Linguistic and Cultural Untranslatability of Translating Russian Folktales Into Chinese From the Perspective of Translation Hermeneutics

Lyu Shizhao ORCID: 0009-0003-3828-490X Lecturer; Higher School of Translation; Lomonosov Moscow State University Postgraduate student; Higher School of Translation; Lomonosov Moscow State University 119991, Russia, Moscow, Leninskie Gory str., d, 1, p.51, Higher School of Translation shiraoliu@gmail.com

Introduction

The problem of "translatability-nontranslatability" is considered one of the main problems in translation studies. This problem is not new, but in the period of globalization, maximizing the equivalence of the text and the original becomes the most important task. Russian Russian folk tales in the framework of this article, the problem of translatability and non-translatability is considered based on the material of Russian folk tales in a Russian-Chinese translation combination. The genre of fairy tales was chosen for several reasons: firstly, the national cultural characteristics of the country are clearly expressed in fairy tales, which are always interesting to foreigners; secondly, unique artistic images appear in Russian fairy tales; thirdly, any fairy tale has great didactic potential. Of the three categories of fairy tales distinguished by Russian folklorists – folklore fairy tale, literary processing of folklore fairy tale, the author's fairy tale itself ^{[17, p.146]} – we selected works from the first two categories, that is, folk tales, namely: "Geese-Swans", "Copper, Silver and Golden Kingdoms", "Morozko". The criterion for selecting the material was the wide popularity of these tales, as well as the opportunity to demonstrate translation solutions in the most vivid way in conditions of untranslatability. The hermeneutical approach used in the study made it possible to make the translation more adequate.

Russian Russian folk tales in a Russian-Chinese translation combination are the object of the study. Russian Russian folk tales are untranslatable in the process of their translation from Russian into Chinese. The subject of the study is cases of untranslatability of Russian folk tales.

Turning to the history of the translation of Russian fairy tales into Chinese, it should be noted that Chinese readers are not familiar with them. The first attempt to translate Russian fairy tales into Chinese was made by the famous writer Lu Xin (kit. 鲁迅) in 1935, however, it was not a translation of folk tales, but of literary fairy tales – several works by Maxim Gorky ^[25].

It was only in the early 1990s that the works from the collection "Russian Folk Tales" by A.N. Afanasyev were translated into Chinese by Shen Zhihong (沈志)) and Fan Zihan (方子)). Unfortunately, the first edition of the translation, published in April 1991, did not attract much attention.

In 2007, the Publishing House of Folk Literature (人民文文学版)) released a series of books "Masterpieces of World Children's Literature with Illustrations" (《世界儿童文学学图图本本)) ^[24], which included translations of Russian folk tales by Sheng and Fan. Chinese readers were able to get acquainted with such fairy tales as "The Frog Princess", "Santa Claus", "The Copper, Silver and Golden Kingdoms", "Vasilisa the Beautiful", "Geese-Swans" and a number of others.

In 2020 publishing company "Beijing United publishing company" (北京联合出版公司) has planned a series of books called "Tales told a million times", in which he was again reissued the transfer Sheng and Fang called "a Story told a million times - Russia" (《讲了100万次的故事·俄罗斯》) ^[25]. Over the past thirty-three years, only this translation has been republished, no new editions of Russian folk tales have appeared, while there is a need for this: relations between Russia and China are becoming deeper and more multilateral.

As for scientific research, according to the data "CNKI.net "(the authoritative Chinese database of scientific achievements, the study of Russian folk tales in China is mainly related to lexical and cultural characteristics.

The relevance of the research lies in the need to solve one of the pressing problems of modern translation studies – the problem of untranslatability. The active integration processes taking place in the world have not only strengthened the linguistic significance of this problem, but have given it a cultural, psychological and social meaning. The hermeneutical approach used in the study is also relevant.

The scientific novelty of the research. Unlike previous works by Chinese scientists focused on the consideration of cultural and lexical aspects of fairy tales, this study is based on the principles of hermeneutics, which allows the translator from Russian to Chinese to understand more deeply the ways of conveying meaning and artistic images. We have identified translation difficulties in three well–known Russian folk tales - "Geese-Swans", "Copper, Silver and Golden Kingdoms", "Morozko" - and proposed translation strategies.

The main part

To solve the tasks set, it is necessary to determine the peculiarity of the fairy tale as a literary genre. A deep study of this issue is presented in the works of the famous Russian folklorist V.Y. Propp (1895-1970), the author of the textbook books "Historical Roots of a Fairy Tale" and "Morphology of a Fairy Tale". Considering a fairy tale as one of the main types of Russian folk tales, the author in the monograph "Historical roots of a fairy tale" analyzes the relationship between the concepts of "fairy tale" and "myth", "fairy tale" and "rite", "fairy tale" and "primitive thinking". V.Ya. Propp identifies the following structural elements of a fairy tale: the plot; mysterious forest; big house; magic gifts; ferry; by the fiery river; far away; bride. Within the framework of these structures, the main images are analyzed, their origin is revealed, and the hidden meaning is determined ^{[14, pp.62-359]}. The scope and depth of the study of the material by V.Y. Propp are encyclopedic in nature. Modern researchers state the uniqueness of the fairy tale as a literary genre from a formal, structural, functional, cognitive and communicative point of view ^{[12, p. 103]}.

§ 1. On the problem of untranslatability

Translation scholars include works of folklore, along with philosophical, religious and artistic works, in the list of texts that are particularly difficult from the point of view of translatability and untranslatability ^{[11, p.360]}. According to N.K. Garbovsky, "the partial reconstruction of the system of meanings of the original is an objective property of translation. It is due to the inevitable asymmetry of any pair of language systems that come into contact in translation, the asymmetry of linguistic worldviews" ^{[4, p.22]}. There are such concepts as equivalence and adequacy of translation, which allow us to determine the degree of semantic proximity of texts in different languages. An accurate translation "is impossible already due to the fact that different languages differ both in grammatical structure and in the simple number of words, not to mention the difference in cultures" ^{[9, p.78]}. Russian Russian is much more difficult to achieve translation equivalence in cases where languages belong to different language families, as in the Russian-Chinese paradigm: Russian is part of the Indo–European language family, while Chinese is part of the Sino-Tibetan language family. There are fundamental differences between the languages of these families, which are not included in our task to cover.

According to the unanimous opinion of the translators, difficulties should not be obstacles in translation activities. The hermeneutical paradigm expands the translator's capabilities. "Hermeneutics ... is a theory and methodology of interpretation of texts, which includes their theoretical understanding and practical aspects of interpretation in the context of semantic analysis" ^[20]. The role of this theory and methodology in the modern translation process is so great that "hermeneutics is sometimes understood as the art of translation" ^{[19, p.46]}. The word "art" is used reasonably in this context, since the choice of a solution largely depends on the linguistic and cultural outlook of the translator, his logical abilities and the so-called "linguistic flair". In an effort to structure the process, researchers, in particular, E.N. Mishkurov and M.G. Novikova, name four stages of solving the problem: pre-understanding, understanding, interpretation, translation solution ^{[11, p.361]}. Interpreting the concept of "translation hermeneutics", the named authors in the monograph "Theory and methodology of translation in cognitive hermeneutical illumination" argue that such an approach is associated "not only with understanding texts, but also with the study of ways and forms of expression of established meanings and the choice of ways and forms of their re-expression in YAP" ^{[10, p.17]}.

In the development of the problem of untranslatability, the role of the famous British linguist J. Catford (1917-2009) should be noted, who in the work "Linguistic Theory of translation" (1965) identifies the causes and types of its occurrence. According to the scientist, untranslatability occurs in cases when it is impossible to reproduce functionally significant features of the original text in translation ^{[21, p.94]}. J. Catford identifies two types of untranslatability – linguistic and cultural – and gives their definitions, which in our study will be taken as working ones. Linguistic untranslatability is "the inability to find an equivalent in the translation language due to its differences with the language of the original text" - wordplay, ambiguity, ambiguity ^{[21, p. 94]}. Cultural untranslatability, according to the scientist, arises in the case "when any linguistic category of the original text is completely absent in the culture of the target language" - the names of some institutions, clothes, food, abstract concepts ^{[21, p.99]}.

§2. Linguistic untranslatability

Linguistic untranslatability is supposed to be considered from two angles: 1. phonological and stylistic untranslatability; 2. lexical and grammatical untranslatability.

Phonological and stylistic untranslatability

Rhyme is a very powerful means of phonics, which plays an important role in creating the structure of the text and sound repetition. It is often found at the beginning and end of Russian and Western European fairy tales, but is rarely preserved in Chinese translations. An example is the following final common fragment of fairy tales:

That's the end of the fairy tale, and who listened-well done.

故事到这里就结束了,耐心听完故事的你真棒。(gù Shi lǐ jiù dào zhè jié shù le, nài xīn tīng wán gù Shi de nǐ zhēn bàng; the Tale ends here; you, who patiently listened to the whole tale, well done.)

In the following example, there is no rhyme, but there is a consonance.

They lived happily ever after.

And they lived happily ever after.

(hòu lái tā men xìng fú kuài lè dì shēng huó zài yì qǐ; Then they lived happily ever after and had fun together).

When translating a text into Chinese, its meaning is preserved, but not the rhyme. There are several aspects of this problem. Chinese and Russian languages are fundamentally different on the phonological and phonetic level. The Chinese language (in this article, the expression "Chinese" means "Putonghua", i.e. the Chinese normative language) has features such as diphthongs, triphthongs and four tones, which make it difficult to create a rhyme, let alone preserve it while conveying the exact meaning of the source text. In addition, recreating rhymes originally written in Russian can be quite difficult during the translation process.

In Russian folk tales, rhyme plays an important role, enhancing expressiveness and contributing to better memorization of plots, which makes them more attractive to perception. In Chinese, rhymes are most often used in ancient poems and in later poetry, as well as in modern humorous texts. The study of rhyme in various genres of Chinese literature was addressed by Zhou Ren (周周), Long Yusheng (龙生生), Wang Yingxue (王王).

Therefore, the preservation of rhymes when translating Russian fairy tales into Chinese not only complicates the translator's work, but also changes the style of the translated text, making it more difficult for the reader to understand the author's intention. Thus, the above-mentioned linguistic untranslatability is not only inevitable, but also does not need to be overcome within the framework of the hermeneutical paradigm.

Lexical and grammatical untranslatability

The untranslatability of this type is mainly due to the difference in the word formation of the Russian and Chinese languages. Thus, the words of the diminutive form (指小小/zhǐ xiǎo biǎo ài) in Russian texts express very special emotions of tenderness and tenderness, creating a harmonious and friendly atmosphere for children readers. As you know, there are no diminutives in the Chinese language. I.N. Yesakova and E.D. Leonenkova ^[7], as well as Wang Cui ^[1] addressed this problem.

To express a feeling of tenderness, affection and tenderness, the adjective 好 (hǎo; good) is sometimes added before the noun. For example:

孩子 (hái zi) – child

好孩子 (hǎo hái zi) - a good (sweet, kind) child

In colloquial speech, the adjective 小 (xiǎo; small) is often used before a noun to which affection or love is expressed. For example:

狗 (gǒu) - a dog

(Xiǎo Gǒu) – cute dog

花 ( (huā) - flower

(Xiǎo huā) – a pretty flower.

Such expressions are usually used in situations where the interlocutors are talking about a specific object. The word "xiǎo" means "small" when describing volume, size and age. Therefore, such expressions in the translated text may mislead Chinese readers.

In the fairy tale "Geese-swans" there are many words with diminutive suffixes (especially for inanimate objects), for example:

— We'll go to work, bring you a bun, sew a dress, buy a handkerchief; be smart, take care of your brother, don't leave the yard.

- The elders left, and the daughter forgot what she was ordered to do; she put her brother on the grass under the window, and she ran outside, played a lot, went for a walk. (Italics are ours).

Words in italics should not be translated into Chinese within the framework of the "A+X" model. Firstly, there will be a repetition of the word in the Chinese text, which will violate the conciseness and logic of the text. Secondly, when using a large number of expressions "A+X", emphasis is placed on the size of the object, making readers think that the author is trying to emphasize the small size of everything described in the fairy tale. Since such a translation interferes with the understanding of the fairy tale by Chinese readers and distorts its meaning, it is more expedient to preserve not the form, but the meaning of words and expressions in Russian.

That is why the optimal translation should look like this:

乖女儿,我们要去干活儿了。给你带面包,做裙子,再给你买块新手绢。你可要听话,照顾好弟弟,千万别往院子外面跑。(guāi nǚ er,wǒ men yào qù gàn huór le。gěi nǐ dài miàn bāo,zuò qún zǐ,zài gěi nǐ mǎi kuài xīn shǒu juàn。nǐ kě yào tīng huà,zhào gù hǎo dì dì,qiān wàn bié wǎng yuàn zǐ wài miàn pǎo。Dear daughter, we're going to work. We'll bring you a bun, sew you a dress, and buy you a new shawl. Be a good girl, take care of your brother and don't run out into the yard.)

大人刚出门,小女孩就忘记了妈妈的嘱托。她把弟弟放在窗边的草垛by,就跑到街上玩儿去了。这时飞来了一群野鹅,倏地抓起小男孩就飞走了。(dà gāng rén chū mén,xiǎo nǚ hái jì jiù wàng le mā mā de zhǔ tuō。TA bǎ di dì fàng zài chuāng biān cǎo duǒ shàng de,jiù pǎo dào jiē shàng wán ér qù le。zhè shí lái fēi le yě yī qún é shū zhuā dì qǐ jiù hái xiǎo nán fēi zǒu le。Parents are gone and my daughter has forgotten about what asked her mother. She put her brother on the grass under the window, and she ran outside and started playing. Wild geese swans swooped down, picked up the boy and carried him away on their wings.)

According to their mentality, the Chinese are generally less emotional and more secretive than the Russians. This difference is reflected in languages as well. In China, it is not customary to address family members in a diminutive form. The formal address to parents is 父亲 (fù qīn; father) and 母亲 (mǔ qīn; mother), the informal one is 爸爸 (bà ba; dad) and 妈妈 (mā ma; mom). The appeal in Chinese family discourse is considered by M.A. Gavrilyuk ^[2]. And in Russian fairy tales, such addresses as daddy, mammy, etc. are often found.

Examples are the following expressions from the fairy tales "The Copper, Silver and Golden Kingdoms" and "Frost":

1) Once the queen went for a walk in the garden with her mammies and nannies.

有一天,妈妈和奶妈正陪着皇后在花园中散步,这时突然刮起了一阵旋风。(yǒu yì tiān,mā ma hé nǎi mā zhèng péi zhe huáng hòu zài huā yuán zhōng sàn bù,zhè shí tū rán guā qǐ le yí zhèn xuàn fēng. One day, the mother and the nurse were walking with the queen in the garden, when suddenly a whirlwind arose.)

2) Prince Ivan began to ask his father: "Let me go to look for my mother, to find out about my older brothers."

伊凡王子请求爸爸:“让我去找妈妈吧,让我去打探打探哥哥们的消息吧!”(yī fán wáng zǐ qǐng qiú bà bà:“ràng wǒ qù zhǎo mā ma ba,ràng wǒ qù dǎ tàn dǎ tàn gē gē men de xiāo xī ba”. Prince Ivan asked his father: "Let me go to look for my mother, to find out about my older brothers.")

3) – Are you warm, girl?

– Warm, warm, Father Frost!

- 暖和吗,姑娘? (nuǎn huo ma,gū niang? Is it warm, girl?)

- 暖和,暖和,严寒老人!(nuǎn huo,nuǎn huo,yán hán lǎo rén! Warmth, warmth, Santa Claus!)

As can be seen from the above examples, when translating appeals to family members in Russian fairy tales into Chinese, words in a diminutive form are not preserved. That is why the address "Father Frost" may be incomprehensible to the Chinese. In this regard, translators should not only pay attention to overcoming linguistic untranslatability, but also reflect in a hermeneutical way, trying to convey the meaning of the original text.

An important aspect that must be taken into account when translating Russian names is that there are no diminutive nominations in the Chinese language. Each situation should be considered separately from a pragmatic point of view in order to understand why the author chose the diminutive form of the character's name.

If the writer emphasizes the closeness between the characters, then in Chinese you can add the word "小" (xiǎo; small) before the person's name. For example, when the brothers saw Ivan, they said the following:

1) - Hello, Ivanushka! Where are you going?

By this point, the relationship between the older brothers and Ivan had not deteriorated yet, and it was clear that the elders were surprised and happy to see the younger brother, so the sentence can be translated as 你好呀,小!!你这是是?(nǐ hǎo ya,xiǎo yī fán!nǐ zhè shì yào qù nǎ ya?)

In other cases, however, using the diminutive form of the child's name is just a habit of the character, then adding "A" is inappropriate. An example is the following remark of the Old Woman from the fairy tale "Morozko":

2) – Come on, Masha, lie!

Obviously, the old woman is unhappy here, and to convey this emotion in Chinese, it is best to translate the word "Masha" as "Masha".

In addition, native Chinese speakers rarely express an emotional attitude towards an inanimate object, especially an abstract concept. In the fairy tale "The Copper, Silver and Golden Kingdoms", the words voditsa and mochenka should be translated into Chinese as water (水/shuǐ) and be able to (力气/lì qi):

1) ... we don't have any money anymore.

我们一点力气都没有了。(wǒ men yì diǎn lì qi dōu méi yǒu le. We don't have any strength at all.)

2) Nastasia the queen says: "Drink, Ivanushka, the water that stands on your right hand."

纳斯塔西亚王后说道:“小伊万,喝右边那桶水吧。” (nà tǎ xī yà sī wáng hòu shuō dào:“wàn yī xiǎo,yòu biān nà hē shuǐ tǒng ba.” Says naztazia-Queen: "Drink this, Ivanushka, waterby your right hand is.")

M.M. Demidova offers five ways of interpreting words with diminutive suffixes when translating from Russian into English: zero translation, neutralization of diminutiveness, compensation by lexical means, approximate translation, contextual translation ^{[6, pp.55-58]}. These conclusions are consistent with our translation decisions.

§3. Cultural untranslatability

As you know, the translation process is not only the transformation of language signs, but also a form of cultural communication. As N.K. Garbovsky notes, "it is the translator, in the conditions of cultural diversity and the absence of a single world language, who finds himself faced with the need to master the "alien" for the host culture and bring the universal, his own and others' into a single system" ^{[3, p. 5]}. Each nationality has a unique history, traditions, lifestyle. However, "in the text of the source language, the contextual feature is associated with a certain cognitive function, but there is no connectedness in the text of the translated language," as a result of which cultural untranslatability is manifested ^{[21, p. 64]}.

This article examines two types of cultural untranslatability associated with precedent expressions and abstract concepts.

Cultural untranslatability of a precedent expression

In the fairy tale "Geese-swans" One of the most famous negative characters of Russian culture, Baba Yaga, is presented. She lives in a hut on chicken legs, and her assistants are Geese and swans.

The literal translation of these expressions in the Chinese language will look like this: Baba Yaga - 芭芭雅嘉 (bā bā jiā yǎ; transcription from Russian); hut on chicken legs - 鸡脚屋 (jī jiǎo wū; literal translation, 鸡 chicken, 脚 – foot, 屋 – room, house, hut); Geese - 鹅-天鹅 (é - é tiān; literal translation, 鹅 – goose, 天鹅 – Swan).

From a linguistic point of view, Chinese readers will be able to understand the meaning of these words, however, within the framework of cultural connotation, they will not be able to imagine the images inherent in Russian culture, due to the differences between the two peoples at the cognitive level. Only a general idea of a house on chicken legs will be compiled. It should be noted that V.Y. Propp writes about the animal nature of the hut ^{[14, p. 103]}.

As for the name "Baba Yaga", the transcription from the Russian language 芭芭雅嘉 (bā bā yǎ jiā) is considered an inappropriate translation, since the combination of four hieroglyphs does not make sense to Chinese readers. The Chinese will be able to perceive it as some kind of female name, but it will be difficult for them to understand who she is or what she looks like, whether she is beautiful, how old, or kind.

According to the Russian linguist and semiotic Yu.S. Stepanov, Baba Yaga is understood as "one of the main characters of Russian folk tales, an ugly, evil and insidious old woman with great magical power" ^{[15, p. 855]}. In this description, such features as her age, evil character, ugly appearance and possession of dark power are emphasized. V.Y. Propp identifies three types of Yaga's image: Yaga the giver, Yaga the abductor, Yaga the warrior ^{[14, p.88]}. The fairy tale "Geese-Swans" features the image of Yaga the kidnapper.

To convey the features in Chinese, the translators Sheng and Fan suggest the variant "老妖婆" (lǎo yāo pó, old witch; 老 – old, 妖婆 – witch, hag) ^[24]. From a hermeneutical point of view, in the process of translating a real word, translators can consider its highest category and reflect the corresponding concept in the target language. The translation of Sheng and Fan reflects their professionalism, but, in our opinion, it would be more accurate to translate the reality in the form of "the highest category + transcription of the person's name / the name of the object".

In this regard, the Baba Yaga is translated 老巫婆芭芭雅嘉 (lǎo pó wū yǎ bā bā jiā) or 老妖婆芭芭雅嘉 (yāo bā lǎo pó jiā bā yǎ). Both translations have the meaning "old witch Baba Yaga": 老 – old, 巫婆 or 妖婆 - witch, 芭芭雅嘉 - transcription of Baba Yaga. Russian Russian fairy tales may have different old witch women, and their images may appear not only in Russian fairy tales, but also in the stories of other nations. Sheng and Fan's translation of "老妖婆" (lǎo yāo pó) may give Chinese readers the impression that all old witches in different cultures look the same.

A similar problem arises with the translation of the name of the title character of the fairy tale "Morozko". A good translation is not a phonetic transcription 马洛兹卡 (mǎ kǎ luò zī) and not a literal translation 严寒 (yán hán, cold), and the interpretation of the word as 严寒老人 (lǎo rén yán hán; Grandfather frost, 严寒 – cold, cold, 老人 – old grandfather).

The most difficult to translate is the precedent expression geese-swans, the direct translation of which is 鹅–天 ( (é - tiān é; geese - 鹅, swans - 天)). Obviously, a direct translation will not provide an opportunity for Chinese readers to understand the true meaning of this expression. In Chinese culture, geese and swans are considered different species of birds, so the mixed word 鹅-天天 can be misinterpreted, for example, as a designation of some magical creature created from parts of two individuals (something close to a centaur or a mermaid).

From a hermeneutical point of view, one should first understand what geese-swans are in the eyes of Russian readers before providing a translation of this expression to the Chinese. In the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language" by S.I. Ozhegov, it is indicated that the synonym of the word geese is swans - geese ^[13]. A.V. Efimov also notes that "geese–swans are not a collection of different birds, but a homogeneous flock: the swan is the closest relative of the wild goose, they were often mixed, so that the expression geese-swans are about like a grass-ant" ^[8]. That is why the expression "geese-swans" should be translated into Chinese as 鹅 (é, geese). However, the hermeneutical approach makes it possible to find a more accurate translation.

In Chinese culture, geese are considered funny because of their awkward gait, and swans are a symbol of love. They have something in common — ferocity. In China, people often read about attacks by both species of birds on humans. In addition to the difference in the shape of the head, birds differ in one more feature – swans can fly high and far, and geese usually do not fly. In the fairy tale, the swan geese grab the boy and fly off into the forest, which shows the biological characteristics of swans, but not geese. That is why the expression "geese-swans" in this case is better translated as 天 ( (tiān é, swans). It is noteworthy that this translation not only appears in the publication of Sheng and Fan, but is also used by numerous Chinese researchers in scientific works. The habits of geese and swans, and their perception by the Chinese, are discussed in an article by Sun Chenggang ^[16].

Cultural untranslatability of an abstract concept

As E.B. Tylor notes, "culture, or civilization, in a broad ethnographic sense, is a set of knowledge, beliefs, art, morality, laws, customs and some other abilities and habits acquired by a person as a member of society" ^{[18, p. 18]}.

In most cases, interpreting abstract concepts is more difficult than translating a specific concept. Speaking about this, J. Catford cites the word democracy as an example, clarifying that even internationalisms have different meanings in different languages and in different linguistic environments. This issue is considered in detail by Chinese researcher Guan Hesin (关鉌新). The author notes that differences in national mentality affect how different interpretations of abstract concepts are perceived, as a result of which similar expressions have different meanings and functions in different languages ^{[5, p. 68]}.

Therefore, when translating fairy tales (or literary translation in general), translators need to interpret and interpret the original in a hermeneutical paradigm, and not according to the principles of literal translation. For example, Ivanushka's foolishness should not be translated as stupidity, since this trait of Ivanushka is considered a sign of a kind of genius, contemplation and fatalism. Translators should learn from native speakers of the source language the correct understanding of abstract expressions or real words in order to more accurately convey the meaning to readers of the target language.

Some expressions have complex connotations and meanings that are difficult to understand, for example: Russian soul. Whether Chinese readers will be able to fully grasp the meaning of the expression "Russian soul" depends not only on translations of fairy tales and works of art, but also on contacts between countries.

Conclusion

The need to solve the problem of untranslatability inherent in the translation process since its inception is increasing in modern conditions of international integration.

As a result of the conducted research, it was found that due to the differences between the linguistic and cultural systems of the two nationalities, it is impossible to completely avoid linguistic and cultural untranslatability when translating Russian fairy tales into Chinese. To reduce the negative impact of untranslatability on the quality of fairy tale translation, it is advisable to adhere to the following guidelines.

1) The translator should give priority to conveying the meaning of the text rather than preserving the form of the original language.

That is why it is important to preserve the plot of the fairy tale and the characters of the characters, as well as accurately convey to Chinese readers the true meaning of the work. With this approach to phonological and stylistic, as well as lexical and grammatical untranslatability, the absence of a diminutive form or loss of rhyme are considered acceptable.

2) Translators should accept cultural untranslatability, as it reflects the uniqueness of fairy tales of different peoples.

When faced with precedent words such as character names, one should not resort to phonetic transcription or literal translation. It is important to first understand what images they form in the source text, that is, what characteristics a particular character or other object has. Then they should be interpreted taking into account the worldview of the recipients. If necessary, you can add information about the emergence of a foreign reality in footnotes, and outline its brief history.

3) Translation is a complex process of interlanguage and intercultural communication. It is influenced not only by internal factors of sign systems, but also by intercultural communication. Despite the fact that linguistic untranslatability is inevitable, with the deepening of the processes of globalization, mutual understanding between peoples will increase and cultural untranslatability may gradually turn into translatability.