DEGREE OF SIGN EXPRESSION IN TRANSLATIONS FROM RUSSIAN INTO OTHER LANGUAGES (Based on evaluative adjectives from the original text of M. Bulgakov’s “Master and Margarita” novel and its Bulgarian and English translations)

Ivo Panchev
DGT. A.BG.2, Directorate-General for Translation, EC

Abstract

The comparative study of languages with various degree of relation is a linguistic subject that would always be relevant. Foreign language knowledge is an essential requirement for the deep analysis of a native language against the backdrop of an extensive palette of lexical phenomena. Foreign language learning in its own right is closely connected with the theory and practice of translation, and therefore, as a number of scholars have duly observed, the attribute of translatability could be included as a prerequisite for interlinguistic comparison. The interest in the contrastive study of vocabulary most certainly indicates a confirmed interest in translation and the practice of translation. Among the noteworthy linguistic situations in view of translation, there are those with discernible degree of sign expression. The contrastive analysis of such examples provides us with valuable information.

Keywords: translation from Russian into Bulgarian/English, degree of sign expression, evaluative adjectives