one word or another in a given combination cannot be justified by anything other than tradition. For example, words industry -- industry in the meaning of “industry” coincide in meaning, but the first is not always translated as the second, since if socialist, capitalist, modern, heavy, light, engineering - industry or industry sound equally correct, then, according to the norms of Russian literary usage, we can only talk about automotive, nuclear, paper, gas, mining, mining, canning, flour milling, oil, processing, food, ore, soda, glassblowing, construction, weaving, electrical, energy etc. industry, but not industry. Discrepancies in compatibility make even such obviously synonymous internationalisms as English, international(the author does not talk about local nuances in the use of this word in the USA and Canada) - Russian. international: in in Russian along with the word international the word is used in the same meaning international, traditionally preferred in the vast majority of combinations, while the English word knows no restrictions in lexical compatibility and is used in all cases where it is appropriate in meaning.

Sofeykova K.V. 1

Timeeva T.I. 1

1 Municipal educational institution “Secondary school No. 63” of the city of Magnitogorsk

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Introduction

Foreign languages, and especially English, play a huge role in human life. Knowledge of English helps with finding a job (after all, the number of vacancies with knowledge of English is growing), in communicating with residents of other countries, and simply for your own development.

But it is also important to know the language well. And for this you need to study many features and nuances. One of these features is a group of words called the translator's false friends.

This topic interested me in English class when I found out. that “magazine” translates as a magazine, not as a store. I asked myself the questions “Where do words that are consonant in two completely unrelated words come from and how to avoid making a mistake next time when translating similar words.”

The purpose of this study: study the “false friends of the translator”, prevent errors that arise due to similarity with existing Russian words and expressions. This goal involves solving the following tasks :

Conduct a critical review of the literature on the research topic.

Learn what false friends of a translator are.

Study the degree of difficulty of their translation.

Prevent student mistakes and help students find the correct ways to translate them.

Object of study: 7th grade students, their ability to work with texts containing words that belong to the group of “false friends of the translator” Subject of study: a linguistic phenomenon called “false friends of the translator”.

Methods used in the work: theoretical (literature analysis, generalization, semantization);

Practical (translation of text).

The relevance of research is that in the near future I and my classmates will take English as a compulsory subject. In this regard, knowledge of such subtleties of the language will help me and my classmates, including successfully passing exams. I also want to keep up with the times and be fluent in this language, so I think that this topic is very important in learning English, as it can prevent communication errors in English.

Research hypothesis: The phenomenon of “false friends of the translator” is a quite common phenomenon in the English language. Failure to have information about this phenomenon can lead to speech and logical errors when communicating and working in this language.

Chapter 1 What is a translator's false friend?

1.1 The origin story of the translator's false friends

The history of translation goes back to the deep past, to those distant times when the proto-language began to disintegrate into separate languages, and people who spoke several languages became in demand as intermediaries between representatives of different language communities. However, for a number of reasons, translation acquired the status of an independent science only at the beginning of the twentieth century. In modern conditions, when there is a rapid expansion of international relations and intensive exchange of information, translation studies, as it develops, covers an increasing number of problems and controversial provisions. In recent decades, the interest of researchers in the category of words united by the common name “false friends of the translator” (tracing paper from the French faux amis du traducteur) has sharply increased. These words are interlingual relative synonyms, homonyms and paronyms of a similar type. When translating this category of words, false identifications may occur, since interlingual analogisms have some graphic, phonetic, grammatical, and often semantic commonality. Analysis of examples of “false friends of the translator” shows that the largest number of errors appears when translating international vocabulary. International parallels are easily identified during translation, since they have a common semantic structure. As a result of such identifications, false equivalents often arise due to the fact that there are significant differences in their semantic structures, which the translator sometimes simply forgets about.

One of the types of formation: different development of a word from a parent language in descendant languages, which leads to its different lexical meaning in closely related languages. For example: gift - gift - in English, in its closely related language, German means poison. In progress historical development words, its meaning can expand or contract. Thus, the denotative meaning of a speech unit may not change, but the connotative meaning may change.

Another reason for the appearance of false friends of a translator is borrowing from other languages. Old-timer - old man, veteran, from English, in many other languages, the meaning is old car.

Also, a borrowed word can find a “second” life in a new language (usually a narrower one). Rough - rough, cruel (English), in Japanese means “everyday” (clothing style); salary man - employee (originally "mercenary") in English, in Japanese "company employee".

Also, the reason for the emergence of false friends of a translator is the borrowing of words into languages from the same language, that is, borrowing by a language a and languageb of the same word from the language d(such Russian-English words have a common ancestor most often in Latin) .

Since borrowed words in the original language can have multiple meanings, they end up in another language with one meaning, which then begins to develop into a narrow area. For example, the word blank (from French - white) means: in Russian - a form to fill out, in English - a space, in German - polished.

The last reason for the appearance of false friends of a translator is random coincidences. In English mist is fog, and in German it is manure; magazine - magazine (from English), in Russian the word “magazin” means a place for shopping.

1.2 How to recognize a translator’s “false friends”

A translator's false friends are a danger both for students just starting to learn a language and for experienced translators, who make even more mistakes when translating such words. This happens because translators are confident in their knowledge of the language and do not bother to look into the dictionary once again.

Since there are words that, unlike the translator’s false friends, have similar pronunciation and meaning in languages, it is very difficult to recognize “false friends” with the same pronunciation but different meanings.

To correctly translate “false friend”, you need to rely on all your personal experience and use dictionaries. And it is impossible to learn all the translator’s false friends by heart knowing “This is the translator’s false friend”, since there are very, very many of them.

Since false friends can have several meanings, you need to choose one of the meanings based on the specifics of the topic and context.

1.3 False friends of the translator in the structure of the English language. Translation methods.

The “false friends of the translator” in the English language constitute a fairly large group of words that present a rather complex problem, which becomes more complex the more nuanced the differences in the meaning of the colliding words are. When translating this category of words, it is necessary to refer to the dictionary, paying special attention to their ambiguity, and not proceed only from the similarity of their form or sound.

In the course of historical development, some syntactic structures of the English language received a double function, and often these functions are directly opposite to each other, i.e. ambivalent. Their semantic meaning is revealed depending on the context and setting, but it is still not always easy to determine which function a given construction is used for.

In the practice of translation, another type of “false friends” remains unsystematized and unstudied, where the cause of the error is not a word, but a whole statement misunderstood by the translator. The structure of such statements as You can't be too careful or I don't think much of him can lead the translator's thought down the wrong path. Indeed, it is possible to make a mistake and translate them respectively as “You can’t be too careful” (instead of the correct version “Extra caution can’t hurt”) and “I don’t think much of him” (instead of “I don’t think much of him”). In the last example, in a very complex way for Russian linguistic thinking, the idea is expressed that under the specified condition, no matter how careful you are, it will never be “too much.” That is, you are advised to be as careful as possible. The English expression is based on a special emphasis on the concept of “too”. The concept of “enough” can also play the same role, with the help of which the “false friend” option is created. For example, the English mistress of the house is tired of her guests staying too long, and she can utter the following phrase: They can’t go fast enough. That is, no matter how soon they leave, it will not be fast enough for her. The point is not that the guests do not know how to move, but simply that behind this “false friend” there is a wish: “I wish they would leave soon.”

An experienced translator knows that a public house is not a “brothel”, but a British version of a pub, and a public school is not a public school at all, but a private school in Britain. However, he may also be puzzled by an English statement like: I am satisfied that I alone am guilty of the disaster, since in many cases he translated the expression to be satisfied “to be satisfied, satisfied” and did not find it in the meaning “to be convinced, confident.”

In addition, there are often such incorrect things done by the translator on the basis of a misunderstood syntactic structure of a group of words related in meaning. Syntactic structures are understood as “pure” schemes of statements or their parts, determined by the composition of parts of speech and inflectional forms.

He came in to find her in bed. In contrast to purely syntactic structures, specific lexical units are necessarily included in lexico-syntactic structures. An example of such a construction is the phrase “subject + verbal predicate + only + infinitive group”: He drove all the way to Wyoming, only to find that his friend could not meet with him. Lexical units that occur as a stable part of lexico-syntactic constructions include conjunctions, pronouns, pronominal adverbs and other function words. Now let's see under what circumstances such constructions can mislead the translator: He did not leave you because of my influence. There are two possible translation options:

a) He didn’t leave you because I influenced him.

b) He left you not because I influenced him.

The difference in the meaning of these two sentences is enormous: the first sentence is about how the breakup of the relationship was prevented, the second is about why such a breakup took place. What is the reason for the translator’s mistake if he gave the wrong answer and distorted the meaning of the statement? Apparently, the translation of the structure of the statement, which allows two options for logical-semantic connections between its components, is incorrect. In the first case, the negation refers to the predicate, in the other - to the circumstance.

Now consider another type of uncertainty in the external structure of an utterance, implemented in the sentence: He went to the United States to settle down there. This sentence can be interpreted in two ways:

a) He went to the United States to settle there permanently.

b) He went to the United States and settled there.

The difference in the two statements is determined by the different logical meanings of the circumstance expressed by the infinitive: in one case, this is the meaning of the goal (intention), and in the other, the meaning of the subsequent action. ME AND. Retzker proposed a special term “ambivalent syntactic constructions”. He identified the following ambivalent syntactic constructions:

- « verb have+ noun + participle” (example: He had his horse killed), which can denote either an action committed without the participation or even against the desire of the subject, or an action initiated by this subject himself (“He sent his horse to the knacker”);

- “verb be + the + ordinal number + infinitive” (example: He was the first to speak), which can have a modal meaning of obligation (“He should have spoken first”) or an indicative action meaning (“He had to speak first”);

- “a noun or pronoun in the plural + plus a group of homogeneous verbs” (example: He begged and bribed and threatened the others): such a construction can denote either sequential actions in relation to a group of persons or objects (“He either persuaded or cajoled others , then threatened them”), or parallel actions in relation to several different persons or objects (“He recruited some by persuasion, others by cajoling, others by threats”);

- “as + adjective or adverb + as + any” (example: I learned to dance as well as any of them) - comparative turnover with the meaning of either the equality of objects compared on some basis (“I learned to dance no worse than any of them”), or the superiority of one object over others (“I learned to dance like none of them”).

As can be seen from the above examples, an English statement can lead a translator down the wrong path either by its entire content, or due to the presence of words or phrases in it that the translator is accustomed to understanding in a completely different way. This interesting topic is worth further study. It may be possible to identify other categories of syntactic structures that cause difficulties in interpretation and translation.

Chapter 2 Studying the skills and abilities of students of the Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary School No. 63” to translate texts containing “false friends of the translator”

In order to test our hypothesis, as well as to study the skills of students of the municipal educational institution "Secondary School No. 63" to translate texts containing "false friends of the translator", we conducted a study in which students of the 7th grade of the municipal educational institution "Secondary School No. 63" took part. The essence of the study was that this experiment consisted of two stages. The so-called “before” stage assumed that students would be offered a text to translate (see Appendix 1), containing a large number of “false friends of the translator.” At the same time, no preparatory work on this topic was carried out with the children. The task was formulated briefly: “translate the sentences.” Students were given fifteen minutes to translate nine short sentences.

Analysis of these works showed that in most cases, students intuitively translate the “false friends of the translator”, focusing not on dictionary data, but on the similarity and consonance of English words with words of the Russian language. Accordingly, most of the sentences were translated incorrectly; they contained many lexical errors, which significantly complicated the understanding of the meaning of the sentences. Of the 10 proposed “false friends of the translator”, the children confidently and correctly translated only one word “artist” (artist), which is included in the basic set of lexical elements of primary school. Thus, we observe that only ten percent of the sentences were translated correctly.

After the analysis, a mini-seminar on the topic “False friends of the translator” was held for the students, at which the essence of this phenomenon was explained to the students in an accessible and understandable form. In addition, a brochure (memo) was developed for the children, containing the most common expressions that fall into the category of the translator's false friends (see Appendix 2).

At the end of this seminar, seventh grade students were again asked to work with sentences containing “false friends of the translator.” And, as in the “before” experiment, the children were given about fifteen minutes to complete this task.

Having analyzed the performance of work in the experiment conducted after the mini-seminar, we can safely say that the students have well mastered the features of translating these expressions. During their work, they actively used the brochure distributed to them. When checking the quality of the translation, it turned out that about 90% of the sentences were translated completely correctly. That is, we observe that after studying information about false friends and delving into this topic, students in the 7th grade of Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary School No. 63” were able to successfully cope with the task.

This means we can draw the following conclusion: the problem of translating “false friends of the translator” exists. There is a need to familiarize students with this phenomenon, to provide them with assistance when performing tasks of this type, in order to subsequently avoid mistakes in different speech situations.

Conclusion

To summarize, I would like to say that false friends of a translator are a fairly common occurrence. And if you don’t know the words and expressions that belong to this category, you can make quite serious lexical errors when translating the text, which can lead to misunderstanding between partners, and accordingly, the communicative task will not be completed. Therefore, false friends need to be studied, as they have many characteristics.

At school, the translator’s false friends are sometimes not even mentioned. Schoolchildren do not know this group of words well and often make mistakes in them, just like students and professional translators. Therefore, the topic of my project is quite relevant. A mini seminar on the topic “False friends of a translator” was useful for seventh grade students of the municipal educational institution “Secondary School No. 63”. This experiment is proven by the experiment.

I completed the tasks set before me. In the future, I plan to use this material to prepare for the Unified State Exam and the Unified State Exam, as well as when working with authentic texts.

Bibliography

en.wikipedia.org›

EnglishFull.ru›…lozhnye-druzya-perevodchika.html

ienglish.ru›Blog›

study-english.info›

blog.englishvoyage.com›

Annex 1

Suggestions proposed to seventh grade students of Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary School No. 63” for transfer.

All the pills are kept in the medicine cabinet .

She liked the potatoes baked in their jackets.

No need an instrument to extract the stopper.

Eddie thought that sport can transform a weakling into an athlete.

I saw a man with a bad complexion.

The disease can be fatal.

Еhe record will be the participants of the Olympiad tomorrow.

Тhe artist painted the picture.

The officer helped the orphans.

You pretended to be sick.

Appendix 2

Translator's false friends

False friends of the translator(- a pair of words in two languages, similar in spelling and/or pronunciation, often with a common origin, but different in meaning.

Examples of a translator's "False Friends".

English word	Correct translation



	Camera
Medicine cabinet


	athlete
	complexion
	fatal

	artist
	official
	pretend
	compositor
	Conductor
	Colon



	crazy



	Cookies (almond)
	Hospital duck
	Motorist

	View, overview, panorama
	Repetition
	Reproduction, exact copy


	Assumption

	foreboding
	Jet, jerk



	Virtuous
	Van, cart
	Wallet

Nowadays it is difficult to imagine life without English. In every area of our lives, we are directly faced with the need to learn a language, be it education, leisure, travel and much more. But, despite the enormous popularity and public interest in learning foreign languages, there are a number of difficulties in translating some words and expressions.

Anyone who studies a foreign language, in particular English, has undoubtedly paid attention to the fact that some words are already familiar to us from our native language. Basically, these words are used not only in Russian and English, but also in many other languages. In specialized literature they are called international words. Such words often make it easier to understand a foreign text, but sometimes they can turn out to be “false friends of the translator,” that is, they will have a similar sound and spelling, but can express different concepts, which often leads not only to misunderstandings, but also to misunderstandings. Our interest in this topic is not accidental, since the number of errors made by students in this category of words is very high. Nowadays it is difficult to imagine life without English. In every area of our lives, we are directly faced with the need to learn a language, be it education, leisure, travel and much more. But, despite the enormous popularity and public interest in learning foreign languages, there are a number of difficulties in translating some words and expressions.

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Municipal budgetary educational institution

“Gymnasium No. 7 named after. Hero of Russia S.V. Vasileva"

Educational and research work in English on the topic:

"The Translator's False Friends"

Completed:

Student of 7th grade Elizaveta Orlova

Student of grade 7 “a” Kosogova Daria

Student of 7th grade "B" Paramonova Daria

Scientific adviser:

Soboleva Oksana Andreevna

English teacher

Bryansk 2015

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..3

History and reasons for the phenomenon of “false friends of the translator”…………………………………………………………………………………..5
Varieties of “false friends of the translator” in Russian and English languages……………………………………………………………………………………………….7

Chapter 2. Practical questions in the study of the phenomenon of interlingual homonyms

2.1 Practical justification of the research topic…………………………...10

2.2 Development of a glossary of commonly used words – interlingual homonyms………………………………………………………………………………………14

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….16

List of used literature……………………………………………………...18

Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………19

Introduction

Therefore the relevance Our stated topic is the increased need for a more in-depth study of such a phenomenon as the “false friends” of the translator,since the number of errors made by students when translating is extremely high.

Target research work: to study the phenomenon of “false friends of the translator”, to help avoid the pitfalls of false translation dictated by either similarity of form or content.

Tasks of this work are:

1. Study the theory on the research topic (history of education, their types);

2. Analyze the phenomenon of translator’s false friends in Russian and English;

3. Experimentally find out how relevant this problem is for students in our school

Research hypothesis- presumably, in the context most of the middle school students can guess the meaning of the "translator's false friends", while This is impossible without context.

The subject of this studyis the phenomenon of “false friends” of the translator.

As object of studylexical units of Russian and English, called “false friends” of the translator.

During my work I used the following methods:

1) theoretical (literature analysis, generalization, systematization);

2) practical (testing)

Chapter 1. Theoretical issues in the study of the phenomenon of “false friends of the translator”

1.1History and reasons for the phenomenon of “false friends of the translator”

The history of translation goes back to the deep past, to those distant times when the proto-language began to disintegrate into separate languages, and people who spoke several languages became in demand as intermediaries between representatives of different language communities. However, for a number of reasons, translation acquired the status of an independent science only at the beginning of the twentieth century. In recent years, researchers have become increasingly interested in a very special category of words called “false friends of the translator” in translation studies. And this interest is not accidental, since the number of errors made in this category of words is extremely high. A translator's false friends are a pair of words in two languages that are similar in spelling and/or pronunciation, often with a common origin, but different in meaning. The reasons for the emergence of “false friends of the translator” are due to the national uniqueness of the vocabulary of each language. Historically, “false friends of the translator” are the result of the influence of foreign languages on each other, in a limited number of cases they can arise as a result of random coincidences, and in related, especially closely related, languages they are based on related words that go back to common prototypes in the base language.

“False friends of the translator” attracted the attention of linguists at the end of the 19th century, but, unfortunately, at that time they did not become the subject of deeper study and did not receive any terminological designation. Only in 1928, the French lexicographers M. Kessler and J. Déroquigny for the first time conducted a systematic and extensive study of such interlingual correspondences based on the material of French-English and English-French parallels. They also introduced the now commonly used term “faux amis du traducteur” (“false friends of the translator”), consisting of two types: 1) “completely false” with similar spelling and divergent semantics and 2) “partially false” with similar spelling and mostly with general semantics. At the same time, it is interesting to note that in their work “Les faux amis ou les trahisons du vocabulaire anglais” M. Kessler and J. Déroquigny by the literal translation of “false friends of the translator” meant a translation only based on the sound similarity of words in two languages.

Similar domestic dictionaries of “false friends of the translator” appeared only in the late 60s and early 70s. twentieth century (Akulenko 1969; Gottlieb 1972; Muravyov 1969).

Since that time, many other names have arisen in different languages to denote this category of words: in Russian - false analogues (A.D. Schweitzer), false analogues (L.K. Latyshev), interlingual homonyms (A.A. Reformatsky), imaginary friends translator (A.I. Pakhotin), etc.; in English - deceptive cognates, misleading words (of foreign origin), in German - irremhrende Fremdworter / falsche Freimde des Ubersetzers / false friends.

In Russian translation studies, the name “false friends of the translator” has become firmly established, which, according to the absolutely accurate definition of R.A. Budagov, “although it is long and too open to become a term, it has nevertheless been termed in recent years. First, this phrase does not seem to have an equal or shorter equivalent; secondly, its very “openness” is attractive: it seems to remind us what pitfalls await everyone who deals with different languages.”

In the first part of our work, a definition was given to the interlingual phenomenon “false friends of the translator” and an excursion into the history of this problem was made.

Varieties of “false friends of the translator” in Russian and English languages

When translating foreign texts, ignorance of the “false friends of the translator” can lead to misunderstandings and grossly distort the meaning of the sentence. Let's look at some examples of the “false friends of the translator” encountered. Mother asked her daughter to buy 3 meters of yellow fabric Each month I buy new release of magazine “Hello Kitty” - Every month I buy a new issue of Hello Kitty magazine (“magazine” is a magazine, not a store); This pot is made of clay - This pot is made of clay (“clay” - clay, not glue); At school he was very intelligent student - At school he was a very smart student (“intelligent” - smart, reasonable, not intelligent)

The situation is much more complicated with stable phrases, which, although identical or very similar in lexical composition and figurative component, nevertheless differ significantly in meaning. So, for example, when comparing the Russian idiom to throw dust in the eyes with the English throw dust in/into eyes, it is easy to notice that these idiomatic expressions, almost identical in their figurative component, nevertheless reveal significant differences in meaning. If the Russian idiom means an attempt, with the help of spectacular actions or speeches, to present to someone oneself or one’s position as better than they really are, then the English idiom is interpreted in the Dictionary English idioms publishing house Longman as “to confuse (someone) or take his attention away from something that one does not wish him to see or know about” (i.e. “to confuse with of no use to anyone., to distract someone's attention. from something that he, in the opinion of the subject, should not see or know").

There are four main types of false friends of a translator.

1. The first type includes words of the source language that are similar in sound and spelling to the words of the target language, but have completely different meanings.

For example, the English word genial is not brilliant, but kind; magazine – not a store, but a magazine; intelligent - not intelligent, but smart, intelligent.

2. The second type includes polysemantic words of the source language, some of the meanings of which coincide with the meaning of their sound-letter counterparts in the target language, and some of the meanings differ. That is, one word in the source language corresponds to several words in the target language.

For example, the English word aggressive is energetic; initiative; aggressive; fruit – fruit (in the broad sense), fruit.

3. The third type includes words in the source language that coincide with one of the meanings, while the remaining meanings have nothing in common with the word in the source language. That is, several words in the source language correspond to one word in the target language.

For example, the English word football is football (European), and American football is soccer; rock - rock (music), and rock (fate) - fate.

4. The fourth type includes names of measurement quantities that are similar in sound and spelling in several languages, but do not match in quantity.

For example, the English word decade is 10 years, and a decade in Russian is equal to 10 days.

5. The fifth type includes words with different emotional connotations. A striking example The English word routine can serve as this type. For the English, this word means “daily routine,” while in Russian this word has a strong negative emotional connotation.

6. The sixth type includes words that have the same spelling and sound, but differ in grammatical form.

For example, “photograph” is a photograph, not a photographer, and “massive” is massive, not an array. At first glance, the difference is not significant, however, it is in this group that students can make the largest number of mistakes.

If we take into account that each of the listed types can have its own varieties and variants, then the total number of types is much higher. Each case of “false translator friends” is unique and should be considered separately in order to avoid mistakes.

The mutual influence of languages in the field of vocabulary is a well-known fact. To what extent, however, is such an influence felt in the sphere of the “false friends of the translator”? If the influence here did not collide with the independence of each language, then, in particular, the very problem of “false friends of the translator” would cease to exist. But it exists. And it is due to the very independence and certain uniqueness of each developed language, which has its own written language and its own traditions. That is why similar words are usually used in different languages in different or not quite similar ways (such “not quite” is especially important and especially dangerous for the translator). Mutual influences and influences of languages on each other are, of course, observed here too, but contacts have their limits. This outlines the range of questions about the “false friends of the translator.”

Chapter 2. Practical issues in the study of the phenomenon of interlingual homonyms.

2.1 Practical experimental research on the research topic

In addition to the theoretical side of the phenomenon of “false friends of the translator,” it is also necessary to study the practical component of this issue. Having put forward the hypothesis that a secondary school student will more easily recognize an interlingual homonym and translate it into Russian correctly only in context, we decided to conduct an experiment. We created an experimental group consisting of 12 students from the 7th grade of Gymnasium No. 7 in Bryansk. Students in this group study English from first grade for 7 years and have positive grades in the subject.

The subjects were given two tasks to translate English words. The first task is a list of words, “false friends of the translator,” which are not given in context. (Appendix 1) Students had to translate these words into Russian.

The difficulty of this test is that out of context these lexical units seem international, i.e. words used in a number of languages with similar sounds and lexical meanings. But after processing the results, we found out that only 3 students managed 50% or more. While the majority, 9 people, completed the task only 10%. We can trace this relationship in graph 1, where 75% of students completed only 10% of the task, and the remaining 25% of subjects managed to complete 50% of the test.

Schedule 1

This test showed that only ¼ of the subjects could translate interlingual homonyms out of context. We can see this relationship in Diagram 1.

Diagram 1

The average score for completing the first task, translating “the translator’s false friends” out of context, was 30%.

The second task was to translate the “false friends of the translator” in context, i.e. in sentences where one could guess the meaning of the word based on its meaning. The subjects were offered 10 sentences, where they had to translate the highlighted word by choosing one option from three proposed. The test nature of this task made it much easier to complete.

Thus, this test has already been successfully completed by 6 people, which is half of the subjects. They completed the task with an average of 70%, while the other half of the students completed the task with 25%. On average, the group of students completed the second task by 48%.

Having analyzed the results, we can conclude that a high school student, completing a task to translate words in the context , experiences much less difficulty and copes with the task more effectively than performing the same tasks out of context . Our research has shown in practice that the group completed the first task only 1/3, while the second test was completed 1/2, which can be seen in diagram 2.3.

Diagram 2

Diagram 3

Thus, the hypothesis of our study was confirmed: in context, students perform the task of translating “false friends translator” more successfully than out of context.

2.2 Development of a glossary of commonly used words – interlingual homonyms

At first glance, it seems that words like “false friends of the translator” are difficult to come across in everyday English lessons. But this opinion is erroneous, since interlingual homonyms do not refer to a specific group of words with one or another direction of meaning, but include commonly used vocabulary such as appearance, sports, hobbies, environment, etc.

Having worked through the English language textbook “Enjoy English” by M.Z. Biboletova, we have developed a dictionary of the most frequently used words - “false friends of the translator” found in this textbook.

academic - academic

accurate – precise, not neat in the meaning of “neat” (tidy)

aggressive – energetic, proactive, and not just aggressive

argument – also a dispute, not just an argument

artist – artist, painter

brilliant – brilliant, magnificent, not brilliant

cabinet – closet (as well as the Cabinet of Ministers), but not an office (room)

clay – clay, not glue

compositor - compositor, not composer

conductor - a conductor, not just a conductor

director - head, director, spiritual father (not only director, head of the company)

Dutchman - Dutchman, not Dane - Dane; also Dutch – Dutch, not Danish - Danish

fabric - fabric, not factory

gallant – brave (not only gallant)

magazine – a magazine, not a store

novel - a novel, not a short story

paragraph - paragraph (not just a paragraph)

speaker - not only a speaker, but also a speaker, column

sympathetic - sympathetic, sympathetic, not only sympathetic

velvet – velvet

Conclusion

Translation is undoubtedly one of the important components of successful learning of English at school. We cannot imagine English lessons without bilingual translation of words and expressions. In this regard, there is a need to navigate well in the world of interlingual homonyms, “the translator’s false friends,” in order to avoid lexical and factual errors during translation.

Having studied the theoretical component of the issue, we can talk about the history and reasons for the emergence of the term “false friends of the translator”, the typology of this phenomenon. We must also say that each case of “false translator friends” is unique and should be considered individually in order to avoid mistakes.

Having considered theoretical issues, we were able to conduct our own practical research. This experiment confirmed our hypothesis put forward in the introduction. As it turned out, in the context, students complete the task of translating the “false friends of the translator” more successfully than without the context. We also managed to review a high school English textbook and develop a list of words that are “false friends of the translator.” This glossary can serve as an aid to the student in translating such lexical units.

Thus, the topic of the research is fully disclosed; we conducted a study in the field of the lexical phenomenon “false friends of the translator”. We tried to fulfill the assigned tasks, i.e. understand not only the theoretical aspects of this problem, but also conduct our own research, the results of which confirmed our hypothesis. And as a result, the goal of our research was achieved; we not only gained an understanding of such a complex phenomenon, but also, having tested our knowledge in practice, developed a list of the most frequently used words - interlingual homonyms.

However, scientific study of this problem is just beginning. This is, of course, not about “catching” certain students making individual mistakes and errors. We are talking about creating a series of new special dictionaries and manuals that will help students not get into trouble in English lessons.

List of used literature

Akulenko, V.V. About “The Translator’s False Friends.” [Electronic resource] -http://linguistic.ru/index.php?id=79&op=content
Borisova L.I. False friends of the translator. – M., 2005
Budagov R.A. Man and his language. – M., 2001
Koralova, A.L. Caution - phraseological unit. [Electronic resource] -http:// thinkaloud.ru
Samoilov, D.V. False friends of the translator. [Electronic resource] -http://www.lingvotech.com/lognie_dryzya1
"False friends of the translator." [Electronic resource] -http://www.norma-tm.ru/false_friends.html
"False friends of the translator." [Electronic resource] -http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Application

Translate the words

data – list – clay -

accurate – grim - fabric -

velvet – electric -

mayor – brilliant -

Choose the correct translation of the highlighted word

This pot is made of clay.

A) clay b) glue c) plastic

He is a very intelligent student.

Intelligent b) kind c) smart

My mother bought some pink fabric.

Factory b) fabric c) tape

Every month I buy a new release of this magazine.

Magazine b) shop c) newspaper

This work is done accurately.

A) excellent b) exactly c) neat

Well, he must be a lunatic.

Lunatic b) crazy c) stupid

He is a famous artist.

Artist b) painter c) sculptor

There is a bathrobe in the cabinet.

Wardrobe b) closet c) office

He is a gallant soldier.

Gallant b) valiant c) strong

He was an old conductor.

Conductor b) conductor c) conductor

It's no secret that in the English language, as, strictly speaking, in any other language, there are ( information, period, secret, text). Thanks to them, we understand a lot even in the most complex English text. They often help us and just help us out, like real friends.

False friends are worse than open enemies

False friends are worse than visible enemies

~a Scottish proverb

However, you need to be prepared for the fact that in English there are words with a completely different meaning than similar words in your native language. They are called "false friends of the translator" .

In this article we will talk about their origin, varieties and tell you how to identify them in time and thus avoid mistakes and embarrassment.

Where do the translator's false friends words come from?

There are not so many false friends of a translator, but any student should be aware of their existence, because even one such word can become a fly in the ointment..

Any language is in constant development, absorbs something new, reflecting the changing reality, and also borrows words from other languages.

Wherein the fate of a borrowed word can be different. It can come into another language with exactly the same meaning (as happened with the words marketing, fitness, hot dog, which came to the Russian language from English). It can take on a different shade, additional meaning, or completely change its original meaning. This creates many problems during translation.

It is precisely because such words can be misleading that the French linguists M. Kössler and J. Derocquiny in 1928 gave them the name "false friends of the translator" .

Important!

Translator's false friends- these are words in a foreign language, most often having a common origin, which in their sound or spelling are similar to words in their native language, but have a different meaning.

It also happens that such consonance occurred absolutely by accident, and two different languages have similar words (for example, the Ukrainian word whale translated as cat, but not at all whale, Finnish word beer Means palm, but not beer).

I wonder what false friends are found in both closely related and distant languages. Often in similar languages they have not so much a different, but an opposite meaning. For example, the Polish word zapomnieć means forget.

To the great surprise of tourists, Czech words dear potraviny translated as fresh food, voňavka - perfume, ovocy - fruit, pozor - attention.

Translator's false friends in English with examples

Translated from English, aggressive salesman is an energetic sales agent, but not aggressive at all!

Exists several groups of false friends of the translator, depending on how much their meaning differs from consonant words in their native language.

Absolutely false or 100% enemies

The first type includes words that have a completely different meaning. We are sure that every student of English once set himself the task not to be provoked and not to confuse magazine with ours store, A family with last name.

The most common examples of false friends of a translator from this series we present in the table:

English word	Correct translation	Wrong translation	Its English equivalent
Accurate	Accurate	Careful	Tidy, smart
Balloon	Balloon	Balloon	Cylinder, container
Brilliant	Excellent, brilliant	Diamond	Diamond
Cabinet	Locker	Cabinet	Study, office
Camera	Camera	Camera	Cell, chamber
Cartoon	Caricature, cartoon	Cardboard	Cardboard
Cater	Organize a feast or meal	Boat	Motorboat
Chef	Chef	Chief	Boss, manager
Clay	Clay	Glue	Glue
Concourse	Common room, gathering	Contest	Competition
Decoration	Order, award, insignia; decoration	theater. Decoration	Scenery, decor
Fabric	Textile	Factory	Factory, plant
Herb	Medicinal plant, healing herb	Coat of arms	Coat of arms
Liquidize	Turn into liquid	Eliminate	Eliminate
List	List	Sheet	Leaf (of tree), sheet (of paper)
Lunatic	Crazy, crazy	Lunatic	Sleepwalker
Multiplication	Reproduction, multiplication	Animation	Aniationm
Paragraph	Paragraph	Paragraph	Article, section
Prospect	Perspective	Avenue	Avenue
Pretend	Pretend, pretend	Claim	To try to get
Repetition	Repetition	Rehearsal	Rehearsal
Replica	Exact copy	Replica	(theatre. Cue; legal. Reply; remark)
Resin	Resin	Rubber	Rubber
Servant	Servant; employee	Sideboard	Sideboard
Sympathy	Sympathy, compassion	Sympathy	a liking for
Trap	Use, apply (especially: find use for something unused)	Recycle	Recycle

Be vigilant here: just one extra letter will turn the case into a scam, and silicon into silicone.

English word	Correct translation	Wrong translation	Its English equivalent
Affair	Affair, romance (love)	Scam	Affaire
Beacon	Lighthouse	Bacon	Bacon
Beckon	Nod	Bacon	Bacon
Bucket	Bucket	Bouquet	Bouquet
Council	Meeting, council	Consul	Consul
Data	Data	date	Date
Desert	Desert	Dessert	Dessert
Doze	Drowsiness, flabbiness; nap	Dose	Dose
Intelligence	Mind, intelligence	Intelligentsia	Intelligentsia
Heroine	Heroine	Heroin	Heroin
Lack	Lack, need; absence of something	Varnish	Lacquer
Liquor	Strong alcoholic drinks	Liquor	Liqueur
Pasta	Pasta	Paste	Paste
Photograph	Photo	Photographer	Photographer
Racket	Racket	Rocket	Rocket
Silicon	Silicon	Silicone	Silicone
Stationery	Stationery	Stationary, motionless	Stationary

Ah, those ambiguous English words!

The third type includes words that coincide in only one meaning :

English word	Matching value	Additional meaning
Abstract	Abstract	Abstract, brief overview
Accent	Accent	Accent
Accessory	Accessory	Partner in crime
Activity	Activity	Class; activity
Aggressive	Aggressive	Persistent, energetic
Angina	Angina	Angina pectoris
Argument	Argument	Dispute, quarrel
Article	Article	Article; thing, product
Artist	Artist	Artist, sculptor
Authority	Authority	Power
Bachelor	Bachelor	Bachelor
Bass	Bass	Perch
Compass	Compass	Compass
Deputy	MP	Deputy
Discriminate	Discriminate	Distinguish
Gallant	Gallant	Brave, valiant
Insult	Stroke	Insult
Master	Master	Master, winner, master; overcome, master
Match	Match	Match; pair; suitable for a couple; match
Occupation	An occupation	Class; occupation, profession
Original	Original	Real, genuine, original; original (original)
Patient	Patient	Patient
Record	Record	recording, registration, accounting, record
Stress	Stress	Pressure, pressure; voltage; gram. emphasis

The most insidious friends have several faces (=meanings)

The fourth type includes words that belong to the same thematic group, so it is difficult to establish their inconsistency based on the context .

Here the biggest risk is that you will make a mistake in translation and mistake them for real friends. It is better to remember these words.

English word	Correct translation	Wrong translation	Its English equivalent
Academic	University teacher or researcher	Academician	Academician
Ammonia	Ammonia	Ammonium	Ammonium
Anecdote	Case from life (especially: from the life of celebrities); interesting incident	Joke	Joke; funny incident
Antarctica	Antarctica	Antarctic	the Antarctic (regions)
Benzene	Benzene	Petrol	(British Petrol, American gasoline)
Biscuit	Cracker	Biscuit	Sponge cake
Brunette/ brunet	Brown-haired/brown-haired	Brunette/brunet	Black-haired
Decade	Decade	Decade	10 days
Marmalade	Orange jam	Marmalade	Fruit jellies
Stool	Stool	Chair	Chair
Velvet	Velvet	Velveteen	Corduroy

How to remember a translator's false friends and not be deceived

The best way not to make mistakes when translating is to learn words with context, that is, with other words.

So how can you avoid getting into trouble and being deceived? There are several simple ways to identify false friends in text.

If the word does not fit the meaning, does not correspond to the topic, or distorts the meaning

Consider the following sentence: Tom became an object of ridicule. Here, clearly, a person could not turn into a handbag. Therefore, it is worth looking into the dictionary and finding out what the word ridicule translated as ridicule, ridicule.

Or in a sentence To sew this dress you need 3 meters of fabric. What is this “three-meter factory”? In fact, fabric is translated as fabric.

If a word does not agree grammatically with the rest of the sentence

For example, in the sentence We need some concrete for building the wall everything indicates that concrete– a noun and as this part of speech is translated as concrete. From here concrete wall = reinforced concrete wall.

One more example: We prepared abstracts for the lesson. Knowing only the translation of the word abstract as in abstract, we come to the conclusion that here the word has another meaning, because adjectives do not have . And this is true, word abstract also translated as abstract, brief overview.

If the word doesn't fit the situation

For example, a person reports tragic event in life. In response they tell him Deepest sympathy, where it is obvious that there can be no talk of any sympathy. In fact, it is correctly translated as deep condolences.

Important!

Only context and dictionary can help determine the correct translation. If there is the slightest discrepancy, look up the word in the dictionary. This is the only way to dispel all doubts!

We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with the list of the most common false friends in the Translator's False Friends Appendix.

For people who are seriously involved in learning English, we have created special dictionaries of translator's false friends(edited by V.V. Akulenko (1969) and K.V. Krasnov (2004)).

And most importantly: try to remember the word not only in its first meaning, look through the entire dictionary entry, you will definitely learn a lot of new and useful things, so that it doesn’t turn out like in the classic example from translation studies: A naked conductor ran– it wasn’t the Naked conductor running at all, but the Bare wire hanging down!

Finally:

When translating foreign texts, ignorance of false friends can distort the meaning of the sentence, confuse you, and put you in an awkward situation. You shouldn't always rely on your initial idea of the meaning of a word. If a word has several translation options, it is not difficult to figure it out, because we, as a rule, encounter the word in coherent speech.

Remember the most common examples of false friends, follow our advice, look in the dictionary more often. Forewarned is forearmed! As in any business, you need to be careful and observant. We wish that the translator’s false friends do not become a stumbling block on the path to mastering the English language.

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Classification of “false friends of the translator”

The works of many linguists (Akulenko V.V., Borisova L.I., Gurevich T., Aguzarova K.K., etc.) are devoted to the study of interlingual correspondences in the Russian and English languages.

Having become acquainted with their works, I found out that the “false friends of the translator” include interlingual relative synonyms of a similar type, as well as interlingual homonyms and paronyms. What is it?

Interlingual synonyms - these are words of both languages that fully or partially coincide in meaning and use (Akulenko V.V., 1969, 371) - for example, the English word “artist” is a representative of art in the broad sense of the word, and the Russian “artist” conveys the concept primarily about a professional actor.

Interlingual homonyms - these are words of both languages, similar in sound (or graphic) form, but having different meanings (for example, English “mark” and Russian “mark”; English “family” and Russian “surname”) (ibid.).

Interlingual paronyms - these are words that are not completely similar in form, but can cause false associations and be identified with each other, despite the actual divergence of their meanings (for example, the English words specially - especially, concert - concerto cause difficulties for the English themselves, and, of course, for Russians, associated with the words “specially” and “concert”) (Akulenko V.V., 1969, 372).

All these cases are united by the fact that the words associated and identified in two languages, in terms of content or use, do not fully correspond or even completely do not correspond to each other. In addition to the listed groups, there are the so-called internationalisms - words that completely coincide in meaning.

We have already said that a truly systematic and widespread study of interlingual correspondences began in 1928, with the work of M. Kessler and J. Derkonyi, who identified two types of “false friends of the translator:

1. “completely false” with similar spelling and divergent semantics;
2. “partially false” with similar spelling and mostly common semantics.

An analysis of the literature on this issue allowed us to conclude that partially false The translator's friends are mainly synonyms, which in turn have two types of discrepancies in subject-logical content (4):

1) The Russian word coincides with the English one not in all meanings, but only in one of them. This usually happens when an English word was borrowed into the Russian language only in part of its meanings. This group covers a large number of words and presents significant difficulties in translation. For example, the word “meeting”, which passed into the Russian language from the English language, is used in only one meaning, and the corresponding English word meeting can also mean “meeting, meeting, encounter, duel, etc. The English word record, in addition to meaning “record,” can mean “chronicle, reputation, protocol, record, etc.” The word nation is widely used in English and, as a rule, does not mean “nation” (this word in Russian is used as a socio-economic term), but “people, country, state, etc.”
2) The Russian word has meanings that its English counterpart does not have. This usually happens when a word is borrowed in both languages from some third language. For example: auditorium - audience. In English, it is used only to denote a room, and not people listening to a speech, as in Russian.

TO completely false These include mainly interlingual homonyms. These are Russian and English words, similar in form, and having completely different meanings. For example: “actual” - a false analogue of “actual” - the correct translation is “valid”; “intelligence” is a false analogue of “intelligentsia” - the correct translation is “mind”.

Linguists also say that in comparable languages there are words that are not exactly similar in form, but can cause false associations in most people and be identified with each other, despite the actual divergence of their meanings. These are the so-called interlingual paronyms . For example, “curious”, “specifically” or an example typical only for our school: some students associate the English word “begin” with the surname of the labor education teacher “Bedin”.

As some researchers note, the “false friends of the translator can also include English and Russian international words. A striking example is the words “affair” and its Russian false analogue “scam”. In Russian, the word “scam” has a negative connotation, while the English word “affair” is stylistically neutral (4).

Also play a significant role customs of word usage , sometimes associated with divergent realities. For example, to correctly use the Russian word “rector,” an Englishman must know that in Russia this is the name for the head of any higher educational institution (cf. president, principal, vice-chancellor), while in English higher education the term “rector” only the heads of Scottish universities and the heads of two Oxford colleges (Exeter and Lincoln Colleges) are named.

Exactly the same in English. “Assistant professor” at a university is not an assistant, but an associate professor. The team of teachers in higher educational institutions of the USA and England is called “faculty”, which cannot be confused with our faculty, a department of the university; in English it is usually translated as department, less often - school. And only some of the oldest universities continue to call their faculties by the word faculty. English aspirant is generally a person who achieves something, strives for something (a meaning that goes back to the Latin aspirans (aspirantis), so it may well appear in a context that is incomprehensible to us: presidential aspirans 'candidate for the post of president', which , however, is perceived as a little archaic. In the English version, the Russian graduate student is postgraduate (student).

Speaking about interlingual correspondences, one cannot fail to mention that there are some common types of relationships within the “false friends of the translator”.

1. The first type of relationship: in one language a word has more general meaning than in another language. The word “idiom” in Russian is interpreted as a term meaning “indecomposable figure of speech.” In English, the word idiom can have both a general (“language”) and a special (“indecomposable figure of speech”) meaning.
2. The second type of relationship: unambiguity in one language, polysemy in another. The adjective “gallant” in Russian has one meaning - “exquisitely polite”, and in English “gallant” has multiple meanings, often meaning “brave, valiant”: “gallant soldier” - “valiant warrior”. Then - “beautiful, brilliant”, “gallant show” - “beautiful spectacle”.
3. The third type of relationship: a lexically free meaning in one language and a lexically non-free meaning in another language. Thus, the word “idea” does not “behave” the same way in different combinations of certain languages. In English, “idea” in certain phrases takes on the meaning of “idea”: “to give an idea of smth.” -- “to give an idea of something”, “to form an idea of smth.” -- “to form an idea about something.”

There are many more such types of relationships in the field of “false friends of the translator”, and a separate work can be devoted to this.

All linguists agree that although the issue of “false friends of the translator” attracts the attention of many specialists in translation and foreign language teaching, there is no detailed examination of this category of words for the vast majority of languages. If we do not touch upon short, more or less random lists in individual articles and educational publications, here we can name, in fact, only bilingual dictionaries based on French and English, Spanish and French, German and French, Spanish and Russian, English and Russian, Russian and Polish languages.

Having analyzed all the sources available to us, we come to conclusion that, since a word can have different meanings, when translating a sentence it is necessary to choose one from these many meanings of the word. When selecting this meaning, one must proceed from the general content of the thought contained in this sentence, as well as from the style, genre and general content of the text being translated.