Assessment of the quality of poetic translation (based on the material of translations of British poetry into Russian)

Abstract

The subject of the research in the article is the peculiarities of assessing the quality of translation of poetic texts. The object of the study is the translation of a poetic text as a complex multidimensional process. In this paper, we will be interested in criteria for evaluating the quality of translation of a poetic work, since a comprehensive assessment of the quality of a poetic translation remains an unresolved problem, and the need for such a procedure remains. The criteria for evaluating poetic translation mean such signs of high-quality poetic translation, on the basis of which a standardized assessment of any poetic translation can be made, for example, in the conditions of a translation competition. To develop evaluation criteria, the author examines in detail the difficulties of translating poetry. The results of a comparative analysis of original and translated poetic texts are analyzed on the basis of the selected criteria. The work uses methods of directed sampling, comparative linguistic (phonetic, semantic, syntactic) analysis of parallel texts, linguistic and pragmatic analysis using elements of cultural and stylistic analysis, as well as quantitative data processing methods. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that a method of analyzing a poem based on an assessment of the quality of poetic translation is proposed. The concept of the quality of poetic translation is clarified, criteria for a comprehensive assessment of the quality of poetic translation are formulated. A comparative analysis of parallel original and translated texts – works of British poetry and their translations into Russian, performed by professional translators, is carried out. The quality of a poetic translation can be the object of a comprehensive assessment, which is carried out using a number of criteria: the preservation of the original author's idea, composition and rhyme of a poetic work, the selection of appropriate equivalents by the translator, the absence of significant permutations, omissions and distortions, as well as compliance with the norms of the translation language. The criteria for a comprehensive assessment of the quality of poetic translation can be recommended to the organizers of translation contests to evaluate the works of the participants of the contests, as they reduce the effect of subjective factors in the analysis of quality and make it possible to rank translation options, identify the most qualitative of them.