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Abstract: The present article investigates Mikhail Yasnov’s translation strategy within the context of adapting the poetry of Maurice Carême, a French-speaking Belgian writer, for Russian-speaking children’s audience. The primary focus is placed on the analysis of the methods of conveying the specific features of French poetics, including sound organization, the metamorphoses of images, and conciseness, in Russian-language translations. The study attempts to identify the specificity of Yasnov’s approach to preserving the authorial style while adapting texts for children. The research incorporates methods of complex and comparative analysis of the source and target texts, pre-translation analysis, as well as elements of literary criticism. The results demonstrate that Yasnov successfully balances semantic accuracy with adaptation for the perception of Russian-speaking readers, all while preserving the key elements of Carême’s poetics. The practical research material is taken from the collection of selected children’s poems titled “Cats and Mice” published by “Nigma” in Moscow. Using the example of the poem “Mignonne souris blanche” and other texts, the article illustrates how the translator, instead of keeping to the letter, preserves the game-based nature and the emotional coloring of the source text, creatively transforming it in accordance with the norms of children’s literature and perception. The conclusion emphasizes that effective translation of children’s poetry requires not only linguistic precision but also consideration of the audience’s age-specific characteristics and a creative reinterpretation of cultural contexts. This work contributes to the translation theory by expanding the understanding of strategies for adapting foreign-language poetry for children. The research can be used in the theory of literary translation, comparative literature studies, and pedagogy, while also holding practical value for translators and publishers of children’s literature. Furthermore, the article serves as a clear example of a comparative analysis of the source and target texts, revealing the similarities and differences between the French and the Russian literary traditions in their treatment of children’s theme, which may be of interest to secondary school students and university students of philological faculties studying translation.

About the author(s) :

Yury A. Nozdrin

Ural State Pedagogical University (Ekaterinburg, Russia)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9174-9993

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 01.10.2025; date of publication: 29.12.2025

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