PECULIARITIES AND DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSLATION OF PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC VOCABULARY FROM GERMAN INTO UKRAINIAN

Abstract

This contribution focuses on the professional psychotherapeutic vocabulary, its origin and development in Ukrainian, and, more specifically, on the significant influence of German concepts on the development of relevant professional vocabulary in Ukrainian. It identifies a number of specific features of such professional vocabulary, such as clarity and attachment to the profession, that is, the embedment of professional terms in a specific terminological system and their readiness for professional use. The quality that differentiates such terms from other subjects, concepts, or processes is accuracy. The vertical gradation of communication of speakers in the psychotherapeutic process, which involves internal communication of professionals with each other, communication of professionals with non-professionals, inter-professional communication, is explored. The development of relevant terminology, its dissemination and derivation from the source language into the recipient language, the impact of the source language on the recipient language, and the rules that such newly formed words comply with are analysed. Specifically, such derivation is possible in the form of transliteration, calquing, or partial derivation, and the translator may resort to the lexical substitution technique, that is, replace individual lexical items of the basic lexeme in the recipient language. The article further describes the specifics of professional vocabulary and the attributes that are common with and different from general vocabulary and explains the role of the translator in the psychotherapeutic process. Potential difficulties and typical mistakes that may arise during such translation are discussed, and ways for overcoming these difficulties are suggested. It also describes the adequacy and equivalence of translation, where adequacy refers to the source and final texts with reference to the purpose of translation.