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Quantifying the faithfulness of poetry translations in four closely related Slavic languages.

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Title: Quantifying the faithfulness of poetry translations in four closely related Slavic languages.
Authors: Rybová, Martina1 (AUTHOR), Jacobs, Arthur M2 (AUTHOR), Blohm, Stefan3 (AUTHOR), Widmer, Paul4 (AUTHOR), Sonnenhauser, Barbara1 (AUTHOR)
Source: Digital Scholarship in the Humanities. Dec2025, Vol. 40 Issue 4, p1261-1274. 14p.
Subjects: Translations of poetry, Slavic languages, Versification, Statistical accuracy, Sounds, Artistic influence
Abstract: Translating poetry is notoriously difficult—some would claim impossible—because it inherently requires making triage decisions what to preserve and what to sacrifice if necessary. Both form and meaning contribute to the esthetic effects of the original, but translations that faithfully preserve the metrical versification principles of the original might struggle to fully preserve lexically conveyed meanings and connotations, and vice versa. Other esthetically relevant sound-related features (e.g. phonemic patterns) are particularly challenging to preserve. This paper presents a pilot study to empirically test this intuition by assessing the faithfulness of translations to their original. Quantifying aspects of the beauty of sound and meaning, that is, the sonority and the esthetic affective potential, of selected poems and their translations in/from Russian, Polish, Czech, and Slovak, that is, a sample controlled for linguistic and cultural context, we measure the degree to which translations correspond to their originals along these dimensions. The results suggest that, for the poems and languages considered, the beauty of sound and meaning are preserved to varying degrees, which can be sensibly interpreted against specific features of the poems, linguistic distances, and cultural prestige. The study thus serves as a proof of concept that demonstrates the basic feasibility of the method applied and foreshadows its potential for advancing empirical studies in the field of comparative poetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Digital Scholarship in the Humanities is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Quantifying the faithfulness of poetry translations in four closely related Slavic languages.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Rybová%2C+Martina%22">Rybová, Martina</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Jacobs%2C+Arthur+M%22">Jacobs, Arthur M</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Blohm%2C+Stefan%22">Blohm, Stefan</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Widmer%2C+Paul%22">Widmer, Paul</searchLink><relatesTo>4</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Sonnenhauser%2C+Barbara%22">Sonnenhauser, Barbara</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Digital+Scholarship+in+the+Humanities%22">Digital Scholarship in the Humanities</searchLink>. Dec2025, Vol. 40 Issue 4, p1261-1274. 14p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Translations+of+poetry%22">Translations of poetry</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Slavic+languages%22">Slavic languages</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Versification%22">Versification</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Statistical+accuracy%22">Statistical accuracy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sounds%22">Sounds</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Artistic+influence%22">Artistic influence</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Translating poetry is notoriously difficult—some would claim impossible—because it inherently requires making triage decisions what to preserve and what to sacrifice if necessary. Both form and meaning contribute to the esthetic effects of the original, but translations that faithfully preserve the metrical versification principles of the original might struggle to fully preserve lexically conveyed meanings and connotations, and vice versa. Other esthetically relevant sound-related features (e.g. phonemic patterns) are particularly challenging to preserve. This paper presents a pilot study to empirically test this intuition by assessing the faithfulness of translations to their original. Quantifying aspects of the beauty of sound and meaning, that is, the sonority and the esthetic affective potential, of selected poems and their translations in/from Russian, Polish, Czech, and Slovak, that is, a sample controlled for linguistic and cultural context, we measure the degree to which translations correspond to their originals along these dimensions. The results suggest that, for the poems and languages considered, the beauty of sound and meaning are preserved to varying degrees, which can be sensibly interpreted against specific features of the poems, linguistic distances, and cultural prestige. The study thus serves as a proof of concept that demonstrates the basic feasibility of the method applied and foreshadows its potential for advancing empirical studies in the field of comparative poetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Digital Scholarship in the Humanities is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1093/llc/fqaf102
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 14
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      – SubjectFull: Translations of poetry
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Slavic languages
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Versification
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Statistical accuracy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Sounds
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      – SubjectFull: Artistic influence
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      – TitleFull: Quantifying the faithfulness of poetry translations in four closely related Slavic languages.
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            NameFull: Rybová, Martina
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            NameFull: Jacobs, Arthur M
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            NameFull: Blohm, Stefan
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            NameFull: Widmer, Paul
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              M: 12
              Text: Dec2025
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              Y: 2025
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