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Abstract: This article examines the rendering of Ukrainian realia in the English translation of Nikolai Gogol’s novella “Viy” (1835). Linguocultural realia are an integral component of language, reflecting the cultural identity of the society and possessing national and historical specificity. Represented by words and word combinations, they are unique to one culture and may be incomprehensible to the representatives of other cultures. As units of translation, realia cause difficulties due to the absence of their full equivalents in the target language with the corresponding national-cultural, connotative, historical and other characteristics. However, when translating realia, it is necessary to strive to maintain a balance between their semantic content and the cultural and historical context. The aim of this study is to identify the most effective methods for translating Ukrainian linguocultural realia from Russian into English, which accurately render not only their semantic, but also national-specific, as well as cultural and historical characteristics. To achieve this aim, the article examines the concept of “realia” and the types of realia; identifies the ways of their translation; compares the reflection of realia in the source and target texts; compares two translations of the novella in order to maintain the balance of all the features of the source language realia and their English equivalents. The scientific novelty of this study consists in conducting a comprehensive comparative analysis aimed at identifying the most effective ways of rendering Ukrainian realia in English translations of Gogol’s satirical prose. Within the framework of this analysis, special attention is paid to balancing the semantic components of realia, as well as preserving their national, cultural and historical coloring. This approach allows to better understand the specificity of the translation of this work of fiction and to identify the key aspects of the interaction between the source text and its foreign-language interpretations. The results of the conducted research indicate that the realia in Gogol’s novella “Viy” are translated into English in the two versions through different translation methods, nevertheless, the most popular among them is the method of assimilation due to its high effectiveness, as it allows rendering the semantic, national, cultural and historical specificity of Ukrainian realia from the native language into a foreign one in a most complete and clear cut way.

About the author(s) :

Marina V. Vlavatskaya

Novosibirsk State Technical University (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5619-9416

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 11.02.2025; date of publication: 30.06.2026

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