OFFICIAL AND BUSINESS DISCOURSE THROUGH THE SCOPE OF TRANSLATION STUDIES

Abstract

The paper offers a comprehensive account of an official and business discourse as a highly regulated communicative realm characterized by precision, formality, and adherence to institutional norms. This study examines official and business discourse through the lens of translation studies, emphasizing strategies for achieving functional equivalence rather than literal translation. The evidence collected allows for a conclusion that rendering such texts from English into Ukrainian poses significant challenges due to differences in structural, stylistic, lexico-semantic, and grammatical features. Structural features such as the arrangement of permanent or temporary compositional elements remain unchanged in translation, as they pertain to the inherent organization of the text rather than its linguistic expression. Stylistically, both languages maintain formality, yet Ukrainian discourse demonstrates greater rigidity and reliance on standardized formulas, while English favors concise phrasing and modal politeness. Lexico-semantic peculiarities enclose terminological consistency, and set expressions, which demand careful selection of appropriate equivalents. Grammatical differences, that is sentence complexity, passive constructions, extensive use of modal verbs, tense choice, and nominalization, further complicate translation, necessitating syntactic restructuring – thus, require adaptation to the target language’s conventions. The research argues that successful translation of official-business texts depends on preserving legal and pragmatic accuracy, and stylistic norms rather than word-for-word rendering. By analyzing these features, the paper contributes to developing practical guidelines for translators, ensuring clarity, professionalism, and compliance with institutional standards in both English to Ukrainian and Ukrainian to English translation.