Translating Sounds: A Study into the Russian-Language Translations of Onomatopoeic Proper Names in the Twentieth-Century English-Language Children’s Literature

Abstract

This chapter analyses translation strategies of onomatopoeic proper names in English-language children’s tales from the twentieth century into the Russian language. In this chapter, I assume that the translator should choose a strategy that preserves the unique structural and semantic features of onomatopoeic proper names. The methodological framework chosen for this research is based on descriptive translation studies methods, which include identifying the significance of a research item in the target culture, analysing the existing translation options, and drawing conclusions and generalisations on the patterns identified in the source and target texts. The comparative analysis between the English-language onomatopoeic proper names and their Russian-language translations reveals three main strategies that are used for the translation of onomatopoeic proper names: transcription, transliteration, and onymic replacement. The analysis is followed by an association experiment, which reveals the most effective strategy for preserving the semantics and structure of onomatopoeic proper names in translation. The chapter proposes an outline of a translation process based on the translation strategy chosen in the association experiment and a conceptual translation model.