Abstract
This article analyzes the specifics and different ways of translating soviet Russian realia (sovietisms) into English and Spanish. Sovietisms are unique lexical units, typical for the USSR culture and history. It should be noted that sovietisms are an important part of the Russian language and culture, thus their translation into other languages can be a difficult and responsible process.
The purpose of our study is to identify the most effective ways of translating sovietisms into English and Spanish. For the purpose of our study, we chose some examples from the novel of I. Ilf and E. Petrov's «The Twelve Chairs», analyzed various ways of translating sovietisms into English and Spanish, and evaluated their effectiveness and optimality of use by giving specific examples.
We considered transliteration, explication, descriptive translation, likening translation and hyponymic or generalized-approximate translation as translation types. We analyzed some examples of translating soviet realities from the novel into English and Spanish, and identified which translations were most effective in different contexts.
The article also highlights the difficulties that translators face in translating soviet realities, including language peculiarities, cultural differences, and changes in the socio-historical context.
The article is a valuable contribution to the field of translation studies and linguistics and may be useful to those who are interested in the problems of translation of culturally specific lexical units and Soviet realities.
Keywords
Sovietisms, translation transformations, realias, vocabulary without translation, foreignization, domestication.