 The translation of audio guides: lexical, grammatical, and stylistic aspectsElena D. Andreeva and
Lyudmila E. Ryabova
Russian Social and Humanitarian Studies, 2026, vol. 18, issue 2, 295-314 Abstract: Background. In the 21st century, the impact of modern technologies used in excursions has become more significant as well as qualitative and quantitative growth of international tourist flows. The article examines the specific features of translating audio guides from Russian into English and provides practical recommendations for the translation and adaptation of this type of text regarding its distinctive lexical, grammatical, and stylistic characteristics. Purpose. To identify the specific features of translating audio guides from Russian into English and to analyse the translation transformations used to adapt excursion texts to the perception of a foreign recipient. Materials and methods. The study is based on a contemporary audio guide and its English translation. The methodological framework of the research combines general scientific and linguistic methods. The principal method employed is comparative analysis, which made it possible to identify translation transformations applied at different language levels. Results. The study has shown that the translation of audio guides, as a form of excursion discourse, involves extensive adaptation of the source text regarding the linguistic, communicative, and functional features. One of the major challenges in this process is maintaining the communicative effect of the original text under conditions of auditory perception, which requires the translator to employ a range of translation transformations. The analysis of lexical units demonstrated that culturally marked elements present the greatest challenge in translation. The most effective translation strategy for such units is the preservation of their national and cultural specifics while ensuring that the perception and comprehension for the target audience. At the grammatical level, syntactic transformations are especially important. The most frequent transformation is sentence splitting, which is employed to adapt the Russian syntactic structure to the norms of the English language and to facilitate auditory perception. In addition, cases of modification of the theme-rheme structure of the sentence were identified, aimed at the appropriate distribution of semantic emphasis in accordance with English linguistic norms. An important aspect of audio guide translation is the preservation of stylistic hybridity, namely the combination of elements of scientific and literary styles, as well as different types of narration. The findings suggest that the nature of the audio guide as a contemporary form of digital multimodal museum discourse directly shapes the translator’s strategy. Audio guide translation therefore involves not only linguistic transfer, but also intercultural adaptation aimed at preserving both the informational value and the communicative effectiveness of the original text. Keywords: audio guide translation; excursion discourse; lexical aspects of translation; grammatical aspects of translation; stylistic aspects of translation; museum content localization (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cxm:russhs:18:2:2026:295-314 DOI: 10.12731/3033-5981-2026-18-2-588 Access Statistics for this article Russian Social and Humanitarian Studies is currently edited by Fanuza H. Tarasova More articles in Russian Social and Humanitarian Studies from Science and Innovation Center Publishing House 9 Maya Str., 5 office 192, Krasnoyarsk, 660127, Russian Federation. |
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