Sholem Aleichem in Estonian and Lithuanian : an attempt of translation comparison

• Žurnalo archyvas: straipsnio tekstas

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Estų kalba; Estų kalba, lietuvių kalba; Verimas; Vertimas; Šolem Aleichem; Estonian; Lithuanian; Sholem Aleichem; Translation.

ENThe article provides a comparison between Estonian and Lithuanian translation of two stories from Sholem Aleichem’s collection Railroad Stories. The analysis is conducted in the framework of descriptive approach that views translation as a complex process involving not just two texts and two linguistic systems but the entirety of cultural setting (traditions, norms, position of the author within a certain literary system, other texts by the same author, borders between own and foreign elements, translation norms etc) in the source and the recipient culture. For the purpose of text analysis, concept of dominant (the focusing component in the work) is employed. The dominant in Railroad Stories includes (1) verbosity, which is a constituent part of Sholem Aleichem’s humour (2) story within a story, (3) so-called Jewish rhetoric, (4) depiction of surrounding multilingualism. Translation cultures in Estonia and Lithuania are similar but there is more familiarity with Jewish/Yiddish culture in Lithuania. The dominant is preserved in both translations, although not entirely: the wholes of the story cycle is broken in the Estonian translation and one layer of “story within a story” is removed; in the Lithuanian translation some repetitions are omitted, thus affecting verbosity; both translations delete multilingualism (utterances in other languages than source and target language) to an extent. [From the publication]