Russian Capitalizaiton

[Josh Wilson]

Thanks for pointing out the typo - that's been fixed and is always
appreciated. Feel to point out the others, maybe off-list, and I'll be happy
to take a look at them as well. 

On the comment on translators - It really is dependent I suppose on the
translator and even more importantly on the text, the client, and the
intended audience. 

With these blogs, we try to keep the translation fairly literal and I think
most literary translators also usually try to preserve original style. It's
helpful, I think, for students and those appreciate keeping the original
flavor of a text. 

However, in another project I'm involved on, a business publication, we
actually have abandoned the term "translation" for "adaptation." The
audience we are oriented towards I don't think would like to wallow in the
original flavor of business or legal Russian, so we "translate" with an eye
to reconstructing, slashing, or adding explanatory information or analysis
to the text for the new audience (and then thoroughly fact checking
everything and gaining the approval of the original author). 

In short, you're right, the statement about translators translating in a
certain manner isn't really true as it was written. As it didn't really add
anything to the subject matter there - I've deleted it for brevity. 

Best, 


Josh Wilson
Asst. Director
The School of Russian and Asian Studies
Editor-in-Chief
Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
www.sras.org
jwilson at sras.org


Paul Gallagher wrote:

> And some rules for capitalization in Russian as written for speakers
> of English: <http://www.sras.org/olga_blog_6_1>

Very interesting, and I imagine very helpful. I like it.


I was surprised to learn that "Translators generally try to retain 
grammatical forms, but must constantly weigh the benefits of rephrasing 
with remaining true to the original text." I had always thought it best 
to ignore the source text's grammatical form (except of course to the 
extent required to divine the author's intent) and compose the sentence 
as I would naturally in the target language. Perhaps the practices are 
different in literary translation.


One other note: This sentence appears to be missing an "e"}:

	"Not that this rule is to be applied even to brand
	names that have been derived from a person's name
	when referring to general product."

It could easily be confusing to a beginner.

There are a couple of other cosmetic typos as we often see in blogs; 
this seems to be the only one that could cause confusion.

-- 
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

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------