Analysis of Translating Russian Participles into Malay

Abstract

This article examines the challenges inherent in translating Russian participles into Malay, given the absence of a direct grammatical equivalent in the latter. The research aims to formulate effective translation strategies that address the dual verbal and adjectival nature of Russian participles, encompassing Tense, Mood, Aspect, Number, Gender and Case. The study analyzes diverse types of Russian participles and their semantic functions, proposing alternative translation methods to accurately render both meaning and grammatical features. Employing comparative analysis of Russian and Malay language systems, alongside contextual analysis to determine optimal translation choices, the research demonstrates the infeasibility of direct calquing. Instead, it advocates for various transformations, including substituting participles for verbal constructions, relative clauses, or descriptive phrases, and utilizing aspect markers as well as the Malay particle yang. Careful consideration of context and a semantic nuance of each participle is emphasized to ensure stylistically appropriate Malay renderings. The findings provide a practical framework for translators working with the Russian-Malay language pair and offer implications for language acquisition, potentially advancing Russian philology in Malaysia and Malay studies in Russia.