THE APPLICATION OF DOMESTICATION AND FOREIGNIZATION TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN BULGARIAN–ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF IVAN VAZOV’S EPIC OF THE FORGOTTEN

Abstract

The study offers an opportunity to examine and reflect on the problem of translating culture-specific items (CSIs) in the translation of poetry from a Slavic language (Bulgarian) into a Germanic language (English). The research aims to identify the procedures linked to domestication and foreignization in three of Ivan Vazov’s odes – “Levski,” “Paissy,” and “The Volunteers at Shipka” from his poetic cycle Epic of the Forgotten (1881– 1884) – and their translations by the English translator and journalist Peter Tempest (1976) and Mark Ripkowski (2017). Findings show that even though the most commonly employed procedure when translating expressive and authoritative texts is the literal translation which is linked to the approach of foreignization, it is by no means the only strategy employed by the translators of Vazov’s odes. Tempest foreignized 85.19% CSIs and Ripkowski 79.46% CSIs.