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Contents:

Introduction…………………………………………………………………….5

Chapter 1 The history and different types of abbreviations………………8

1.1 The origin of the English abbreviations and its


development….. ………………………………………10
1.2 The different types of abbreviations…………………..14
1.3 The study of the main methods of translation…………27

Conclusion …………………………………………………..............................45

Chapter 2 Peculiarities of abbreviations translation from


English into Russian…………………………………………...46

2.1 The translation peculiarities of abbreviations from


English into Russian……………………………........48
2.2 The most common English abbreviations…………...58
2.3 The problems of abbreviations translation from
English into Russian………………………………...73

Conclusion………………...................................................................................85

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..86

Bibliography………………………………………………….……………….88

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Introduction

The theme of my diploma work is “Peculiarities of Abbreviations


Translation from English into Russian”.
This work can be characterized by the following. The abbreviation is one of the
main trends in development of Modern English, especially in its colloquial
layer, which, in its turn at high degree is supported by development of modern
informational technologies and simplification of human speech.
Abbreviate in communication (especially written) the process or result of
representing a word or group of words by a shorter form of the word or phrase
The abbreviation is very wide theme to investigate; it has many types and
tendencies for today.
The novelty of the diploma paper result from the necessity of deep
investigation of abbreviation, which is explained by its vivid and great influence
on people, to achieve their aims by different techniques of abbreviation are
activated. It is topical for developing new and modern techniques in order to
impact on mass consciousness and deep study of abbreviation.
The topicality of our work is in the fact that abbreviation tendencies are
less researched modern style of communication (especially written).
The aim of the research work is to consider the peculiarities of
abbreviation translation from English into Russian.
Having based upon the actuality of the theme it is formulated the general
tasks of diploma.
-to study, analyze, and sum up the general notions of abbreviation in
English;
-to learn the history of abbreviations;
-the types of abbreviation
-the methods of translation
-the features of abbreviation
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-the common English and Russian abbreviations
-the translation problems of abbreviation from English into Russian
The objectives of this research are:
•to review historical development of abbreviations in order to retrace their
modification;
•to show how knowing English abbreviations help to solve the problems
of their translation;
•analyze the way English abbreviations are translated into Russian
Theoretical value of this work is that it contributes of abbreviations translation
process that is shows which peculiarities of abbreviation and regularities of the
language operation constitute the basis of the translating process, making this
process possible and determining its character and borders.They provide us with
great background information about abbreviation and help us create something
new out of what we have.
The practical significance of the work can be concluded in the following items:
a) The work could serve as a good source of learning English by young teachers
at schools and colleges.
b) The lexicologists could find a lot of interesting information for themselves.
c) Those who would like to communicate with the English-speaking people
through the Internet will find a shortened language of chats in my work.
If we say about the methods of scientific approaches used in our work we
can mention that the method of typological analysis was used.
The methods of investigation:
Method of comparison: This method is used in drawing similarities and
differences between the theories taken from various investigations.
Demonstration method: Some authentic materials are presented with the
help of this method.
The structure of the course work is: Introduction, Chapter1, Chapter 2,
Conclusion, and Bibliography. In introduction we have identified topicality,
main aim and tasks of the research. In the first chapter we have studied the
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theory of abbreviations, i.e. the notion types and the study of the main methods
of translation. In the second chapter we have applied theory on practice, the
peculiarities of abbreviations translation from English into Russian and
problems of translating abbreviations from English into Russian. In conclusion
we have provided results of the investigation. In bibliography we have used
sources for our course work.
The result of Diploma they may be used in seminar and lesson of
lexicology. With the result of lesson, the students will know terms of
abbreviation.

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Chapter 1 The history and different types of abbreviations

Abbreviation has been used as long as phonetic script existed, in some


senses actually being more common in early literacy, where spelling out a whole
word was often avoided, initial letters commonly being used to represent words
in specific application. By classical Greece and Rome, the reduction of words to
single letters was still normal, but can default. An increase in literacy has,
historically, sometimes spawned a trend toward abbreviation. The
standardization of English in the 15th through 17th centuries included such a
growth in the use of abbreviation. At first, abbreviations were sometimes
represented with various suspension signs, not only periods. For example,

sequences like ‹er› were replaced with ‹ɔ›, as in ‹mastɔ› for master and

‹exacɔbate› for exacerbate. While this may seem trivial, it was symptomatic of
an attempt by people manually reproducing academic texts to reduce their copy

time. An example from the Oxford University Register, 1503: Mastɔ

subwardenɔ y ɔmзde me to you. And wherɔ y wrot to you the last wyke that y

trouyde itt good to differrɔ thelectionɔ ovɔ to quоdenaɔ tinitatis y have be

thougħt me synɔ that itt woll be thenɔ a bowte mydsomɔ. In the 1830s in the
United States, starting with Boston, abbreviation became a fad. For example,
during the growth of philological linguistic theory in academic Britain,
abbreviating became very trendy. The use of abbreviation for the names of
"Father of modern etymology" J. R. R. Tolkien and his friend C. S. Lewis, and
other members of the Oxford literary group known as the Inklings, are
sometimes cited as symptomatic of this. Likewise, a century earlier in Boston, a
fad of abbreviation started that swept the United States, with the globally
popular term OK generally credited as a remnant of its influence. After World
War II, the British greatly reduced their use of the full stop and other
punctuation points after abbreviations in at least semi-formal writing, while the
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Americans more readily kept such use until more recently, and still maintain it
more than Britons. The classic example, considered by their American
counterparts quite curious, was the maintenance of the internal comma in a
British organization of secret agents called the "Special Operations, Executive"
— "S.O., E" — which is not found in histories written after about 1960. But
before that, many Britons were more scrupulous at maintaining the French form.
In French, the period only follows an abbreviation if the last letter in the
abbreviation is not the last letter of its antecedent: "M." is the abbreviation for
"monsieur" while "Mme" is that for "madame". Like many other cross-channel
linguistic acquisitions, many Britons readily took this up and followed this rule
themselves, while the Americans took a simpler rule and applied it rigorously.
Over the years, however, the lack of convention in some style guides has made it
difficult to determine which two-word abbreviations should be abbreviated with
periods and which should not. The U.S. media tend to use periods in two-word
abbreviations like United States (U.S.), but not personal computer (PC) or
television (TV). Many British publications have gradually done away with the
use of periods in abbreviations completely.Minimization of punctuation in
typewritten matter became economically desirable in the 1960s and 1970s for
the many users of carbon-film ribbons, since a period or comma consumed the
same length of non-reusable expensive ribbon as did a capital letter.Widespread
use of electronic communication through mobile phones and the Internet during
the 1990s allowed for a marked rise in colloquial abbreviation. This was due
largely to increasing popularity of textual communication services such as
instant- and text messaging. SMS for instance supports message lengths of 160
characters at most (using the GSM 03.38 character set). This brevity gave rise to
an informal abbreviation scheme sometimes called Textese, with which 10% or
more of the words in a typical SMS message are abbreviated.

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1.1 The origin of the English abbreviation and its development

An abbreviation (from Latin brevis, meaning short) is a shortened form of


a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of
letters taken from the word or phrase. For example, the word abbreviation can
itself be represented by the abbreviation abbr., abbrv. or abbrev. In strict
analysis, abbreviations should not be confused with contractions or acronyms
(including initialisms), with which they share some semantic and phonetic
functions, though all three are connoted by the term "abbreviation" in loose
parlance.An abbreviation is a shortening by any method; a contraction is a
reduction of size by the drawing together of the parts. A contraction of a word is
made by omitting certain letters or syllables and bringing together the first and
last letters or elements; an abbreviation may be made either by omitting certain
portions from the interior or by cutting off a part; a contraction is an
abbreviation, but an abbreviation is not necessarily a contraction. However,
normally acronyms are regarded as a subgroup of abbreviations (e.g. by the
Council of Science Editors). Abbreviations can also be used to give a different
context to the world itself.
Very interesting history of origin of certain abbreviations.Here are some
examples:
£ for lb(pound)
The abbreviation originates with the Latin phrase libra pondo, which
means "a unit of measurement by weight." The Romans shortened the phrase to
pondo, which ultimately became pound in English, but the abbreviation of the
first word – lb., for libra- endured. The symbol for British currency is a stylized
L, or £, which comes from the same source. The value of the British pound was
originally equal to one pound of silver.
Xmas
Many Christians believe that the abbreviation is intended to "take the
Christ out Christmas" or because of the letter's similarity to a cross. Be that as it
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may, the real origin of 'Xmas' lies within the Greek languageThe Greek word for
'Christ' begins with the Greek letter 'chi,' which is represented by a symbol
similar to the letter 'X' in the modern Roman alphabet. Therefore, 'Xmas' is a
completely allowable abbreviation that is almost as old as the Christian religion
itself! Similarly a Christian could be referred to as an "Xian".. [Clement Miles.,
1976, p.178].
V.I.P. (Very important person)
This frequently used contraction was created during World War II by a
British officer in charge of organizing flights for important military leaders. In
order to conceal the names from enemy spies, each of these were referred to as a
"V.I.P." in the flight plan.
Mrs (A married woman)
Originally, Mrs. was a shortened version of mistress, a word that used to
mean "wife" but has since acquired a very different meaning. Strictly speaking,
because the word it once abbreviated has changed its meaning, Mrs. is no longer
an abbreviation – unlike Mr., its male counterpart, which can be spelled out as
Mister.
K (A strike out in baseball)
In the 1860s when a batter struck out, it was proper to say that he "struck."
It was during this era that a newspaperman named Henry Chadwick created
symbols for use with his new invention – the box score. He gave each play a
letter: S for sacrifice, E for error, and so on. Since S was already taken, he used
to last letter of "struck" instead of the first to abbreviate it: K.
Rx (A drug prescription)
Actually, there is no x in Rx. In Medieval Latin, the first word in
medicinal prescription directing one to take a specific quantity of a concoction
was recipe, meaning "take" or "receive." This was later symbolized as an R with
a slash across its leg. The spelling Rx is an attempt to represent this symbol in
English letters.
P. D. Q. (Pretty damn quick.)
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This abbreviation for 'pretty damn quick' or 'pretty damned quick' is now
so commonplace that it is often written without the full stops, i.e. 'PDQ'. Many
abbreviations have origins that are difficult to trace. With PDQ life is a little
easier. The term was first used in The Mighty Dollar, a play by Benjamin E.
Woolf, first performed in 1875 at New York's Park Theatre.The play's money-
hungry character Judge Bardwell Stote habitually used abbreviations like
T.T.T - a 'tip-top time' and G.I.C. - 'goose is cooked'.
"That's right, you'd better step P.D.Q., pretty damn quick." 'Pretty
damned quick' was already in use by 1875,
for example, this piece from the Memoirs of Charles Mathews,
Comedian, 1839: "If he showed me any of it, I'd make him clear out pretty
damned quick."
Why P.D.Q. lasted and the numerous other abbreviations from Woolf's
work didn't is open to debate. .[ Charles Mathews., 1875].
B.O. (Body odor)
In 1933 the Lifebuoy Health Soap Company ran a series of radio
advertisements containing their new slogan: "Lifebuoy stops B— O—." A
heavy two-note foghorn warning was synchronized with the "B.O.," giving the
phrase a negative spin it has retained ever since.
D-Day (June 6, 1944, the day Allied forces invaded France during WWII)
The D in D-Day does not stand for "designated" or "defeat," as many
believe, but simply for "day." D-day actually means "day day." The redundancy
comes from the common practice in army correspondence of referring to a top
secret time as H-hour or D-day.
XXX
(Marking on bottles in cartoons to indicate that they contain alcohol)
During the 19th century, breweries in Britain marked their bottles X, XX, or
XXX as a sign of alcohol content. The number of Xs corresponded to the
potency of the drink.

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OK
"OK" is an English expression, pronounced identically, and it appears in
almost all the areas and in all the languages of the world, although it is difficult
to say that it is actually a word or how it is originated. Whether you are in
China, India, Great Britain or Italy, it is enough to say "OK" and the meaning of
affirmative expressions will be clear to everyone.Until recently, both in English-
speaking countries and the rest of the world, the famous acronym today can hear
from the mouth of the Heads of State and Government, and also in the pages of
literary history, awarded with the Nobel Prize. Incredible destiny for the word
that has emerged from the wrong "spelling". In fact, the acronym first appeared
in an article published back in 1839. in the list of the Boston Morning Post in
which he referred to the person who says "OK", short for "all correct". Mistake
was not at all unusual for that time when there were few people that knew how
to read and write. However, there are other theories about the origin of the
acronym "OK" and they do not all come from America. Specifically, the
language of Aristotle, "Ola Kala" means "all is well", and even the Greeks had
used to shorten the term of "OK". In Germany, "Ohne Korrektur", translated
"without corrections", also shortened the same way. Swedes, however, use the
term "Oc aye" (oh yes), which is pronounced just like "okay", and is not
necessary to abbreviate it. The British public broadcaster BBC has recently
devoted an entire appendix famous acronym. "This is a very unusual word that
sounds like an abbreviation, an acronym. But it would make its strange
appearance could be the reason for her huge popularity.
However, the expression "OK" can now be heard and read almost
anywhere. For U.S. President Barack Obama, he has become almost a byword,
and British purists began to use it, like David Cameron. Those who have read
"The Road" Cormac McCarthy could notice a series of dialogues between father
and son who are completing with "OK". [ www.wikipedia.com]

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1.2 The different types of abbreviations

Abbreviations are commonly formed by omission of letters from one or more


parts of the whole: doz, dz (dozen). Sometimes abbreviations are created by
substitution or other alteration in the part or parts retained: oz (ounce), Xmas
(Christmas). A plural abbreviation may be formed by doubling initial letters:
mss (manuscripts), pp (pages). An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the
initial letters of the various word elements and read as a single word: AIDS,
NATO.

It has some variants too:

a). by first letters of the word

b). by combining syllables of each word.

c). combine form, i.e. the first letter of the first word and the full meaning of the
second one.

Economic section connected with money, stock exchange. There are such
abbreviations which depend to economy and may be read only by financiers.

All of them are orthographical shortenings.

You can abbreviate more than one word into an acronym using the first letter of
each word and pronouncing the letters as a word. AIDS and NATO demonstrate
this type of abbreviation, although you do not have to write not all acronyms in
capital letters. Laser and scuba both stand for terms that people rarely use in
their full forms, nor are they generally capitalized.

Acronyms by I.V.Arnold

Because of the ever closer connection between the oral and the written forms of
the language it is sometimes difficult to differentiate clippings formed in oral
speech from graphical abbreviations. The latter often pass into oral speech and
become widely used in conversation .During World War I and after it the
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custom became very popular not only in English-speaking countries, but in other
parts of the world as well, to call countries, governmental, social, military,
industrial and trade organisations and officials not only by their full titles but by
initial abbreviations derived from writing. Later the trend became even more
pronounced, e. g. the U.N., the U.N.O., MP. The tendency today is to omit full
stops between the letters: GPO (General Post Office). Some abbreviations
nevertheless appear in both forms: EPA and E.P.A. (Environment Protection
Agency). Such words formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the
successive parts of a phrasal term have two possible types of orthoepic
correlation between written and spoken forms.

If the abbreviated written form lends itself to be read as though it were an


ordinary English word and sounds like an English word, it will be read like one.
The words thus formed are called acronym. (from Gr acros- ‘end'+onym
‘name’). This way of forming new words is becoming more and more popular in
almost all fields of human activity, and especially in political and technical
vocabulary:

e.g. U.N.O., also UNO ['ju:nou] — United Nations Organisation;

NATO — the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation;

SALT—Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.

The last example shows that acronyms are often homonymous to ordinary
words; sometimes intentionally chosen so as to create certain associations. Thus,
for example, the National Organisation for Women is called NOW. Typical of
acronymic coinages in technical terminology are:

e.g. JATO or jato means jet-assisted take-off;

Laser -stands for light amplification by stimulated emission radiation;

Maser — for micro-wave amplification and stimulated emission radiation;

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Radar — for radio detection and ranging.

A specific type of abbreviations having no parallel in Russian is represented by


Latin abbreviations which sometimes are not read as Latin words but substituted
by their English equivalents. A few of the most important cases are:

A.D. (Lat Anno Domini) – in the year of our Lord;

a.m. (Lat ante meridiem) — in the morning’;

If the resulting acronym either sounds like another word or is unpronounceable,


you can simply say the letters. Governments and military people tend toward
these, such as USA, the UN, the EU, and the KGB.

Acronyms became so popular that their number justified the publication of


special dictionaries, such as, “Computer Acronym Handbook”.

The other subgroup consists of initial abbreviation with the alphabetical reading
retained, i.e. pronounced as a series of letters. They also retain correlation with
prototypes. The examples are well-known:

B.B.C. ['bi:'bi:’si:] — the British Broadcasting Corporation;

CBI – Confederation of Britis ERM

Exchange Rate Mechanismh Industry

PCW – personal computer word processor

G.I. ['dзi: ‘ai] — for Government Issue,

P.M. stands for Prime Minister.

S.O.S. ['es'ou'es]—Save Our Souls;

T.V. or TV I'ti:'vi:] — television;

Y.C.L. ['wai’si:'el] — the Young Communist League.

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OTT – over the top

UK – United Kingdom

Sometimes the letters represent syllables of a word

ID – identity or identification card

TB – tuberculosis [Arnold I.V., 1986. p.275].

Initialism by Sylvia Chalker

The use of the initial letters of a name or expression as an abbreviation for it,
each letter being pronounced separately, as in BBC, RSVP, RSPCA, etc.

Initializes are the bordering case between graphical and lexical abbreviations.
When they appear in the language, as a rule, to denote some new offices they are
closer to graphical abbreviations because orally full forms are used.

e.g. J.V. - Joint venture.

When they are used for some duration of time they acquire the shortened form
of pronouncing and become closer to lexical abbreviations, e.g. BBC is as a rule
pronounced in the shortened form.

In some cases the translation of initializes is next to impossible without using


special dictionaries. Initializes are denoted in different ways. Very often they are
expressed in the way they are pronounced in the language of their origin,

e.g. ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, United States) is given in Russian as


AH3YC, SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) was for a long time used in
Russian as COJIT, now a translation variant is used. This type of initializes
borrowed into other languages is preferable, e.g. UFO - HJIO, CLI - JV etc.

There are three types of initializes in English:

a) Initialisms with alphabetical reading, such as UK, BUP, CND etc

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b) initialisms which are read as if they are words, e.g. UNESCO, UNO, NATO
etc.

c) Initialisms which coincide with English words in their sound form, such
initialisms are called acronyms, e.g. CLASS (Computer-based Laboratory for
Automated School System).

Some initializes can form new words in which they act as root morphemes by
different ways of word building:

a) Affixation, e.g. AWA Lism, ex-rafer, ex- POW, to warfare, AID So phobia etc.
-J

b) Conversion, e.g. to raff, to fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), I cj composition,


e.g. STOL port, USAF man etc.

There are also compound-shortened words where the first component is an


initial abbreviation with the alphabetical reading and the second one is a
complete word.

e.g. A-bomb. U -pronunciation, V -day some cases the first component is a


complete word and the second T-component is an initial abbreviation with the
alphabetical pronunciation, e.g. Three -Ds (Three dimensions) - Abbreviations
of words.

An interesting feature of present-day English is the use of initial abbreviations


for famous persons’ names and surnames. Thus, George Bernard Shaw is often
alluded to as G.B.S. ['dзi:'bi:'es], Herbert George Wells as H.G. The usage is
clear from the following example: “Oh, yes... where was I?” “With H.G.’s
Martians,” I told him (Wyndham).

It must be emphasised that initial abbreviation, no less than other types of


shortening, retains the valency, i.e. the combining possibilities of the prototypes.
The difference in distribution is conditioned only by a change of meaning
(lexical or more rarely lexico-grammatical). Abbreviations receive the plural and
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possessive case inflections: G.I.’s, M.P.’s, and P.O.W.’s (from prisoner of war),
also the verb paradigm: Okays, okayed, okaying.

e. g. A hotel’s no life for you...

Why don’t you come and P.G. with me? (A. Wilson) Here P.G. is an
abbreviation for paying guest. Like all nouns they can be used attributively:
BBC television, TV program, UN vote. [Sylvia Chalker .,Edmund Weiner., 1994,
p.75].

Aphaeresis by Sylvia Chalker and Edmund Weiner

1. The omission of sound at the beginning of a word, regarded as a


morphological development.The now pronounced sounds at the beginning of
gnat, knight, and psyche are examples.

2. The omission of a syllable at the beginning of a word, as routinely occurs in

a) contractions or b) clippings. E.g. a) I’ll = I will, you’ve = you have.

b) (omni)bus, (tele)phone

At times, the word you use is an abbreviation of a longer word. When you’ve
dropped the first portion of a word, e.g. bus or phone, you’ve used an apheresis.
People use the shortened form of these so often that people don’t realize that
there is more to the word, like omnibus. . [Sylvia Chalker and Edmund
Weiner.,1994,p.23]

Clipped by Russian scientist I.V.Arnold

Russian scientist I.V.Arnold in his books classified clipped in such way. The
generally accepted one is that based on the position of the clipped part.
According to whether it is the final, initial or middle part of the word that is cut
off we distinguish final clipping (or apocope (from Greek apokopto ‘cut off’)),
initial clipping (or aphesis, i.e. apheresis(from Greek aphaeresis ‘a taking
away’)) and medial clipping (or syncope (from Greek syncope ‘a cutting up’)).
19
1. Final clipping in which the beginning of the prototype is retained, is
practically the rule, and forms the bulk of the class: e.g. ad, advert:
advertisement, coke: coca-cola, ed: editor, fab: fabulous, gym: gymnastics or
gymnasium, lab: laboratory, mac: mackintosh, ref: referee, veg: vegetables, and
many others.

2. Initial-clipped words retaining the final part of the prototype are less
numerous but much more firmly established as separate lexical units with s
meaning very different from that of the prototype and stylistically neutral
doublets,

e.g. cute adj, n (Am): acute, fend v: defend, mend v: amend, story n: history,
sport n: disport, tend v: attend. Cases like cello: violoncello and phone:
Telephone where the curtailed words are stylistically synonyms or even variants
of their respective prototypes are very rare.

Neologisms are few: e.g. chute: parachute. It is in this group that the process of
assimilation of loan words takes place.

3. Final and initial clipping may be combined and result in curtailed words with
the middle part of the prototype retained. These are few and definitely
colloquial:

e.g. flu: influenza, frig or fridge: refrigerator, tec: detective.

It is worthy of note that what is retained is the stressed syllable of the prototype.
Curtailed words with the middle part of the word left out are equally few. They
may be further subdivided into two groups:

(a) Words with a final-clipped stem retaining the functional morpheme: maths:
mathematics specs: spectacles;

(b) Contractions due to a gradual process of elision under the influence of


rhythm and context. Thus fancy: fantasy, ma’am: madam may be regarded as
accelerated forms [I.V.Arnold., 1986,p.287].
20
Aphesis.Also Sylvia Chalker and Edmund Weiner have such term as Aphesis in
their Dictionary of Grammar which isn’t at the research work of Russian
scientist I.V.Arnold. The gradual loss of an unstressed vowel at the beginning of
a word

(e.g. of e- from esquire, giving squire).

It is a special form of the phonetic process called aphaeresis, for which, from its
frequency in the history of the English language, a distinctive name is useful.
[Sylvia Chalker and Edmund Weiner., 1994, p.79]

This term, which was introduced by J.A.H.Murray, editor of the New English
Dictionary, (the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary) in 1880 was used
in the diachronic study of English; in phonetics the phenomenon it covers would
be treated as an aspect of elision.This term could be a source of confusion, as the
only difference between this and apheresis lies in the syllable being dropped.
When you say, “I danced with Mike ‘cause he’s nicer than Ted,” that first
apostrophe indicates that you’ve used an aphesis. You have dropped the
unstressed vowel at the beginning of the word “because”. Most of these occur in
casual speech and not intentionally in a written piece, outside of
dialogue.Aphesis is the dropping of an unstressed vowel from the beginning of a
word: 'cause (because), 'cept (except). [ J.A.H.Murray., 1880,p.45]

Syllabic abbreviation.A syllabic abbreviation is an abbreviation formed from


(usually) initial syllables of several words, such as Interpol = International +
police.

Syllabic abbreviations are usually written using lower case, sometimes starting
with a capital letter, and are always pronounced as words rather than letter by
letter.Syllabic abbreviations should be distinguished from portmanteaus.

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Blending.By I.V.Arnold there is a specific group that has attracted special
attention of several authors and was even given several different names: blends,
blending, fusions or portmanteau words.The last term is due to Lewis Carroll,
the author of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass”. One of
the most linguistically conscious writers, he made a special technique of using
blends coined by himself, such as chortle v = chuckle + short, mimsy adj =
miserable + flimsy, galumph v = gallop + triumph, slithy a< slimy+lithe.1
Humpty Dumpty explaining these words to Alice says “You see it’s like a
portmanteau — there are two meanings packed up into one word.” Blends may
be defined as formations that combine two words and include the letters or
sounds they have in common as a connecting element. Blends, although not very
numerous altogether, seem to be on the rise, especially in terminology and also
in trade advertisements.Comparing with this we can write the definition which is
shown in the Oxford Dictionary of Grammar. Blending - a word, phrase or
construction formed by the merging of parts of two other linguistic elements.a)
morphology. Examples of lexical blends (also called blend words, word blends)
are:

bit = binary + digit

brunch = breakfast + lunch

Syntactic blends include such structures as I would have liked to have done it. =
I would have liked to do it + I would like to have done it.

e.g. Neither claim impressed us, nor seemed genuine. = Neither claim
impressed us or seemed genuine + The claims neither impressed us nor seemed
genuine.

I do not dare, refuse = (modal) I dare not refuse + (ordiary verb) I do not dare to
refuse. .[ Arnold I.V.,1986. p.293 ].

22
Contract.Shorten (a word, syllable, etc) by omitting or combining some
elements.

E.g. ain’t. A contracted form of are not, used also for am not, in the popular
dialect of London and elsewhere.A contraction refers to a type of abbreviation
that includes the first and last letters of a full word: amt., Mr.

1. The action of shortening a word, a syllable, etc. by omitting or combining


some elements (especially a vowel or vowels)

2. A shortened form of a word that can be attached to another word the two
words together. Also called abbreviated form, contracted form or short form.

Thus, both ‘m and I’m are described as contraction. Other contractions in


English are: ‘s, ‘re, ‘ve, ‘d, ‘ll, n’t (= is/has, are, have, had/would, will, not)

Contractions are made by putting an apostrophe in place of the letters left out as
in “can’t” for ‘can not’, “I’d” for ‘I would’, “she’s” for ‘she is’. Some very
common verbs often get tacked onto the end of pronouns to make constructions:
“is” & “has” become “–’s”, “are” becomes “–’re”, “have” becomes “–’ve”,
“would” and “had” become “–’d”, “will” becomes “–’ll” & so on. Also, ‘not’
becomes “n’t” when you tack it onto something ‘did not’ – “didn’t”, ‘should
not’ – “shouldn’t” & so on. All these shortened versions are particularly popular
in everyday usage.

The apostrophe is also use for possessives words showing who or what
something belongs to – either before the final “-s” or if the word already ends in
“-s” then after the “-s”: “Sue’s roommate”, but “Carlos’ brother” and “all the
guys’ cars”

Of course, there’s a danger of mixing up constructions with possessives. The


word “it’s” is short for “it is”, and is not the possessive “its”. Think of “his”

23
which nobody writes with an apostrophe. And you can remember that the
possessive “its” also has no apostrophe.

The most common shortened contractions:

aren’t = are not

can’t = cannot

couldn’t = could not

didn’t = did not

doesn’t = does not

don’t = do not

hadn’t = had not

haven’t = have not

hasn’t = has not

he’d = he had / should / would

he’ll = he will

he’s = he is / has

here's = here is / has

I’d = I had / should / would

I’ll = I shall / will

I’m = I am

I’ve = I have

isn’t = is not

it’ll = it will
24
it’s = it is / has

let’s = let us

mayn’t = may not

mightn’t = might not

mustn’t = must not

shan’t = shall not

she’d = she had / should / would

she’ll = she will

she’s = she is / has

shouldn’t = should not

that’ll = that will

that’s = that is

there’s = there is / has

they’d = they had / should / would

they’ll = they will

they’re = they are

they’ve = they have

wasn’t = was not

we’d = we had / should / would

we’ll = we shall / will

we’re = we are

25
weren’t = were not

we’ve = we have

what’s = what is

won’t = will not

wouldn’t = would not

you’d = you had / should / would

you’ll = you will

you’re = you are

you’ve = you have [Yskakov A.,2003,p23 – 31]

Ideogram.A written character symbolizing a word or phrase without indicating


its pronunciation. Ideograms are rather marginal to the English writing system,
but include numerals; hallmarks;

monetary symbols: US$- United States dollar, x - UK pound sterling;

musical notation: n – key - crotchet; - flat, - sharp;

proof-correction symbols:- correct, - insert full or decimal point;

meteorological symbols:- rain, - hail, - lightning;

mathematical symbols:; - infinity, - plus or minus;

symbols in set theory: h – is an element of: xhA;

logic symbols: - conjunction, - NOR;

graphic symbols: - connection of conductors, - terminal (circle or may be fiiled)

graphical symbols used in electronics: - variability (noninherent);

Greek letters used as symbol for physical quantities: -alpha, - sigma;


26
miscellaneous symbols: @-at (in commerce), -copyright;

1.3 The study of main methods of translation abbreviations

What Is Translation?The second half of the 20th century has seen the in-depth
study oftranslation, which is sometimes called Theory of Translation, Science
ofTranslation, Translation Linguistics, or even Translatology. It has been
claimed abroad that translation studies began in 1972 with Holmes’s paper
presented at the Third International Congress of Applied Linguistics, “The
Name and Nature of Translation Studies”. [R. Steele, T. Threadgold.,1987,
p.347–351]. However; unfortunately, European and American scholars seemed
to have been unaware of the achievements of the Russian school of translation
studies. Works by V. Komissarov, A. Shveitser, A. Fedorov and many others
confirmed the status of translation studies as a discipline of its own even in the
1950s. The main concern of translation theory is to determine appropriate
translation methods for the widest possible range of textsand to give insight into
the translation process, into the relations between thought and language, culture
and speech.

There are several aspects of this branch of linguistics:

•General theory of translation, whose object is general notions typical of


translation from any language.

•Specific (or partial, in terms of Holmes) theory of translation that deals with the
regularities of translation characteristic of particular languages - for example,
translation from English into Russian and vice versa.

•Special (partial) theory of translation that pays attention to texts of various


registers and genres. [Komissarov. V.N.,1990,p.87]

There are two terms corresponding to the Russian word “перевод”: translation
and interpretation. Those who discriminate between the terms refer the term
‘translation’ to the written text, and the term ‘interpretation’ to oral speech.
27
However, the terms are polysemantic: to interpret might mean “to render or
discuss the meaning of the text” – an outstanding British translation theorist
P.Newmark, for example, states that “when a part of a text is important to the
writer’s intention, but insufficiently determined semantically, the translator has
to interpret”.The term to translate is often referred to any (written or oral)
manner of expression in another language.

We should also differentiate the terms translating and rendering. When we


translate, we express in another language not only what is conveyed in the
source text but also how it is done. In rendering, we only convey the ideas (the
what) of the source text [Routledge Encyclopedia.,1998p.249].

Several approaches are used for defining translation.

Semiotic approach.Language system is the part of semiotics dealing with sign


systems. Therefore, semiotic theories may be applied to language functioning.
According to the semiotic approach, translation is language code switching.
When translating, we switch from one language to another one.

American linguist Roman Jakobson in his article “On Linguistic Aspects of


Translation” spoke of three possibilities of code switching:

1) Intralinguistic translation or rewording, i.e. interpreting verbal signs


through other signs of the same language. This can be done on diachronic
level: Chaucer’s text is translated into modern English. When done on
synchronic level, this kind of code switching is called a paraphrase. We
often deal with paraphrasing when trying to explain or define things. For
example, to explain the meaning of the phrase I am not much of a cook,
we can paraphrase it by I do not like to cook, or I do not cook well. In the
theory of translation, this type of code switching is called a
transformation. Intralinguistic transfer can also be illustrated by stylistic
differentiation, as is done in the following Russian text switching from the
expressive publicistic register to a very formal style of the police report:
28
Катя уже в полной горячке обрушилась на инспектора («обвинила
работников милиции в равнодушии и жестокости»). И, боясь не
выдержать и расплакаться, вскочила и убежала. («Разъяснительную
работу провести не удалось ввиду крайней недисциплинированности
девочки»). [ Коммисаров В.Н.,Рецкер Я.И.,Тархов В.И., 1965. p.115-
116].

2) Interlanguage translation, i.e. substituting verbal signs of one language by


verbal signs of another language, or switching from one language code to
another one. This type of code switching is translation proper, the object
of Translation Studies.

3) Intersemiotic translation, i.e. substituting signs of one semiotic system by


signs of a different semiotic system. In its broad meaning, the term
implies transmutation and can be illustrated by decoding some ideas and
themes expressed, for example, in a poem through the “language” of
music or dance. [Roman Jakobson., 1959]

Other linguists adhere to the semiotic approach to translation. J. Catford, for


example, defines translation as “the replacement of textual material in one
language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL).”
[Catford J., 1965, p.21].

Communicative approach.We communicate to transfer information from one


person to another. Translation helps people communicate if they speak different
languages.Thus, translation is a two-facet phenomenon: on the one hand, it is the
process of transferring information; on the other hand, it is the result of this
process. By the result is meant a new text created in translating.

The communicative situation consists of several elements:

A speaker or writer (an author) makes a meaningful utterance called the text and
addresses it to the listener, reader, or receptor, who understands the purport of

29
the text and reacts to it. The translation situation doubles the elements of
communication. The receptor of the original text in turn becomes a translator
who makes a translated text, or target text intended for the receptor speaking
another language:

The source text is the text to be translated. The target text is the end-product; the
translated text.For the translation to be adequate and effective, the target text
should be equivalent to the source text. Indeed, when reading tragedies by
Shakespeare in Russian, the receptor is but seldom aware that the words s/he
sees in the text were not written by Shakespeare but by some other person, a
translator. The form of the target text is new but the purport and the content are
very close to the original. Paradoxically, the better a translator's work, the less
his/her work is observed. The translated text is attributed to the author speaking
another language and this text is used everywhere as if it were the original.
[Рецкер Я., 1974,p.34].

Thus translation unifies two different language speech acts in one


communicative situation. It can be defined as a special type of communication
intended to convey information between the participants speaking two different
languages. As E. Nida and C. Taber put it, “translating consists of reproducing
in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language
meaning and secondly in terms of style.”[Eugene A.Nida and C.Taber.,
1969,p.45].

Dialectics translation. 1.Inseparability of form and meaning. A translator is to


convey not only the ideas and themes of the source text (meaning, sense); s/he
should also pay attention to the adequate form to express these ideas. S/he
should not become carried away with a free (loose) form of translation, nor force
the target language by following the source text word for word. A translator
always bears in mind a stardard language of the target text, for, as W.Benjamin
put it figuratively, «while content and language form a certain unity in the

30
original, like a fruit and its skin, the language of the translation envelops its
content like a royal robe with ample folds.»

2. Social functions.

Translation does not exist outside of society. It appeared in society when


communities began to trade and exchange ideas. At the same time, translation
helps the world community develop. Nations could hardly have achieved the
technological success as it is in the 20th century if there had been no translations
in electronics, physics, chemistry and other branches of science and technology.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica12, in the 20th century most of the


world’s people speak one of about 75 primary languages. A small minority
speaks one of 450 secondary languages, and more than 4,400 other languages
are in use. Without translation and translators the world would not be able to
progress.

4. Translation and culture are inseparable.

Translation could not have developed without culture. Literature, science, and
philosophy influence translators’ conceptualizations. On the other hand, culture
could not have developed without translation, since translations enrich nations
with the cultural values of other nations.

5. Reflection and creativity in translation.

Translation reflects the source text but it does not copy it. To translate
adequately, a translator must do his or her best to find a proper means of
expression. A translator bears in mind that the receptor has a cultural
background other than that of a receptor of the original text; therefore, s/he has
to be very resourceful in producing the same impact upon the receptor as that of
the source text. Special problems arise in translating dialects, foreign speech,
puns, poetry, etc. And a translator is in constant search for new tools to solve
translation problems.
31
6. Translation is an art and a science.

Translation is dominated by objective, scientific, and linguistic description and


explanation. At the same time it is a subjective choice of means preserving
stylistic equivalence of the source text. [Mirosław Pawlak, Jakub
Bielak.,2011,p.28].

Translation invariant.Many linguistic terms have been borrowed from


mathematics. Translation invariant is one of them. By translation invariant we
mean what is in common between the two expressions, a source one and a target
one, after our manipulations and transformations of variable phrases. By
translation invariant we should understand the semantic equivalence of the
source and the target texts. Some linguists, however, consider the notion to be
broader than this definition. They suppose that it is the real situation described
by the text that brings together the source and the target texts. If the situation is
understood differently, it leads to misunderstanding, which can happen in a
monolanguage situation as well, and is often the basis for all sorts of comical
jokes. For example, the situation in the shop:

Покупатель: Я хочу примерить платье в витрине.

Продавец: Пожалуйста, но у нас есть примерочная.

Customer: I’d like to try on the dress in the shop window.

Salesgirl: You are welcome. But we have a fitting room. . [ Чужакин


А.,Палажченко П., 1997,с.85].

Different situations verbalized here are caused by different pragmatic


emphasis. The customer presses upon trying on a featured dress whereas the
salesgirl implies the impropriety of using a shop window.

If the translator of this joke had paraphrased the first sentence in a


different way (I’d like to try on the dress that is in the shop window), the joke
would have been lost, though the meanings of its sentences would have been
32
equally transferred. Therefore, the invariant of translation is based not only on
semantics (meaning), but also on pragmatics (communicative intention).

Unit of translation.Singling out and defining a unit of translation is a problem


widely discussed in Translation Studies.

According to R. Bell, a unit of translation is the smallest segment of a


source language text which can be translated, as a whole, in isolation from other
segments (as small as possible and as large as is necessary). Should we consider
a word as a translation unit? Though there exists the notion of a word-for-word
translation, the word can hardly be taken for a translation unit. First of all, this is
because word borders are not always clear, especially in English. Sometimes a
compound word is written in one element, sometimes it is hyphenated, or the
two stems are written separately as a phrase: e.g., moonlight, fire-light, candle
light. On the other hand, in oral speech it is difficult to single out separate
words because they tend to fuse with each other into inseparable complexes:
[‘wud3э 'ko:lim?] – According to the stress, there should be two words, while in
written speech we can see four words: Would you call him? Furthermore, it is
impossible to consider a phrase (word combination) as a translation unit,
because its bounderies are also vague.

Thus, it is not a language unit that should be considered in translation, but


a discourse (speech) unit. A translation unit is a group of words united in speech
by their meaning, rhythm and melody, i.e. it is a syntagm, or rhythmic and
notional segment of speech. This definition of the unit of translation is process-
oriented. If considered from a product-oriented point of view, it can be defined
as the target-text unit that can be mapped onto a source-text unit. [Bell
R.,1991,p.187.]

Types of translation.Classification criteria.There are some criteria for


classifying translation:

33
1) The first one is based on who does the translation. These days translation
may be done by a human translator or by computer.

2) Form of speech: according to this criterion, translation as a written form,


sight translation (or translation-at-sight, on-sight translation) as the oral
translation of written text and interpreting as oral translation of oral discourse
are differentiated. This criterion also involves subtitling, that is visual translation
involving the superimposition of written text onto the screen, and dubbing, or
the replacement of the original speech by a voice track which attempts to follow
as closely as possible the timing, phrasing and lip movements of the original
dialogue.

3) Source text perception: a translator can see or hear the text.

4) Time lapse between the source text perception and translation:


consecutive and simultaneous interpreting.

5) Number of languages in translation situation: one-way or two-way


translation.

6) Direction of translation: direct translation, that is, translation into the


mother-tongue, and inverse translation, or translation into a foreign language.

7) Methods of interpreting: note-taking interpretation, phrase-by-phrase


interpretation

8) Functional style and genre of the text: literary works and informative
texts.

Machine translation.The first idea of machine translation is known to have


been expressed in 1933 by the Soviet engineer Petr Smirnov-Troyansky but it is
not he but Warren Weaver who is credited as the founding father of Machine
Translation (MT) research.17 The first demonstration of an MT system took
place in 1954 in Georgetown University, U.S.A., where the experiment of
making a computer translate words from Russian into English was conducted.
34
Machine translation is based on analysis and synthesis operations and has
required many years of hard work and frustrations. Sometimes the end-product
of the machine translation was so ridiculous (like Out of sight, out of mind. –
Слепой идиот), that in the 1960s there happened a machine translation
‘recession’. However, with third-generation computer systems emerging in the
1970s, interest in machine translation was revived. Word-processors appeared
and today’s translators cannot imagine their lives without them.

Today, machine translation is often called computer-aided translation


(CAT). CAT systems are divided into two groups: machine-aided human
translation (MAHT) and human-aided machine translation (HAMT). The
difference between the two lies in the roles of computer and human translator.

In MAHT, a translator makes the translation, then uses the computer as a


tool for typing, checking spelling, grammar, style; for printing the target text, for
looking up words in electronic dictionaries and data bases, for getting references
on CD-ROMs and other sources, for consulting about contexts, for discussing
problems in the web, for seaching a job, etc.

In HAMT, the translation is automated, done by a computer but requiring


the assistance of a human editor. There are two phases of human help: pre-
editing and post-editing. In pre-editing, an operator (or a customer) prepares the
text for input. A special computer translation program transfers the text from
one language to another. Then a translator does the post-editing, mostly by
correcting the word usage.

Machine translation has a number of advantages and disadvantages. The


advantage is, first and foremost, its fast speed, which saves time, so important
these days. The computer is tireless; it can work day and night. Now that there
are lap-tops, a computer is a very flexible and convenient tool: it can accompany
a translator anywhere. Computers are also of great help to disabled people,
especially computers working with a human voice.

35
On the other hand, computers are restricted to the materials. They can
translate only clichéd texts. They cannot translate unpredictable texts, like
fiction, for example. Usually they provide ‘raw translation’. Another
disadvantage is that they are still rather expensive. They require constant
upgrading, which is usually not cheap. Computer viruses are a serious danger to
work. And computers are not absolutely safe for human health, either.

Translation and interpreting.Difference in written translation and interpreting


has been fixed by two international professional associations: F.I.T. (Fédération
Internationale des Traducteurs) or the International Federation of Translators,
the association of written translators; and A.I.I.C. (Association Internationale
des Interprètes de Conferénce), or the International Association of Conference
Interpreters, dealing with oral translation.

As is seen from the name of the professional association, interpreters are


often called conference interpreters, though their functions can be much broader.
Conference interpreting is known to have started after World War I, at the
Conference on the Preliminaries of Peace in 1919. Until then all international
meetings had been held in French, the language of 19th century diplomacy.

The first conference interpreters did consecutive interpreting, i.e. they


delivered their translation after listening to the speaker so that there was some
time between the source language text and the translation. The interpreters
worked in teams of two, each into his mother tongue. At the League of Nations,
interpreters went to the rostrum to deliver their translation as soon as the speaker
had finished. Occasionally speeches lasted well over an hour, so the interpreters,
considering it bad taste to interrupt a speaker, developed a technique of
consecutive interpreting with note-taking.

Two Geneva conference interpreters, J.-F. Rozan and J. Herbert, after


having reviewed their own as well as their colleagues’ writing pads, came to the
conclusion that although each interpreter had his or her own manner of writing,

36
there was something common to all the notes reviewed. This brought to life
recommendations to would-be interpreters on how to take notes in order to
memorize the message and not to interrupt the speaker.

Unlike shorthand, an interpreter’s system of note-taking or speedwriting


is not a word-for-word recording of speech. It is based on the conceptual
representation of the message utterance by utterance and helps to single out the
main idea of the speaker. The main principles of note-taking are as follows:

• Only key-words and the so called ‘precision’ words (i.e. words conveying
unique information, e.g., proper names, statistics, etc.) are put down;

• Words are contracted (vowels are omitted, the so-called Arabic approach);

• Special symbols are used;

• The syntactic structure has a vertical progression:

Subject group

Predicate

Object

Object (homogeneous parts of the sentence are written one under


the other).

The ‘sentence-by-sentence’ interpreting often found in liaison and


community interpreting is not regarded now as ‘true consecutive’. Liaison
interpreting takes place in spontaneous conversational settings, while
community interpreting is typical of the public service sphere.

These days consecutive interpreting is used mostly in bilateral contacts, to serve


only two languages.

Interpreting may take place in two directions when the interpreter has to work
for both language participants. This is a two-way, or bidirectional, translation
37
(interpretation) and it requires a special skill of switching the languages to speak
to, suppose, a Russian participant in Russian and to an English participant in
English and not vice versa. A one-way interpreting means translation from one
language only and is usually employed for summit meetings.

There is a sub-variety of the consecutive interpreting, known as postponed


consecutive interpreting. This is a translation which is not performed in the
presence of the participants, but which is dictated from the interpreter’s notes
into a dictating machine or typed, in case the participants have understood the
speaker but want to think over the discourse to take appropriate decisions on it.

Consecutive interpreters are also called linear interpreters, for their translation is
in line with the source text unlike simultaneous translation that overlaps the
original speech.

Simultaneous interpreting, i.e. interpreting almost immediately as the


speaker produces the text (the interpreter can lag behind the speaker not more
than 2 or 3 seconds), came into life much later, at the Nuremberg trials (1945-
1946) and Tokyo trials (1946-1948) of war criminals, though some attempts had
been made in the late 1920s and the early 1930s. In Russia, simultaneous
interpreting was first introduced at the 6th Congress of the Communist
International in 1928, with the interpreters sitting in the front row of the
conference hall trying to catch speakers’ words coming from the rostrum, and
talking into heavy microphones hanging on strings from their necks.23 Isolated
booths for interpreters appeared five years later, in 1933.

Simultaneous interpreting gained ground at the United Nations


Organization that began the era of multilateral diplomacy. Today’s simultaneous
interpreters, unlike their predecessors, are provided with special equipment.
They work in a special booth, listening through a headset to the speaker in the
conference room and interpreting into a microphone, while at the same time
watching what is going on in the meeting room through the booth window or

38
viewing projections on the TV screen. Delegates in the conference room listen
to the target-language version through a headset.

Simultaneous translation is usually employed at multilanguage (multilateral)


meetings, so that conference participants can switch their headphones to the
appropriate language channel.

Simultaneous interpreting is very exhausting work. It requires extremely


concentrated attention. The interpreter should adjust his/her own speech tempo
to that of the speaker. Several skills are simultaneously featured: listening,
speaking, switching to another language, compressing information.
Simultaneous interpreting is possible due to the human ability to anticipate and
forecast what will be said in some minutes (вероятностное прогнозирование).
To do it, one must have a good command of the subject matter under discussion.
Since the simultaneous interpreter’s work is so intense and the conditions are
extreme, interpreters are usually changed at the microphone every 20 or 30
minutes.

Simultaneous translation may take place not only in the special booth.
There is also whispered interpreting (or chuchotage) where the interpreter sits
between the participants and whispers his/her translation to them. This type of
translation is often used in a business meeting.

The simultaneous interpreter can get the source text in written form,
which does not make his/her job easier, since the interpreter has to do
simultaneously three jobs: read, listen and interpret. It is a most strenuous task,
for the interpreter has to be watchful of the speaker deviating from the text.

Written translation is also divided into sub-varieties. It may be a visual


translation (a written text is before the translator’s eyes), translation by ear (in
this case the translator listens to the text and writes the translation: dictation-
translation), sight translation, (i.e. translation of the written text without
preliminary reading, usually done orally).
39
The most obvious differences between written translation and interpreting are as
follows:

 Translators have time to polish their work, while interpreters have no time
to refine their output

 any supplementary knowledge, for example terminological or world


knowledge, can be acquired during written translation but has to be acquired
prior to interpreting

 Translators can re-read their texts, they do not have to memorize big
segments, while interpreters are able to listen to the text but once

 Interpreters have to make decisions much faster than translators

 Unlike written translation, interpreting requires attention sharing and


involves severe time constraints. Following the United Nations norms of six to
eight pages of written translation per day, the professional translator typically
produces about five words per minute or 300 words per hour. The simultaneous
interpreter, in contrast, has to respond instantly at a rate of 150 words per minute
or 9000 words per hour.

Adequate and equivalent translation.Translation theorists have long disputed


the interrelation of the two terms.

V. Komissarov considers them to denote non-identical but closely related


notions. He claims that adequate translation is broader in meaning than
equivalent translation. Adequate translation is good translation, as it provides
communication in full. Equivalent translation is the translation providing the
semantic identity of the target and source texts. Two texts may be equivalent in
meaning but not adequate, for example:

Никита грозил: «Покажу тебе кузькину мать.» – Nikita threatened, “I’ll put
the fear of God into you!” The Russian sentence is low colloquial, whereas the
English one, though it describes a similar situation, has another stylistic
40
overtone, a rather pious one. [Коммисаров В.Н.,Рецкер Я.И.,Тархов В.И.,
1965, p.134].

A. Shveitser refers the two terms to two aspects of translation: translation


as result and translation as process. We can speak of equivalent translation when
we characterize the end-point (result) of translation, as we compare whether the
translated text corresponds to the source text. Adequacy characterizes the
process of translation. The translator aims at choosing the dominant text
function, decides what s/he can sacrifice. Thus, adequate translation is the
translation corresponding to the communicative situation.

For example, Здравствуйте, я ваша тетя! Can be inadequate to Hello, I’m


your aunt!

When the Russian sentence is used not in its phatic (i.e. contact supporting)
function but in the expressive function (as an interjection) to express the
speaker’s amazement. [Shveitser A.D, 1988, p.57]

Close to this understanding of translation adequacy is E. Nida’s concept


of dynamic equivalence, “aimed at complete naturalness of expression” and
trying “to relate the receptor to modes of behavior relevant within the context of
his own culture”.Nida’s principle of dynamic equivalence is widely referred to
as the principle of similar or equivalent response or effect. [Eugene
A.Nida,1991,p.19-21]

Y. Retsker states that the notion of adequate translation comprises that of


equivalent. According to him, an adequate target text describes the same reality
as does the source text and at the same time it produces the same effect upon the
receptor. Translation adequacy is achieved by three types of regular
correlations:

41
1) Equivalents, that is regular translation forms not depending upon the context
(they include geographical names, proper names, terms): the Pacific Ocean –
Тихий океан, Chiang Kai-shek – Чан Кайши, hydrogen – водород.

2) Analogs, or variable, contextual correspondence, when the target language


possesses several words to express the same meaning of the source language
word: soldier – солдат, рядовой, военнослужащий, военный.

3) Transformations, or adequate substitutions: She cooks a hot meal in the


evening. – На ужин она всегда готовит горячее. [Y. Retsker., 1982, p.159]

Literal translation.Literal translation is the translation that reproduces


communicatively irrelevant elements of the source text; this usually happens
when the translator copies the source language form on this or that level of the
language.

According to the language level, there exist various types of literal translation:

1)on the sound level: this type of literal translation results in the so called
“translator’s false friends”, that is words similar in sounds but different in
meaning: conductor – not кондуктор, but дирижер; herb – not герб, but
лекарственная трава; computer silicon chips – not компьютерные
силиконовые чипсы, but кремниевые чипы компьютера.

2) on the syntactic level: copying the structure of the source language.


Sometimes an inexperienced translator is hypnotized by the source language,
and, to translate “accurately”, he tries to render the meaning word for word, thus
breaking combination rules of his/her own language. As an example, We often
heard his name mentioned. – *Мы часто слышали его имя упомянутым.

3) on the semantic level: giving the primary meaning of the word or its part,
whereas a semantic transformation is required: But outside it kept on raining. -
*Но снаружи шел дождь, which is incorrect. Or подполковник - *subcolonel,
the word not existing in English.
42
4) etymological errors: disregarding language changes. Words acquire new
meanings over time and use: There, there, don’t cry. - *Там, там, не плачь.

5) following the style of the source text: different registers require different
language means. Thus, to use the example by V. Komissarov, to a Russian, who
got accustomed to brief and abrupt structures in the weather forecast, an English
weatherman’s sentence can sound like a poem line: Mist covered a calm sea in
the Strait of Dover last night. – Туман покрывал спокойное море в Па-де-
Кале прошлой ночью. Therefore, to produce the same impact upon the receptor
as does the original, the translator has to partition the English sentence and make
it more adaptable to a Russian: Прошлой ночью в проливе Па-де-Кале стоял
туман. Море было спокойно. [Коммисаров В.Н.,1990,p.217]

We can see that very often literal translation is not necessarily a word-for-word
translation, although it is often associated with a rather negative evaluation of
the translation.

Literal translation is sometimes referred to as formal, or grammar translation,


though it is not the same.

In some works, literal translation is called ‘faithful’ translation – this term does
not necessarily imply the negative connotation of slavish literalism.

Free translation.Free translation is the reproduction of the source form and


content in a loose way. This concept means adding extra elements of
information or losing some essential ones.

Of course, it is not very accomplished of a translator to add details not


described by the author, as was often done by a well-known (sometimes
notorious) Russian translator I. Vvedenski. Neither is it proficient to contract the
source text like A. Houdar de la Motte who reduced the twenty-four books of
the Iliad to twelve in his translation, leaving out all the “anatomical details of
wounds” and some other information. Scholars of translation usually take a

43
negative view of this type of free translation, known as adaptation in history of
translation.

Nevertheless, free translation is appropriate in some cases: poetry


translations are done with a certain degree of freedom. A translator is also free
to modernize a classic text in order to subvert established target-language
reader-response. Free translation is also admitted in the titles of novels, movies,
etc. For instance, the outstanding Russian novel by Ilf and Petrov «Двенадцать
стульев» is known in the United States as “Diamonds to Sit On”, which is
accounted for by the bookselling advertising policies. The British movie
“Square Peg” was translated into Russian as «Мистер Питкин в тылу врага»,
since the film translators did not find the adequate Russian idiom to convey the
meaning “a person unsuitable for the place in which he works or lives”
expressed by the English phrase “a square peg in a round hole”.

Recently translation theorists have begun to relate free translation to


communicative translation, depending on the purpose of the translation, and
literal translation to the so-called semantic translation. Communicative
translation tends to undertranslate, i.e. to use more generic, catch-all terms in
difficult passages. A semantic translation tends to overtranslate, i.e. to be more
detailed, more direct, and more awkward. P. Newmark, however, distinguishes
semantic translation - as the attempt to render as closely as possible the
semantic and syntactic structures of the target language, from literal translation,
when the primary senses of the lexical words of the original are translated as
though out of context. He defines communicative translation as that which
produces on its receptors an effect similar to that on the receptors of the original.
[P.Newmark., 1988,p.123]

44
Conclusion

In First chapter we have reached the main aim, which we had researched in the
work: we distinctively explored the theme that we had analyzed and marked all
the ways and particularities, and gave the general characteristics to
abbreviations.

To reach our aim we have defined the functions of abbreviations; analyzed the
existing categorizations and types of the abbreviations; made the analytical
review of English abbreviations, and the new modern style of abbreviatians. The
theoretical part of the investigation which includes very interesting information
for students, self-studied can be recommended for widening vocabulary and
development of speech and knowledge of English language.

We come to conclusion that we need to use the shortening to develop the


grammar, its peculiarities, and to widen vocabulary.

The shortening is very useful in the society. We face to them on the newspapers,
advertisements, street posters, magazines, periodicals, television, radio all of
them are the mass media and of course at everyday communication.

The abbreviation is very wide theme to investigate; it has many types and
tendencies for today.

45
Chapter 2 Peculiarities of abbreviations translation from English into
Russian

Abbreviation, or shortening a word, is one of the most noticeable features of the


English language, and it is used both in formal and informal registers.

Based on the level of their usage, abbreviations can be divided into three
groups:

•Graphical abbreviations, used only in writing, and, therefore, pronounced and


translated in its full form. These abbreviations are widely employed in faxes:
e.g., agst = against, f/b = feedback, ETA = expected date of arrival, ETD =
expected date of departure, etc. However, though rarely, some of these
abbreviations enter the common stock of vocabulary and, pronounced in a
shortened way, they become new words of the language: asap = as soon as
possible, AGAP = As Gorgeous As Possible.

•Phonetic abbreviations, or a non-standard way of writing some common words


based on their pronunciation;typical of advertising.

For example, u = you, thru = through.

Of the same type is the word OK (all correct). Normally, in translation this type
of abbreviation is lost.

•Lexical abbreviations, including initialisms, spoken as individual letters (BBC,


MP, USA); acronyms, pronounced as single words (NATO, UNESCO, AIDS;
WAP = Wireless Application Protocol); clippings, or parts of words which serve
for the whole (ad, phone, sci-fi = science fiction; m-commerce = mobile-
commerce, business conducted over a mobile telephone system; e-bucks =
electronic money); blends, or words made out of the shortened forms of two
other words (brunch= breakfast + lunch, smog = smoke + fog, Eurovision =
Europe + television; anetsitized = anesthetized + net + sit = numb from spending
many consecutive hours on the Internet).
46
Initialisms and acronyms may be rendered through transcription (BBC - Би-Би-
Си, IBM – Ай-Би-Эм, IREX - АЙРЕКС), transliteration (NATO - НАТО,
USIS – ЮСИС, UNESCO – ЮНЕСКО), or their full form can be translated
with a calque and then abbreviated (USA – США, AIDS – СПИД, CIA – ЦРУ).
To make the word clearer to the receptor, an abbreviation may be deciphered
and/or explained: USIS – Информационная служба США, TESOL –
международная ассоциация преподавателей английского языка как
иностранного. [J. Rosenberg, McGraw-Hill, 1992,p.35]; [Дюжикова
Е.А.,1991,p.47 ]and bilingual [Волкова Н.О., Никанорова И.А. 1993,p.75].

A standard form of a translation, if it exists, should be used by a translator. It


must be kept in mind that sometimes a standard form can require some shifts,
for instance, a change of letters in the initialism: PRC (People’s Republic of
China) – КНР (Китайская Народная Республика).

Clippings usually have a regular equivalent in the dictionary (ad – объявление,


phone – телефон, sci-fi – научная фантастика).

Blends are either transferred into the target language (through transcription /
transliteration (smog – смог), explained (brunch – плотный поздний завтрак;
coffee-zilla < coffee + Godzilla – очень крепкий кофе), or substituted by an
analog (physed – физкультура).

When translating abbreviations, one should pay attention to the style of the text.
Whereas in English abbreviations are mostly neutral and can be used both in
formal and informal speech, in Russian abbreviations are strongly separated by
styles. For example, clippings are typical of very formal style: тяжмашстрой,
совнархоз, универсам; these require explanatory translation, which is
sometimes combined with transcription. In informal speech, abbreviations with
affixes are widely used: телик, видик, велик. As often as not, similar words
exist in English: telly, bike. For видик, there is a shortened form, video (from
video set).

47
Before suggesting a TL equivalent, it is important to find out the precise
meaning of the word. Care should be taken of words that differ in various
varieties of English, like the informal adjective dinky< which in British English
means “small and attractive”: a dinky little bag, while in American English it
has the antonymous meaning of “too small and often not very nice”: It was a
really dinky hotel room.

2.1 The translation peculiarities of abbreviation from English into Russian

The term “state” in political terminology of the USA can have two meanings
“государство” и «штат». Both the state and Federal authorities are bent on
establishing a police state. In the first case the term “state” stands in one row
with an adjective “federal” and means “правительство штатов” in contrast to
“правительство всей страны”. In the second case “state” is used in the
meaning of “государство”. Terms which are widely known, are often used in
the text in a shortened form:

E.g. Youth is also virtually excluded from congress, the average age of members
of the Senate being 56 years and of the House 51 years.

Here we can see the usage of shortened term “House” instead of full term “The
House of Representatives”. One and the same term can have different meaning;
it depends on the ideological trend of the text it is used in. The term “idealism”
can be used in philosophical meaning as the name of the outlook, opposed to
materialism, and have positive or negative sense which depends on the
ideological position of an author. But it is more frequently used in positive
sense, correlating directly with the concept ideals- идеалы with the meaning of
serving high ideals.

E.g. The foreign Secretary’s most elaborate and numerous speeches seem to
prove that idealism in his guiding star.

48
Wide usage of personal names, names of companies, geographical names in the
newspaper style make concrete the report and refer the given information to the
certains, persons, institutions or regions. This fact presupposes the Receptor’s
essential preliminary knowledge, which allows him to find the connection
between the name and the naming object.

So, English Receptor knows well even without the context that Park Lane is the
street, Piccadilly Circus is the place, and Columbia Pictures is the film company.
Names of persons and other names are often used in newspaper materials in the
form of abbreviations. These abbreviations can often be unfamiliar to the wide
circle of readers and their meanings are given in the same note or report.

E.g. AFLCIO = American Federation of Labor Congress of Industrial


Organizations,

E.g. GOP = Grand Old (Republican) Party,

E.g. DD = Defense Department.

As far as we understand, they are divided into several groups.

a) Surnames and names of famous political figures:

E.g. JFK = John F. Kennedy , Rocky = Rockefeller.

b) Geographical names:

AFEW - AIDS Foundation East-West

AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

ARV - Antiretroviral

CBF - Central Bureau for Fundraising

CEE - Central and Eastern Europe(an)

DCCA - Development and Co-operation in Central Asia


49
DfID - UK's Department for International Development

EJAF - Elton John AIDS Foundation

FSU - Former Soviet Union

GG&GD - Municipal Health Service, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

GIDO - Group of International Donor Organizations

HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus

HR - Harm Reduction

IDU - Injecting Drug User(s)

INTRAC - International NGO Training and Research Centre

KAPB - Knowledge, attitude, practices and behavior surveys

KNCV - Royal Netherlands Tuberculosis Association

MATRA - Maatschappelijke Transitie (Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

MSF-H - Medecins Sans Frontiиres – Holland

MTCT - Mother-to-child transmission of HIV

NGO - Non-governmental organisation

NIS - Newly Independent States (of the former Soviet Union)

NOVIB - Oxfam, The Netherlands

OSCE - Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

OSI - Open Society Institute

PLWHA - Person(s) living with HIV/AIDS

POBB - Project Ondersteuning Buitenlandse Zaken (Dutch Ministry of Foreign


Affairs)
50
RF - Russian Federation

SIDA - Swedish International Development Agency

STI - Sexually transmitted infection(s)

TACIS/EU - Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent


States/European Union

TAMPEP - Transnational AIDS/STI Prevention Among Migrant Prostitutes in


Europe Project

TB - Tuberculosis

UN - United Nations

UNAIDS - Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

UNGASS - United Nations General Assembly Special Session

USAID - United States Agency for International Development

WHO - World Health Organization.

c) Titles before names:

Mrs., Mr., Ms., Prof., Dr., Gen., Rep., Sen., St. (for Saint).

Notice that Miss is not an abbreviation, so we don't put a period after it. Ms. is
not an abbreviation, either, but we do use a period after it — probably to keep it
consistent with Mr. and Mrs.

The plural of Mr. is Messrs. (We invited Messrs. Carter, Lincoln, and Ford.) The
plural of Dr. is Drs. [We consulted Drs. Carter, Lincoln, and Ford].The plural of
Mrs. is Mmes or Mmes. (with or without the period).

In most formal prose, we do not use titles, abbreviated or otherwise, with


individuals. Ms. Emily Dickinson is simply Emily Dickinson, and after the first
use of her full name, Dickinson will do (unless we need Emily to avoid
51
confusion with other Dickinson’s).The abbreviations Rev. and Hon. (for
Reverend and Honorable) are not, strictly speaking, titles; they are adjectives. In
informal language or when we're trying to save space or make a list, we can
write Rev. Alan B. Darling and Hon. Francisco Gonzales. In formal text, we
would write "the Reverend Alan B. Darling" and "the Honorable Francisco
Gonzales" (i.e., it's not a good idea to abbreviate either Reverend or Honorable
when these words are preceded by "the"). Incidentally, we cannot say "We
invited the reverend to dinner" and only a cad would invite "the rev."

d) Titles after names:

Sr., Jr., Ph.D., M.D., B.A., M.A., D.D.S.

These are standard abbreviations, with periods. The APA Publication Manual
recommends not using periods with degrees; other reference manuals do
recommend using periods, so use your own judgment on this issue. All sources
advise against using titles before and after a name at the same time (i.e., she can
be Dr. Juanita Espinoza or Juanita Espinoza, PhD, but she cannot be Dr. Juanita
Espinoza, PhD). And we do not abbreviate a title that isn't attached to a name:
"We went to see the doctor (not dr.) yesterday."

The Chicago Manual of Style recommends not using a comma to separate the
Jr./Sr./III from the last name, but you should follow the preferences of the
individual if you know those preferences. If you list a "junior" with his spouse,
the "Jr." can go after both names, as in "Mr. and Mrs. Arthur C. Banks Jr." or
"Mr. Arthur C. Banks Jr. and Gloria Banks — but not Arthur C. and Gloria
Banks Jr. You should avoid using a "Jr." or "Sr." when you have only the last
name — Mr. Banks Jr.

e) Names of familiar institutions — UConn, MIT, UCLA, CIA, FBI, NATO;


countries - U.S.A., U.K.; corporations — IBM, CBS, NPR, CNN, ITT; famous
people — LBJ, FDR, JFK, MLK; very familiar objects — TV, VCR, CD-ROM.

52
Notice that U.S.A. can also be written USA, but U.S. is better with the periods.
Also, we can use U.S. as a modifier (the U.S. policy on immigration) but not as
a noun (He left the U.S. U.S.A.).

f) Terms of mathematical units: 15 in., 15 ft, 15 kg, 15 m, 15 lb

Generally, you would use these abbreviations only in technical writing. There is
a space between the number and the abbreviation. Notice that we do not put an s
after such abbreviations even when the plural is indicated. Also, we do not use a
period with such abbreviations except for in. when it might be confused with the
preposition in.

When the term of measurement is used as a modifier, we put a hyphen between


the number and the term of measurement: a 15-ft board, a 6-lb line, etc.

g) Long, common phrases,

such as IQ (Intelligence Quotient), rpm (revolutions per minute), mph (miles per
hour), and mpg (miles per gallon).

Such abbreviations are acceptable even in formal academic text and may be used
without periods.

h) Words used with numbers: He left at 2:00 a.m. She was born in 1520 B.C.

Either lower or upper case letters can be used with A.M., a.m., P.M., p.m. The
abbreviation B.C. (before Christ) is used after the date; A.D. (anno domini, "in
the year of the Lord") appears before the date. The abbreviations B.C. and A.D.
are sometimes replaced with B.C.E. (before the Common Era) and C.E.
(Common Era), both used after the date (although one must add that those
abbreviations are neither widely used nor commonly understood). Sometimes
you will see 790 BC and AD 78 written without periods and written in SMALL
CAPS. Note that many style books are now recommending SMALL CAPS for
all appearances of acronyms, such as NAACP or NCAA. The effect of this
practice is to allow the acronym to blend more smoothly with the rest of the text.
53
It is considered bad form to use these abbreviations without a specific number
attached to them: "We'll do this in the a.m." or "We'll do this tomorrow a.m."

i) Common Latin terms:

etc. (et cetera — and so forth), i.e. (id est — that is), e.g. (exempli gratia — for
example), et al. (et alii — and others).

The abbreviation i.e. (i.e., that is) is often confused with other abbreviations
(e.g., e.g.). The i.e. generally is used to introduce matter that is explanatory as
opposed to being the name of an example or list of examples. If you can say for
example as a substitute for the abbreviation, you want to use e.g., not i.e. Do not
italicize or underline these abbreviations. Most sources recommend avoiding the
use of Latin abbreviations except within parenthetical notes and some sources
say not to use Latin abbreviations at all (use the English terms instead) except
within citations or reference lists. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends
using a comma after i.e. or e.g. in order to set off those abbreviations as
introductory modifiers. Other resources say not to bother with the comma, but
the comma makes good sense.

Latin abbreviations

AD (anno Domini) (indicating years numbered from the supposed year of the
birth of Christ)

a.m. – (ante meridiem) in the morning

ad lib (ad libitum) — at pleasure;

a priori – in advance, independently of experience;

B.C – (before Christ) – before our era;

cf. (conferre) - compare;

cp. (comparare) — compare;

54
circa – about, approximately;

e.g. (exempli gratia) - for example;

etc ( Et cetera) – and so on;

ib (id) (Lat. ibidem) — in the same place;

i.e. (id est)- that is;

in situ – at this place;

loc.cit. (locus citato) — in the passage cited;

N.B. – (nota bene) – note, comments;

ob. (obiit) —he (she) died;

q.v. (quod vide) — which see;

p.m. (post meridiem) — in the afternoon;

pro et con (pro et contra) – for and against;

terra incognita – unknown area;

vers, vs (versus) – against;

vice versa – because of smth, on the contrary, back to front;

viz (videlicet) — namely, sometimes read viz.;

j) Names of states and territories,

in references and addresses, but not in normal text. Abbreviations accepted by


the U.S. Postal Service (including abbreviations for words like Boulevard and
Alley) are listed online. Do not use state abbreviations simply to save time or
space except in an address on an envelope or list. We do not use periods with
state abbreviations: CT, NY, and NJ. We use D.C. after the name of the city
within the District of Columbia: Washington, D.C.; the APA Manual does not
55
use periods with DC. The U.S. postal service, incidentally, does not insert a
comma between the city and the abbreviated state name: Hartford CT, Portland
OR — at least not in the addresses on envelopes.

Abbreviate "Saint" in U.S. place names, as in St. Louis and St. Petersburg,
Florida, and the St. Lawrence River. For the same word in other countries, you
might have to consult a good dictionary (one that contains place names):
St./Saint Martin's in the Fields, Saint Moritz, Saint Lucia, Mont-Saint-Michel,
Saint Petersburg (Russia). When the word Saint is used to refer to a holy person,
spell out the word — Saint Theresa, Saint Francis of Assisi. If an institution is
named after a saint, spell out the word Saint unless you have some reason to
save space — Saint Francis Hospital, Saint Joseph College, Saint Joseph's
University. It is wise, as always, to consult the actual institution. Colleges,
universities, and hospitals named after Saint Mary are about evenly divided
between St. and Saint, but in formal situations, Saint seems to be favored more
frequently.

We shouldn’t abbreviate the following:

(In formal academic prose it is considered bad form to abbreviate words simply
to save space, time, or energy.)

- Words such as through (thru), night (nite).

- Days of the week or months of the year (in the normal flow of text).

- Words at the beginning of a sentence.

- People's names such as Chas. (for Charles) or Jas. (for James), unless those
abbreviations have come to be accepted as nicknames for those particular
individuals.

- States' names such as Mass. (for Massachusetts) or Conn. (for Connecticut).


When appropriate (as in the addresses for envelopes), use the U.S. postal
service's approved two-letter abbreviations: MA, CT (without periods).
56
- Courses such as econ (for economics) or poli sci (for political science).

k) Spacing and Periods

Abbreviations of units of measure are written without periods (with the


exception of "in" when it could be confused with the preposition). We use
periods for most lower-case abbreviations such as e.g. and i.e. and c.o.d. For
very common abbreviations, leave out the periods, as in rpm and mph. When an
abbreviation with a period ends a sentence, that period will suffice to end the
sentence: He lives in Washington, D.C. Suffixes for people's names require
periods: Joe Smith Jr. lives in Erie. In formal text it is not a good idea to
abbreviate military titles — Lieutenant Colonel Chester Piascyk — but in
informal text Lt. Col. Chester Piascyk would be acceptable. (Note the space
after "Lt.") Academic degrees can be written with periods or not, but don't insert
spaces — Ph.D. or PhD, M.B.A. or MBA — within the degree.

People's initials are usually followed by a period and a space — W. E. B.


DuBois — but you need to be careful that a line-break doesn't come in the
middle of someone's initials. (You can impose what is called a "forced space" or
"non-breaking space" by holding down the option key while you hit the space
bar.) You will find exceptions to this rule in the way that some companies write
their name: JCPenney (no spaces or periods), L.L. Bean (no space in the
initials), etc. In normal text, writers can safely ignore corporate aberrations in
spacing and capitalization. (Some editors write Harry S Truman without a period
after the "S," because the initial didn't really stand for anything, but the Truman
Presidential Museum and Library contends that that practice is silly. Still, you
will often find Truman's name written sans period in highly regarded places.)
When a person's initials stand alone — either as a nickname, "Come here, JT!"
— or as a common shortcut — JFK (for John Fitzgerald Kennedy) or LBJ (for
Lyndon Baines Johnson) — type them without spaces or periods. Professional
designations such as CPA (Certified Public Accountant) or CLU (Certified Life
Underwriter) are separated from the last name with a comma and are written
57
without spaces or periods, as in Bertha Bigknot, CPA, unless the designation is
accompanied by an academic degree, as in Foxy Reynard, Ph.D., and C.L.U.

Except in the business of formally citing material you've used in research, it's a
good idea not to use et al. when you mean "and others." And don't use etc. as a
lazy person's way of getting out of work. Spell out the word versus unless you're
reporting game scores, when you would use vs.; when you're citing legal
documents, use the abbreviation v.

Using articles with abbreviations and acronyms:

One of the most often asked questions about grammar has to do with the choice
of articles - a, an, the - to precede an abbreviation or acronym. Do we say an FBI
agent or a FBI agent? Although "F" is obviously a consonant and we would
precede any word that begins with "F" with "a," we precede FBI with "an"
because the first sound we make when we say FBI is not an "f-sound," it is an
"eff-sound." Thus we say we're going to a PTO meeting where an NCO will
address us. We say we saw a UFO because, although the abbreviation begins
with a 'U," we pronounce the "U" as if it were spelled "yoo." Whether we say an
URL or a URL, it depends on whether we pronounce it as "earl" or as "u*r*l."

2.2 The most common English abbreviations

Acronyms and abbreviations are such a huge part of the language, but
sometimes we forget how important they are.

Today we’re going to take most common English acronyms and abbreviations
that every English learner should know.

FYI

FYI – For Your Information

RSVP
58
RSVP – this is a French word, most native English speakers don’t know what
this means in French, but we use it for… to reserve, make a reservation for a
party, so, to respond. It means Répondez S’il Vous Plaît.

ETA

ETA means Estimated Time of Arrival

AKA

AKA means Also Known As

FAQ

FAQ means Frequently Asked Questions

ATM

ATM means Automated Teller Machine, but also At the Moment, which is more
like Internet speech, or text.

TBA

TBA – To Be Announced

TGIF

TGIF – Thank God it’s Friday

RIP

RIP, what you see on graves at the cemetery is Rest in Peace

P.S.

PS, what you write at the end of letters, Post Script [English. In Latin: Post
Scriptum]

ESL & EFL

59
ESL, like when you see it with English, English as a Second Language

EFL – English as a Foreign Language

DIY

DIY – Do it Yourself. Like a project that you might do it yourself, without


professional help.

ID

ID. It means your Identification. This is what you present when you go to a bar,
if you look like you’re underaged.

IQ

IQ is your Intelligence Quotient, which is what a lot of intelligence tests will


measure.

GMO

GMO means Genetically Modified Organism, so make sure you don’t eat
GMO’s.

PC

PC – Personal Computer

PR

PR – Public Relations

SOS

SOS, what you might see if you’re stranded or stuck on a desert island, you
might write in the sand SOS – Save Our Souls. This is to get help.

AWOL

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AWOL means Absent With out Leave. Leave is to have permission to leave, to
be on vacation. So, this comes from the military. You might say this when you
have a friend or somebody that’s missing, so that person is AWOL.

MIA

Another way to say the same thing is MIA – Missing in Action.

POW

POW, another military term, is Prisoner of War.

AD & BC

So,now some historical terms.

So, AD, which means past the year 0, like, we’re in 2014 AD. AD means Anno
Domini, which is a Latin word.

CE & BCE

BC is Before Christ. But nowadays they’re using CE for the modern era, so,
we’re in 2014 CE, which is AD, which is secular, not really attached to religion.

And then BCE is Before Common Existence, it’s the same as BC.

So, sometimes when you’re writing, or you’re reading, you might see IE, which
means in other words. So, in Latin, I’m not going to try to pronounce this, but
here it is on the screen.

E.g.And EG, which means for example, and here it is in Latin. So, you might
use those in writing, and you might recognize this when you’re reading
something.

DOB

So, DOB means Date of Birth. You might see this on an application.

OCD
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OCD means Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, so it’s a mental disorder.

MD

MD means Medical Doctor.

HR

HR means Human Resources, and DOA means Dead on Arrival. You might
hear this in like a police show or something.

So, to finish, I’m going to give you 3 colloquial ones, which I think are pretty
interesting, but they’re a little bit more relaxed than the other ones.

BYOB

So, the first one is BYOB. You might see this on an invitation to a party. This
means Bring Your Own Beer. Bring Your Own Beer or Bring Your Own Booze,
which is another word for alcohol.

OG

OG, which means Original Gangster, or…

SOL

And the SOL, which means Shit Out of Luck. Shit Out of Luck. It means that
you are out of luck and you have no chance.

& - and

@ – at

0 – nothing

2 - two, to, too

2DAY – today

2nite – tonight
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4 – for

a - a / an

a/noon – afternoon

ATB – All the best

Asl – age, sex, location,

b - be

b4 – before

bc – because

bf – boyfriend

bk - back

bro - brother

bt – but

btw – By the way

c - see

d8 - date

dnr - dinner

ez - easy

f8 - fate

gf - girlfriend

gr8 - great

hols - holidays

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hv - have

I - I, it

its - it is

kds – kids

l8 - late

l8r - later

m8 - mate

ne1 – anyone

plz – please

ps - parents

qt - cutie

r - are

sis - sister

skul - school

smmr - summer

u - you

wr - were

asap - as soon as possible

bau - business as usual

brb - I'll be right back

btw - by the way

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cul - see you later

cwot - complete waste of time

ftf - face to face

fyi - for your information

gmta - great minds think alike

gonna – going to

goin – going

HAND - have a nice day

hru - how are you

icbw - it could be worse

Idk – I don’t know

imho - in my humble opinion

jk - just kidding

kotc - kiss on the cheek

LOL - laughing out loud

l8r – later

ltnc - long time no see

ILU, Luv U - I love you

Luv U2 - I love you too

Mo – moment

mon - the middle of nowhere

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mte - my thoughts exactly

MU - I miss you

mUsm - I miss you so much

NP - no problem

oIc - oh, I see

PC&QT - peace and quiet

pcm - please call me

rotfl - rolling on the floor laughing

sth – something

RSVP – repondez, s’il vous plait

RUOK - are you ok?

TUVM – thank you very much

TTFN – ta ta for now

Tnx, tnqu - thank you

U4e - you forever

Ur – your/ you are

UROK - you are okay

wanna – want to

wuciwug – what you see is what you get

XLNT – exellent

X, XOX – kiss, kiss hug kiss

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:-) smiling

:-* kiss

:-)) very happy

:-0 shocked

:") blushing

:-|:-| deja vu

<:3 )~ mouse

:@) pig

:’-) tears of laughter

:-P stick tongue out

:-(*) you make me sick

x-( you are mad

:-" whistling

;-) wink

:-@ screaming

O:-) saintly

@}-}}—rose

alphabet = alpha + betta

atomaniac = atom + maniac

Bollywood = Bombei + Hollywood

brunch = breakfast + lunch

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camcorder = camera + recorder

cinerama = cine(matographic pano) rama

e-mail = electronic mail

emoticon=emotion + icon

fantabullous = fantastic + fabulous

fergilicious = Fergie + delicious

frenglish = French + English

ligar = lion + tiger (Lewis Carroll “Alice in the Wonderland”)

medicare = medical care

mobitone = mobile phone + ringtone

moped = motor + pedal

motel = motor + hotel

Niffles = Niagara Falls

Pakistan = Panjab, Afghania, Kashmir and Singh, and the final part of
Baluchistan;

pixel = picture + elements

Pokemon = pocket + monster

positron = positive + electron

slanguage = slang + language

smaze = smoke + haze

smog = smoke + fog

spam = spiced ham


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Streetball = street + basketball (a game with one ring)

televangelism = television + evangelist

Transceiver = transmitter + receiver

$ - monetary symbol of US dollar

% - percent

& - and (ampersand)

*- note

.com – commercial

@ - at (in commerce)

1A-12D number of pages

3yrs – three years

4info – for info

51/2 – five and half

a.m. – (Lat.ante meridiem) in the morning

ABC – alphabet; television channel

at&t – American telephone and telegraph

Aug. – August

BOSE – better sound through research

BTN – Big Ten Network (sportcaster)

C/o – care of Calif. – California

CD – compact disc

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CDC – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Cellphone – cellular telephone

Co. – corporation

Dec 6 – The sixth of December

Dem – democrat

Dems – democrats

Dr.King – Doctor Martin Luther King Junior

FDA – The Food and Drug Administration

Fri – Friday

Get2gether – get together

Gov – government

GP –general practitioner

Hwy – high way

Inc. – incorporated

Iphone – instinct phone

John McCain – American politician John MacCain

Laptop – notebook PC

LED – light-emitting diode

LSU – American football team

LW – long wave

Martin Luther King Jr. - Martin Luther King Junior

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McEnroe – Mac Enroe

Mich. – state Michigan

MOD – Ministry of Defence

Mon – Monday

MP – member of Parliament

Mpg – miles per gallon

Mph – mile per hour

N – North

NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NC – North California State

NFL – National Football League

NHS - National Health Service

No. – number

Nov. - November

NY – New York State

NYC – New York City

NYSE – New York Stock Exchange

o - degree (angle, temperature, proof of alcohol)

Oct – October

Ph.D. – Doctor of Philosophy

p.m. – (Lat. post meridiem) in the afternoon

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p.r. – public relations

QC – quiet comfort

Rep – republican

RNC – Republican National Committee

RSPCA - Royal society for the prevention of cruelty to animals

Rt. Hon. – Right honourable

Sen. – Senator

Sept. – September

Sportcaster – sport broadcaster

St.Louis – Saint Louis

St.Paul – Saint Paul Cathedral

Truckin’ – trucking

ULEV – Ultra Low Emission Vehicle

USA – United States of America

VP – vice president

Washington D.C. – Washington District of Columbia

Wed – Wednesday

Xcel – excellent

®- registered trademark

©- copyright

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2.3 The problems of abbreviations translation from English into Russian

Translation - a complex and multi-faceted human activity. Abbreviations find a


number of grammatical features. The scientific and technical literature texts
have a special place, not so much focused on the specific language media as to
the representatives of some professional groups with certain extra-linguistic
knowledge. The problem of reducing lexical units as a specific linguistic
phenomenon in modern languages attracted the attention of many researchers.
These issues are discussed in numerous articles and some works by Russian and
foreign authors.

Abbreviations are one of the most difficult to understand and translate the
elements of foreign special texts. A full understanding of condensed lexical units
is only possible with excellent knowledge of the subject, which is devoted to
specific text, and in the case where the reader know in advance the value of
acronyms used in the text. Familiarity with basic laws and principles of
education abbreviation cuts significantly simplifies the task of understanding
and transfer rate.When using abbreviations commonly used term "decoding",
which is usually understood as:

1) the process of establishing correlate (unabridged form);

2) correlate very specific cuts.

But the significance of the reduction is not always the same as the correlate.
Therefore, the "decoding" - not only the establishment of a correlate, but also
determine the value of the reduction in the specific context.

To decipher the abbreviations, the following basic methods:

1. Analysis of the context; in most cases the reductions at the first use here in are
usually accompanied by deciphering.

2. Using a dictionary of acronyms and other reference materials. Although the


set value using the dictionaries of abbreviations appears at first sight the most
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reliable and effective way, in fact it has its serious limitations. Since the cuts are
among the most mobile elements of vocabulary, dictionaries of abbreviations
obsolete much faster than other linguistic dictionaries. In this regard, the recent
literature can be found quite a few cuts had not yet found the reflection in the
existing dictionaries.

The British academic and professional texts significant place occupies the
various types of cuts. Since they operate independently recorded in
lexicographical sources and are often better known than their sources (radar –
радар, sonar – сонар, laser – лазер), they can be considered lexical units of
scientific and technical language. In the English language, and reductions in
sound and graphics, can be divided into abbreviations and acronyms.

The main task of acronyms - it saves speech and written text. When pronouncing
the acronym of playing time several times shorter than its corresponding
concept, and when writing the savings even more impressive. However, the
benefits of such savings are only good as long as the abbreviations are clear
interlocutors and their interpreter.

The abbreviations are formed from the initial letters of words significant phrase:
AA (antenna array) антенная решетка RWM (read-write memory)
оперативная память, kVA (kilovolt-ampere) киловольт-ампер. When
pronouncing their names on the letters of the stress it falls on the last letter.
Letters reduction can be written with the points, but in modern English are
usually avoided.

Abbreviations (acronyms) are contractions that, unlike abbreviations (read,


spoken and perceived by the names of the letters), are read and perceived as
ordinary lexical units. Acronyms are formed from different combinations of
letters (the first letters of the first and the last few etc.). This type of contraction
is especially popular in writing medical articles, abstracts, etc.

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These are the terms, reducing radar, laser, maser. Note that the translation
correspondences of these units in the Russian language are these acronyms, not
wordy terms: radar (Radio Detectionand Ranging – радиообнаружение и
определение расстояния), laser (Light Amplificationby Stimulated Emission of
Radiation – оптический квантовый генератор), maser (Microvave
Amplificationby Stimulated Emissionof Radiation – микроволновое усиление с
помощью индуцированного излучения). These abbreviations (acronyms) are
transferred to the Russian language as the new terms by transliteration. These
units are easy to terminology and quickly assimilated into the language.

By acronyms should include termination by contraction of two words or


truncation and combining them into one. According to the model of compound
words: blends или portmanteau words (слово-гибрид, образованное путем
контрактации двух основ), new complex terms of the two words by linking
the initial part of a word with the last part of the second word: tranceiver –
приемо-передатчик (transmitter + receiver), informatics – информатика
(information + electronics). The scientific and technical texts, the abbreviations
of two types:

1. Text (copyrights), which operate only within the text; text (copyright)
reductions are explained in the text or presented in a separate list of
abbreviations in the text.

2. It is generally accepted that recorded in the official handbooks and are part of
the lexical system.

Reduction of the use of long-word and multi-word terms is the result of the
current trend, resulting in the creation of user-friendly pronunciation, reading
and perception of terms, acronyms.

Currently, there are three major trends acronyms translation into Russian:

Transliteration;

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Borrowing the acronym in its original form (a foreign language);

Adequate abbreviations of Russian terms.

When translating the acronym used transliteration if it is rewritten by means


other alphabetic system,

for example: English. DTIC - cond. «Dacarbazine» corresponds to the Russian


ДТИК «дакарбазин» (противоопухолевый препарат);

Eng. PPD - «purified protein derivative.» Corresponds to the Russian PPD -


ППД – очищенный от белка туберкулин.

Components initsializma not explained in Russian - borrowed the outer shell


and the meaning of the abbreviation as a whole:

English. LH-RF - «luteinizing hormone - releasing factor» corresponds to the


Russian ЛГ-РФ – «лютеинизирующий гормон гипофиза рилизинг-
фактор».This is a borderline case, when there is maximum approach to foreign
language writing a logical replacement letter «h» (hormone) with the letter «г»
(гормон).

The second trend is the translation into Russian acronym - it is their borrowing
in its original form,

for example: English. CCNU - «chloroethylcyclohexyl-nitroso-urea» (code


designation for lomustine) corresponds to the Russian CCNU - «ломустин»
(антинеопластический препарат);

Eng. LEC - «lupusery the matosuscell» corresponds to the Russian LE-клетка


– «волчаночная клетка».

This example can be considered borderline, because of the abbreviations


preserved in its original form, is often translated. The same can be said of the
following example with the only difference that the initial part translated

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abbreviations: English. LP-X - «lypoprotein X» corresponds to the Russian
«липопротеин X» – «аномальный липопротеин».

The third trend is the translation into Russian acronym - is the creation of an
abbreviation of the Russian equivalent terms, such as English. AA - «Alcoholics
Anonymous» corresponds to the Russian ОАА – «Общество Анонимных
Алкоголиков»; Eng. A / B - «acid-base ratio» corresponds to the Russian КОС
– «кислотно-основное состояние»;Eng. HDL - «high density lipoproteins»
corresponds to the Russian ЛПВП – «липопротеиды высокой плотности».

When choosing a method of translation must take into account factors such as
the ease of pronouncing and writing in Russian, translation of the acronym
tradition in other languages (if, for example, it has a universal writing in all
European languages), etc. Each approach has advantages and disadvantages, so
you should choose the most appropriate in each case.

The system cuts in any language is an integral part of its general lexical-
semantic system and, therefore, the system cuts in different languages
dissimilar. Quite different frequency of use of specific groups of cuts,
particularly in the English e.g. (exempli gratia),), while in the Russian language
is preferable to use in similar cases, "например". This shows that we should not
strive in each case transmit foreign reduction in Russian as reduced.

There are abbreviations, the translation of which causes difficulties, as cash


equivalents are equally common in both Russian and English languages, such as
VAT (value-addedtax).

Difficulties may be caused by the fact that a large number of acronyms


homonymous. Often a combination of the same letter can be decoded more than
two ways. For example, the abbreviation CAT has the following values:

1) computer-assisted trading (компьютеризованная торговля товарами);

2) corrective action team (группа, вносящая изменения);


77
3) capital acquisitions tax (налог на приобретение капитала);

4) customer activated terminal (терминал, активируемый клиентом).

Sometimes it is easy to choose the correct translation depending on the context,


but in addition to these values from different areas in the CAT has a few of
computer topics. Among them: computer-aidedtesting (автоматизированное
тестирование), computeraided tomography (компьютерная томография),
computer-assisted training (автоматизированное обучение) и computer-
aidedtranslation (автоматизированный перевод). Obviously, the context does
not always help to choose the right option.

There are four basic ways to translate abbreviations.

1. Transfer the appropriate abbreviation from the Russian language. So


translated recognizable common terms that will be understood by the audience
certainly without decoding, such as PC (ПК), CIS (СНГ) or UFO (НЛО).

2. Descriptive translation cuts its full form. This method is applicable in those
cases where the Russian language does not correspond to the concept, which is
an abbreviation that is inherent in the concept of just another country. An
example might be a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy), which we do not translate as
ДФ, but only as a «доктор философии», or B & B (Breadand Breakfast) -
hotel services including bed and breakfast.

3. Without transfers often leave international abbreviations. Especially many


such examples currently in the computer field: HTML, CDROM, DVD.

4. The names of political organizations and other companies often transliterate


as, for example,NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) – НАТО, UNESCO
(United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization) –
ЮНЕСКО, NASA (National Aeronauticsand Space Administration) – НАСА.

The copyright can be transferred abbreviations such reductions, but definitely


need to decrypt them at the first mention in the text.
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The structure of scientific and technical reduction can be divided into:

Alphabetical- B (bandwidth – ширина полосы частот); Е


(electricfieldstrenght – напряженность электрического поля); PP
(periferalprocessor – периферийный процессор); DOS/VS (diskoperating
system/virtual storage); ЯЯ – дисковая операционная система, реализующая
виртуальную память; Dwg (drawing чертеж, рисунок); tmtr (tr, transmitter)
– передатчик.

Syllabic - magamp (magneticamplifier – магнитный усилитель), magtape


(magnetictape – магнитная лента), preamp (preamplifier –
предварительный усилитель).

Truncated words - rect (rectifier – усилитель), app (apparatus – прибор,


аппарат), aut (automatic – автоматический), man (manual, manually –
ручное, вручную).

The letter (syllable) + word - сompole (commutating pole – вспомогательный


или дополнительный полюс), NC programming language - язык
программирования для систем числового программного управления).

The letters and syllables (syllables and letters): Abs E (absoluteerror –


абсолютная ошибка), Bur(of)Stds (Bureau of standards – бюро
стандартов), cirbkr (circuitbreaker – выключатель).

Alphanumeric: A1 A one) – перво сортный, PC (microprogrammable


computer – ЭВМ с микропрограммным управлением).

In English, there is a tendency to reduce every term. The Russian language is far
behind in terms of numbers of abbreviations: what is called the term in the
Russian language, the English abbreviation is transformed into:

LK «left kidney» - левая почка;

RK «right kidney» - правая почка;

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LN «liquid nitrogen» - жидкий азот.

Slower pace of abbreviation in Russian have their own advantages: there is less
difficulty in the perception of health information, and the translation appears
more chances to bring adequate information to the recipient.

Separation of abbreviations for the types to some extent arbitrary, since the
abbreviation -a phenomenon multifaceted and ambiguous. It is generally
accepted abbreviations split into three large groups: the graphics, lexical and
syntactic. The graphical abbreviations distinguish standard and well-known, but
limited functional scope of the semi-official medical records,

for example: T.S.T.H. «too sick to send home» – не полностью выздоровевший


для отправления из стационара домой; H.B.D. «has been drinking» – болен
алкоголизмом; G.O.N. «God only knows» – только Богу известно.

The obvious fact that if in writing sublanguage of medicine this class reductions
belongs to the category of graphics, in a professional conversation - a "lexical
abbreviations, which find wide application in essence no different from other
lexical abbreviations".

There is an interesting phenomenon that lexicalization graphical


abbreviation. At the same time she has a proper pronunciation or alphabetic (BP
«blood pressure» – кровяное давление, GP «general practitioner» – врач
общей практики, GB «gallbladder»– желчный пузырь, OD «occupational
disease» – профессиональное заболевание и т.д.), or a sound, resulting in
formation of acronyms (AIMES, JAMA - name of medical journals, and so on
etc.). Often the method of casting an alphabetical reflected in spelling design:
Bee-pee «blood pressure»; Geepee «general practitioner».

Such a shape, on the one hand, indicates held lexicalized of reducing,


eliminating reading abbreviations via decryption, and on the other hand, makes

80
it difficult to process the transfer, increasing ambiguity Current perception
abbreviations.

Thus, the broken-up relationship between content and expression. As a result,


the acronym becomes lexicalization 'own formative paradigm and is no different
in this respect from the usual words.

For example, OD - ODs «patients with over dosage of some drug» пациенты,
получившие передозировку лекарства.

We should not forget about the mixed type of lexical abbreviations, which when
translated become a polualfavitizmami or poluakronimami: : DDSO [di:di:sou]
«diamino-diphenylsulphoxide» – диамино-дифенил сульфоксид; TRITC
[tri:ti:.si:] «tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate» – тетраметилродамин
изотиоцианат.Another type is the mixed type token, where one component is
initsializm, the other - the full word: : H disease «Hart.sdisease» болезнь
Харта; L-dopaлеводопа.

Widespread currently receive omoakronimy, ie acronyms homonymous ordinary


words. HEAR «hospital emergency ambulance radio» – рация больничной
кареты неотложной медицинской помощи и tohear слышать; TOP
«termination of pregnancy» предполагаемый срок родов и a top наивысшая
точка чего-либо.

Omoakronimy often used for advertising effect, the psychological impact on the
recipient. Thus, they facilitate the work of the translator, prompting him to the
purpose of this object, pointing to its properties, etc. BEST «blitz electroshock
therapy» – электрошоковая терапия и the best – лучший.

When translating English medical abbreviations should primarily focus on the


branch of medicine which is used in the context of this reduction. This is
especially true for the homonymous cuts. It is impossible in the translation of
English acronyms do without medical terminology dictionaries, reference books.

81
It is noteworthy that the translation omoakronimov plays an important role
denotative meaning of the prototype, its connotative and stylistic nuances. There
will be a great help slang dictionaries, dialect. Thus, the term, we usually
visually perceived, for example, as an adjective herein is a noun, and is
translated as a noun.Choose an adequate reduction in the translation often helps
and the principle of analogy, when the determination of the unknown values are
used for constructing a model similar rate with known value. And, of course,
important role in the translation are the goals, objectives and conditions of cross-
language professional communication.

Often, an interpreter, and sometimes for writing, use of acronyms is a certain


complexity. Even with the use of well-known and frequently used abbreviations
may have questions.

For example, ECAC - European Civil Aviation Conference - Европейская


конференция по вопросам гражданской авиации (ЕКГА).

As this reduction to translate when translating - as stated in the dictionary - "


ЕКГА ", or as it often sounds even voice acting in Russian - " ИКАК "? Or AIC
- Aeronautical Information Circular - Аэронавигационный информационный
циркуляр (АИЦ) «АИЦ» или «АИК». Most likely, in the first and in the second
example a greater right to life are the first versions - ЕКГА и АИЦ simply by
virtue of the fact that they are correct.

In areas of use abbreviations can be divided into some pretty bulky aviation
activities:

The names of companies, institutions, conferences, such as: ICAO –


International Civil Aviation Organisation (ИКАО – Международная
организация гражданской авиации), ANC – Air Navigation Commission
(АНК – Аэронавигационный комитет), SCAA – State Civil Aviation Authority
(ГС ГА – Государственная служба гражданской авиации), EANPG –
European Air Navigation Planning Group (Европейская группа
82
аэронавигационного планирования – EANPG), RACGAT – Russian-American
Coordinating Groupfor Air Traffic /Control/ (Российско-американская
координационная группа по УВД – RACGAT).

As can be seen, even from a small amount of the above examples, English
acronyms have different transmission methods in Russian. So, although the
ICAO has translated into Russian, which also could be used as an abbreviation,
however, almost entirely in Russian (except for a pair of "C" - "K") is stored
transliteration.

The well-known and frequently used abbreviations used in flight operations, air
traffic management, etc.

for example: RVSM – Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (Сокращенный


минимум вертикального эшелонирования – RVSM), ATC – Air Traffic
Control (Управление воздушным движением – УВД), AIP – Aeronautical
Information Publication (Сборник аэронавигационной информации –
САИ/АИП), CNS/ATM – Communications, navigation,
andsurveillance/airtrafficmanagement (Связь, навигация и
наблюдение/организация воздушного движения), WGS-84 World Geodetic
System – 1984 (Всемирная геодезическая система – 1984).

And if the translation of speech does not cause practical difficulties, the
abbreviations are sometimes an insurmountable obstacle. So even a pretty
experienced translators are confused in Russian abbreviations УВД, ОВД,
ОрВД, often carrying a mistranslation, which results in a change of meaning,
loss of time and the emergence of confidence. УВД – управление воздушным
движением, т.е., ATC – Air Traffic Control; ОВД – обслуживание
воздушного движения, т.е., ATS – Air Traffic Service, а ОрВД – организация
воздушного движения, т.е., Air Traffic Management..

Technical reduce the most numerous and complex formation abbreviations.


Most often, they have to deal with in the translation, and it requires a time to
83
think and search. Search is likely to be everywhere - in the air and technical
dictionaries, by polling familiar, not very familiar and very strange people.

Interpreters are faced with messages AFTN and SITA, they know abbreviations
in them constitute a significant part of the text. They begin with the address part
consisting of eight letters in the record AFTN, and seven characters in the
format of SITA. AFTN, essentially being a network to coordinate on issues of
flight operations and air traffic services, uses a common and well-known cuts,
especially in the messages of Air Force :MVT – movement, FPL – flightplan,
ARR – arrival, DEP – departure, DLA – delay, AFIL – airfiledplan, CNL –
cancel, и т.д. Наряду с ними используются множество других, например:
ISO – insteadof, YR – your, ADZ – advise, FLT – flight, N – and, TKS – thanks,
BRGDS – bestregards.

SITA, the decisive mostly commercial work, in addition to the above have their
own abbreviations.

for example, ALL IN - all inclusive, EXCL - excluding, POS - positioning,


DEPOS - depositioning, CGO - cargo, PAX - passengers, etc.

When translating reductions must be considered that the Russian scientific and
technical and professional style abbreviated words are used less often and,
therefore, many British reduction is necessary to deploy full letter word.

The composition may include reductions in addition to the letters of additional


signs: points, oblique lines, etc. The presence or absence of a point in the
reduction, usually does not affect the reduction. Oblique line can perform
several functions:

 denote the boundaries of words and parts of words а/с – aircraft – самолет,
F/C flightcontrol – управление полетами);

 replace prepositions and conjunctions (L/A – lighterthanair – легче воздуха);

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 provides additional information to the main (DCS/0 DeputyChief of Staff,
Operations – заместитель начальника штаба по оперативным вопросам). In
parentheses is always some additional information to the main part of the
reduction. Hyphen usually denotes the boundary of words or phrases to
correlate.

Even the least these examples shows how care and attention should be
approached to translate abbreviations. Therefore, we can conclude that
abbreviations simplify life interpreter as much as and complicated.

Conclusion

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not


always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase.
The abbreviation is one of the main trends in development of Modern English,
especially in its colloquial layer, which, in its turn at high degree is supported by
development of modern informational technologies and simplification of alive
speech.

Having analyzed Second chapter the peculiarities of abbreviations in Modern


English we could do the following conclusions:

a) The problem of abbreviation in Modern English is very actual nowadays.

b) There are several kinds of shortening: shortening proper, blending,


abbreviations.

c) A number of famous linguists dealt with the problems of abbreviations in


Modern English.

d) The problem of abbreviations is still waits for its detail investigation.

Having a rich shortening vocabulary enables you to speak good and fluent
English. In order to understand, speak, read and write good English, one needs
to be skilled in them.

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Conclusion

Abbreviations are primarily of use in verbal English and informal written


content. There are no set rules as to how abbreviations are formed appropriately.
The English language has become more and more dominant and very popular all
over the world, over the years. It is far and wide spoken by people in many
countries. It is the most important language of the world. In order to have a
command over the language, it is imperative to incorporate the skills and that
includes abbreviations as well. The demand of these abbreviations has increased
tremendously. Abbreviations meanings are not very easily decipherable many
times. The meanings of some are a little complicated and hence they require
thorough study.

In First chapter we have reached the main aim, which we had researched in the
work: we distinctively explored the theme that we had analyzed and marked all
the ways and particularities, and gave the general characteristics to
abbreviations.

To reach our aim we have defined the functions of abbreviations; analyzed the
existing categorizations and types of the abbreviations; made the analytical
review of English abbreviations, and the new modern style of abbreviatians. The
theoretical part of the investigation which includes very interesting information
for students, self-studied can be recommended for widening vocabulary and
development of speech and knowledge of English language.

In Second chapter we analyzed the peculiarities of abbreviations in Modern


English we could do the following conclusions:

 The problem of abbreviation in Modern English is very actual nowadays

 There are several kinds of shortening: shortening proper, blending,


abbreviations

 The problem of abbreviations is still waits for its detail investigation.


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In Final conclusion we have reached the main aim, which we had researched in
the work. Having said about the perspectives of the work we hope that this work
will find its worthy way of applying at schools, lyceums and colleges of high
education by both teachers and students of English. We also express our hopes
to take this work its worthy place among the lexicological works dedicated to
the types of abbreviation.

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