PORTRAIT OF HUNGARIAN POETESS AND TRANSLATOR ZHUZHI RAB

Abstract

There are only a few areas where coexistence of language usage-society-comprehensibility can be observed – one of them is translation of literary work. The language usage of the original work and the translator is highlighted and examined by translational stylistics. Comprehensibility in translation means that the translation represents an experience for the reader, which is built on his/her own cultural background. The existence of society in translation is measured by whether or not the translator’s work is recognised and acknowledged by the public. At the end of the 20th century Zsuzsa Rab’s lifelong rich and extensive work in the translation of Russian literature could not get the well-deserved acknowledgement at all. Translation is key to the existance of a work of literature written in a foreign language. This is a text, which mirrors the cultural and historical elements of a certain era. Translation is a communicative process and it follows the rules of language paradigms. Translations, and especially translations of work of literature, are the products of semiotics. They are esthetic signals, which contain the translator’s own reading and understanding of the text as well as his own socio-cultural attitude. Translations also reflect the historical thinking of the translator’s own country. We follow along these types of historical memories in the Russian and Hungarian translations. We analyse the ways how these translations reflect the translator’s approach to historical facts in his reading, his writing and his choice of synonyms. We show that historical stereotypes of the target language can modify the meaning of the original text during the translation process.