Translating in ... Ukraine

[BlogSpy]

In The Day Liudmyla Taran profiles translator-into-the-Ukrainian Olha Seniuk, an interesting foreign perspective (especially given Soviet -- and Russian(-language) -- dominance until recently).

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[Eric]

This interview with Olha Seniuk is important on a number of counts:

1) It demonstrates the importance of literary translations directly into your mother tongue. Imagine if British people had to read world literature in French or German translation, as no English translations existed. That is partly what the state of translation was in Ukraine during Soviet times.

2) Direct translations from Scandinavian languages are a better idea than translating everything via the Russian. As Seniuk says: "Our generation reinstated the professional translators’ principle, which was in Ukrainian literature in the 1920s-1930s: translate only from the original." This is an important principle.

3) Seniuk also says about young Ukrainian translators of foreign literature: "They lack thorough knowledge of the literature whose authors they translate. One must see the whole literary complex behind a given text one translates." This is also an important principle. Translating a book in isolation from the culture and history of a country such as Ukraine could lead to things being misunderstood, left out, or translated in a bland way.