Winter 2010 Vol. 19, No. 1 SLAVIC LANGUAGES DIVISION AMERICAN TRANSLATORS ASSOCIATION SlavFileSlavFile www.ata-divisions.org/SLD/slavfile.htm Dear Readers: Welcome to the first SlavFile of 2010! We are happy to report that the 50th Annual ATA Con- This year the SLD meeting was held during lunch hour ference held in New York City, which drew unprecedented to free up an extra slot for SLD presentations. This was an attendance, was a success for SLD as well. The banquet in innovation we talked ATA into trying that may perhaps be particular, held in the famous Samovar Restaurant was a continued in subsequent years when proposed sessions really gala and enjoyable event (see write-up on page 11). outnumber allocated slots. At any rate, the minutes of the Although we had fewer SLD presentations than we are used meeting appear on page 16 of this issue. The conference to, the ones we did have were of especially high quality newcomer column this time was written by Vitaliy Plinto and the illustrious interpreter, translator, and dictionary (page 10), who focused on acquiring tips for running a free- author, Pavel Palazhchenko gave both a preconference lance business at his first ATA conference. seminar and the annual Greiss lecture. Some of the presen- The relative paucity of Slavic sessions at the last confer- tations are reviewed in these pages. Palazhchenko’s pre- ence did not result from a paucity of acceptable proposals. conference seminar on dealing with typological differences Rather, faced with unprecedented proposals across the among languages in interpreting (of course, relevant to board, those responsible for the conference gave prece- translating as well) is reviewed by Lucy Gunderson on page dence to those that were accessible to the greatest number 15. Jen Guernsey and John Reidl’s presentation on Phar- of members, and this meant fewer language specific maceuticals for Slavists, which included a 100 term glossary presentations. We are very happy to report that, on the of relevant terms translated into 7 (!) Slavic languages, is basis of member and attendee feedback, for the foreseeable reviewed by Irina Knizhnik on page 6. A highly informa- future (at least in 2010) “the conference will focus on tive overview of Larisa Zlatic’s presentation on new terms advanced level sessions targeting members with 7-10 years in Serbian and Croatian written by the presenter herself of professional experience.” In addition 90 minute can be found on page 23. Reviews of the Greiss lecture, a sessions are a thing of the past and all presentation on Legal Terminology (Fred Grasso, Maksym sessions will last 60 minutes. The deadline for submitting Kozub, and Tom Fennell), one on making the best of proposals is March 8. Internet resources in Translating (Eugenia Tumanova and Continued on page 2 Megan Lehmann) and a Literary Division presentation on translation of the opera Boris Godunov (Mark Herman) will appear in subsequent issues of our publication. Inside: WINTER 2010 ISSUE 2009 ATA Conference Reviews .... 6,10,11,15,16,23 Khazin on bouts-rimes ............................................. 8 SLD translators participate in pro bono publication ......................................... 10 Ukraine by any other name .................................. 12 Khams and snobs ................................................. 13 Word Buzz ............................................................... 17 SlavFile Lite ........................................................... 19 Double-barreled bilingual idioms ......................... 21 Seen Any Good (Slavic) Movies Lately? SLAVIC LANGUAGES DIVISION OFFICERS Susan Welsh has suggested that SlavFile, Administrator: Becky Blackley regularly provide brief reviews of Slavic Tel: 304-637-7505 movies that our readers recommend (or [email protected] not) to other Slavic translators and inter- Assistant Administrator: P. Elana Pick preters. She has furthermore volunteered Tel: 917-400-6918 to accept responsibility for this feature. If [email protected] you have recommendations, or would like to help, please contact SlavFile or Susan SlavFile is published four times yearly. Welsh ([email protected]). The emphasis will be on new Articles of interest to Slavic translators and or relatively new films, but there could be exceptions, if an older film interpreters are invited. is outstanding and is not widely known. If possible, please include the date, whether there are subtitles, and whether an English title exists (to Designation of Slavic Languages Division membership on ATA membership application help find a DVD on such English-language sources as Netflix). or renewal form Graphic credit is iStockphoto.com. provides full membership. Write to ATA, 225 Reinekers Lane Alexandria, VA 22314 WELCOME TO THE FIRST SLAVFILE OF 2010 Continued from page 1 Submissions become the property of SlavFile and are subject to editing. Another innovation planned for the 2010 ATA conference in Denver involves holding 12 separate FREE division networking events directly Opinions expressed are those of the authors after the Wednesday welcome reception. I do not have further details, and do not necessarily represent but this event does not of course preclude us from having our banquet the views of the Editor or of the Division. either in the hotel or outside it. I would also like to call your attention to the two new features Editor: Lydia Razran Stone included in this issue. First, Yuliya Baldwin of Charlotte NC, formerly Tel.: 703-768-5441 of Voronezh, will be writing on the latest developments in Russian vo- [email protected] cabulary and other linguistic features, a topic sure to be of high interest Associate Editor: Nora Favorov to those of us working into and out of Russian. Her first column, Word Tel.: 919-960-6871 Buzz, can be found on page 17. Secondly, at the urging of Assistant [email protected] Administrator, Elana Pick, we are incorporating a new feature (name Associate Editor: Galina Raff (Russian, Layout) to be determined) highlighting the accomplishments and contributions Tel.: 704-849-8200 [email protected] of our members. The first report under this rubric describes (see page 4) the “Life Stories” project, publication for the benefit of the Russian hospice movement of a series of works by current Russian authors. A EDITORIAL BOARD number of SLD members contributed their translation services to the Liv Bliss English version of this pro bono endeavor. Finally, above there is an [email protected] announcement asking you to contribute to Susan Welsh’s new feature Roy Cochrun (Dictionaries) (which we will begin to publish in the spring issue) reviewing Slavic [email protected] films. No, we have no plans to discontinue any of our other features, so Stephen Dickey and Janja Pavetic-Dickey you can look forward to an even more diverse and information-packed (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian) SlavFile. [email protected]; [email protected] For future SlavFile issues, as always, we are delighted to receive Jennifer L. Guernsey unsolicited contributions and, also as always, we are especially seeking [email protected] articles from those who work with Slavic languages frequently under- Vladimir Kovner represented in these pages, most notably Polish and other West Slavic [email protected] languages. Deadline for submission is the last week in March, but Christina Sever requests for reasonable extensions will certainly be considered. [email protected] Lynn Visson [email protected] Roman B. Worobec (Ukrainian) [email protected] SlavFile Page 2 Winter 2010 FROM THE DESK OF THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR P. Elana Pick Greetings! It feels as if the jubilant 50th ATA Conference age groups, different levels of experi- that we enjoyed so much ended just a couple of days ago, ence and ‘getting the hang’ of our but a reality check shows we need to start thinking and get- profession, so it is difficult to find a ting ready for Denver. This includes preparing our propos- set of criteria for what to call ‘an achievement.’ It might be als for presentations, inviting a Greiss Lecturer, thinking something anyone would consider a major accomplishment about fun things we want to do in Denver, including our in a career, or simply a personally significant stepping stone traditional Slavic banquet. on the way, or perhaps a small but important contribu- Looking back at the past year, I would like to say that my tion to someone’s well-being or the world in general, or an call to fill a ‘void’ in the SlavFile , that is, to better represent ethical or linguistic issue successfully and cleverly resolved. the art of interpreting in its pages, was beautifully respond- No matter! What matters is that we learn from each other, ed to by our distinguished colleagues. Not only did we have share with each other, and help each other become better a special interpreting edition, but since then we have had professionals or better people. an article written about interpreting in every issue. That’s I myself am always proud and happy to hear my friends/ great, and though I’d love to take credit for it, I believe it colleagues tell me about a new book, article, award, trans- just means that there is a need to pay attention to issues lation project, course taught, conference and/or difficult interpreters face in their everyday professional life as well court case or medical encounter they interpreted at, or hear as challenges in translation. Though not strictly necessary, about a personal milestone. I would love to see this sort of it would be nice if we had a catchy rubric or title to identify thing in our pages. articles about interpreting in our pages. However, what is The first article in the series of our planned publications more important than a witty identifier is that we are learn- of SLD members’ achievements is an article written by our ing from contributions on interpreting and had the pleasure own Nora Favorov, see below, about her pro bono transla- of welcoming the Grandmaster of Interpreting, Pavel Pala- tion work for the English edition of Life Stories: Original zhchenko, as a distinguished speaker at our conference last Works by Russian Writers.