Ukrainian and Russian translation as a notion and subject
V. Korunets
Translation as a term and notion is of polysemantic nature, its common and most general meaning being mostly associated with the action or process of rendering/expressing the meaning/content of a source language word, word-group, sentence of passage (larger text) in the target language (Ukrainian or Russian) or with the result of the process/action of rendering. In other words with the work performed by the translator. "Translation" is also used to denote the subject taught or studied, the examination in the subject. "Translation" may refer to the title of the manual/theoretical work on the subject. Besides, the Romanization of proper nouns, geographical names, different internationalisms, etc., when Latin letters are used to convey the Russian and Ukrainian nouns, verbs, adverbs is "translation" to. "Translated" in this way, i.e., transliterated with the help of Cyrillic letters are many English and other foreign names and different terms.
No less ambiguous is also the term "interpretation" which is synonymous to "translation" and is used to denote the way or manner of presenting the idea of the work in translation orally (as well as its aesthetic, religious, political, pragmatic background and other qualitative characteristics of the work under translation). These may be artistic, genre and stylistic peculiarities rendered by the translator in his particular way, which is somewhat different from that of the author's. The thing is that "interpretation", unlike "translation", admits some more freedom of the translator in hi treatment (at least in certain places or cases) of the matter under translation. Hence, the existence of free versifications and free adaptation which are rightly treated as new creations. To the latter belong the famous free interpretations of Virgil's Aeneid in Ukrainian by I.Kotlyarevskyi or I.Franko's free adaptation of the German work Reineke Fuchs, and many others both in our national literature and in world literature. Practically "adapted" (thought in a peculiar way and with the highest degree of faithfulness, i.e. interpreted according to our national literary tradition), are also Shakespearean masterpieces, Byronean writings and many other poetic and prose works. Consequently, "interpretation" may denote apart from the oral method of translation to Russian and Ukrainian also a peculiar, pertained to a master of the pen and characteristic of hiv, as well as the only way of presenting a prose or poetic work in translation. ("Interpretation" may also denote the style of a peculiar translator and his way of presenting a particular literary work).
Apart from the two mentioned above, there are some other terms in the theory of Russian translation which may seen ambiguous to the inexperienced student. These usually common terms are: accurate or exact translation, faithful translation, faithfulness of translation, fidelity of translation, equivalent translation, free interpretation, free adaptation, free interpretation, consecutive interpretation, off-hand translation, rehash, sight translation, simultaneous translation, rough translation and some others.
Each of the above-mentioned terms may be understood and interpreted differently. Thus, "free translation" may mean both "free translation", "free adaptation" and sometimes even "lose translation". Similarly with the terms and notions as "faithful translation" and "equivalent translation" which are synonymous if not identical by their general meaning thought not without some difference between them. The term "faithful translation" is used to denote the highest level/degree of rendering the denotative or connotative meanings of words, the sense of word-groups and sentences, the content, the expressiveness, picturesqueness and the pragmatic subtext of passage or works of the target language. The term "equivalent translation" is nowadays practically used in the same meaning as "faithful translation" with one exception only: it also includes the necessity of quantitative and qualitative representation of all constitutive parts or elements of the source language units in the target language. Consequently, a "faithful translation" very often means the same as "equivalent Russian translation" which can be best illustrated on single words, word-group or sentences.
Equivalent can also be considered the translation of the following English sentence which maintains in Ukrainian its main constituent parts, its content, expressiveness and picturesqueness.
In regard to the afore-said, there can be no equivalence but only faithfulness in the translation of such and the like English language. The term "translation" is used even to denote purely functional substitutions which have absolutely nothing in common with any expression of meaning of the source language sense units in the target language.
Similarly "translated" i.e. functionally substituted are different Russian and Ukrainian metaphorically used nouns, verbs and set expressions.
