Problems of translation from Russian into Armenian and vice versa

Difficulties of Russian-Armenian translation

A correct translation from the Armenian language and into the Armenian language should be based on knowledge of the history of this language. Having two dialect groups complicates the work of the Armenian language translators. It seems quite obvious that the correct translation from one language into another is possible only with a deep knowledge of both. It is also clear that an awareness of history of these languages ​​also helps a professional translator.

In order to translate from Russian into Armenian, one should take a look at the history of the Armenian language, which includes three periods. The ancient period lasted from the 5^th to 11^th century, the medium period — from the 12^th to 16^th century and the new period – from the 17^th century till nowadays. It was during this period when the Armenian literature, which currently has the eastern and western forms, was fully developed. To translate from Russian into Armenian correctly one should remembered that the Ashkarabar language is used in Armenia. It’s the Eastern version of the Armenian language, which has its own peculiarities. This dialect is used on the territory of the Republic of Armenia, the former Soviet republics, as well as in Iran and India, so the Russian-Armenian translation for customers from these countries should take into account the features of the Eastern Armenian literary language.

A translator of the Western group of Armenian dialects, as well as of Western Armenian literary language, should take into account the linguistic features of the Armenian Diaspora in the Middle East, Turkey, Europe and America. While translating it’s important to consider that the Armenian Diasporas did not recognize the reforms of the Armenian writing of 1921 and 1940, which inevitably creates difficulties in translation.

Interpretation is no less complex because of the phonetic peculiarities. When translating from the Armenian language into Russian and vice versa, one must also remember that this ancient language has 60 dialects which make the already difficult task even more complicated. Besides, the Armenian language is not less complicated than Russian. There are seven cases, eight types of declension, two conjugation types, five moods, three faces and three voices in the Armenian language. The list of complexities of this Indo-European language is inexhaustible, so only real professionals can perform a high-quality Russian-Armenian translation. Any work, whether it is a translation from Dutch into Russian or from Russian into Italian, of course, requires thoughtful and serious attitude; however, the Russian-Armenian translation is true art, because the Armenian language has a unique writing system and unusual grammar.