Peculiarities of English Translation of “Yaroslavna’s Lament”

Abstract

The article presents a general view of the problem of translating ancient Ukrainian texts into English. The relevance of the problem is determined by such factors as: first, history and modernity are closely interconnected, therefore, the study of historical memory is useful for any nation; second, the current historic situation arouses considerable interest in Ukraine throughout the world; third, the work such as “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is a certain challenge for the translator, since the text is loaded with interesting linguistic units that require the use of various translation transformations; fourth, the features of the translation of this work have not yet received full coverage in the theoretical literature. A brief analysis of recent research works related to the problems of translating ancient literature indicates that scientists have considered a number of interesting issues in this area, but the spectrum of various problems is very wide, and there is room for working out previously unresolved issues. The purpose of the article is quite specific – to analyze the features of English-language translations of such a well-known passage, which has long been perceived as a separate work – “Laments of Yaroslavna”. To achieve this goal, it is advisable to solve the following tasks: to accumulate factual material for comparative analysis; to review the current state of scientific study of English-language translations of “The Tale…”; to identify linguistic units of the original that require special attention from the translator; to compare their translation options, highlighting finds and losses. The material for the study is the existing translations of “The Tale…” into English. Almost every linguistic unit of this text requires translational reflections and adequate solutions, but attention is focused on certain groups of translation problems, namely: 1) nominative solutions; 2) stylistic means; 3) archaic vocabulary and historical realities. It was determined that the main means of translation of onomastic units are transliteration, transcription with elements of descriptive translation. The translation of stylistic devices (addresses, personifications, epithets) was carried out close to the original text, the use of various suffixes was observed. The translation of realities was also carried out close to the text, but it should be noted that the essence of some of them remains uncertain, for example, Khin arrows, which is broader than a purely translation problem. We see the prospects of the study in conducting a translation analysis of other significant parts of the work “The Tale of Igor's Campaign”.