The article reveals the decoding mechanisms of linguoculturemes occurring in the translation of the novel “Zuleikha opens her eyes” by G. Yakhina into the English language. In the original text of the novel linguoculturemes express ethnical and socio-cultural identity of the main character Zuleikha. Working on the translation of the novel Lisa Hayden, the translator, uses different types of adaptive transcoding for interlanguage and intercultural communication. The translation is characterized by double transcoding that is based on three languages: Tatar, Russian and English. Tatar words and expressions with explicit national cultural elements form a cultural background in the novel and often have no equivalents or definitions in the English language. The comparative analysis of the original text and its translations highlight a number of different groups of linguoculturemes, such as terms for members of ethno-cultural community and types of address, names of mythical and religious characters, names of objects, elements of interior design of a peasant’s home, pieces of furniture, and clothes. Linguoculturemes also help to recreate the historical atmosphere in Russia in the 1920-1930s, as well as the relationships in a traditional patriarchal family, conventional values of a local ethno-cultural community and socio-political realia depicted in the novel. A complex hierarchy of contextual image levels of the novel in the process of translation of the novel. The outer level of the story (the plot) is being transformed and many story lines are translated into English without any significant semantic change. Universal human problems represented via archetypes are well received by the English-language readers regardless of their language and socio-cultural background. The inner levels of the story expressing specific social relationships and interactions, ethnocultural, religious, and ethnopsychological stands with the help of linguoculturemes appear to be “encoded” for readers with different language backgrounds, but open in their complete semantic value to the bearers of the given social, religious and ethnical cultures. The authors’ message is that the English translation of the text does not lack in national cultural identity or ethnocultural values, it is just that these values become secondary and, as a result, harm the intimacy of the unique world perception of the main character.
“Welcome to the White Man’s World”: An English Translation of Isaac Oluwole Delano’s Historical Novel Aiyé D’Aiyé Òyìnbó
