CULTURE SPECIFIC WORDS IN THE SYSTEM OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY AND WAYS OF TRANSLATING THEM (BASED ON THE STORIES OF JACK LONDON)

Abstract

In the theory of translation the term “realia” is used in the meaning of a local word or phrase that cannot be translated because there is no obvious equivalent in the target language. This article deals with the classification and translation of realia. Various strategies are possible to translate such words and phrases. Our article studies the realia in Jack London’s short stories and suggests the ways realia words or word combinations be rendered into Ukrainian. The given research also studies the classification of realia. According to the semantic field realia in Jack London’s stories can be classed into: toponyms, or geographical terms, anthroponyms, or people’s names, zoonyms, or animal names, and social terms. Generally, it is a challenge for translators to find adequate variants of realia’s interpretation in the target language. Our scientific work proves that cultural, historic, ethnic, domestic values of a source language cannot sometimes find their true (authentic) variants in the target language because of the so-called national socio-cultural background which is of vital importance in any language. The vocabulary of a language forms a system of notions in which every word and correspondently every notion are interdependent and there are some specific ties with other words of a language. Our article introduces the term “lacuna”, which is a nationally specific element of a nation’s culture. Such words of a source language cannot sometimes find their correspondences in other cultures, i.e. in other languages due to the absence of the notion (object) in the sociocultural background of the target language. The conditions of socio-political, economic or cultural ways of life of the given nation and its people, their world outlook, customs and traditions always find reflection in a language and in the dictionaries of this particular language but may have no variant translations in the target languages, which explains the importance of translation strategies to express these realia in Ukrainian.