PRAGMATIC ADAPTATION OF ENGLISH COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY IN COMICS’ TRANSLATION

Abstract

Currently, comics, a graphic narrative genre of literature, is becoming increasingly popular. Despite the fact that in recent years publishing houses have been releasing works created by Russian artists, most books of this genre remain translated literature. The relevance of this study lies in the fact that the strategies and tactics of translating English-language comics into Russian have not been sufficiently studied in Russian linguistics, despite the widespread distribution of translated works. The material of this study is the first 20 chapters of the webcomic “Blue Chair” by Andrew Zaston. The comic book structure, expressed in separate frames with dialog clouds, combined with paralinguistic means and stylistic originality represented by colloquial vocabulary and slang, imposes certain specifics on the translation and complicates it. This article is analyzed the strategies and tactics of translating an English-language comic, describes the translation difficulties and the decisions made. The most common translation techniques are calculus, transliteration, grammatical substitutions, and compensation. Separately, it is worth noting the use of reduced vocabulary, which always presents translation difficulties. In all the examples presented, neutral translation options are selected, but at the same time they fulfill their emotional and expressive function, while preserving the stylistic originality of the original.