RENDERING COSSACKS’ REALIA INTO GERMAN (BASED ON TRANSLATIONS OF TARAS SHEVCHENKO’S POEMS)

Abstract

The article, based on German-language translations of Taras Shevchenko’s poems, carried out by the translator Yulia Virginia, analyzes the ways of reproducing the realia of Ukrainian Cossack culture and identifies the translation techniques that allow for the most complete reproduction of the form, meaning, and connotations of Ukrainian historical realia using the German language. It was found that the most common technique used by Julia Virginia is combined renomination (60% of examples). It is the combination of several techniques that allows the translator to reproduce the phonetic and graphic form of the linguistic realia, reveal their conceptual meaning and convey semantic and stylistic nuances that reflect the national-cultural and socio-historical features of the Ukrainian Cossacks. Among the combined techniques for translating realia, the most productive were the models «transcoding + explication», «transcoding + explication + functional analogue», «functional analogue + explication». The explication technique is implemented in 55% of examples and almost exclusively in the form of post-text comments placed in footnotes, the volume of which varies from one to several sentences. The comments serve as an effective way of revealing the subject-logical meaning of realia, explicating the cultural information embedded in them, and also ensuring an adequate understanding of realia by the target audience. Transcoding techniques and the use of a functional analogue are presented in equal proportions (53%, respectively). Transcoding allows the translator to preserve the authentic sound and graphic form of the language realia, which emphasizes their cultural uniqueness and gives them an expressive-stylistic colouring. The dominant type of transcoding is adaptive transcoding: it mainly involves adapting the grammatical form of linguistic realia to the grammatical norms of the target language. This technique, along with the use of the post-text comments and functional equivalents, is aimed at the linquo-cultural adaptation of the text, bringing it closer to the recipient culture. It reflects the translator’s desire to make the realia of the Cossack era familiar and understandable, and the text easy to perceive by the target audience. In general, Julia Virginia’s translation strategy is characterized by flexibility, a combination of diverse techniques, thanks to which, while preserving the authenticity of realia, she manages to achieve accuracy of meaning and convey their historical and cultural significance to representatives of German-speaking culture.