акционерное обще ство

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Resending because I didn't realize Renee had set replies to her personal 
address.

Renee Stillings|Alinga wrote:

> After 10 years (to date) of operating first a small brokerage and
> then a legal and accounting consultancy in Moscow, I don't recall
> seeing "OJSC/CJSC" in common usage. It is often referenced in full -
> "open joint-stock company" though. At the same time, simply JSC is
> fairly often used before the name of a company, but generally in
> reference to a closed-stock company (ZAO).

Well, you're right in that I wouldn't just jump into using these
acronyms with an entirely new client or an entirely new document.
However, it quickly becomes cumbersome to write out "open joint-stock
company" over and over within a document, so my general practice is to
expand it on first mention, bracket or footnote the acronym, and then
use the acronym in the rest of the document. With clients who have
expressed familiarity with these terms, I don't feel the need for the
expansion and I use the acronym ad libitum.

> My husband (American), who has been practicing law for the past 30
> years in USSR/Russia, has pointed out to me that the whole
> "joint-stock" term was imported to Russia by the British (I suppose
> at the time all of these concepts were being developed and the laws
> written and subsequently translated). I don't know whether anyone in
> Britain actually refers to a company in that way, but it sure sounds
> awkward to the American ear.

Agreed. My job as a translator is to bridge the gap between our
different cultures, and to the extent needed by a particular client, I
provide information that will enable them to know what JSCs are --
without attempting to practice law, of course!

In the same spirit, I find it unhelpful to render the Russian alphabet
soup of corporate names, which are meaningful to the Russian reader,
with a transliterated alphabet soup in English that renders them
meaningless. Many readers can guess that "Gazprom" might have something
to do with the gas industry, especially in context, but to take
something like this (from <http://www.ntcecm.ru/pages/company.htm>):
	ОАО "НТЦ ЭЦМ" выполняет заказы РАО "ЕЭС России",
	"СО-ЦДУ ЕЭС", АО-энерго, "ФСК ЕЭС", МЭС, ОДУ,
	генерирующих комплексов, электростанций и др.
and render it without comment or explanation as
	OAO NTTs ETsM fills orders for RAO YeES Rossii,
	SO-TsDU YeEs, AO-energo, FSK-YeES, MES, ODU,
	generating plants, power stations, etc.
is not translation in my book.

> He also does not like the use of "charter documents" as the most
> commonly-used translation for "ustavnie dokumenti." I suppose it is a
> somewhat lazy translation, with the English not carrying any real
> meaning for those who need to use it.

Neither do I. I've been using "constituent documents" as a catch-all
term for charters, bylaws, articles of incorporation, etc., but if
there's a better native (American, not British) term I would welcome it.

> Per Paul's indication of preferences below, the format of "OAO 
> Yuganskneftegaz" is more commonly used.
> 
> Renee
> 
>> 2) Translate it as "(open/closed) joint-stock company" or OJSC/CJSC
>> [the most common choice].
>> ...
>> My preference is for either of the two extremes:
>>  OAO Yuganskneftegaz
>>  OAO NK Yukos

Depends on your clientele. Some of mine want to know the exact Russian
spelling, others want to know what it means. On such matters, I follow
the client's preferences.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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