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Translation - art & business » Translation Theory and Practice »
Russian/English volume
Thread poster: Talent Success
Talent Success
Talent Success
United States
Local time: 14:43
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
+ ...
May 9, 2007

I'm trying to find out out whether Russian text volume expands or contracts when translated into English, and if so, by what approximate percentage.

Thanks!
 
cherepanov
cherepanov  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 22:43
Member (2005)
English to Russian
+ ...
10 to 15 % May 9, 2007

Hello,

I translate from English into Russian. Russian translation is usually longer than the English original text by 10 to 15 %.

Dmitri
 
Natalie
Natalie  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 21:43
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...

MODERATOR
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Rather 15 to 18% May 9, 2007

Hi Jill,

I would say that the difference is 15-18% (i.e. Russian text is up to 18% longer that English)

Natalia
 
Roman Bulkiewicz
Roman Bulkiewicz  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:43
Member (2004)
English to Ukrainian
+ ...
words or characters? May 9, 2007

Cherepanov wrote:

Russian translation is usually longer than the English original text by 10 to 15 %.


- that is, if you count characters. If terms of wordcount, Russian text is shorter - by 15-20%, I would say, on the average.
 
Henrik Pipoyan
Henrik Pipoyan  Identity Verified
Local time: 23:43
Member (2004)
English to Armenian
Hi Jill May 9, 2007

It depends on how you count. Since English and Russian are two different types of languages, it is important to know what exactly is meant by "expanding". If you mean the number of characters, comparing two identical texts, in Russian there will be more characters, because words are longer. But if you mean the number of words, in Russian there will be fewer words, because one word combines all the grammatical forms that in English are expressed by prepositions, articles, auxiliary verbs, etc. An... See more
It depends on how you count. Since English and Russian are two different types of languages, it is important to know what exactly is meant by "expanding". If you mean the number of characters, comparing two identical texts, in Russian there will be more characters, because words are longer. But if you mean the number of words, in Russian there will be fewer words, because one word combines all the grammatical forms that in English are expressed by prepositions, articles, auxiliary verbs, etc. And besides, I think the very process of translation naturally expands the text, because no matter how well you translate the text, there are always such language specific words and expressions that you can express accurately only if you use more words in the target language. ▲ Collapse
 


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Russian/English volume


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