Ìíå çàêàçàëè ïåðåâîä ýòîé ñòàòüè â 2002 ãîäó. Ïåðåâîä íóæåí áûë äëÿ ïóáëèêàöèè ýòîé ñòàòüè â Àìåðèêå. Êîãäà àìåðèêàíñêèé ðåäàêòîð ïðî÷èòàë ñòàòüþ íà àíãëèéñêîì ÿçûêå, îí ñêàçàë, ÷òî òàêîé ïåðåâîä íå ìîã áûòü ñäåëàí "íåíîñèòåëåì ÿçûêà". Ïîýòîìó ïîä ìîèì ïåðåâîäîì ïîñòàâèëè èìÿ êàêîãî-òî àìåðèêàíñêîãî æóðíàëèñòà è îòïðàâèëè â ïóáëèêàöèþ. È âñ¸-òàêè ýòî ìîé ïåðåâîä.
Translated from Russian into English by me, Tamara Savelyeva.
Story number one
(Epigraph)
«Ìèøêà êîñîëàïûé ïî ëåñó èäåò,
Øèøêè ñîáèðàåò, ïåñåíêè ïîåò.
Âäðóã, óïàëà øèøêà ïðÿìî ìèøêå â ëîá.
Ìèøêà ðàññåðäèëñÿ, è íîãîþ – òîï!»
(My translation)
“Once a clumsy bear wandered in a wood
Gathering pinecones, singing in good mood.
Suddenly one cone stroke bear’s forehead
Bumped angry bear tramped through the forest.”
(A famous Russian folklore song for kids)
My level of speaking English is rather far from perfect. As a matter of fact, even the word “speaking” is not quite appropriate in my case. Nevertheless, both considerably extended practice during personal contact with American families, and few language lessons, which I studied on my own breaking business from time to time, beneficially resulted in my knowledge and skills to use those terms and expressions which in total I call, maybe too self-confident, “my English”. In general I don’t have difficulties, as well as my interlocutors, in discussing some common matters with officials of Moscow together with my Americans in their mother tongue; they trust my efforts in arranging their daily round and solving other problems, since I do this job for quite a long time, and all the topics are always the same and familiar.
Although I often have to participate in some specific colloquiums. Americans are rather curious people, which makes them look very much like Russians, and they show vivid interest in Moscow and whole Russia history, political situation, sports in Russian Federation,…and literally in everything. In my turn, and it is absolutely natural, I’m so much interested in learning from foreign people about new facts, in finding out some unusual themes and meanings from such talks. Tireless I answer completely different questions and ask my own ones.
As a rule, I’m always pleased enjoying sociable and spontaneous company of Americans during conversations. On the other hand, trying to demonstrate maximal friendliness and sincerity through our rather animated dialogues, failing in English sometimes I find myself in such situations… Well, I believe the story below will be funny for you too.
We travelled through Moscow together with a family. The process of adoption has been just completed: the family was interviewed at the Embassy, they got visas, and people were going to depart to the USA the other day. All of them, being in high spirits and enjoying nice weather, expected farewell dinner, excursion to the Red Square and night rest in a hotel. I guided them along Moscow, describing streets and memorials which we passed by. Americans inquired for extremely different matters, I answered them, and the conversation flew with joy and sympathy.
A three years old girl – the new member of this family – is not quite certain in chatting. But she has accepted universal good mood and tries to participate in our common talking. Adults first pay attention to her, then they switch to my person, after that they try to talk to their little daughter again. So I’ve decided to support baby’s sharing the chat, and when she started to say by heart that senseless, sweet and very famous among Russian children verse about “Clumsy bear” without knowing half of words, I began to help her recitation. Like that: I declaim first word of each strophe, for example, “Gathering…”, and the little girl finishes: “…pine cones, sinni in good mood…”.
Her parents are listening very attentively, smiling, waving their heads, satisfied with the creative work of our Russian duet, and understanding nothing… evidently. After we’ve finished that creative process, mother turns to me: “Listen, Igor… We had already heard this little poem as from the daughter, so from other children at orphanage, where we had visited her before the adoption trial, and also from an under age son of our coordinator (district help) while visiting his house. We even have learned some of the text: “mish’ka kosolyarpi poliesoo…”.
- Oh, yap. That’s very famous Russian kids’ song. When I, for instance, was a little boy, I also knew it, and I recited it for my parents, and any kind of guests…
- Would you, please, translate its content? We are just curious, why this rhyme is so much popular among Russian children?
- Well, yes, no problem, - so, stimulated, I’ve been starting translation, - Once upon a time the bear…, - and here I've got stuck strongly hesitating.
“Damn, I don’t know the English for “in-toed”. But, OK, the translation must be just approximate. The artist, it also concerns the belles-lettres or poems translator, is, in practice, co-author, and has the right for self-vision of a translated fiction…” – that was the first thought, and I continued bravely…
- Once upon a time the bear who had serious problems with his feet was walking round forest. He was finding… mmm…,- again, I don’t know the word “cones”, - he was finding… mmm… ”apples”. But one from all the apples… mmm… was jumping, and… - and, as the well known hero of popular work of literature, I was “run away”…
As the result of cunning, in my opinion, substitutions of unknown for me words and expressions with something I could remember, the translated text of kids’ song turned up-side down, and, interpreted by me, looked like that, if you just can imagine the back translation from English into Russian word-by-word:
“Once… a bear… who had serious problems with his feet… had been walking round the forest. He searched for… apples. One of the apples was… mmm… jumping. This apple… jumped and made a hit of bear in…(in alarm I forgot both “head” and “face”, and as for “forehead” - I've never heard of it, that’s why the next expression was a little bit too florid)…upper front half of the first part of bear’s body, if you count from top, usually it is considered as the main part of body in general… If somebody loses that part of body he, as a rule, loses his life at all (if, finally, you don’t understand it - I’ve been talking about head).
- …After that kick, the bear lost his good mood. That’s why he hit the ground so strongly, that the land made a sound “tramp”…”
- And that was the song, approximately, - I finished.
The Americans were silent…
- Well, the phrase that “bear had problems with his feet”; what kind of problems he had? – mother was the first who broke the silence.
- Well, his feet, if you look from top to the flat surface, were placed like that: - and I showed it with my hands, which, in my opinion, was brightly understandable illustration of “in-toed” description: I put together my fingers and distanced my wrists.
But Americans, as far as I understood, didn’t get the point of Russian meaning for this word, and they continued torching me.
- And this position of poor bear’s feet… Do you think it’s a medical problem?
Afterwards, along the whole way, I tried to explain to the curious Americans that “problems with bear’s feet” is his “trade mark”, his “brand” accepted in Russian fairy tales which mostly can state the “character and interests” of this magic person as thinking and speaking Bear… And that besides of the Bear there are other personages like Hare, who also has usual for Russian fairy tales “problems with his eyes” since he is “squint”. Or such characters like Wolf and Fox, who have no evident physical defects, so their “business cards” are their “color of the skins” (do you know the English for “fur”?) and “their unusual tempers, as a rule, are not good”…
Our car was crawling through the overloaded Moscow streets. From Russian fairy tales we switched unwittingly to American folklore music, and “country music” festivals in Nashville, to Russian hokey players in NHL (“we are the best on the planet”), and so on. On the back seat, in the corner, next to her mother, there was a little girl peacefully snuffling and sleeping…
Story number two
After laughing at the previous story, Ivan mentioned that luckily that girl hadn’t say by heart another rime for kids, like that: “Teddy bear has been dropped down on the floor…”
Really, will you try to translate this from Russian into English:
«Óðîíèëè ìèøêó íà ïîë,
Îòîðâàëè ìèøêå ëàïó,
Âñ¸ ðàâíî åãî íå áðîøó,
Ïîòîìó ÷òî îí õîðîøèé!»
I tried. And I felt my blood freezing while listening to that story…
(Epilogue)
“ I saw my Teddy bear dropped down to the floor,
I noticed with pity his broken little paw.
I’ll keep my Teddy bear, I shall be very wise
To give him any care because it is so nice.”
(My translation of another famous Russian folklore song for kids)
(2002)