Articles

The article takes into consideration the problem of translating humor in fiction. Regarding the cultural and subjective nature of humor, the author asks the following question: is it possible to translate humor and recreate the effect caused by the original text? The article investigates the Cairo Trilogy (1956–1957), a novel and a family saga by Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006), one of the most widely recognized Egyptian authors and a laureate of the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. The novel follows the life of a bourgeois Cairene family ‘Abd el-Gawwad in the early 20th century. The source for investigation is the original text of the novel written in Arabic and its French translation made by Philippe Vigreux (1985, 1987, 1989). The methods are strictly connected with the concepts of dialogism and intertextuality. In an attempt to answer the questions posed, the author considers such aspects of the problem as the effect of the original text and its reflection on common cultural knowledge in humor in order to show some limitations of translation and its ability to recreate humor in free forms. As a result, there have been found such translation tendencies as an explanation of a joke by giving a note; giving a note without explaining the humor; loose inserts by the translator that create humor effect in such fragments where it does not exist in the source text, etc. The author concludes that, despite the fact that the humor effect in the translation is not fully recreated, sarcasm and humor are transmitted “correctly” throughout the text. Here are the questions for further discussion: is it necessary to explain everything? What are disadvantages of giving notes? Are there universally fun things?

Original article: Mansour L. (2010) Traduire l’humour dans La Trilogie de Naguib Mahfouz: La traduc- tion toutes tendances confondues. Idioma 20, Transhumoresques, Bruxelles, Belgique, pp. 113–129.

Translated by Yulia Bogdanova. Institute for Asian and African States, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia. For contacts: jul.bogd1111@gmail.com

Situationality is one of the seven characteristics of discourse proposed by De Beaugrande and W. Dressler. A great deal of practice shows that situationality plays an important role in influencing the interpreting activity, including the subject and object of the interpreting, listening, comprehension, reorganization and output of the information, etc. A successful translation of a text must seek the closest interpretation to the source text based on the linguistic context in which it was produced. This paper will start with the situationality, argue for the necessity and possibility of using the discourse situationality to analyze Russian-Chinese interpretation, and propose corresponding interpreting strategies through specific case studies in order to improve the quality of Russian-Chinese interpretation, accumulate experience for interpreting training and make certain contributions to the relevant interpretation work.

Nowadays there is a significant number of video games are represented on the market of videogame software products, text materials of which contain archaic lexis. The aim of this paper is to analyze and interrogate the sources of archaic lexis in videogames, as well as to establish the main ways of the translation in localizations in other languages. Typological and comparativehistorical methods, as well as contextual analysis, became the main ones for this study. The article contains examples of videogame software products that have the most frequent types of archaic lexis with a different basis, and also states videogame setting as one of the main sources of archaic lexis. As a rule, the setting of a videogame software product is a determining factor for the usage of certain types of lexis, including archaisms. The videogame setting, being a reflection of the ideas of the developers, carries information about a specific time period or a religion which determines the plot of the videogame. In addition to the setting, an important role is played by the style guide of the text materials, which contains instructions on the use of archaic lexical units that meet the requirements of the setting. The localization of archaic videogame lexis contains significant challenges even for experienced videogame localization industry workers. According to the results of this study, there are several ways to localize archaic lexis. Among these methods, direct borrowing of a lexical unit, as well as transliteration and transcription, stand out. The choice of an appropriate method of localization of archaic lexical units directly depends on the source of such vocabulary, which, in turn, becomes the religious and historical-traditional component of the videogame setting. As a rule, archaic lexis that has a religious basis underneath, the most common localization method is direct borrowing from sacred texts. At the same time, vocabulary typical of a certain era or the traditional way of any geographical region is most often transliterated or transcribed when translated into other target languages.

With the development of translation studies, different approaches to its study emerged. Ecotranslatology is a new approach in Chinese translation studies proposed by Hu Gengshen in 2001. It became the first unique systematic translation theory in China and this new attempt has opened up a new opportunity for the study of translation. Therefore, studying the similarities and differences between eco-translation studies and Western translation theories is of great importance for a deeper understanding of the true originality, advantages and prospects of ecotranslation studies. This article discusses the emergence and development of ecotranslation studies. A comparison is made between Ecotranslatology and Western translation studies on three grounds, viz. the translation process, the place and role of the translator in the translation process, and translation criteria. Various aspects of Ecotranslatology are analyzed, which makes it possible to determine which of them are borrowed from Western translation studies, and which are unique. The author uses a comparative descriptive method and a method of research analysis. The article points out some similarities that Ecotranslatology shares with the Western theory of translation, the manifestation of which may be associated with the historical factor in the development of the theory: the Chinese theory of translation for a long time lagged behind in its development from the Western translation studies and had a closed character. But due to the fact that Chinese philosophy has a unique character, completely different from the nature of Western philosophical teachings, Ecotranslatology is established under the influence of Chinese philosophy, Western philosophy and traditional Chinese translation thought and Western translation studies, so Ecotranslatology we study today also has a number of unique features that distinguish it from all currently existing theories in the science of translation. The article outlines new directions for the development of eco-translation studies.

The article introduces the emergence and development of Eco-translatology in China, examines its philosophical and theoretical basis, analyzes its applications and trends based on statistical data, covering the development of the eco-paradigm of translation research in China and the System model of Eco-translatology.

Since the beginning of the pandemic of COVID-2019, the interaction between China and Russia in the field of medicine has become more relevant than before. Medical terminology is becoming more and more important as a means and medium of communication. Medical terminology was fully developed within the framework of the modern paradigm of linguistics, and its own discourse system has been built under the guidance of the general theory of terminology. In the Chinese scientific community of translators, there is scarce research into ways of translating Russian medical terms. Only by adhering to certain principles and methods is it possible to achieve a good communicative effect when translating medical terms from Russian into Chinese. This article starts with the classification of Russian medical terms and discusses the difficulties and strategies of translating them into Chinese, which has certain theoretical and practical guidance. It also presents a certain theoretical and practical guidance on the translation of medical terms from Russian into Chinese for special practices. This allows terminologists, lexicographers and translators to effectively engage in scientific and translation work.

The article analyzes Information Technology (IT) vocabulary based on the material of the Uyghur language. The purpose of the study is to analyze the processes of IT vocabulary formation in the modern Uyghur language. The techniques and methods used in translation of IT vocabulary into Russian are also in the focus of the research. The lexical units excerpted from the Uyghur edition of Radio Free Asia articles have been taken as a material for the article. This study is the first of its kind to consider the issue of industry vocabulary formation, namely in IT, based on the material of the modern Uyghur language. The Uyghur language, which belongs to languages with an ancient written tradition, has formed an interesting phenomenon in the world of translation. Uyghur immigrants from East Turkestan migrate from China to Western Europe, the United States and Turkey, where the Uyghur language is spoken in an alien foreign language environment (except Turkey). Thus, the English language influences the development and functioning of the language. English is becoming a kind of standard in IT vocabulary formation. The authors analyze this phenomenon in the present study.

The article investigates the potential value of the Russian National Corpus in teaching translation between Russian and Chinese in the digital age. Being an important language resource and a powerful search tool, the Russian National Corpus could be an effective assistance for translation teaching based on the notion of digitalized education. The paper discusses specific ways to use the Russian-Chinese parallel corpus and the multimedia corpus of the Russian National Corpus in teaching translation between Russian and Chiense, and emphasizes the role of corpus in the development of analytical, critical and creative thinking among students in the process of translation teaching.

In recent years, translation training in Chinese universities has developed rapidly. With regard to teaching Russian interpreting, considerable progress has also been made, this can be reflected in the creation of textbooks. This article studies 15 Russian interpretation textbooks compiled by Chinese specialists in Russian over the past 20 years. Such textbooks can be divided into 5 types according to their content and functions: (1) a model focused on language materials on various topics; (2) a model focused on developing the skill of interpreting; (3) generic type model; (4) a model focused on language materials in a special area; (5) a model focused on preparing for “China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters” (CATTI). A description of the structure of textbooks and an analysis of their prominent features according to different types present the state and existing models of teaching Russian interpretation in Chinese universities. The result shows: (1) a certain system has been formed for teaching Russian language interpretation in Chinese universities; (2) textbook compilation is under development and follows two lines: language materials and interpreting skills; (3) among the five types of textbooks, one can choose an option in the process of teaching interpretation according to the purpose of training and the direction of training of translators in different universities; (4) of the two most typical interpreting textbooks, one covers relatively complete aspects of learning, whereas in the other texts take into account the peculiarities of oral speech and offer specialized knowledge.

The article outlines some reflections, findings and hypotheses after comparing synchronous face-to-face and distance ESP and Translation Studies teaching experience at technical and humanity universities before and during COVID-19 Quarantine, 2019–2020. The author offers several ideas for further discussion: distance learning has more benefits in ESP and TS teaching for particular students’ categories, specialties and subjects before face-to-face one, which reflects their different gender, psychology and behavior, technology skills and its availability, personal and group socio-cultural status, learning motivation, environment and other factors. Further research into the phenomenon is needed. The article suggests that it is not necessary for an educator with humanities or linguistic background to additionally learn a technical subject to teach efficiently technical and professional texts translation (at sight) or ESP and explains how a universal collaborative approach, such as collaborative wiki didactics, could assure that. The author considers it necessary to train all categories of students how to use Neuro Machine Translation (NMTs) for ESP texts translation and to obtain post-editing skills. The article mentions the importance of blended pedagogical methods in modern hybrid society; the perspectives of flexible and universal collaborative approaches in face-to-face, blended distance education.

The article is devoted to one of the most pressing language problems affecting the French language, namely calculus. The classification of cripples and their features is considered. Of special relevance is the question of the most harmful types of cripples that can have a negative impact on the state of the French language. According to linguists, the most destructive types of cripples are, above all, syntactic ones, since they can change the very structure of the language, i. e. its basis. However, over the past decades, their numbers have not increased enough to cause concern; nevertheless, caution should not be lost. No less serious is the question of semantic calculus, the number of examples of which causes some concern in view of the increase in the intensity of the appearance of new examples of their functioning in modern French. Based on the available data, it is concluded that it is necessary to continue the study.

The relevance of the paper is determined by the need to examine the features of PR abbreviations translation. At present, with the predominant role of English as the lingua franca, the role of translation is undeniable. Big Data require fast and high-quality translation of professionally-oriented information into many languages. This brings about the necessity to improve the quality of education of translators in the field of professional communication. One of the most popular professions is Public Relations (PR) councillors.

The research material comprises English PR abbreviations, functioning in English press releases. PR abbreviations are constantly updated, causing difficulties for PR abbreviations-neologisms translation.

The objective of the research is to highlight the most important issues related to PR abbreviations translation, as they are of particular difficulties for rendering into other languages due to the lack of PR abbreviations dictionaries.

The methods used to achieve the objective of the article, include the method of continuous sampling; the method of linguistic observation; the method of conceptual analysis; the method of distributive analysis and the method of comparative analysis of English and Russian abbreviations.

Results. The analysis of PR abbreviations translation has demonstrated the absence of universal strategies. PR abbreviations are transmitted into Russian by means of transliteration, calque, barbarisms, as well as hybrid strategies accompanied by interpretation.

Conclusions. The absence of a PR terminological base, as well as the entire conceptual apparatus in this field, requires introducing special algorithms to overcome the difficulties of PR abbreviations translation. The particularities of PR abbreviations translation are revealed. The article makes a certain contribution to the theory of translation.

The phenomena of intercultural asymmetry in the English version of “Navruz-name” by Omar Khayyam are analyzed. The asymmetry of grammatical features in the original text and in the translation are determined. The study of intercultural asymmetry in this paper is carried out from the perspective of intercultural and interlanguage features, confirmed by a lot of scientific examples and facts. It is established that the translation of culturespecific concepts, non-equivalent vocabulary, culturemes and other lexical units is carried out incorrectly. Special attention is also paid to the phenomena of interlanguage asymmetry in the lexical and grammatical aspects.

The author comes to the conclusion that in most cases the translation requires editing, there is an asymmetry of grammatical categories, syntactic constructions and phrases, nominal, verb and adjective phrases with English equivalents. Based on a comparative analysis of the Russian and English translations of “Navruz-name”, it can be argued that the English translation was made from the Russian version of the work.

The article aims at studying toponyms from the perspective of dialogue of cultures. It particularly focuses on the characteristics of Russian urbanonyms, used in the territory of France, as a special linguistic and cultural phenomenon whose role is essential both for linguacultural and translation research. This study is important due to the need for understanding and evaluating the impact of Russian culture and history on the French toponymic system. The research analyzes the concept of the term “urbanonym” within the toponymic terminology, identifies and systematizes Russian-language geographical names used in the territory of France. The urbanonyms were then classified according to the types of geographical objects as well as the territorial units and their semantic meanings. The research concluded that Russian urbanonyms are used for naming a variety of French urban objects (streets, bridges, restaurants, squares, museums, monuments, churches) and are culturally marked. The use of these urbanonyms implies deep links between the concepts of Russian culture and those of France. Thus, these concepts not only deliver a special meaning but also mark their native culture and indicate its integration into another.

The article dwells on an alternative approach to doing written translation powered by speech-to-text software. Triggered by a new trend in the professional community around the globe, it is mostly about replacing manual typing with a faster dictation coupled with special speech recognition technologies. The researches note that this entails swapping written translation with sight translation, a move fraught with greater difficulties due to time limitations and simultaneous perception, processing, translation and output of the target text. The paper focuses on major cognitive processes engaged in both types of translation. This has gone a long way in establishing hallmarks of the alternative approach and figuring out ways of optimizing the most complex aspects in sight translation to tailor it for a phase in written translation, providing faster input of the target text. The ultimate test of the compliance of the target text quality with the requirements for written translation comes in the form of an experiment encompassing adequacy, equivalence and pragmatic adaptation, provided by the conventional and alternative approaches. Based on the analysis of the two types of translation and experimental verification of the prompted hypothesis confirmed the feasibility of achieving better performance without compromising the quality of the target text by replacing written translation processes with some of those employed in sight interpretation. Though the approach is suitable for both young and experienced translators, the latter have better chances of achieving higher quality and productivity. Major constraints on the way of specialists with limited practice are the lack of sufficient number of ready templates and clichés, poor terminology base, and inadequate sight translation skills. Further attempts to expand the study of the speech-to-text powered approach to written translation may include dictation strategies and integration of the tool into the suite of modern translation software.