Articles

In recent years, unprecedented growth of the demand for language services has brought many conveniences to the interpretation market, interpretation practitioners, interpretation educators, interpretation learners and interpretation customers, optimized the translation mode, improved the translation environment, accelerated translation speed and reduced translation costs. The application of interpreting technology represented by speech recognition technology brings convenience to interpreters and also puts higher requirements on the technical level of interpreters. We have noticed that there is still a large gap in the research into the use of the innovative interpreting technology in the field of Russian-Chinese interpreting. Therefore, this paper explores the feasibility of the technology to improve the quality of Russian-Chinese consecutive interpreting through contrast experiments. It is expected that our research results will be beneficial to the people engaged in interpreting work. 

Any human activity takes place within the context of limitations. Any translator, being a decision-maker, faces a constant challenge to overcome external (contextual) and internal (personal) limitations. Differences observed in translators’ decision-making behaviour under limitations are manifested in the time spent to make a decision, in the number of decision-making stages, etc. These differences come from both the translator’s personality characteristics and the degree of his or her awareness while acting under limitations. An unconscious approach to translation activity leads to increasing eff orts or to decision-making errors and, as a consequence, to a lower quality of translation. The translator’s task is therefore to be able to recognise external and internal factors limiting the decision-making process, and to choose an optimal strategy in each translation situation.

This report presents the results of an experimental study of translation as decision-making, obtained by the method of written verbalisation of the translation process. The types of limitations revealed in this study and the frequent errors coming from an unconscious approach to translation activity allowed us to come to conclusions that may contribute to improving translation didactics and, in general, to expanding the translator’s potential to achieve the best result possible.

 The article addresses English–Russian dictionary translations and their quality, specifically those translations offered by electronic dictionaries, in terms of their equivalence and acceptability in the target language.  The shared opinion of the authors, one of whom is a native Russian-speaking scholar in English Studies, while the other is a native English-speaking scholar in Russian Studies, is based on the belief that examples of inadequate dictionary translations should not be ignored by either translation market participants, or those with responsibilities for preparing future translators, since these cases may establish unacceptable translation precedents.  The relevance of these issues is due to the easy accessibility and enormous popularity of electronic dictionaries as a source of instant knowledge. Another reason why the quality of English-Russian translations in bilingual electronic dictionaries may cause a significant problem is that they are used, along with other resources, as corpora for machine translation software. Examples of dictionary translations are analysed in detail and contrasted against alternative and semantically divergent readings. 

The paper presents a scheme of a functional system of providing translation services. The scheme clearly shows the changes in production processes that are primarily related to translation executors. Previously, it was an individual translator, but now it can be a whole team working on the principle of crowdsourcing or a person using special computer programmes. The scheme reflects the lack of a sufficient number of regulatory documents with the help of which it is possible to identify the most effective forms of interaction for their further continuous use. Moreover, transformations in working conditions lead to changes in the cognitive activity of a specialist. The autonomous work of a single translator is completely different from collective work with other project participants or from interaction with digital technologies. Thus, the existing translation models are also questioned, thanks to which cognitive strategies and templates for performing translation tasks are set. The paper proposes an eco-cognitive model of translation which is based on the theory of distributed cognition and allows taking into account all the factors that affect translation decisions. The new information technology environment of the translation process, on the one hand, helps to reduce translators’ cognitive load due to the redistribution of intellectual resources between a person and a computer, but, on the other hand, requires a rapid development of new skills related to procedure knowledge in the process of using translation automation technologies. Thus, the current research focuses on the problems of the declarative and procedural knowledge ratio in the modern translation act with the use of specialized tools, as well as the issues of eco-friendly allocation of resources that contribute to reducing translators’ cognitive load and timely identification of factors that unreasonably increase the cognitive costs of translators. 

Relevance. The article is addressed to the changes taking place in the subject fi eld of translation, and the main prerequisites for the emergence of Ethnic Translation Studies as a new branch of the science of translation. The obvious ethnic vector of the 21st century humanities, due to the intensity and peculiarities of ethnic processes at the global and regional levels, and the urgent tasks of preserving the cultural diversity of the modern world dictate the need to develop a categorical apparatus and an appropriate methodology for ethnic texts (which traditionally contain cultural information and the memory of ethnoses) translation.

Aim. The paper considers the ethnological and Translation Studies foundations of the theory, practice, methodology and didactics of ethnic translation, which will ensure the training of an erudite translator, i. e. a successful mediator in cross-cultural communication at the global and local levels alike.

Methods. The identification of the prerequisites and foundations of Ethnic Translation studies is based on a general scientific hermeneutic approach. The experience of translating Siberian ethnic texts is considered from descriptive and prescriptive perspectives, thus making it possible to follow a universal methodological and heuristic principle of complementarity and accompanied by methods of scientific literature analysis, comparison, observation, as well as the case method.

Results. The translation history and examples of ethnic texts belonging to representative types of Siberian ethnic literature (the Yakut epic Olancho and Evenki fairy tales) allows us to consider ethnic translation as an important way of decoding and transmitting cultural information and memory functioning in the cultures of indigenous peoples; a way of preserving the cultural identity of indigenous Siberian ethnoses (primarily small-numbered ones); a tool for revitalizing and preserving unique languages and cultures in the modern world.

Conclusions. Ethnic Translation Studies as an integrative scientific discipline is designed to solve ethnological, cultural, philological and translation problems in modern humanities, which meets the challenges facing mankind.

In the paper a new syncretic polyvector construct is introduced into scientific circulation — the discursive-game paradigm of translation, which is an organic combination and complementarity of the translation classical methodology of regular language correspondences and both free and quasi-translation methods and techniques of rendering into the target language of the untranslatable, as well as an adapted socially ordered translated context, meaningless speech acts, etc. The paradigm is built on the concept of complementarity (functional complementarity) and has an open character, which allows to adequately build up the explanatory and resolving power of its theoretical and methodological base.

Since its emergence in human society, translation activity has always been closely linked to social development as its integral part. Political, economic and social conditions have obvious limitations that influence the concept and practice of translation; therefore, translation activities have a strong social dimension. In many translations, the translator not only plays the role of a medium, but may also carry out related editing and proof-reading work. The complexity of translation activities and the interactive nature of linguistic communication make the translator’s role in society as a social individual inevitably multifaceted. In commercial oral negotiations, for example, interpreters often play the following roles: messenger of information, mediator and facilitator of commercial matters, negotiation assistant and informant. An interpreter can be transformed into a reader, author, creator and researcher as required. Because language is a multidimensional collection of information, traditional translation is essentially equivalent to reproducing cognitive, communicative and artistic information. Language, culture and literature, which are closely related to translation, have social properties and therefore the study of the social nature of translation is very promising. The paper also considers machine translation as one of the technologies that take the place of auxiliary actors in the structure of translation activities, the further role of artificial intelligence and humans in translation, their interaction, and the changing social function of translation in this context.

Review of the study guide “Initiation à la traduction juridique — Introduction to legal translation” by Vera Ye. Gorshkova.

“The Power of Languages in Times of Crisis” Conference of the MoU network took place from May, 17 to May, 19 2021.

“Translation Studies Today: Translation and Competition of Intelligences.” The 6th International Conference took place on the 19-20th of March 2021.

The Innovation in Interpreting Summit took place from February 23, 2021 to February 25, 2021.

The article will analyze the possibilities of developing special scenarios for creating a learning environment through the use of digital platforms, as well as the degree to which the best display of pedagogical experience and following leading didactic principles are combined in the course of online Russian language training for future Chinese translators. In addition, the author draws the reader’s attention to the importance of inter­subject relations and identifies a number of unresolved issues related to the practice of developing skills and abilities in the field of foreign language communication in digital format.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence has created great opportunities and challenges for translation activities and set new tasks for the training of future translators. The elements covered by traditional translation competences need to be supplemented and improved in the era of artificial intelligence. Based on the Sino­Russian translation demand and translation practice, the article analyzes the changes that technology has brought to Sino­Russian interpretation. It is noted that the discipline “Translation from Chinese into Russian” in Chinese universities is mainly intended, first of all, for the era of human translation and is not adapted to the era of artificial intelligence. By combining various requirements imposed on translators in the field of artificial intelligence, we have developed a course aimed at developing important translation competences of future translators as native Chinese speakers, including the competence of post­editing from the native language into Russian. The article comprehensively describes and analyzes the model of the formation of this competence in the era of artificial intelligence.

The history of machine translation can be seen as a challenge to human thought and intellect from its inception up to the present day. Currently, four main types of machine translation are recognized: first, Rule­Based Machine Translation (RBMT); second, Statistical Machine Translation (SMT); third, Hybrid Machine Translation (HMT), which arose at the intersection of the two aforementioned types; fourth, Neural Machine Translation (NMT).

The history of machine translation has developed rapidly, with ups and downs, periods of inspiration and disappointment. However, according to M.N. Marchuk, the topic of machine translation will always be relevant for a number of reasons, one of which is people’s desire to know the boundaries of the impossible.

The technologies we use to translate information between languages continue to evolve. For example, Google Translator, Toolkit, Skype translate content into over 130 languages. Multilingual Information Search (CLIR) software (such as Google Search) allows users to search information in one language and get results in multiple languages at once. Social media platforms like Facebook provide instant translation of messages, so content that was once limited to a specific audience is now more accessible. While these digital translation tools certainly provide more options and resources for people who want to interact in different languages on the Internet, users can still face challenges. Digital translation software is developed using machine algorithms that primarily measure grammatical and lexical accuracy rather than relying on user experience research. Most modern digital translation tools operate on a translation­as­replacement model. Users enter a word or phrase in one language, select the desired target language, and click Translate. An equivalent word (or a set of equivalent words) in the target language appears on the screen.

The reliance on machine algorithms and the lack of user experience research conducted through digital translation have left large gaps in the capabilities of this software. To improve digital translation tools, we need to understand how users navigate the language on the Internet during their daily activities, as they incorporate cultural knowledge and localized experience into their translations.