Складно ! just as all writing can be divided into (a) fiction, the imaginative description of non-existent people and persons, and (b) non-fiction, the account of knowledge about the world, so translation, which is a dynamic reflection of human activities, can be divided into two categories, usually called literary and non-literary (technical, general translation, sachbücher or ‘thing-books’ in the german parlance). the first describes the sphere of the mind and of language, the second that of reality and the world. although most modern dictionaries (collins, new oxford, encarta – all described as encyclopaedic dictionaries) are crossing the divide, it is i think useful for the translator to retain the distinction between the dictionary, the word in small letters, the general object or concept, and the encyclopaedia, the capitalised name or title, the singular, the particular, the individual. the word can be translated (der tisch is ‘the table’), the name can only be transferred or ‘transonymised’ (venezia is venice is venedig is venecia is, believe it or not, czech benatky); for personal names, transference is normally the translation procedure to be used, since jan translated to ‘john’ would change the man’s nationality, negating the translation.