10. Unit of translation

translation unit - a unit in the source text that can be matched in the translation text, but the components of which separately do not have correspondences in the translation text.
The basis of the translation unit can be any language unit & # 61498; from phoneme to superframe unity (phoneme мор morpheme 8594; word combination # sentence-text (super-fold unity) - text).
A word as a unit of language turns out to be connected by systemic relations with other words of a given text (utterance), that is, it falls into a situational dependence or a number of dependencies on the conditions of the text. These dependencies are systemic in nature and constitute a hierarchy of contexts, from the minimum (adjacent word) to the maximum (all text).
- At the phoneme level, proper names, the names of newspapers, magazines, and the names of organizations are translated.
- At the level of morphemes - such words as: ski + er = skier.
- At the word level: lady - lady, lady, woman; translation of phraseological units, idioms (pass away, leave the stage, join the majority - die), as well as attribute constructions (solid fuel engine - solid fuel engine). Dear Sirs - Dear Sirs
- At the level of the sentence: proverbs and sayings: Time cures all - Time is the best doctor.
- At the text level - any sequence of language units. The text is characterized by integrity and completeness. Airlines - highway, road (in 19th century), idiot - priest dignity (in 15th century), jester (17-18th), idiot (19th-20th centuries)

If we consider the most important for assessing the source text types of contextual dependencies, then first of all we should include answers to the questions that & # 61503; where & # 61503; when & # 61503; like & # 61503; Another group of dependencies consists of answering questions about what is said & # 61503; (theme) and what is said & # 61503; (rem) The unit to be translated must be a higher level syntactic structure & # 61485; the whole sentence in the aspect of its actual division, the ways in which its functions often do not coincide in the English and Russian languages.
English speech allows such constructions when the rema takes the initial position in the sentence, whereas in Russian it is most natural to place the rhematically dependent components in the second part of the sentence. For example, & # 61498; The postwar of peace of mind is the postwar boundaries of peacemaking. The phrase (1) in the English sentence is a rem, that is, it answers the question of what is said & # 61503; Taking into account the theme-rhematic differences, the most adequate translation solution would be to change the sequence of components of the original sentence & # 61498; One of the most difficult problems in the conclusion of peace was to determine the post-war borders of Poland and the form of its government.
Establishing the status and parameters of the unit of translation, we divide the text into more or less large segments, from a single word to the whole episode, and sometimes to a segment equal to the text itself. The more a word retains contextual non-dependence, the more faithfully it is the minimum segment intended for translation. If the word contains more or less obvious signs of dependence on a minimal or wider context, then the translator must build an inline text unit that includes all or at least the most important of the dependent chains.
If a word depends mainly on the nearest context, then the basis for constructing a unit of translation is a phrase or a simple sentence that includes the given word.
If a word depends on several textual components, including those that go beyond the bounds of the sentence, then the construction of the translation unit is based on a complex sentence or episode.
If a word depends on a multitude of textual components, then the whole translation text must be at the heart of the translation unit.
If the word depends on conditions beyond the text, the translator should provide for the possibility of a cultural commentary or the creation of a new language unit by transliteration or tracing (in some cases it is possible to combine all of these methods).