Tanja Nathanael
May 28, 2019
Those who work in the field of international children’s literature—either as scholars or as authors—are likely already aware of what an important role translators play in adding new works to this rapidly growing arena. Furthermore, translators increase the likelihood of diverse texts crossing linguistic and geographic boundaries, as well as reaching new generations of young readers and opening their minds to a larger world. Without the translations of works by Michael Ende, Cornelia Funke, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and Astrid Lindgren, to name just a few examples, the world of children’s literature would be very poor indeed.
The following interview was conducted with Olga Bukhina, a translator, writer, children’s books specialist, and independent scholar based in New York City. She has translated almost forty books from English into Russian, including American, British, and Canadian young readers’ novels and picture books as well as historical fiction, non-fiction, and scholarly books.
TN: How long have you been a translator? What was your experience entering this profession?
OB: My first translations were published in 1991. Those two books were done earlier, when I did not think about translating professionally. By education and by my first profession, I am a clinical psychologist. My sister then had small children, and I started translating two of the C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books for them. The manuscripts of my translations became a part of the Samizdat (the underground literature prohibited in the Soviet Union). In perestroika time, they were published, and that became my entry into the profession.
TN: How do you choose a book to translate? Do you ever work with the original author of the text? Or do you correspond mainly with an editor?
OB: Often, the editors suggest books to translate, and I sometimes suggest books to them, or work as a reader for them. In any case, cooperation is my favorite modus operandi. I often work together with a co-translator, my sister Galina Gimon. She and I translated about 20 books for teens, pre-teens, and small children together. I had also an interesting experience working with author Eugene Yelchin while translating his book Breaking Stalin’s Nose. As a result, we both were listed as translators. I always correspond with the author, if it is possible, asking some questions. Mostly, but not always, it is a very pleasant experience.
TN: When you first begin work on translating a text, is your first priority its artistry or its language? How do you balance the two?
OB: I do not think that it is possible to separate text’s artistry from its language. I am trying to be as balanced as I can. I do not have some preset principles, so I decide for each book and for each part of the book (sentence, paragraph, or chapter) what to do.
TN: What was the first children’s book that you translated?
OB: The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis.
TN: I notice that your work includes translations of books written for both children and adults. Is there a significant difference between translating for adults vs. translating for children?
OB: Books for kids are much more difficult to translate.
The language is more concise and precise; so, the choices of words are more important. Often, books for small children are so minimalistic in their language that it is a real challenge. Also, I always feel even more responsible for the quality of my work when I translate for children. On the other hand, children’s books are much shorter, and I do not like to stay too long with the same project.
TN: What are some typical challenges that you encounter working in translation? For example, how do you deal with jokes, slang, and colloquialisms?
OB: One of biggest challenges is some local information – names of places, streets, stores, foods, candy bars, for example. Jokes are the fun part. That is where the imagination works. Slang or broken language is very difficult when you work from English into Russian. My coauthor and I brainstorm these issues, but sometimes, our imagination is just stuck, and we start asking everyone around for fresh ideas.
TN: What is the most recent book that you have translated?
OB: What I Was by Meg Rozoff and Bolivar by Sean Rubin. I name these two because they are very different. The first one is for older teens and really tragic, and the second one is for much younger children, a very funny illustrated book about a dinosaur who lives in New York City (right next door to where I live).
TN: Much of your work is translating children’s books written in English into Russian. Are there any children’s books in Russian that you would like to see translated into English?
OB: This should be a very long list! Unfortunately, almost nothing out of excellent contemporary Russian books for children and teens is translated into English. Just a few names of the authors I would suggest: Nina Dashevskaya, Andrej Zhvalevskii and Eugenia Pasternak (they write together), Dina Sabitova, Daria Dotsuk, Daria Wilke (one of her books, Playing a Part, is published in English in Marian Schwartz’ translation), Yulia Kuznetsova, Arthur Givargizov, Masha Rupasova, Marina Boroditskaya. The list could be much longer.
TN: Have you noticed any interest or increasing demand in Russia for diversity in children’s books?
OB: Yes, definitely. It is a natural process for the 21st century. Because of many translations from English and from European languages, this niche is slowly, but steadily being filled. Of course, we also need original works, and they are also slowly coming in.
TN: Translators today play an important role in adding to the corpus of international children’s literature. In your work, which do you think is more significant: increasing the mobility of literatures across linguistic borders or broadening the perspectives of children by opening their minds to a wider world?
OB: I believe that both goals are important and cannot be separated one from another. It is very important for children to understand that their peers from other countries are very similar to them in their problems and expectations. At the same time, there are many different cultures in the world that you may learn about reading books in translation.
TN: Which of your translated books is your favorite?
OB: Many of them, but just to name two – Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now and Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden.
TN: A distressing statistic notes that there are far more books being translated from English into other languages than the reverse, especially in the United States. What suggestions do you have for encouraging interest in or access to translated books from countries outside of the U.S.?
OB: It is a vicious cycle. If you do not know the other cultures, you do not translate; if you do not translate, you will never learn about other cultures. I see that one way to break this cycle is to translate more and to introduce people to literary works of other countries and cultures. For that, editors should trust translators; their recommendations are very important because they are in the perfect position to bridge the cultures.
TN: I would like to extend my thanks to Olga for her participation in this interview and for her long-standing support of ChLA!
ABOUT OLGA BUKHINA: Olga Bukhina is a translator, a writer, a children’s books specialist, and an independent scholar based in New York City. She has translated almost forty books from English into Russian: American, British, and Canadian young readers’ novels and picture books as well as historical fiction, non-fiction, and scholarly books. Among the authors translated are Louise Fitzhugh, Carl Sandburg, Elizabeth George Speare, Jacqueline Kelly, B.J. Novak, C.S. Lewis, Enid Blyton, Philippa Pearce, Elizabeth Goudge, Philippa Gregory, and Jean Little. She translated into Russian Ben Hellman’s Fairy Tales and True Stories: The History of Russian Literature for Children and Young People (1574 - 2010). Bukhina’s last translations (with G. Gimon) are the Meg Rosoff’s YA novels How I Live Now and What I Was as well as Sean Rubin’s graphic novel Bolivar. Bukhina has co-authored three children’s books for the Children’s Project of Lyudmila Ulitskaya. She writes about children’s literature for various journals, collections, and online publications in Russia and in the U.S. Her book The Ugly Duckling, Harry Potter, and Others: A Guide to Children’s Books About Orphans was published in Moscow (KompasGid, 2016). She serves as an Executive Director of the International Association for the Humanities.
More about Olga Bukhina may be found on her website: http://olgabukhina.com/
ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER: Over the past decade, Tanja Nathanael has been building substantial experience in international children's literature by means of travel, coursework, publications, and conferences. Her study of children's literature has taken her to Iceland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Additionally, she has published numerous "postcard" book reviews in Bookbird, an international children’s literature magazine. She has also presented on the topic of international children's literature at both regional and international conferences, including the 15th Annual European Conference on Reading in Berlin in 2007 and on ChLA's international panel on Iceland in 2008. Professionally, she has served on ChLA’s international committee (2015-2018) and continues her support as Co-Editor of the blog. She is currently serving on the Studies in Languages and Literatures Advisory Board for The International Federation for Languages and Literatures (FILLM). She successfully defended her dissertation in Fall 2018 and graduated with a PhD in English Literature at the University of Southern Mississippi in Spring 2019. Her research interests include nineteenth century British Literature—especially Old Northern antiquities as celebrated by the Victorians—and children’s literature, including broader connections to international literatures within these areas.