омхаченный

English translation: swaddled in MKhAT canons or stilted/stifled

04:00 Feb 10, 2013

Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - History / Theater

Russian term or phrase: омхаченный

Уважаемые коллеги, подскажите, как бы поточнее перевести этот термин. Смысл "омхачивания" ясен -- становление унифицированной театральной культуры "а-ля" МХТ. Но вот как бы это передать на английском без того, чтобы пускаться в долгие исторические объяснения? Вот предложение: "Этот «омхаченный» памятник до сих пор стоит между нами и живым истоком начала МХТ." Контекст -- история Российского/Советского театра.
Заранее спасибо

Olga Layer KudoZ activity Questions: 11 (none open) Answers: 163
Local time: 05:17

English translation:swaddled in MKhAT canons or stilted/stifled

Explanation:
personally, I would just put "stilted" or "stifled": outside Russia )and I suspect that nowadays - even inside!) MKhAT would say something only to a a very small group of people.

Selected response from:

Michael Korovkin
Italy
Local time: 11:17

Grading comment

Thank you Michael. I ended up using something similar to your suggestion. I would have preferred a single-word equivalent, but they just don't seem to convey the same level of contempt as the Russian term.
On a separate note, this text is intended for audiences interested in all things theater and its history, so I would imagine they'd know about the MAT, the Piccolo di Milano, and Stratford on Avon as well :)
Thanks again for your help
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +3

swaddled in MKhAT canons or stilted/stifled

Michael Korovkin

3 +4

MKhAT-ized

Rachel Douglas

4 +1

You have to rephrase

The Misha

MXAT-style

Deborah Hoffman

Answers

16 mins confidence:

MXAT-style

Explanation:
Granted, I've only found this term used once, but it is an option.

Perhaps,

The realism of this MXAT-style work still stands...

If "realism" isn't the quality being referred to as омхаченный, you could substitute whatever quality you believe is being emphasized so that even if the reader doesn't know what MXAT is, it will be clear what concept is being referenced.

He also united MXAT-style realism with St Petersburg's traditional academism and Georgian romanticism.

http://books.google.com/books?id=B9RV5UFtPNMC&pg=PA718&lpg=P...

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Note added at 31 mins (2013-02-10 04:31:30 GMT)
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Ah, found more:

On the other hand, despite praise for the ensemble playing, there was criticism of the lack of theatricalism which had been such a revelation in the MKhAT style.
http://books.google.com/books?id=voj-KNDhUfoC&pg=PA119&lpg=P...

The net result was a truncated, blander play, conventionalized in the traditional MKhAT style
[PDF]
THE THEME OF THE CIVIL WAR IN SOVIET DRAMA 1924--34 ...
etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/898/1/uk_bl_ethos_383204.pdf

Deborah Hoffman
Local time: 05:17
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

You have to rephrase

Explanation:
To be honest, "omkhachennyi" doesn't tell me anything, and hey, I am a native Russian speaker albeit not a particularly devout one, and not much of a theater person. You can rest assured that MkHATized, or MKhaTeized or MKhAT-styled or whatever coinage you want to use here will be totally lost on English speakers, even those of them that do know what MKhAT stands for. Giving the entire background story in a footnote or something may not be a viable option either, for more reasons than one. Instead, think as an original writer rather than a translator and rephrase. If you are saying that "omkhachennyi" is bad, why don't you spell it out? Something like this:

This monument, as an epitome of the latter days institutionalized MKhaT is still standing, obscuring the connection between today and the living, breathing sources of the original Moscow Art Theater.

I don't like this word, transcreation, but sometimes there's simply no way around it.

The Misha
Local time: 05:17
Native speaker of:

Russian
PRO pts in category: 8

4 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

swaddled in MKhAT canons or stilted/stifled

Explanation:
personally, I would just put "stilted" or "stifled": outside Russia )and I suspect that nowadays - even inside!) MKhAT would say something only to a a very small group of people.

Michael Korovkin
Italy
Local time: 11:17
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Russian
PRO pts in category: 36

Grading comment

24 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

MKhAT-ized

Explanation:
I don't see why you can't play with it in the same way. Surely, in an article about the history of theater you've introduced the acronyms MKhAT and MKhT, right?

Look at the tons of books published in English which transliterate the acronym:
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1024&bih=605&t...

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Note added at 1 hr (2013-02-10 05:23:47 GMT)
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In response to your note, there would be ways to make it sound cruder:

MKhAT-ified (plus it rhymes with modified)

Or, how's this one?

... all MKhATed up (you'll have to work, though, to fit it into your sentence smoothly)

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Note added at 1 hr (2013-02-10 05:25:40 GMT)
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Also, the negative connotation is built in to the rest of the sentence - "stands between us and".

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Note added at 10 hrs (2013-02-10 14:38:57 GMT)
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P.S. Since the problem that "nobody would recognize what MKhAT" is has been raised by other contributors, I just wanted to emphasize what I wrote at the outset: "Surely, in an article about the history of theater you've introduced the acronyms MKhAT and MKhT, right?" You would not want to used any playful versions incorporating the Russian acronym, unless what it stands for and what it means has been well established already in the article you are translating.

On the other hand, since it may be impossible to come up with a similar play on words (MKhAT-ify - modify doesn't really cut it), you indeed might have to ditch the idea and write some circumlocution. I fell asleep last night thinking of variations on the theme, but they were (more or less) in Russian, not English:
Над омхаченной Театральной
Встал для искусства день печальный...

Rachel Douglas
United States
Local time: 05:17
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 91

Notes to answerer

Asker: I do like this idea. My only hesitation is that the Russian term has a negative connotation to it, a crudeness, that MKhAT-ized doesn't. Same goes for Deborah's suggestion. I'll take it into consideration, though. Thank you.

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