February 06, 2014

A Baker's Dozen of Invaluable Translation (and Language Learning) Resources


A Baker's Dozen of Invaluable Translation (and Language Learning) Resources
or... For When You Have Outgrown Google Translate

Whether you are a budding translator of Russian-English texts, are reading Russian literature in the original, or just want to improve your Russian, there are countless resources waiting for you on the internet. You just need to know where to look. We asked some of our finest translators to suggest their favorite online resources and added a few favorites of our own. Here’s the list, in no particular order:

Tap the Global Brain. There are thousands of other souls like you out there, trying to bridge language divides. And some of them are putting their translated phrases online into vast, searchable archives. Two that we recommend are TausData and Linguee.

The Standbys. Anyone learning Russian over the past several decades should be familiar with Ozhegov’s Russian to Russian dictionary, which gives invaluable examples of usage. It is now online and searchable (albeit in a somewhat clunky interface), as is Zaliznyak’s morphological dictionary, and Fasmer’s etymological dictionary.

Idioms. The go-to guide for translating Russian idioms into English is Sophia Lubensky’s masterpiece (now out in a second edition, but not in electronic version). You can, however, access an online version of Dubrovin’s 1987 Book of Russian Idioms Illustrated here. It’s an alphabetical listing of idioms with cartoony illustrations that escaped from the 1980s.

Proverbs. There’s a nice Wiki that collates many proverbs in alphabetical order here. A note on the page indicates that “the following phrases... have been verified through the following book,” which is Mertvago’s fine print volume, published by Hippocrene in 1996. Other sources also seem to be cited and referenced throughout.

Acronyms. So, you’re reading an article about global warming and all of a sudden come across the acronym БАС. Whatever could this mean? Never fear, sokr.ru is here to help. Yet another fantastic project of Art Lebedev, it has over 120,000 acronyms in its database and reportedly adds another 30 every day. The Russian language is mighty that way.

Dictionaries and More Dictionaries. If you have an odd word to look up, take it to Gramota. With one search you can scour multiple dictionaries (including the Bolshoi Tolkovoy Slovar), and also check usage questions and spelling. The portal also allows you to pose complex grammatical questions to resident Russian experts (in Russian). Another nice aggregator of dictionaries is Slovopedia, which has a simple design and a single search box that gives you access to everything from Dahl, to dictionaries of construction, synonyms, bookkeepers and the church. Another invaluable resource is Multitran, makers of a rich desktop translation program which also has an online counterpart.

Slang and Swearing. As if you doubted that there’s a site for that. Russki-mat.net allows you access to several bilingual jargon dictionaries (including Russian-Aragonese, of all things), as well as the Russian-German Partizan’s Companion, and a Russian to Russian dictionary of nineteenth century slang of both the upper crust and underbelly of society. Looking for more? This site offers access to aphorisms, anecdotes, slang, and collections of quotes (in Russian) by Shakespeare, Twain, Prutkov and others. You’ll have to just search on pages with your browser...

The National Corpus. This is the motherlode. Or maybe the mother ship. The site has more than 500 million word forms compiled in part in the manner of the British National Corpus. It is a searchable database of texts that are characteristic of the language in written and spoken form, with many of those texts annotated or explained. So, for instance, a search on a single word might bring up hundreds of works in which it appears – so that one could study usage in place – then select out by types of publications. As well, one can make rather specific searches on words by part of speech and declension, etc. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Search for a word in “parallel” form, and it will pull up instances of the word alongside translations to or from the chosen language – an astoundingly useful tool for translators.

 

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Little Humpbacked Horse

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955