Replacement of Effect by Cause and Visa Versa

In the translation process there are lexical replacements, based on cause-effect relations between notions. Thus, word or word combination of SL may be replaced in translation by a word or word combination of TL, which by its logical relations denotes the cause of action or condition denoted by a translated unit of SL. This transformation presupposes semantic and logical analysis of the situation described in the text and consists in semantic development of this situation (in Ukrainian the transformation is called “ значеннєвий (змістовий) розвиток ”. If the situation is developed correctly, i.e. if the original and translated utterances are semantically connected as cause and effect, the transformation helps to render sense and observe the norms of TL:

Mr. Kelada’s brushes… would have been all the better for a scrub (S.Maugham).

Щітки містера Келади… не відзначались чистотою.

It may seem that the translation “ не відзначали чистотою ” somewhat deviates from the original “would have been all the better for a scrub”. However, the literal translation “були б набагато кращими від чищення” is clumsy while “не відзначались чистотою” is quite acceptable stylistically and renders the idea quite correctly: why would they have been all the better for a scrub? Because they “не відзначались чистотою”. The example illustrates substitution of effect by cause: the English sentence names the effect while the Ukrainian variant names its cause. The opposite situation may also occur – when the cause is substituted by effect:

I not only shared a cabin with him and ate three meals a day at the same table… (S.Maughm)

…тричі на день зустрічався з ним за одним столом…

Three long years had passed… since I had tasted ale… (Mark Twain)

Цілих три роки я не брав у рот пива…

In these examples the English sentences name the cause while the Ukrainian versions contain the effect (I ate three meals a day at the same table with him, so “ Я тричі на день зустрічався з ним за одним столом ”; three long years had passed since I tasted ale, so “ Цілих три роки я не брав у рот пива ”).

Here are some other examples:

Below there are examples of inverse replacement of Cause into Effect:

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