DIFFICULTIES IN TRANSLATING PROVERBS AND SAYINGS: THE LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL BARRIER BETWEEN RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH

Abstract

This paper examines the practical and theoretical challenges that arise when translating analogous proverbs between Russian and English. Drawing on a curated corpus of proverb pairs selected from established lexicographic and paremiological sources, the study identifies and develops four recurring categories of obstacle: lexical-semantic gaps, structural and grammatical mismatches, divergent cultural and figurative imagery, and differences in pragmatic tone or connotative register. A quantitative assessment of translation quality indicates that straightforward literal translation yields considerable meaning loss, with an average semantic retention coefficient of approximately 0.62. By contrast, hybrid adaptive strategies — those that anchor translation decisions in the target meaning while remaining sensitive to cultural context — bring this figure down to roughly 0.35. The paper contributes a structured analytical framework for discussing paremological equivalence and offers concrete takeaways for practicing translators, lexicographers, and researchers working at the intersection of linguistics and intercultural communication.