Russian Source Language Translation and Interpretation Skills
What this domain tests
Russian Source Language Translation and Interpretation Skills tests the reverse direction: rendering Russian legal and official texts into accurate, natural English. The challenge is Russian syntax, aspect, participles and institutional realia.
Core rules and concepts
- Unpack long Russian sentences. Participial phrases such as 'лицо, совершившее преступление' usually become English relative clauses: 'a person who has committed an offence'.
- Verbal adverbs ('рассмотрев материалы дела') become finite clauses or 'after/when + -ing': 'after considering the case file'.
- Russian passive-reflexive verbs ('заявление рассматривается судом') become English passive ('the application is considered by the court') or an active sentence with a generic subject.
- Aspect: perfective often maps to a completed action or result; imperfective to process or repeated action.
- Institutional terms need established equivalents: 'мировой судья' is justice of the peace; 'следователь' is investigator; 'дознаватель' is interrogating officer; 'арбитражный суд' is a commercial court, not an arbitration tribunal.
Worked example
Source: 'В удовлетворении исковых требований отказано.' A word-for-word version - 'In satisfaction of the claim requirements it is refused' - is ungrammatical and misleading. Reasoning: 'удовлетворение требований' means granting the claims; 'отказано' means refused or dismissed; the Russian impersonal passive has no agent. Natural English: 'The claims were dismissed' or 'The court dismissed the claims.'
Traps
- Translating 'отказать в удовлетворении' as 'refuse satisfaction'; use 'dismiss the claim'.
- Rendering 'вправе' as 'has the right' when English legal style prefers 'may'.
- Missing the scope of 'не': 'не подлежит применению' means 'does not apply', not 'is subject to'.
- Turning 'сторона' into 'side' everywhere; in civil procedure it is 'party'.
- Calquing 'принять решение' as 'take a decision' where 'make a decision' is standard.