THE ANGLO-SCOTTISH BALLAD IN THE LIGHT OF CHANGING TRANSLATION PARADIGMS: TWO CENTURIES OF TRANSLATION

Abstract

Translation of a poetic text has always attracted the eye of translators and poets who wanted to present the best works of foreign cultures to their compatriots. Due to that the folklore text, which reflects the distinctive features of a different culture, its history and beliefs, long ago became a special object of attention. At different stages of the development of translators’ art, there were different approaches to the interpretation of a literary text. In some eras, the translation was word for word, during other periods it was considered correct to improve the original text. Some linguists believed that literary text was untranslatable. However, in the 20th century, translation finally evolved into a science and the foundations of a systematic approach to translation were developed. The history of ballad translations in Russia goes back two centuries. Various poets worked with these texts and their approaches were often different. In some cases, translators transformed realities which they met int elements of their own culture, changed the rhythmic and organizational structure of the text, and even removed a few couplets. This approach is characteristic of the entire 19th century. Then the paradigm changes: other specialists try to preserve the original sound of the ballads, the archaic language and the syntax characteristic of ballads. Poetry translators of the 20th century set and gradually reach these goals, although some of them still translate within the framework of the approach of the period of classicism and make their own improvements to the text. The last stage is the latest translations. The disappearance of strict censorship gives the translator the opportunity to translate folk poetry using folk, colloquial, sometimes obscene words, although the appropriateness of their use should be carefully weighed in each case. Our investigation allows us to conclude that the development of approaches to ballad translation follows the traditional periodization of paradigms and yet some problems of poetic translation are still open.