The English translation is ok. It conveys all the same ideas and analogies, but doesn’t take quite the same tone. The English translation is a little formalized rather than idiomatic, while the Russian POW speaks a little more dynamically; sometimes he’s very informal and sometimes he’s very formal. The man gives the impression of someone who is sort of at his wits end and can’t help but be emotionally sincere.
I think the translation was quite done well, but it’s clear it wasn’t done by someone who is bicultural in addition to being bilingual. I say this as someone who was born in the USSR, grew up in the US, and speaks both English and Russian equally fluently.
For the most part it’s just little things.
Like in the very beginning, the translation used “allegedly” but a better word would have been “supposedly”. While a seemingly small difference, the former is a decidedly official sounding word to most English speakers, while «якобы» is a pretty relaxed word in Russian.
At 0:54, “one sided information” (the literal translation of the Russian word «одностороннее информация» heard in the interview) is more accurate than “unilateral information”. Again, just a less official, more down to earth tone.
0:59 “sometimes we get something from other sources” should be “occasionally we get glimpses of other sources”. The literal translation of what was said is “at times information from other sources flies by”. The Russian idiom “something flies by” is most like the English idiom of “getting a glimpse”. And “sometimes” is more wishy-washy than “occasionally”. In the context of “getting a glimpse” of alternative sources of information is more momentous to a Russian than conveyed by “sometimes”. Again, subtle, but still.
3:36 “I would do the same as these people did” should be “I would do the same as these people are right now”. It’s literally what the POW says and helps to convey the immediateness of his tone and gesticulation. Alternatively “I would act the same as these people right now” might work even better, in terms of level of formality.
Around 3:44 the translation says to the effect of “They are right now while I offer excuses!” A strict idiomatic translation should be “They are justified, while I try to justify myself.” With a period at the end. A slightly more interpretive/nuanced idiomatic translation would be “They are completely justified in their actions, while I can barely even provide a reasonable context for mine.”
I just skimmed through three tiny parts of this video, but these subtle sort of things repeat every 10-30 seconds. Like I said, the translation really isn’t bad! But the guy honestly is a better speaker than the translation really lets on, and takes on a tone reflects simultaneous shock and profound remorse at the situation that he found himself perpetuating.
Edit: I’m on mobile and rewatching for examples and can’t comment and watch the video simultaneously. I added more examples to my comment as I find them.
Another example (but correct me if I’m wrong; I’m not entirely fluent): at 5:57, the translation goes
This is terrible. I’ve never seen anything before. Never thought that at the end of my life I would face something like that! this opportunity
This is strange wording and missing some pieces, and “opportunity” makes no sense here; it’s a translation of возможность , but it should be “possibility”. So, I think a more accurate translation would be:
This is simply terrible. I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life . I never thought that within my lifetime (?) such a thing would be possible .
Yes, absolutely! I’d even go one step further with your translation and say:
This is simply terrible. I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life. I never thought that within my lifetime such a thing could be possible.
The “at the end of my life” bit is translated from «к концу моей жизни», which literally means “by the end of my life”. Idiomatically, that phrase functions identically to “lifetime”.
Like I said, lots and lots of little things like that. But I think it’s only fair to not that, even if you’ve spent a lot of time learning a language, it can be so hard to use that language that perfectly conveys what you want to a specific audience. I’ve personally been there and know first hand! This is doubly true when you’re working on super short deadlines or live broadcasts. So I really hope all this talk doesn’t cast a bad light on the translator(s) who put this together.
The mere fact that the team could make interview is made not only available but also accessible to international audiences in no time at all, while their own country is literally being invaded is honestly admirable and impressive on its own! No amount of nitpicking from linguistics nerds on the internet should detract from that.
