CULTURAL REALITIES IN THE TEXTS OF TOLSTOY AND CHEKHOV IN TRANSLATION

Abstract [English]

The works of Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov serve as profound reflections of Russia’s national and cultural identity, encoded through language and marked vocabulary. This study examines the translation of culturally specific linguistic realities in their texts, focusing on the strategies employed to preserve the cultural and semantic nuances inherent in the original works. The research defines the cultural code as a matrix structuring perception and evaluation of the world, emphasizing its role in shaping national identity. This study examines the methods of conveying culturally specific words – linguistic realities in the works of the authors. Having no equivalents in the translated language, these units are nevertheless significant because they convey national identity.
The study categorizes cultural realities into distinct semantic groups: onomastic, everyday, religious, socio-political, and cultural-historical units. Through comparative analysis of source texts and their English translations, the research identifies key methods of conveying these realities. Proper names are predominantly rendered via transcription and transliteration, while other categories employ functional analogues, translation transformations (generalization, specification, metonymic transfer), and descriptive translation to compensate for lexical gaps.
The findings demonstrate that while complete equivalence is often unattainable, the strategic application of these methods ensures the preservation of cultural specificity. The study underscores the translator’s role as a mediator of cultural memory, advocating for approaches that balance fidelity to the source text with accessibility for the target audience. This analysis contributes to broader discussions on cross-cultural communication in literary translation and the challenges of transmitting national identity across linguistic boundaries.