Elizaveta Khripushina, a fourth-year student of the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology (academic programme “Translation and Translation Studies”) became one of the winners of the 2nd “Love Stories: Love In Translation” interregional song lyrics translation contest. It was organised by the Mordovia regional branch of the Union of Translators of Russia. The Penza regional branch of the Union of Translators of Russia was the co-organiser of the contest. Members of the Union of Translators of Russia, translators, poets, essayists, and prose writers were invited as experts.
Elizaveta Khripushina is a two-time winner of this competition. She took part in the contest last year and translated a song from English into Russian. This year Elizaveta translated songs from French into Russian. The girl won first place in the category “Best Song Translation and Best Female Individual Performance”.
“There was a lot of work behind the beautiful and emotional song. The process consisted of several stages: first I studied the original, analysed the vocabulary, then selected equivalents in Russian. Then I tried to find the rhyme and compatibility. It took more than one day, I edited the text several times. It was only during the second approach that I realised that I needed to introduce a male voice for the dialogue, as the author had intended. However, it was not immediately obvious how to do this. I guess the toughest part was to find a rhyme in Russian that suited the rhythm of the song. I hadn’t tried my hand at translating from French (which is my second foreign language) before. So, it was an experiment that turned out to be a great success! I would advise everyone not to be afraid of trying something new, not to be afraid of testing yourself. For me, translating and performing means leaving my comfort zone. It was difficult and scary to film yourself, edit the video, and send it to strangers. However, it was a creative project for me that opened up new horizons. I would also like to thank my research supervisor, Elena Pivovarova, who supported me and gave valuable advice,” commented Elizaveta Khripushina.
“Translating a song is not an easy task, it requires more than just ’technical’ professional translation skills. In a song, the focus is on the feelings. It reflects the author’s or protagonist’s state of mind and their emotions. Therefore, a song text is more emotional than prose. It is important to retain the essence of the text without losing the meaning implied by the author. The competition was a double challenge, as the translators had to perform the result of their work. We are delighted that our talented students are successfully fulfilling their potential through such competitions! Such brilliant results demonstrate their attitude to their studies and their future profession!” said Larisa Kuzmina, Head of the Department of Translation and Professional Communication.
