Translation of TV series from English into Russian: Linguistic and extralinguistic issues

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the problem of considering the linguistic and extralinguistic features of the translation of TV series from English into Russian. Its theoretical significance consists in updating the issues of audiovisual translation (hereinafter AVT) and summarizing materials on cultural and pragmatic adaptation of audiovisual texts. The aim of the research is to solve the translation problems associated with overcoming both the linguistic barrier (transmission of realia, humor, reduced vocabulary) and the non-linguistic barrier (synchronization of source and target audiovisual codes) when translating TV series from English into Russian. The scientific novelty of the research lies in finding translation strategies for synchronizing original and translated texts related to phonetic, kinesthetic and time constraints of the audiovisual text. The results of the research obtained during a comparative analysis of the original texts and their translations showed the following: when translating realia, reduced vocabulary and humor, translators resort to functional replacements, explanations or elimination (neutralization of national and cultural specifics), depending on the context in each case. When solving the “over-text” problems of AVT related to the need to synchronize visual, sound and verbal signs of the source and target products, translators proceed primarily from orientation to the target linguoculture and adapt the source text in order to provide an adequate communicative and functional effect on the viewer, for which it is necessary sometimes to shorten the source text or completely change it.