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The Russian-English Translator's Handbook

A practical guide to the most common pitfalls when translating from Russian into English

by Teresa Pearce

MA (Cantab), Dip Trans IoL, MIL

FOREWORD 4

THREE GENERAL HINTS... 6

Part I 7

1. A DIFFERENT SET OF EXPECTATIONS 8

The Thorny Question of Nationality 8

People's Names and Titles 9

Company Names 10

Abbreviations 10

Addresses 11

How to Set Out Business Letters 11

2. SPELLING AND TRANSLITERATION 12

Spelling 12

Transliterating Russian Names 12

Transliterating European Names Back 13

3. PUNCTUATION 15

Commas 15

Hyphens and Dashes 15

Capital Letters 16

Italics or Inverted Commas? 16

4. DATES, TIMES AND NUMBERS 17

Dates and Times 17

All about Numbers 17

Part III 39

1. NOUNS 40

"Explanatory" Nouns 40

"Quasi-Pronoun" Nouns 40

Singular or Plural? 40

Miscellaneous Points 41

Translating Nouns as Verbs 42

2. VERBS 45

Modal Verbs 45

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs 45

Verbs Which Must be Followed by an Object 45

Gerund or Infinitive? 46

Present Participles 48

Impersonal Constructions 48

The Verb "To Be" 49

Negative in Russian, Affirmative in English 50

3. ADJECTIVES 51

Miscellaneous Points 51

Adjectives Not Followed by Nouns 51

When Do Adjectives Go After the Noun? 52

4. ADVERBS 53

General Points 53

5. CONJUNCTIONS & CONNECTIVES 56

And & But 56

В случае 57

Как 57

Connectives 58

6. PREPOSITIONS AND PRONOUNS 60

The Most Problematic Prepositions 61

Pronouns 64

7. ARTICLES 65

When to Use the Definite Article 65

When to Use the Indefinite Article 66

8. WORD ORDER 67

Noun Phrases 67

Word Order within one Construction 68

Long Sentences 68

Examples of Strange Word Order in English 69

Part IV 70

1. REGISTER 71

Some Clichés Used in Letters 71

2. STATISTICS 72

3. LEGAL TRANSLATION 74

Foreword

To the native Russian speaker:

If you are a translator working from your native language into a foreign one - a language you know extremely well, but still, one you did not learn in early childhood - then you are doing a very difficult thing. To most translators in the UK it seems little short of astonishing. In Europe, nearly all translators work exclusively into their native language, but translate from more than one language. (Most translators in Britain translate from two or more of French, German, Italian and Spanish into English, and much of their work is likely to be generated by the EU.) In fact, the UK's Institute of Linguists, the professional body to which I belong, forbids its members to work out of their mother tongue; if a client absolutely insists on it, we are bound to give them a suitable disclaimer just in case it should all go horribly wrong.

And yet around the world as a whole, this situation is unusual. Whether we like it or not, English is the international language; native English speakers (with a few honourable exceptions) do not generally take the trouble to learn other languages; and most translators worldwide work from their native tongue into English. I wonder how many of them are labouring in isolation, never encountering a sympathetic native English speaker who could quickly point out a few of their typical - and easily rectified - errors, and perhaps even explain why they are wrong.

Much depends on what we are translating. For technical texts, where expertise is all and style counts for little, I believe that the best translation will be done by someone who understands the subject. However, literature, journalism and in particular advertising are very dangerous ground for the non-native speaker, and it would be irresponsible to work in these areas without having a sensitive native speaker review the translation. (It is worth remembering that not all native speakers were created equal: some are conscientious and thorough, others, frankly, халтурщики. What some lack in experience they may make up for in enthusiasm. Many have only a sketchy knowledge of Russian; some appear to know little English...)

The ideal, of course, is for native speakers of both languages to work together, but since this is not always possible, I have written this book. I have spent the best part of seven years cooperating with native Russian speakers on English translations in the beautiful city of Almaty, Kazakhstan. In the process, my colleagues have helped me immeasurably with my Russian, and I owe them a huge debt of gratitude. I have also amassed a wealth of understanding concerning the pitfalls that lurk in English semantics, grammar, usage, and even punctuation, which I would like to share with you in this book.

There are at least two reasons why this book is different. Firstly, unlike the majority of books about the English language, this one is written specifically with the Russian-speaking reader in mind. Secondly, most books on translation theory seem to focus on literature, while most translators earn their bread and butter working on reports, contracts, business correspondence and other commercial texts. Being an ordinary working translator and editor, I have dealt with the problems thrown up by канцелярист and business Russian rather than Pushkin.

To the native English speaker:

Whether you are a professional translator from Russian or understand barely a word, I hope you will find this book useful. It will help you to spot the typical mistakes made by native Russian translators and avoid falling under the influence of Russian syntax and style. Editing is an art that should not be underestimated. Properly done, it can transform a translation into a piece of writing that reads like an original; badly done, it is worse than useless, adding nothing to the quality of the translation and demoralizing the translator, who is left wondering why this or that was changed.

Any translator or editor should read, read, read, and you are no exception. If you are editing translations of legal or technical texts, the translator is likely to have read many more of them than you have. (This is one of the weaknesses of unidirectional translation. Since we never or rarely work into Russian, we do not spend hours poring over documents in our own language.) So don't assume he/she is wrong when you see a word you've never heard before. When I started editing translations at a law firm, I queried terms such as "issuance" and "national" (meaning citizen) that were perfectly correct. My colleagues rightly protested. (Eventually our employer provided us with a copy of the splendid Black's Law Dictionary, which solved at least some of the arguments.)

So if you're editing a translation of a contract, read some English-language contracts. Of course there is an enormous difference between Anglo-Saxon and former Soviet legal writing styles, and as translators we should not be trying to pretend that our Russian agreement was drafted by a City solicitor or New York attorney; but the reading will help get you in the spirit of the thing. It is particularly important to read constantly (or at least watch the news on TV!) if you are living abroad, to counteract the pernicious influence of the local language's syntax and style. A decent English dictionary and thesaurus are essential. It is often said that target-language competence is more important for a translator even than source-language competence. We must know and love English in order to do a good job.

A good editor will always try to make sure that the translator gets feedback on his/her work. Print out copies of the translation pre- and post-editing so that the translator can compare them; then, be prepared to answer any questions he/she may have. If you work regularly with the same translator, you will be saving yourself a lot of trouble as his/her work will rapidly improve with such guidance (provided, of course, that he/she is conscientious enough to read your amendments - but I've found most people are). Of course we don't always know why something is wrong, but we should make an honest effort to find out before falling back on "Так не говорят."

*****

To all my readers: it is my sincere hope that you will find this book useful, interesting and friendly. Please contact me with any suggestions you may have to improve future editions at [e-mail address]. May we always treasure our opportunity to practise the alternately satisfying and infuriating art of translation!

Teresa Pearce Almaty, 2003