A comparative study of information change in translation of nonfiction literature

Abstract

The present paper compares translations from Russian into Finnish, Swedish, and English of a work of political non-fiction, Всякремлевскаярать: КраткаяисториясовременнойРоссии(lit. All the Kremlin men: A short history of contemporary Russia) by Mikhail Zygar (2016a) and investigates the use of information change as a translation strategy. Information change covers addition and omission of non-inferable content, used either separately or sequentially (i.e. addition following omission resulting in substitution). De Metsenaere’s and Vandepitte’s (2017) notions of addition and omission are applied. The study shows that the translations into Finnish and Swedish exhibit similarly infrequent use of information changing strategies while the English translation appears more liberal in their use. Possible reasons for the additions, omissions, substitutions, and their effects are discussed, as is the potential impact of the English translations on translation norms