The peculiarities of translating English and Chinese children's fairy tales into the Russian language

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the peculiarities of translating English and Chinese children's fairy-tales into the Russian language. Analysis is conducted on such key concepts as “children's fairy-tale”, “literary tale”, and “folklore tale”. The author examines the development stages of English literary tale and Chinese folk tale as independent genres. The main translation transformations used in translating English literary tales and Chinese folk tales into the Russian are explored. Special attention is given to the translation of fairy tales as a form of cross-cultural dialogue due to the fact that such works are loaded with the ethnic-cultural components. The conducted analysis reveals the major challenges face by the translators in dealing with fairy-tale literature. The conclusion is made that the translation of fairy-tale requires taking into account not only the unique genre as such, but also the ethnic-cultural distinctness of different linguistic cultures, foreign mentality, and cultural identity. The scientific novelty consists in the attempt to establish whether it is possible to achieve success in cultural adaptation of English literary tales and Chinese folk tales into the Russian language. The acquired results indicate that the major challenge in translation and cultural adaptation lies in conveyance of cultural uniqueness, as well as ethnic, historical and national flavor of the original texts; it is essential to remember that translation of children’s fairy tale is part of the process of cross-cultural communication, and the translator must become an intermediary of the dialogue of cultures. Fairy tales bear the cultural code of a particular ethnos, being the key to comprehension of the worldview of its representatives. It conveys the socially significant information, embeds moral values, illustrates ethnic-cultural peculiarities, and preserves cultural heritage.