PARALLEL CORPORA IN THE STUDY OF THE TRANSLATION OF UKRAINIAN CULTURE-SPECIFIC VOCABULARY

Abstract

This article explores the potential of using parallel language corpora in the translation of Ukrainian culture-specific vocabulary into English. The relevance of this research stems from the active development of corpus linguistics, the expansion of Ukrainian-English parallel corpora, and the need to refine methods for analyzing the translation of linguistic units that represent national and cultural particularities. Particular attention is paid to culture-specific vocabulary as a vehicle for historical, sociocultural, symbolic, and ideological meanings, the reproduction of which poses one of the most complex challenges in contemporary translation studies. The aim of this article is to develop and test a corpus-oriented approach to analyzing the translation of Ukrainian culture- specific vocabulary into English by using parallel language corpora to identify translation strategies, techniques, and patterns of variability in translation equivalents. The theoretical foundation of the study consists of works devoted to culture-specific items, translation strategies, and corpus- based methods in translation studies. The empirical data were obtained using OPUS, the largest open multilingual corpus. Using the translation of the lexeme “Maidan” as an example, the study analyzes the implementation of key translation strategies and techniques, and traces the influence of context and discursive factors on the choice of a translation decision. The results of the study showed that parallel language corpora make it possible to establish the actual variability of translation, determine the frequency of use of specific strategies and techniques, and identify how translation decisions depend on the genre, communicative, and cultural characteristics of the text. The paper demonstrates that the corpus-based approach is an effective tool for studying the translation of Ukrainian culture- specific vocabulary and has significant potential for the development of modern translation studies, the improvement of translators’ professional competence, and further linguistic research.