Translating Popular Texts as an Educational Practice
Abstract
This article explores translation as a socially embedded, politically situated, and pedagogically transformative practice. Drawing on my experience as a translator-scholar and educator, I present a vision shaped through the translation of public-facing texts for Ukrainian online media. Translation is approached here as a form of intellectual intervention and civic engagement. The article is structured around nine thematic areas: translator motivation, professional competencies, the impact and reception of translation, subjectivity and agency in translational practice, community building through translation, institutional partnerships, thematic scope, the attribution of collective student translation, and the documentation of its outcomes. Since 2018, I have led the student research and practice group Written Translation in Action at the Department of Applied Linguistics, Comparative Language Studies, and Translation at Mykhailo Drahomanov State University of Ukraine. This initiative has resulted in the publication of over 400 student translations in outlets such as Krytyka, Commons, The Claquers, Experiment, and others. Translational work within the group helps students critically engage with diverse texts, participate in editorial processes, and contribute to public discourse. They develop linguistic and cultural competencies, conduct research, and gain experience with digital tools and publishing practices. Under wartime conditions, translation emerges as a vital means of shaping civic discourse, fostering intercultural solidarity, and promoting critical thinking. Partnerships with international platforms, particularly the German journal Demokratischer Salon, reinforce this vision by facilitating intercultural dialogue and connecting Ukrainian readers to global intellectual currents. As a cultural and political practice, translation contributes to the dissemination of values and the imagining of an inclusive future. It enables the building of solidarity-based communities and fosters connections across languages, cultures, and societies.
Downloads
References
Adelman, J. (2018, February 4). Shcho take hlobalna istoriia sohodni [What is global history now?] (Trans. from English by P. Shopin). historians.in.ua. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from http://www.historians.in.ua/index.php/en/dyskusiya/2387-dzheremi-adelman-shcho-take-globalna-istoriya-sogodni [in Ukrainian]
Asieiev, S. (2023, May 9). Facebook post. Facebook. Retrieved June 2, 2025, from https://www.facebook.com/stanislav.aseyev/posts/pfbid02s8KbnT3zxTXjKhEKiodRKfpefsfD4RRWk9SRxmZZ64qiKFSomNvjzPbYSbi8USBVl [in Ukrainian]
Asieiev, S. (2020). Svitlyi shliakh: istoriia odnoho kontsaboru [The Torture Camp on Paradise Street] (Trans. from Russian by V. Strakh). Lviv: Vydavnytstvo Staroho Leva. [in Ukrainian]
Barabash, Yu. (2020). Chuzhe–Inakshe–Svoie. Etnokulturne pohranychchia: kontseptualnyi, typolohichnyi ta sytuatyvnyi aspekty [The Foreign–The Other–The Self. Ethnocultural borderlands: Conceptual, typological, and situational aspects]. Slovo i Chas, 2(710), 3–32. https://doi.org/10.33608/0236-1477.2020.02.3-32 [in Ukrainian]
Bedrii, M. (2024, March 14). Chomu pravo ne isnuie bez yoho istorii? [Why law cannot exist without its history?]. Yurydychna hazeta. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://yur-gazeta.com/publications/practice/inshe/chomu-pravo-ne-isnue-bez-yogo-istoriyi.html [in Ukrainian]
Ben, B. T. (2018). Dzherela pozytyvnoi svobody v Ukraini: Intehratsiia idealistychnoho i materialistychnoho pidkhodiv [Sources of positive freedom in Ukraine: Integration of idealist and materialist approaches] (Bachelor’s thesis, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy; Supervisor: O. S. Yeremieiev). Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://ekmair.ukma.edu.ua/server/api/core/bitstreams/679b1f64-1111-48fa-808b-096536bab488/content [in Ukrainian]
Wengrow, D. (2019, March 25). Mista do vynyknennia derzhavy u davnii Yevrazii [Cities before the state in early Eurasia] (Trans. from English by P. Shopin). Commons. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://commons.com.ua/uk/mista-do-viniknennya-derzhavi-v-davnij-yevraziyi/ [in Ukrainian]
Verkhovtseva, I. H. (2021). Hlobalna istoriia: kontury doslidnytskoho polia [Global history: Outlines of a research field]. Vcheni zapysky Tavriiskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni V. I. Vernadskoho. Seriia: Istorychni nauky, 32(4), 139–146. https://doi.org/10.32838/2663-5984/2021/4.21 [in Ukrainian]
Horban, O. (2024). Demokratiia u hlobalnomu i natsionalnomu dyskursakh [Democracy in global and national discourses]. Visnyk Natsionalnoho yurydychnoho universytetu imeni Yaroslava Mudroho. Seriia: Filosofiia, filosofiia prava, politychni nauky, sotsiolohiia, 3(62), 143–157. https://doi.org/10.21564/2663-5704.62.310729 [in Ukrainian]
Horban, O. (2024). Kryterii otsiniuvannia politychnykh elit u suchasnykh demokratychnykh politychnykh protsesakh [Criteria for evaluating political elites in contemporary democratic political processes]. Visnyk Lvivskoho universytetu. Seriia filosofsʹko-politychni studii, 56, 195–202. https://doi.org/10.30970/PPS.2024.56.22 [in Ukrainian]
Ganeri, J. (2018, March 9). Derevo znannia – tse ne iablunia i ne dub, a banʹian [The tree of knowledge is not an apple tree or an oak, but a banyan] (Trans. from English by P. Shopin). historians.in.ua. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from http://www.historians.in.ua/index.php/en/dyskusiya/2428-dzhornadon-ganeri-derevo-znannya-tse-ne-yablunya-i-ne-dub-a-banyan [in Ukrainian]
Graeber, D., & Wengrow, D. (2018, May 15). Yak zminyty khid istorii liudstva? (prynaimni tu ii chastynu, shcho vzhe vidbulasia) [How to change the course of human history (at least, the part that’s already happened)] (Trans. from English by P. Shopin). Commons. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://commons.com.ua/en/yak-zminiti-hid-istoriyi-lyudstva-prinajmni-tu-yiyi-chastinu-sho-vzhe-vidbulasya/ [in Ukrainian]
Adelman, J. (2025). Viina obraziv [Image War] (Trans. from English by A. Kovalenko). Krytyka, 3–4, 12–19. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://m.krytyka.com/ua/articles/viina-obraziv [in Ukrainian]
Adelman, J. (2018). Chomu ideia pro ostatochnyi zanepad svitu taka nebezpechna [Why the idea that the world is in terminal decline is so dangerous] (Trans. from English by P. Shopin). Krytyka, 3–4, 15–17. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://krytyka.com/ua/articles/chomu-ideya-pro-ostatochnyy-zanepad-svitu-taka-nebezpechna [in Ukrainian]
Zhmud, N. (2018, February 9). Facebook post. Facebook. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://www.facebook.com/natala.zmud.2025/posts/pfbid02RUDxFfPq9hxLfzr8Tf2SmSEQHhGVLNRmXE8TLXKPynqN363X1i8kSbTdN58UL2gPl [in Ukrainian]
Korol, S. (2024). Krymskyi peizazh V. A. Ovsiichuka. Mystetstvo yak instrument dekolonizatsii: istoriia odnoho lysta [Volodymyr Ovsiychuk’s Crimean landscape. Art as a decolonial weapon: The story of one letter]. Narodoznavchi zoshyty, 6(180), 1659–1666. https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2024.06.1659 [in Ukrainian]
Kudava, B. (2023, July 17). Chomu Hruziia khoche nazyvatysia Sakartvelo? [Why does Georgia want to be called Sakartvelo?]. Chytomo. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://chytomo.com/chomu-hruziia-khoche-nazyvatysia-sakartvelo/ [in Ukrainian]
Larsen, N. (2024, July 15). Zhargon dekolonialnosti [The jargon of decoloniality]. Commons. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://commons.com.ua/uk/zhargon-dekolonialnosti/ [in Ukrainian]
Levchenko, I. (2022). “Nichoho novoho”: shche raz pro nemozhlyvistʹ hlobalnoi istorii mystetstva [“Nothing new”: Once again on the impossibility of a global history of art]. Text and Image: Essential Problems in Art History, 1(13), 62–72. https://doi.org/10.17721/2519-4801.2022.1.13 [in Ukrainian]
Lytvyn, V. (2021). Instytutsiinyi ta tsinnisnyi rivni analizu fenomena identychnosti [Institutional and value-based levels of analysis of the phenomenon of identity]. Hraal nauky, 6, 254–258. https://doi.org/10.36074/grail-of-science.25.06.2021.044 [in Ukrainian]
Lytvyn, V. (2018, February 27). Istoriia yak instrument polityky (na prykladi odniiei zakonodavchoi initsiatyvy) [History as a political tool: The case of one legislative initiative)]. Holos Ukrainy. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://www.golos.com.ua/article/300289 [in Ukrainian]
Mazurok, V. V. (2024). Rozvytok publichnoi istorii v nezalezhnii Ukraini [Development of public history in independent Ukraine] (Master’s thesis, Lesia Ukrainka Volyn National University; Supervisor: O. V. Razyhraiev). Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://evnuir.vnu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/26503 [in Ukrainian]
Moran, M. (2020, September 2). Identychnist i polityka identychnosti: kulturno-materialistychna istoriia [Identity and identity politics: A cultural materialist history] (Trans. from English by P. Shopin). Commons. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://commons.com.ua/uk/identichnist-i-politika-identichnosti-kulturno-materialistichna-istoriya/ [in Ukrainian]
Saburova, D., Aroshvili, A., & Shengelia, M. (2024, August 6). Mistsevi hromady ta robitnychi rukhy pid zahrozoiu u Sakartvelo: interv’iu z livymy aktyvistkamy [Local communities and labor movements under threat in Georgia: Interview with leftist activists] (Trans. from English by P. Shopin). Commons. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://commons.com.ua/uk/intervyu-z-gruzinskimi-aktivistkami/ [in Ukrainian]
Serednii klas [Middle class]. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Середній_клас [in Ukrainian]
Symonchuk, O. (2021). Sotsialno-statusni samoatsinky ukraintsiv: zminy v chasi (2009–2019) [Subjective social statuses of the Ukrainians: Changes over time (2009–2019)]. Sociology: Theory, Methods, Marketing, 1, 5–24. https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2021.01.005 [in Ukrainian]
Skryvener, A., & Ford, C. (2024, July). Sakartvelo na rozdorizhzhi [Sakartvelo at the crossroads] (Trans. from English by O. Fedorova). Krytyka. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://krytyka.com/ua/articles/sakartvelo-na-rozdorizhzhi [in Ukrainian]
Therborn, J. (2020, September 17). Mrii ta koshmary serednikh klasiv svitu [Dreams and nightmares of the world’s middle classes] (Trans. from English by P. Shopin). Commons. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://commons.com.ua/uk/mriyi-ta-koshmari-serednih-klasiv-svitu/ [in Ukrainian]
Fedorchenko, V. K., Fedorchenko-Kutuiev, P. V., Fedorchenko, N. V., & Vasylets, O. I. (2022). Postkovidne vidnovlennia ta novi vyklyky hlobalnoho svitu: turyzm yak instrument ekonomichnoho vidrodzhennia ta modernizatsii [Post-COVID recovery and new challenges of the global world: Tourism as a tool for economic revitalization and modernization]. Visnyk NTUU “KPI”: Politolohiia. Sotsiolohiia. Pravo, 1(53), 20–28. https://doi.org/10.20535/2308-5053.2022.1(53).261103 [in Ukrainian]
Stark Urrestarazu, U. (2023). Za mezheiu liudianosti [Beyond humanity] (Trans. from German by V. Penkovska, Ya. Poltorak, & K. Khomenko). Krytyka, 3–4, 18–21. Retrieved June 2, 2025, from https://krytyka.com/ua/articles/za-mezheiu-liudianosty [in Ukrainian]
Yanyshyn-Pryimenko, M. (2023). Tvorcha biohrafiia Marii Shymanovskoi u konteksti problemy identychnosti [The creative biography of Maria Szymanowska in the context of the problem of identity]. Visnyk: Ukrainski kulturnolohichni studii, 1(12), 68–74. https://doi.org/10.17721/UCS.2023.1(12).15 [in Ukrainian]
Adelman, A. (2017, March 2). Is global history still possible, or has it had its moment? Aeon. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://aeon.co/essays/is-global-history-still-possible-or-has-it-had-its-moment
Adelman, A. (2017, November 1). Why the idea that the world is in terminal decline is so dangerous. Aeon. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://aeon.co/ideas/why-the-idea-that-the-world-is-in-terminal-decline-is-so-dangerous
Adelman, J. (2017, September 13). Does photography make us act or inure us to despair. Aeon. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://aeon.co/essays/does-photography-make-us-act-or-inure-us-to-despair
Adelman, J. (2025, February). Ukraine’s image war. Krytyka. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://m.krytyka.com/en/articles/ukraines-image-war
Baker, M. (2018). Translation and conflict: A narrative account (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429438240
Ford, C., & Scrivener, A. (2024, July). Georgia at the crossroads. Krytyka. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://krytyka.com/en/articles/sakartvelo-na-rozdorizhzhi
Graeber, D., & Wengrow, D. (2018, March 2). How to change the course of human history (at least, the part that’s already happened). Eurozine. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://www.eurozine.com/change-course-human-history/
Larsen, N. (2022). The jargon of decoloniality. Catalyst, 6(2), 52–77. https://catalyst-journal.com/2022/09/the-jargon-of-decoloniality
Moran, M. (2018). Identity and identity politics: A cultural materialist history. Historical Materialism, 26(2), 21–45. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://www.historicalmaterialism.org/article/identity-and-identity-politics/
Reichel, N. (2025, April 16). Wer wir sind [Who we are]. Demokratischer Salon. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://demokratischer-salon.de/wer-wir-sind/ [in German]
Saburova, D., Aroshvili, A., & Shengelia, M. (2024, August 6). Local communities and labor movements under threat in Sakartvelo: Interview with left activists. Commons. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://commons.com.ua/en/intervyu-z-gruzinskimi-aktivistkami/
Shopin, P. (2017, November 15). Rough, smooth or deep: Why the sound of a voice is multisensory. Aeon. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://aeon.co/ideas/rough-smooth-or-deep-why-the-sound-of-a-voice-is-multisensory
Shopin, P. (2021, October 22). Since 2018 students in my classes have translated the following articles from English into Ukrainian and Russian languages [Post]. X. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://x.com/PavloShopin/status/1451521301693276182
Stark Urrestarazu, U. (2023, February 9). Isolation: Stanislav Aseyev über das Konzentrationslager am Hellen Weg im Donbass [Isolation: Stanislav Aseyev on the concentration camp on the Bright Path in Donbas]. Demokratischer Salon. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://demokratischer-salon.de/beitrag/isolation/ [in German]
Therborn, G. (2020). Dreams and nightmares of the world’s middle classes. New Left Review, 124, 63–87. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii124/articles/goran-therborn-dreams-and-nightmares-of-the-world-s-middle-classes
Tymoczko, M. Translation, Resistance, Activism. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2010. 299 p.
Venuti, L. (1995). The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London: Routledge. 353 pp.
Wengrow, D. (2015). Cities before the state in early Eurasia. Halle (Saale): Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://www.eth.mpg.de/4091237/2015_Goody_Lecture.pdf
