Grace грация, и

In the above examples it’s impossible to give a word-to-word translation, hence one has to render these words, preserving the general idea but changing the formal image.

Descriptive translation - the meaning of one word in SL is rendered by a group of words in TL.

tollway - скоростная платная магистраль;
water-bed - кровать с матрасом, наполнная водой;
spacewalk - выход в открытый космос;
writing skills- грамотно выражать свои мысли на письме;
listening skills- умение слушать и понимать собеседника;
effective communicator - руководитель должен уметь общаться с людьми.
So we resort to the descriptive way of translation when we need to explain the meaning of the given word in view of the absence of the above phenomena in the TL.


Foot-notes and explanations are introduced into the text by a translator when without that it is completely incoprehensible to the TL reader. E.g.
strawberry shortcake doll – тряпичная кукла ручной работы, одетая в розовое платье;
cabbage patch doll - тряпичная кукла ручной работы, одетая в зеленое платье;
hawk - "ястреб" - политики, выступающие за агрессивность в политике;
dove - "голубь" - политики, выступающие за мирное развитие международных отношений.

One should notice that literal translation is inadmissible. This kind translation deforms either the SL text information or violates the norms of the TL. So the phrase Keep off the grass cannot be translated as Держитесь прочь от травы, here the translation По газонам не ходить will be adequate..

Also one should bare in mind that introducing specifically national phraseology of the TL into the translated version is utterly improper. Say, the translations of Dickens’ works by M.A.Shishmareva abound in the following expressions as "тятенька, ужо, инда, ась, батюшки!, и мы не лыком шиты, тю-тю, ай-люли ", which is totally unacceptable, since it corrupts the backgroung cultural information..