93
Issabayeva N. S., Togyspay D. Z., Mussina S. A.
TEACHING TO DEFINE, TO UNDERSTAND AND TRANSLATE
NEOLOGISMS IN PREPARATION OF STUDENTS
IN THE SPECIALTY “TRANSLATION STUDIES”
Центрально-Казахстанская академия, г. Караганда, Казахстан
Abstract.
This article is
devoted to teaching to define, understand and
translate neologisms in the preparation of students in the specialty of “Translation
studies”. The following questions are raised: the definition of neologisms in dif-
ferent explanatory dictionaries, the reasons of appearance of new words, the rele-
vance and the need for training translators neologisms in the preparation of trans-
lators in the field of professional communication; description of a phased list of
actions for understanding and equivalent translation of neologisms in well-known
texts. The article is provided with relevant examples of neologisms.
Keywords:
neologisms, teaching the translation of neologisms, translation
in the field of professional communication.
In any language of the world, new words appear daily that describe certain
phenomena of modern reality. Some words do not coexist in the language and
disappear after a while, when some words remain in the language for a long time.
It often happens that in one language a word has arisen and already describes a
situation, while in another language there is only a phenomenon, and the name for
it has not been invented yet. Such words have a place to be in the modern world
and are called neologisms. In linguistics, neologism is “a new word or expression,
as well as a new meaning of the old word” [5].
According to the Linguodidactic Encyclopedic Dictionary A.N. Shchukin
“neologism is a word or speech created to designate a new subject or
express a
new concept” [10]. By V. S. Vinogradov, “neologisms are new words or meanings
that are fixed in the language, which are called new objects of thought” [1], i.e.
new words not only appear once in the language, but functionally remain in it for
a while.
At the moment, the English language, like many other languages, is expe-
riencing a “neological boom”. A huge influx of new words and the need to de-
scribe them led to the creation of a special branch of lexicology – neology – the
science of neologisms.
A significant achievement in English lexicography and neology is the re-
lease of a four-volume supplement to the Great Oxford Dictionary edited by R.
Burchfield, containing more than 63,000 entries and more than half a million il-
lustrative examples” [2].
According to the statistics, tens of thousands of neologisms appear in de-
veloped languages every year, and specifically in English, according to R. Burch-
field, an average of 800
neologisms appear each year, which indicates the so-
called “neologism explosion”, “neology blowing up” [12] .
94
Nowadays, when humanity lives in a smart society, characterized by wide-
spread informatization, computerization, globalization, there are many such
words. Having passed the necessary stages of adoption in society and consolida-
tion in the language, and lexicography (consolidation in dictionaries and the na-
tional language corpus), they are included in the active vocabulary of the language
and replenish the supply of commonly used words.
The reason of the appearance of neologisms is mainly social and scientific
and technological progress: social
and political changes, the emergence of new
socio-economic concepts, discoveries and development in the field of science and
technology, and achievements in the field of culture. The main sign of neologism
is the absolute novelty of the word for most native speakers. The word is in a state
of neologism for a very short time. As soon as the word begins to be actively used
in everyday life, it loses the sign of novelty, and gradually enters the lexical sys-
tem of the language as a common language [13].
By their structure and method of formation, neologisms are represented by
several options. The most characteristic ways of formation of neologisms are
word formation (word composition, affixation, conversion, reduction), borrowing
from other languages and changing the meaning of words.
It is worth to agree with V. V. Lopatin [2] and note that modern neologisms
give the text/statement emotional expressiveness, semantic accuracy and expres-
siveness: “In order to be able to choose the appropriate
word-formation tool in
each case, you need to understand these tools well ... words expressing different
shades of thought and having different expressive colors, with the help of word-
formation tools themselves, they can give a positive, negative assessment of the
phenomena in question”. Therefore, if the equivalents of their words will not ap-
pear in the bilingual dictionary, it will greatly complicate their understanding and
translation.
In our opinion, the problem of defining, understanding, and translating ne-
ologisms is particular relevance in the context of the preparation of students in a
language university for a vocational training program in the specialty of “Trans-
lation deal”.
For a certain short period of time, it is necessary to provide quality training
for future specialists in the field of specialized translation, i.e. to develop students’
practical skills of professionally oriented translation in combination with a deep
understanding of complex linguistic phenomena, which include neologisms.
Prilipukhova Ya. A., an English teacher, writes in her article: “Practice
shows that one of the factors ensuring the success and effectiveness of the profes-
sional work of a modern employee is the ability to act confidently in a modern
information environment, receive, process and transmit professionally significant
information , the main source of which are authentic texts in a foreign language ”
[7].
Neologisms occupy not only the last place in the development of intercul-
tural competence among students, and also their adequate understanding leads to
95
an increase in the effectiveness of intercultural communication in the field of fu-
ture professional activity. E. S. Tarassova in her work noted that, “The most sig-
nificant reasons for the increased need for training in the translation of specialized
texts, usually containing neologisms, are:
• the rapidly growing growth of telecommunication technologies, leading
to the emergence of new words and concepts;
• the need for the exchange of specialized and scientific and technical in-
formation;
• high need for intercultural communication at a professional level;
• awareness of the need for mutual understanding, professional and scien-
tific and technical cooperation;
• search for ways and means of solving global
problems of professional
communication of specialists” [9].
Thus, in the preparation of translators in the field of professional commu-
nication, it is necessary to introduce practical tasks into the learning process based
on authentic language material and aimed at mastering the students' skills in un-
derstanding and translating neologisms. We believe that an adequate understand-
ing and equivalent translation of neologisms from English into Russian becomes
possible only after students learn how to create and form neologisms.
The problem of translating new words takes the first place in the list of
problems that translators face, because such words are not easy to find in ordinary
dictionaries and even in the latest specialized dictionaries.
There are several types of neologisms about which students should be in-
formed at the very beginning of the study of the lexical aspects of translation.
Neologisms are an important part of the everyday speech of native speak-
ers, as well as the media and public discourse. The results of our research showed
that teaching new words along with other lexical units in English in foreign lan-
guage classes has several advantages:
- it gives students the opportunity to practice English, which is spoken “here
and now”,
- it helps students to understand the new cultural experience of the English
language,
- speaking society and current trends of its development.
The teacher’s task is to summarize the vast linguistic experience in the field
of neologism studies and pass it on to students in a concise form, providing it with
“fresh” and memorable authentic examples from modern English-language pro-
fessionally oriented sources.
Every day in our modern world, new words are formed. That is why the
understanding and translation of new words carry certain difficulties, since not a
single dictionary in the current pace of life development can timely replenish its
lexical composition with neologisms. Perhaps one of the truly worthy resources
is the Oxford Dictionary [11], which monthly makes an attempt to register new
words with the publication of a review article. At the end of the year, this resource,
as a rule, publishes in open access a complete list of officially registered words
96
for the year.
How should a student deal with professionally oriented translation if he is
faced with neologism? Sometimes the context can help the translator, as well as
knowledge of the components of neologism. But most often this is not enough,
and the translator must possess other extralinguistic knowledge (for example, in
which particular situations a particular neologism can be used).
It is also important to note the responsibilities of the translator:
1.
In the literary text, he is obliged to recreate any neologism which he
meets, based on the neologism of the source language
2. When translating popular advertising, a translator can create a new word
3. He can convey the cultural word of the source language, if for one reason
or another he considers that it is important
4. The translator should focus on context in order to translate neologisms.
Neologisms are usually formed on the basis of words and morphemes that already
exist in the language. An analysis of these words and morphemes is an additional
useful tool for determining the meaning of neologism.
5. He must remember the rules of word formation.
After reviewing and analyzing the work of specialists in the field of trans-
lation (V. V. Lopatina, O. D. Meshkova, R. Yu. Namitokova, A. L. Pumpyansky,
etc.), theories and methods of professional education (T. G. Arkadyeva, O. P. Be-
laya, Yu. N. Dreshera, I. Yu. Sokolova, etc.), as well as our own experience, we
identified the main stages of working with neologisms in the process of forming
professional translation competence of future specialists. Below is a phased list of
actions that we use in teaching neologism translation in the training of translators
and which, in our opinion, can bring some benefit in the
process of translating
neologisms in specialized texts.
How to translate neologisms?
Dictionaries lag behind changes in languages. New words, figurative words
and phrases, slangs are introduced into the language so quickly that no dictionary
can and should not register them immediately. Indeed, the number of neologisms
appearing in the media during the year in developed languages amounts to thou-
sands. For example:
In English: schoolteacherly
The meaning in Russian language: student-payer (student who pays tuition)
Consequently, translators must figure out the meaning of completely new
neologisms, mainly based on the context (sentence, paragraph, chapter, or even
the whole document) in which neologism is used. Neologisms are usually formed
on the basis of words and morphemes that already exist in the language. An anal-
ysis of these words and morphemes is an additional useful tool for determining
the meaning of neologism. To do this, the translator must remember the rules of
word formation, in particular the following:
1. Giving words new affixes (that is, suffixes, prefixes and endings attached
to words / word stems to form new words), for example:
English: losingest, googling, telescam