Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.15291/csi.5070
Translation of Russian-Language Film Titles into English
Olga Iermachkova
orcid.org/0000-0002-5430-7898
; University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Department of Russian studies, Slovakia
*
Andrea Spišiaková
orcid.org/0000-0001-7041-1436
; University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Department of Russian studies, Slovakia
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
The translation of film titles is a specific linguistic and cul-
tural task that requires not only excellent command of both
the source and target languages, but also a deep understand-
ing of the target audience’s mentality. A film title plays an
important pragmatic role: it attracts viewers, reflects the
content, creates certain expectations, and often determines
the film’s commercial success. The aim of this study is to
analyse the translation strategies used in rendering Rus-
sian-language film titles (filmonyms) into English, and to
assess their equivalence and adequacy.
The material for analysis consists of film titles, selected
from the platform www.sovietmoviesonline.com. The study
applies the methods of continuous sampling and qualita-
tive analysis. Both non-adaptive (literal translation, tran-
scription, transliteration) and adaptive strategies (omission,
addition, transposition, genre adaptation, generalisation,
specification, grammatical and stylistic transformations,
transcreation) are identified. The importance of considering
cultural realities and genre-specific features when choosing
a translation strategy is emphasised.
The findings show that translators, in most cases, aim for
pragmatic adaptation of the title to make it comprehensible
and appealing to English-speaking viewers. This approach
helps preserve the communicative function of the original
title, even when significant lexical and grammatical trans-
formations are applied. The analysis concludes that adequa-
cy of translation is more important than formal equivalence,
and that a successful translation of a film title requires a
creative approach, awareness of the cultural context, and a
careful balance between form and meaning.
Keywords
equivalence; filmonym; literal translation; transformation; translation
Hrčak ID:
349370
URI
Publication date:
14.7.2026.
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