The role of the definite article in English and some ways to reproduce it in Russian translation

The paper deals with the ways of reproduction of the definite article in translation from English into Russian. The definite article has no translation equivalent in Russian; as a result, it is often omitted in translation. Thus, the meaning of a sentence gets distorted and the text coherence is broken. This is the reason why it is important to pay more attention to the article’s functions and the ways of its reproduction in translation when teaching English and translation theory to students. On the basis of analysis of scientific papers devoted to the topic we have identified the main function of the definite article, namely the denotation of a previously mentioned object. This way the definite article maintains the text coherence. In order to preserve this coherence in translation a translator must be able to choose the proper ways to reproduce the function of the definite article; this improves the quality of the translation and makes it easier for a reader to understand it.