To The History of Early Translations of T. Shevchenko into The Belarusian Language

Abstract

Introduction. Belarusian readers' acquaintance with Taras Shevchenko's works began with translations into Polish, and already at the beginning of the 20th century the first Belarusian translations of his works appeared. Shevchenko's translations played an important role in the development of the national consciousness of Belarusians and the enrichment of the Belarusian language. The article is devoted to the analysis of translations of one of Shevchenko's most famous poems – "The Testament" by Belarusian poets, including Yanka Kupala, Zmitrok Byadulya, Grigory Baradulin, Maksym Tank and others.
Methods . The study used a comparative-analytical method, which allowed for a systematic comparison of the original text with the translations. In addition, the method of semantic analysis was used to identify semantic transformations and stylistic analysis to assess the preservation of the author's intonation, rhythm and rhyme.
Results. The analysis of Belarusian translations of Taras Shevchenko's "Testament" allowed us to identify the main strategies of translation reproduction: preserving rhythm and melody using lexical, semantic and syntactic transformations. Yanka Kupala's translation is distinguished by moderate stylistic adaptation while preserving key images. Zmitrok Byadulya resorts to a freer rethinking, which is accompanied by changes in rhyming and omission of individual elements of content. The texts of Baradulin and Tank demonstrate an interpretative approach with the introduction of new images and authorial intonations. In the translations of Kravtsov, Zhukovych and Stralko, a tendency to preserve the content structure with individual semantic variations is traced. In general, the translations reflect a wide range of approaches: from a close-to-text transmission to interpretative rethinking.
Conclusions. Taras Shevchenko's translations into Belarusian are characterized by significant variability, which is due to both linguistic and cultural aspects. A comparison of different versions of the translation of the poem "The Testament" showed the importance of preserving the poetic spirit of the original while taking into account the lexical and stylistic features of the language of translation. Yanka Kupala's translation is considered one of the most accurate, preserving the emotional power of Shevchenko's poetry, while other versions, in particular Zmitrok Byadula's translation, have some simplifications and changes in rhyming.