Искусство перевода

The Art of Translation into and from Russian

Translation theory (переводоведение) is essential at C2. Russian has unique challenges for translators — vast morphological flexibility, aspectual nuance, and culture-specific realia.

Core Translation Concepts

• Эквивалентность — not just word-for-word accuracy, but communicative equivalence
• Реалия — culture-specific terms (самовар, изба, белые ночи) that require adaptation
• Лакуна — when no equivalent concept exists in the target language
• Переводческая трансформация — deliberate shifts in structure, level, or form

The Russian Aspect Problem

Translating Russian verbs is notoriously difficult because aspect carries meaning English expresses differently:

• Он читал книгу (was reading / used to read — imperfective)
• Он прочитал книгу (read and finished — perfective)

English "he read" can be either; the translator must reconstruct context.

Famous Russian Untranslatables

• Тоска — longing + anguish + melancholy (Nabokov: "untranslatable in English")
• Авось — perhaps / maybe it'll work out (fatalistic optimism)
• Душа — soul (but far richer than English "soul")
• Ничего — nothing / it's fine / never mind (contextual versatility)

Translation Ethics

At C2, you discuss translation choices analytically:

• Сохранить колорит оригинала — to preserve the original colour/flavour
• Одомашнить текст — to domesticate the text (make it feel native)
• Очуждение — foreignisation (keep it feeling foreign)