FEATURES OF TRANSLATION OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTATION: SOCIOLINGUISTIC ASPECT

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of theoretical and practical aspects of the translation of official business documentation, in particular international contracts, in the context of English-Ukrainian communication. As part of the work, the main grammatical, lexical and stylistic features of English-language business documentation, which is the object of professional translation, were identified. It was also analyzed typical difficulties in reproducing of its terminology in Ukrainian. Particular attention was paid to modal constructions, the syntactic structure of contracts, clichéd expressions, as well as stylistically neutral elements. The article systematizes typical translation transformations used in the translation of business documentation terminology, especially descriptive translation, modelling words and constructions after foreign patterns, transposition, semantic expansion or narrowing and functional substitution. It was analyzed the compliance of these transformations with the norms of the Ukrainian language as well as their role in achieving equivalence and adequacy of translation. Based on the material of contracts and legal acts, cases of polysemantic terminological interpretation and variability of translation decisions which are determined by contextual, stylistic and cultural factors are analyzed.It has been established that effective translation of business documentation requires not only mastery of language systems, but also knowledge of legal categories, the specifics of business speech, intercultural discursive norms and the ability to adapt syntactic structures in accordance with accepted standards. Key linguistic differences between English and Ukrainian are identified, in particular in the implementation of business style. It is also noted special role of the semantic specificity of the Ukrainian language in the translation process.It was summarized prospective avenues for further research including: analysis of English-Ukrainian translation of business documentation in the banking, financial and diplomatic spheres; study of cognitive, pragmatic and sociolinguistic factors influencing the translation decision; creation of a typology of transformations of legal terminology in any field.