UNIT ONE. LEXICAL COMMENTS.

 In English, as well as in any other language, there are rules of word combination.
There are lots of set word-combinations (attributive: historical experience; verbal –
verb-preposition-noun: to come down to history; verbal-adverbial: to date back to,
etc.). It is due to the semantic and syntactic rules of the combination of words. The
knowledge of these set expressions and their skillful application make the
interpreter’s work easier.

 The English words ‘nation’, ‘national’, ‘nationality’ have got several meanings and can
be translated into Armenian in different ways. For the Armenian-speaking people,
the most accessible meaning of the word nation is ազգ. Such translation is possible
and in a definite context is somehow correct. For instance, ‘nation state’ is translated
into Armenian as ազգային պետություն.

However, the word ‘nation’ is rather often used in the meaning of պետություն and can be
used both as a synonym to the word state and as its antonym. The second variant is
particularly peculiar to the American variant of the English language – in the USA the word
‘state’ is mainly used in the meaning of նահանգ, նահանգային, նահանգի վերաբերող ,
while ‘nation/national’ means ‘country’ on the whole (by the way not only about the USA).
In this meaning the words ‘federal’, ‘central’ are synonymous to ‘national’.

As a rule, the word ‘national’ is translated into Armenian as ազգային, but not in the
meaning of ‘belonging to the nation, to people’ . It is used to denote state, belonging
to/concerning the state/country. For instance, the phrase ‘national interests’ should be
translated as պետական շահեր, not ազգային շահեր, although the second variant is more
widely used.

The word ‘nationality’ in most cases means not ազգություն (although such meaning also
exists), but քաղաքացիություն, հպատակություն, while to express the national belonging
in English the terms ‘ethnicity’ or ‘cultural identity’ are used.

 There is a special category of words known as “translator’s false friends”. These words
have similar forms / spelling, but different meanings in two or more languages. For
instance, the English word ‘decade’ means ‘ten years’, ‘a period of ten years’, while the
Russian word декада means ‘ten days’.

The number of the “translator’s false friends” is rather big. Sometimes such English word
may have several meanings, one of which will correspond to the same Russian word. In this
case the interpreter should base upon the context and choose the proper/correct meaning,
not the most accessible. During the translating activity, the interpreter not always can check
the translation of the word consulting the dictionary. That’s why the interpreter MUST
know the most widely used lexical units from the “translator’s false friends”. Here are some
of them:

Sympathy, to sympathise – ցավակցություն, ցավակցել (more rarely these words are used
in the meaning of համակրանք, համակրել);

Rosary – համրիչ, տերողորմյա (in Russian there is a word розарий, цветник

(վարդաստան, վարդի ծաղկանոց), this word may have this meaning too);

Gas (gasoline) – բենզին, վառելիք (this word can also be used in the meaning of գազ, but
not very often. Pay attention to the fact that most cars don’t work on fuel gas and the
American doesn’t go to gas stations to buy gas as it was translated in one of the films.);

Minister – is not only նախարար, but also դեսպան, պատգամավոր and a clergyman /
priest – հոգևորական;

Notebook – in spoken English – means տետր, հուշատետր, ծոցատետր (while the

portable computer is called ‘a laptop’ which is translated into Russian / Armenian as ноутбук
/ նոութբուք);

Sodium – նատրիում (although in English there is another word with the same meaning –
‘natrium’, while in English սոդա is ‘soda’.);

Corral – փարախ, անասնանոց (while ‘coral’ is մարջան);

Band – երիզ, կապ, ժապավեն, besides it means a group of people, a musical group (but in
the meaning of ավազակախումբ there is a word ‘gang’);

Sausage – երշիկ (while in American English նրբերշիկ is ‘hot dog’);

Caucasian –սպիտակամորթ, եվրոպական րասայի ներկայացուցիչ (in the meaning of

կովկասցի is used very rarely).

 In English the dates are written in the following way: first comes the name of the
month, then the day/date and at the end stands the year. Pay attention that the word
year is not used:

May 9, 1945 - 1945 թվականի մայիսի 9

This rule is also applied in the digital writing of the date, i.e. when the name of the month is
replaced by its numerical symbol: 05.09.1945. In Armenian the same date would look like
09.05.1945. Mind that the Armenian-speaker reads the date in the following way: հազար
ինը հարյուր քառասունհինգ թվականի մայիսի ինը/իննին as in the Armenian format the
year stands at the beginning, then comes the name of the month and only after it the day is used.
Our digital writing may be interpreted by the English-speaking person as September the fifth,
nineteen forty-five. Sometimes for quick writing the contracted forms may be used: Sept. 10,
1994. While translating the dates, the interpreter should base upon the original text – English or
Armenian.

 In English there are special rules for reading the dates. To name the date the English
use ordinal numerals with the definite article and the preposition of to join the name
of the month: the tenth of October, ten sixty-six; or instead of the ordinal numeral
they may use a cardinal one without the preposition of: October ten, ten sixty-six. As
the word ‘year’ is not used with the date, the year has got a specific way of reading. In
case of double digit number, the year is read as it is: 25 – twenty-five. In case of a
three-digit number it is divided into two parts – the first number and the second and
third together: 540 – five forty. In case of a four-digit number the division is done
equally – two by two: 1985 – nineteen eighty-five. If there is a ‘0’, it is pronounced
[əu]: 2006 – twenty o six. The beginnings of the centuries are read as follows: 1900 –
nineteen hundred, 1400 – fourteen hundred. Only the year 2000, due to the
resolution of the UNESCO was read two thousand, thus symbolizing the beginning of
the third millennium. Today, most English-speaking people read the dates without
the of-phrase: February the tenth, twenty twenty-one.

 In English there are two possible variants of writing and reading the world wars:
WWI and WWII: World War One or the First World War and World War Two or
the Second World War.

 Remember the translation of the following geographical names:

the Middle East – Մերձավոր Արևելք (Միջին Արևելք)

the Far East – Հեռավոր Արևելք (If due to the context it is necessary to point out the
difference between the Russian Far East and China, Japan, Korea, the interpreter can use the
name Հեռավորարևելյան-Խաղաղօվկիանոսյան տարածաշրջան)

Middle Asia – Միջին Ասիա, Կենտրոնական Ասիա

Eastern Europe – Արևելյան Եվրոպա (սովորաբար ներառում է նաև Ռուսաստանի

Եվրոպական մասը)

Western Europe – Արևմտյան Եվրոպա

Latin America – Լատինական Ամերիկա

 When translating the aphorisms or quotes of famous people, the interpreter should
pay attention to the “idea” of the utterance, not its syntax. If most of the English
proverbs have their set equivalents in English, the same can’t be said about the
aphorisms, so the interpreter has to think over their translation, maybe doing it for
the first time. It is rather difficult, that’s why the interpreter needs to be very careful.
E.g. Lord Boyd-Orr’s aphorism “If people have to choose between freedom and
sandwiches, they will take sandwiches” should be translated as «Եթե մարդիկ
ընտրելու լինեն հացի և ազատության միջև, նրարք կընտրեն հացը». In this case
the word ‘sandwiches’ is translated as ‘bread’ as the Armenian-speakers consider this
variant more culturally motivated (compare the Armenian expression «աղ ու հաց»
and the Roman ‘panem et citcenses’ - «հաց և տեսարաններ»).