Olha Seniuk’s Ukrainian translation of Poltava by the Swedish author Peter Englund will be published in Ukraine in conjunction with the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava. Seniuk was born in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast. She is a laureate of the Maksym Rylsky Literary Prize and specializes in Ukrainian literary translations from Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, and English.
Ms. Seniuk, what made you interested in literary translation?
“As a student I majored in the Germanic languages and it took me a while to turn to translation. As a Taras Shevchenko University Ph.D. student, I listened to Oleksandr Biletsky’s advice to write a thesis on the Germanic languages …. I had to take an exam in Gothic because this is the basis for the Germanic languages, just like as is Old Slavonic for the Eastern Slavic ones. Gothic is a dead language, yet it provides important material for a comparative analysis of the Germanic languages. After I defended my thesis, I was assigned to the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute as a teacher of English. I was not totally satisfied with the job. It was in 1953, and the government-run publishing company for children, Dytvydav, had just been established. They held a contest for literary editors. I took part in it and won it, along with Yevhen Popovych and Mykhailo Haidai.”
You became a literary editor and started accumulating professional experience as a translator, didn’t you?
“That’s right. We were not trained as translators, although we had command of foreign languages. We brimming with enthusiasm and responsibility. At the time our motto was, “Translate only from the original text!” After the 1930s, when so many men of letters had been physically destroyed, all Ukrainian translations were made from the Russian versions of foreign originals.
“Eventually, I found myself faced with the task of mastering the Scandinavian languages. The first book I translated into Ukrainian was Thor Heyerdahl’s Aku-Aku, the Secret of Easter Island. At the time all I had was a 20,000-entry Norwegian-Russian dictionary. When I wasn’t sure I could understand a word or a phrase, I relied on comparative linguistic analysis and my own intuition. And it worked. I still rely on my linguistic academic background. As for Ukrainian translation, I was fortunate enough to receive consultations from such celebrated experts as Borys Antonenko-Davydovych, Viktor Petrovsky, and Mykola Lukash. I’m sure that good literary translation takes talent, not just the knowledge of several foreign languages.”
Did things go well with translations from Swedish and Norwegian?
“After Heyerdahl there was the Swedish author Bromberg with his youth adventure stories. However, I felt strongly attracted to Astrid Lindgren. She is an extremely pure soul, so translating her stories proved easy and successful. With time I concentrated on translations from the Scandinavian languages. Our generation reinstated the professional translators’ principle, which was in Ukrainian literature in the 1920s-1930s: translate only from the original.”
What do you think our young translators lack in terms of professionalism?
“They lack thorough knowledge of the literature whose authors they translate. One must see the whole literary complex behind a given text one translates. As for me, I believe I know Norwegian and Swedish classical and modern literature well enough, much better than Danish. Under the Soviets it was difficult to keep track of new publications across the world. Polish media, particularly Literaturа na Swiecie, and the Ukrainian almanac Duklia in Slovakia, proved very helpful. Yevhen Popovych (a noted translator and Olha Seniuk’s husband — L.T.) and I visited Moscow and read new foreign publications at a special library where only experts in the literary field were admitted. This was the only place where one could read them.”
What do you think is the task of the Ukrainian translator?
“My generation has always seen it as bringing the world’s best literary works to the Ukrainian reader, thus enriching our mother tongue. We all know that at one time an attempt was made to reduce this language to the status of a dialect and our literature, to a provincial status. Nor was it coincidental that Russian translations from foreign literary works were encouraged in the first place. Under the Soviets we were often chastised. As a criterion for the readibility of a translated work we were given this: Will a cleaning lady understand the text?
“During that period, being a literary translator was a prestigious status, because every professional translation instantly became a bestseller in Ukraine and elsewhere in the Soviet Union.”
At one time issues of the Vsesvit magazine with translations of foreign bestsellers were hard to get; they were passed from one reader to the next. This sounds like a legend these days.n
“Indeed. And the translators were paid more or less adequate money. Another good thing was that Yevhen and I always chose what we really wanted to translate. True, after another dressing-down, he was strongly advised to translate a novel about the working masses. Yevhen found a reasonably good story written by a West German author. My translations were shelved for two years, but his were not published longer.
“During such periods I earned a living as a typist. I must give Oleksandr Bandura, director of the Dnipro Publishing House, his due: he persuaded the local party functionaries that Yevhen and I should be allowed to keep translating because translations kept the publishing company alive. They set a condition: translate one book a year. Yevhen would take a thick volume to translate, while I had to make do with children’s stories, which were not enough.”
Are there any special aspects in translating books for children?
“Above all, you have to figure out the author, his/her world outlook, and style. You don’t write what you think the author should have written. You have to read the original text very carefully. Literary translation has nothing to do with voluntarism; it’s an attempt to convey the original text with maximum accuracy and at the same time convincingly.”
We know that you are trying to share your professional experience with young translators and that you taught at a school for translators in Yaremcha.
“Sharing this experience is easier said than done. Sometimes I think that there is no continuity left in the realm of literary translation here. The impression is that the younger generation has categorically discarded everything previously achieved in Ukrainian literature and that these young people are starting from scratch.
“Furthermore, if there were market demand for literary translations in Ukraine, you could make demands on young translators. Literary translations are adequately appreciated, so they have nearly dropped to an amateurish level. Besides, our publishing companies keep economizing and no longer hire style editors, so translations are publishes with a multitude of mistakes. Another painful drawback is that our publishing companies are willing to publish literary translations of foreign literature, but they order translations from Russian translations. This also causes ridiculous mistakes.”
Is it true that you are the only one in Ukraine to translate from Icelandic?
“Yes, it is. My knowledge of comparative linguistics was very helpful. Icelandic is a conservative language as compared to Norwegian or Swedish. To convey the meaning of a single word in Icelandic, you need to use a couple more words in translation.”
B>Which of the writers you have translated are your favorites?
“All of them! I was happy translating Astrid Lindgren, Selma Lagerlof, Par Lagerkvist, and August Strindberg.”
You have managed to do some travelling. Where have you been?
“Yevhen and I twice visited Sweden, Norway, and the United States. Yevhen has also been to Austria.”
What is the next book you have translated that will be published soon?
“Poltava by the Swedish author Peter Englund is soon to be published in conjunction with the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava.”
