Kääntäjäksi idänkauppaan

Katsaus venäjän kielen kääntäjien koulutukseen 1980-luvulla

Authors

• Hannu Kemppanen Itä-Suomen yliopisto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61200/mikael.129280

Keywords:

translator training, history of translator training, Translation Studies, translator’s visibility, translation knowledge, Finnish-Soviet trade

Abstract

The present study examines training of Russian language translators in the 1980s. The main focus is on the social and ideological context of the lively bilateral trade with the Soviet Union due to which demand for translators with a command of Russian was high in Finland. The material consists of exercises used by the author of this article in teaching Russian–Finnish translation at Savonlinna School of Translation Studies. The analysis concentrates on describing what kind of source texts and commissions were typical in translation exercises.
The results of the analysis suggest that the most common type of text used in translation assignments was a media text published in a newspaper or a periodical. Media texts were perhaps not ideal from the point of view of authentic translation tasks, but teachers compensated for this by imitating real-life commissions that were linked to bilateral trade or friendship activities between Finland and the Soviet Union.