Translation of Ukrainian Sourzhyk Into English and Italian
Posted: Thursday, September 25, 2008
by IvanPetryshyn
Ivan Petryshyn
The widely used in Eastern Ukrainian Regions variation OF THE LANGUAGE ADOPTED THE NAME OF 'SOURZHYK', very similar to the word 'surrogate', a mixture of Ukrainian and Russian, recently researched by the Italian scholar, my friend, Dr. Salvatore Del Gaudio is a specific and difficult case.
The most essential features of the jargon/ or Pigin Ukrainian, or Ukrorussian are:
- approximation, adaptation and accomodation;
2. on the grammatical level-
- grammatical concordance and specific government
3. on the lexical level-
- the nearly equal usage of both, the Ukrainian and the Russian wordstocks
- usage of the realia not easily rendered into Ukrainian
- erroneous/ false translation 'friends' lexemes that make it sound funny or even out-of-place for a Ukrainian hearing
4. on the stylistic level-
- insertion of set-phrases, metaphors, aphorisms, quotations
- usage of marked lexical units making the speech more expressive and more colorful (acc. to the users perception)
- exotic and expressive patterns usage
- colloquial, pragmatic usage of the language resources (considered often as a pattern of low educated speech).
Rendering the 'sourzhyk' into English and Italian is not easy at all:
a/ only those who know both Ukrainian and Russian, the two cultures, literatures and social realia could really evaluate and appreciate/discern the specifics of the 'Ukrorussian';
b/ the translation of the speech is very much possible if one implements the resources of other languages, e.g., as it happens in Spanglish or Franglais; the specifics of English would prompt a certain possibility of employing German or Dutch insertions, to render the 'sourzhyk's' 'coloryt';
c/ when translating into Italian, there could be used the language resources of Spanish/and French to make the language fact more vivid and expressive.
Below, are provided the possible variants of the Ukro-Russian transcribed words and phrases in the Ukrainian alphabetical order, taken from a Book of a well-known Ukrainian writer.
A
1. a razvye zapadentsi nye khotyat? = Engl. and how about *westerniks, they don't need it? = It. riguardante gli *ovestini, non nelo vogliono?
2. ana takaya zhe maya, kak i tvaya, prosta! = she is as much meine as yours, got it? = lei e' cosi' la mia como la tuia, loco!
3. abaldyeyesh tut= one can loose one's Kopf= uno si puo' diventar un minchione; si puo' perder la cabeza!;
B
1. buly nazvani imyenami tryokh katov= were by the names of the three Ka'tzen genommen= eran state nominate dai nomi di tre's gattos
V
1. vam komnatu chi otdyel'nu?= do you need a dwelling or ein Separatwohnung?= lei vuole una camera o una isolada?
2. vy zh v kursye...= you know it, nicht wahr?= lo sapete, verdad?
3. vyeshat= to loegen, = mentire
4. variant chiki-chiki = a magic bullet, just the ticket;= una variante bien fatta
5. vsyo durne= alles McFly; =todo e' sciocco
E
1. eto mene ne volnuye= I don't care about dat,= non mi inetessa nemmeno
2. eta samaye= that's het, how do you call dat?= un coso, come si fa?
Z
1. zakhodi= hereein! = advanti!
YE
1. ye plyashka 'soukharika'= I have a flask of smash,= ho un vetro del frantumo
K
1.kushaty ne khachu= non voglio manger;=I don't want to eten
2. korispondyent= Korrespondent;= correspondant
M
1. moloty yerundu= nonsense zu sagen;= dire sciocchezze/stupidagine//dir dei pezzi pazzi
2. marynarsha= a party woman;= la damma di compagnia
3. maladoy chyelovyek= hey, my man!= giovanotto, gonzello! bello!
4. meni nada zavdatok= Ich brauche a deposit;= dovete faire un deposit affitto
5. meni nada Klavu= Klava is the one ich bin looking foer;= la Klava, la cerco/je suis qua per Clava
6. madam= Meine Frau; Mevrauw, Mesdame, ma belle
N
1. na vulytsi etava vasheva= on the how-do-you-call-him street,= sulla strada di Come-lo-chiamate
2. naydyotye myenya zdyes'= you'll find me hierr;= mi troverete aqui/ici
3. nu, paka!= OK, au revoir!= bene, por hora!
4. nikakoho oholoshennya ya nye daval!= I submit keine ad nicht!= non ho pubblicato ninguna pubblicidad!
5. nu, eto vsyo ravno!= dat is all die solche!= e' lo mismo!
6. nichyevo!= gut enough!= bastante bene!
nu, da!= well, ja!= mais, si'!
P
1.pro tse dazhe vyechorka pisala= even the Nachtrichtungen wrote about dat= anche nel Periodico della Noche cene scriveva
2. pampushechka=*plumpy,=*paffuttita
3. poynyav?= capisc'?= hai entendido?
R
1. razvye vy nye slyshali?= didn't U hear 'bout dat?= no ne l'avete sentita?
2. razryeshitye pryedstavittsa= permitez-moi to be introduced= alstsublieft, che io mi entroduire
S
1. slukhay, ty, parakhod i chyelovyek!= hey, you, de steamer and de Mann*;= senta tu, "piroscafo e l'uomo!"*
2. staraya portupyeya!= my old Weib!= mia veija donna!
T
1. teper, vsyo klyovo= jetzt, all's cool;= mo', tutto es bello
2. tvoya holova teper skhozha na ryepku= you head resembles now un navet(turnip);= mo', la tua teste asomiglia un navet
3. ty teper, yak krokodil'chik= you now look like ein Krokodil;= adesso, assomigli a un cocodrillo
U
1. u mene tut yes't' odyn adresok= I have a nice Adresse in here;= ho un bel indirizzo aqui
KH
1. khroushchovka= a Khrushchov-era flat; = un appartamento all Kruscev
2. khotya, postoy!= aber, hold on!= pero', espera!
3. khmyr'= yack; schmo; tizio, vikingo (dipende dal contesto/situazione)
CH
1. chyevo stoish, sadis'= warum do ye stand, take a Platz= ?porque' stai a piedi?-sentati!
SHCH
1. shche kofe?= un po' ma's del caffe'?= some more Kafe'?
2. . shtob vy znali...= so dat you kennenkoenen;= che vosotros sappiate
Ivan Petryshyn Chicago, IL Ukraine- USA 09/20/08 6:49 pm
This Article has been viewed 317 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.