Literary translation from English into Russian is a complex art. All its subtleties, of course, cannot be stated in one article. However, there are some simple rules that every translator should know.
Instruction manual
1
Decide what exactly will be the main thing for you in the source text. The translation, the purpose of which was to preserve the accuracy of the wording (for example, in popular science or philosophical work), is very different from the translation, the author of which sought to convey the poetry of the word and the melody of speech.
2
Be sure to use the dictionary. If the exact translation of a word is unknown to you, do not try to guess its meaning in context. Sometimes this conjecture may be correct, but more often it is erroneous.
3
English language rules require mandatory qualifying pronouns, for example, “He nodded his head”. In Russian, qualifying pronouns are used only when the situation becomes uncertain without them. The phrase should not be translated as “He nodded his head, ” but as “He nodded his head, ” or better yet, “He nodded, ” since the Russian verb already implies by which part of the body the action is performed.
4
Words of different languages, similar to each other not only in meaning, but also in sound or spelling, are called "friends of the translator." However, “false translator friends” are much more common: words that sound or are written similarly, but mean different things. For example, the word babushka, borrowed by the British from the Russian language, is translated into Russian by no means as "grandmother, " but as "headscarf."
In the public domain you can find whole dictionaries of "false friends of the translator." Check with them whenever it seems to you that a particular English word is similar to Russian.
5
In those cases when the dictionary gives several meanings for an English word, specify the final version according to the context. For example, the adjective Caucasian may also mean "Caucasian, Caucasian", and "Caucasian, Caucasian."
Similarly, the adjective Georgian, as the context requires, translates as “Georgian, ” “located in the US state of Georgia, ” or “dating from the era of King George in England.” In the latter sense, it is often used in relation to the style of furniture.
6
In English literary works, very often several synonyms are used together to enhance meaning. For example, in the exclamation “I hate you, I abhor you!” the verbs to hate and to abhor mean "to hate." Translating such phrases, you can, depending on the context, use the same Russian synonyms or rephrase the sentence, preserving its intonational coloring.
7
It is sometimes difficult for a translator, especially a beginner, to keep in mind the context of several sentences, and even more so paragraphs. Therefore, be sure to re-read your work in order to identify and correct stylistic and factual errors: repeating the same words, translating without taking into account previous events, etc.
note
BOOKS (BOOKS). This section contains works in English with parallel translation. Choose a piece
Useful advice
In this section you can download parallel books in English and Russian (bilingua) for free. Stories / Stories - O'Henry (242.11 KB). With Morning Comes Mistfall, George R. Martin defeats the fog. Translation by Sergey Andreevsky (54.88 KB).
