SCHOOL MATTERS
Cultural aspect as a barrier in the translation of poetry from Russian into English
In memory of Alik Vagapov . Translating Poems from Russian into English takes much effort . One has to preserve the original form and rhyming pattern . Listen to this ! In the Van , Samuel Marshak A lady sent in the van : A bag , A box , A divan , A hamper , A sampler , Some books , And a wee little doggy named Snooks . My hypothesis is The translation process is not a simple replacement of units of one language in other language units . There is a barrier – it is a cultural aspect . I want to prove me hypotheses by Expressive visual language features in the original and translated version . Esenin became а legend , and he is still one of the most beloved poets in his country . Sergei Aleksandrovich Esenin was born in Konstantinovo into a peasant family of Old Believers . Already in his childhood , he started to compose verse . Esenin ’ s first verse were published in the Moscow journal Mirok in 1914 Let ’ s refer to the translations of poems by Sergei Yesenin . They were made by a linguist interpreter from Pskov Alik Vagapov . О верю , верю , счастье есть ! Еще и солнце не погасло . Заря молитвенником красным Пророчит благостную весть I do believe in happiness ! The sun has not yet faded . Rays Of sunrise like a book of prayers Predict the happy news . Oh yes ! I got acquainted with this great man and interviewed him . I was glad to hear some advice and answers to interview questions . It helped me with my work . Alec Vagapov ’ s Interview . On line Interview by Anastasiya Golubinets Anastasiya : Are Russian poets really well known in the world ? Alec Vagapov : Yes , some of our poets are really world famous . Everybody heard of Pushkin , Esenin of course , and many people outside Russia know YevgenyYevtushenko and Andrey Voznesensky . Anastasiya : How did you come to translating poetry ? Alec Vagapov : It all started with my discovery of Vladimir Mayakovsky at the age of 16 when I caught sight of a collection of his poems at the city library . Anastasiya : You have translated a lot of poems by Sergei Ecenin . What do you think of him ? Alec Vagapov : I think he is great . He is undoubtedly among the greatest poets of the 20th century Anastasiya : What are the criteria of selecting a poem for translation ? Alec Vagapov : I think it ’ s only natural that I should translate poems that appeal to me . Sometimes I choose a poem , which , I think , is representative of a particular poet . Say , poems like ‘ the City Romance ’ or ‘ Saying Good-bye to the Mountains ’ couldn ’ t have been written by anybody but Vladimir Vysotsky . Or the ‘ The Antiworlds ’ is definitely Vosnesensky ’ s piece of work . Anastasiya : What are your plans for the future ? Are you going to continue your creative work ? Alec Vagapov : No , not until I find something interesting to translate . Something to my liking or something I think has to be translated . Anastasiya : You read my translation , what will you say , what advise can you give me ? Alec Vagapov : The techniques of writing poetry are not unlimited , after all . Sometimes it is impossible to say who the author of a particular poem is . I will give you two poems to read , one by Byron and one by Shelly , and you won ’ t say who is who because it is impossible to
24 LINGVA PLUS / № 1 , 2016 judge a poet by reading just one poem . But there are ways and means of making your poetry unique and original , and only gifted and talented poets manage to do it . I wish you great success and patience in your work ! I took the following verses for study « Не жалею , не зову , не плачу » (« I do not regret , and I do not shed tears » « Не гляди на меня с упреком » (« Don ’ t you look at me so reproachfully »), « Отговорила роща золотая » (« The golden birch-tree grove has fallen silent »). Esenin ’ s lyric poetry is rich in its mental expression , sincerity , humanity , conciseness , painterly images . One of Esenin ’ s basic laws of the world is universal metaphors People , animals , plants , elements and objects are children of the mother nature . For example , there is a pink horse image in the poem « I do not regret , and I do not shed tears ” . This is a mythological , symbolic Image . It is near the poetic parts of the earthly world (« белых яблонь дым », « страна березового ситца », « весенней гулкой ранью ») A Pink horse is a symbol of the sunrise and spring . In the poems of the poet we can found a metaphor («.. не обгорят рябиновые кисти ...»), epithet (« Отговорила роща золотая , impersonation ( «... о всех ушедших грезит коноплянник ...»), graduation (« Не жалею , не зову , не плачу ...»), antithesis
(« Что пришло процвесть и умереть ...»), comparison («... всё пройдет , как с белых яблонь дым ...»), rhetorical exclamation («... буйство глаз и половодье чувств !...») and treatment (« Дух бродяжий ! Ты всё реже , реже ...»), anaphora
(« Не жаль мне лет , растраченных напрасно , Не жаль души сиреневую цветь ...»). There is a barrier here . It is a cultural aspect . It is difficult to convey tracings , literary onomastics , nonequivalent vocabulary , occasionalisms . First of all , Russian and English poetry differ rhyme , rhythm , word order , lexical units . Translation of poetry , of course , is creative . One of the techniques that helps the interpreter , is transforming . Transformations in translation are modification of language , style theme , the original in the translation . There are the following transformations : Techniques of lexical omissions . (« Не жалею , не зову , не плачу » - « I do not regret , and I don ’ t shed tears », - « Я не сожалею и я не лью слёз »). In this case the element is omitted , « не зову ». Techniques of lexical additions . In some cases the translator may need to enter some additional words « Отговорила милым языком » - «... has ended its lovely chatter in the prime of fall » (« закончила свой милый разговор в середине осени »). Сoncrete definition . Replacing the word , which the original language is quite lengthy meaning of a word with a specific value « Словно я весенней гулкой ранью » - « like early in the morning » (« как будто рано утром »). Compensation . This is a replacement occasionalisms , phraseologisms , metaphors similes synonymous language translation . « Не гляди на меня с упреком » - « У которой глаза-голубень » переведен прилагательным « голубоглазая » - « so beautiful blue-eyed maid ». Techniques of Synonyms . When lexical items are translated not exactly synonymous but replaced . « Отговорила роща золотая » переведена как « The golden birch-tree grove has fallen silent » (« золотая березовая роща молчит »). In transfers to some extent there are trails that are equivalent to or different from the original tropes Comparison . («... all , like haze off apple-trees , must pass ...» (= Всё , как туман с яблонь , должно пройти ...), эпитеты («... the golden birch-tree grove ...» (= золотая роща ). ( Ты лишь отзвук , лишь только тень - You are only an echo , a shade ). Sergei Yesenin used the whole arsenal of expressive pictorial