Problems of translation of Marina Tsvetaeva's story "The devil"

Abstract

The purpose of this work is a practical discussion of problems and solutions connected to translation of texts from Russian to Croatian language based on a Marina Tsvetaeva's autobiographical prose "The Devil". Problems have been categorized into five distinct groups. First group deals with Tsvetaeva's neologisms and the ability of the target language to express the original meaning exactly or at least closely. Another category displays aspects of the interlingual gender difference of a single word and shows different solutions according to the function of the word in its context. Cultural untranslatability is illustrated with examples of a Russian proverb, an expression that involves cultural symbols and a possible word-play, respectively. A very specific subdivision is the one dealing with rhyme in a prose work. An example of tongue-twister's translation also found its place in this category. The final category analyses orthographical difficulties referring to proper writing of personal nouns in various directions.