7.2. Category of Gender in English and Ukrainian

When we want to indicate the gender (male – female) of a certain human or animal we add some words to a noun that help to identify its gender:

Male	Female
boy-friend	girl-friend
he-cousin	she-cousin
(he)-wolf = dog-wolf	she-wolf
(dog)-fox	vixen, bitchfox
(he)-goat = (billy)-goat	she-goat = nanny-goat
(bull) elephant	she- (cow-) elephant
(bull) whale	she- (cow-) whale
seal	she- (cow-) seal
pea	pea-hen (пава)
sparrow	hen-sparrow (горобчиха)
partridge	hen-partridge (куріпка)
lobster (омар)	hen-lobster
(buck) hare	doe-hare (зайчиха)
(buck) rabbit	doe-rabbit
(cock) crane (журавель)	crane-hen

There is another group of words in English that have absolutely different words for males and females:

Male	Female
bull	cow
boy	girl
rooster, cock	hen
man	woman
deer	doe – самиця (оленя, зайця, кролика, щура, миші чи тхора), hind
hog, boar (самець домашньої свині)	pig (свиня)
uncle	aunt
bridegroom	bride
alligator	shegator (she-alligator)
sheep	ewe
pigeon	dove
wild boar (дикий кабан)	wild sow (самиця кабана)
nephew	niece
elephant	cow-elephant, elephant cow, she-elephant

Some nouns of the female gender are formed from the corresponding nouns of male gender by adding suffixes –ess, -er and some others:

actor – actress, host – hostess, poet – poetess, lion – lioness, tiger – tigress, leopard – leopardess, widow – widower.

The name of the country when it is considered as a political unit, often belongs to female gender and is replaced by the pronoun she:

England has an unfavourable balance of trade. The value of her imports is much greater than the value of her exports.

Англія має пасивний торговий баланс: вартість її імпорту значно перевищує вартість її експорту.

The word ship - судно, корабель usually belongs to female gender and is replaced by the pronoun she:

The ship left the port in the morning. She has a cargo of coal on board.

Корабель вийшов з порту вранці. Він має на борту вантаж вугілля.

In the following example the category of gender in both Ukrainian and English and their reflection in translation are considered. The category of gender in Ukrainian is expressed much clearer, more exactly and vividly than in English: in Ukrainian indicators of gender are included into nouns (flections or endings), other words correlated with them like adjectives, participles, forms of Past Tense of verbs and pronouns. In English distinctive gender differences are possessed only by personal and reflexive pronouns of the third person singular (he, she, it, his, hers, himself, herself):

I once met a Bulgarian artist. She was tall, stout and already middle-aged.

Якось я познайомився з однією болгарською художницею. Вона була високою, повною і вже немолодою.

Here, the gender of the person is expressed by the pronoun she, in Ukrainian gender is expressed by the inflexional indicators in the forms of eight words. The gender of the person, marked by the pronoun “I” in English is not expressed in any way, and in Ukrainian – познайомився.

There are cases, when gender meanings in English text remain unexpressed, but they require clarification and precision in the corresponding Ukrainian equivalents:

A friend of mine has told me about it.

can be translated in two ways:

1) Про це мені розповів один мій знайомий

2) Про це мені розповіла одна моя знайома.

If the gender of a person (the word friend), can not be clarified from the broad context or a situation, then the choice of the Ukrainian equivalent will be to a considerable extent an arbitrary, and determined exclusively by translator’s intuition: teacher – вчитель(ка), student – студент(ка), writer – письменник (письменниця), cook – кухар(ка).

In Harper Lee’s book “To kill a mockingbird” the narration goes on behalf of a girl. But the whole text is written in the first person singular, and this becomes clear for the reader of the original only on the twelfth page of the text, in the end of the first chapter (where the word sister appears for the first time). For the reader of the Russian translation this becomes clear already on the first page as soon as the verb form „я говорила“ appears (in the first sentence of the text).

Even more serious difficulties emerge when the context, even the most extended one, does not contain at all any indicators of gender. As an example, such kind of texts can be found in the sonnets of Shakespeare, which cause much “trouble” to both literature experts and translators. It is known that the majority of these sonnets are built in such a way, that it is unclear from the plot, whether the author appeals to a man or a woman. (Different versions about Shakespeare’s personality exist: as if it was a woman redressed into woman’s cloth or it was a man, who had lovers among men, etc.)

Let us take three sonnets of Shakespeare – 66, 40 and 58:

Sonnet 66

Tir’d with all these, for restful death I cry;

As to behold desert a beggarborth;

And needy nothing trimm’d in jollity,

And purest faith unhappily forsworn,

And gilded honour shamefully misplac’d

And meiden virtue rudely strumpeted,

And right perfection wrongfully disgraced,

And strength by limping sway disabled, And art made tongue-tied by authority,

And folly (doctor-like) controlling skill,

And simple truth miscall’d simplicity,

And captive good attending captain ill.

Tir’d with all these, from these would I be gone,

Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.

Translation of Borys Pasternak:

Измучась всем, я умереть хочу,

Тоска смотреть, как мается бедняк

И как шутя живется богачу,

И доверять, и попадать впросак

И наблюдать, как наглость лезет в свет

И честь девичья катится ко дну,

И знать, что ходу совершенствам нет,

И видеть мощь у немощи в плену, И вспоминать, что мысли заткнут рот,

И разум сносит глупости хулу,

И прямодушье простотой слывет,

И доброта прислуживает злу.

Измучась всем, не стал бы жить и дня,

Да другу трудно будет без меня.

Translation of Dmytro Pavlychko:

Я кличу смерть – дивитися набридло

На жебри і приниження чеснот,

На безтурботне і вельможне бидло,

На правоту, що їй затисли рот,

На честь фальшиву, на дівочу вроду

Поганьблену, на зраду в пишноті,

На правду, що підлоті навдогоду

В грязь обертає почуття святі, І на мистецтво під п’ятою влади,

І на талант під наглядом шпика,

І на порядність, що безбожно краде,

І на добро, що в зла за служника!

Я від цього всього вмирав би й нині,

Та як залишить друга в самотині?!

Translation of Dmytro Palamarchuk:

Стомившися, вже смерті я благаю,

Бо скрізь нікчемність в розкоші сама,

І в злиднях честь доходить до одчаю,

І почесті не тим, хто гідний шани,

І досконалості – ганебний суд,

І злу добро поставлене в служниці,

І владою уярмлені митці,

І чистій вірності шляхів нема,

І силу неміч забива в кайдани,

І честь дівоча втоптана у бруд

І істину вважають за дурниці,

І гине хист в недоума в руці;

Стомившись тим, спокою прагну я,

Та вмерти не дає любов моя.

Sonnet 40

Take all my loves my love, yea take them all;

What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?

No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;

All mine was thine before thou hadst this more.

Then if for my love thou my love receivest,

I cannot blame thee for my love thou usest;

But yet be blam’d, if thou thyself deceivest

By wilful taste of what thyself refusest.

I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,

Although thou steal thee, all my poverty;

And yet, love knows, it is a greater grief

To bear love’s wrong than hate’s known injury.

Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,

Kill me with spites; yet we must not be foes.

Sonnet 58

That god forbid, that made me first your slave,

I should in thought control your times of pleasure,

Or at your hand the account of hours to crave,

Being your vassal bound to stay your leisure!

O, let me suffer, being at your beck,

The imprison’d absence of your liberty,

And patience, tame to sufferance, bide each check.

Without accusing you of injury.

Be where you list, your charter is so strong

That you yourself may privilege your time

To what you will; to you it doth belong

Yourself to pardon of self-doing crime.

I am to wait, though waiting so be hell;

Not blame your pleasure, be it ill or well.

Even the most thorough analysis of these sonnets will not give us any indicators to whom they are addressed – whether they are addressed to a man or woman. And, probably, it is not accidental: Shakespeare’s sonnets have common to all mankind, philosophical resonance, and they are written deliberately so that they could be applied to any human being in general. Let us look how these sonnets were translated by S.J.Marshak:

Сонет 40

Все страсти, все любви мои возьми –

От этого приобретешь ты мало.

Все, что любовью названо людьми,

И без того тебе принадлежало.

Тебе, мой друг, не ставлю я в вину,

Что ты владеешь тем, чем я владею.

Нет, я в одном тебя лишь упрекну,

Что пренебрег любовью ты моею.

Ты нищего лишил его сумы,

Но я простил пленительного вора.

Любви обиды переносим мы

Трудней, чем яд открытого раздора.

О ты, чье зло мне кажется добром,

Убей меня, но мне не будь врагом!

Сонет 58

Избави бог, меня лишивший воли,

Чтоб я посмел твой проверять досуг,

Считать часы и спрашивать: доколе?

В дела господ не посвящают слуг.

Зови меня, когда тебе угодно,

А до того я буду терпелив.

Удел мой – ждать, пока ты не свободна,

И сдерживать упрек или порыв.

Ты предаешься ль делу, иль забаве, –

Сама ты госпожа своей судьбе.

И, провинившись пред собой, ты вправе

Свою вину прощать самой себе.

В часы твоих забот иль наслажденья

Я жду тебя в тоске, без осужденья...

Thus we see, that in the Russian text the picture is absolutely different – in the first sonnet it is seen that the author addresses here to a man, in another – to a woman (corresponding Russian word forms, which express gender differences are underlined).

Note that in the first sonnet the author, on the first sight, as if addresses to a man, but the word „друг” may refer to both a man and a woman. It is absolutely self understood and evident, if we recall, for example, the Russian songs and romances. In these songs very often you can come across addressing to a woman, where the word of masculine gender „друг” is present, the word is applied and refers to a woman:

Коварный друг (М.А. Офросимов)

Коварный друг, но сердцу милый,

Я дал обет забыть твой ков,

Мои мечты, мою любовь, –

Забыть все то, что в жизни льстило.

Молил тебя не нарушать

Отрадный мир уединенья,

Но ты, жестокая, опять

Мое тревожишь сновиденье...

Песня (В.И.Красов)

Взгляни, мой друг, – по небу голубому,

Как легкий дым, несутся облака, –

Так грусть пройдет по сердцу молодому,

Его, как сон, касаяся слегка.

Мой милый друг, твои младые годы

Прекрасный свет души твоей спасут;

Оставь же мне и гром и непогоды...

Они твое блаженство унесут!

Прости, забудь, не требуй объяснений...

Моей судьбы тебе не разделить...

Ты создана для тихих наслаждений,

Для сладких слез, для счастия любить.

The choice of the gender is explained by not a mere arbitrariness or despotism of translator, but by the fact, that the grammatical structure of Russian often makes him express the semantic information, which is not expressed in the source text. In this case translator can not ground the choice of gender in translating, as the original English text does not give any data for monosemantic decision (однозначного рішення), leaving gender differences unexpressed. It is not a surprise, that one and the same Shakespeare’s sonnet is interpreted by different translators in a different way. Let us compare the original lines of the 57^th sonnet and its translations of V. Bryusov and S.J. Marshak:

Being your slave, what should I do but tend

Upon the hours and times of your desire?

I have no precious time at all to spend,

Nor services to do, till you require.

In Bryusov’s translation these lines sound as follows:

Твой верный раб, я все минуты дня

Тебе, о мой владыка, посвящаю.

Когда к себе ты требуешь меня,

Я лучшего служения не знаю.

Here „мой владыка” testifies to the fact that the poet addresses to a man. In Marshak’s translation we read:

Для верных слуг нет ничего другого,

Как ожидать у двери госпожу.

Так, прихотям твоим служить готовый,

Я в ожиданье время провожу.

Here the word „госпожа” pints out, that it goes about a woman. It would be useless and to try to determine who is right in the long run – Bryusov or Marshak. Both of them are correct in their own way, or visa versa, wrong: this Shakespeare’s sonnet, just as many others, totally leaves the question about the sex of a beloved creature open – whether it goes about poet’s friend or his beloved lady. But in the Russian translation it is impossible to save or remain this vagueness or ambiguity just because of the peculiarities of the grammatical structure of the Russian language itself, the broad use of the gender flexions.

Sure it does not follow from the said, that grammatical structure of Russian in general is more differentiated and carries more information in itself than the structure of English. There are also reverse examples – this or that grammatical category of English does not have a direct equivalent in Russian, and corresponding semantic information, which is necessarily expressed in English, in Russian text can remain unidentified or unclarified, specified. Let us turn back again to poetry and to M.J. Lermontov’s poem in particular „На севере диком”. He translated Heine’s poem which goes about a pine-tree and palm. In German poem “der Picht” (сосна) is masculine and “die Palme” – noun of feminine. Subtext (connotation, implied meaning) is clearly understood – man suffers from his being separated from his beloved woman. He is in the North – she is in the South and there is a long distance between them, etc. In Lermontov’s translation both words „сосна” and „пальма” are of feminine gender, so, the very important implication disappears or is no longer relevant, ceases to be of significance:

На севере диком стоит одиноко

На голой вершине сосна

И дремлет, качаясь, и снегом сыпучим

Одета, как ризой, она.

И снится ей все, что в пустыне далекой,

В том крае, где солнца восход,

Одна и грустна на утесе горючем

Прекрасная пальма растет.

Many poets translated this poem in attempt to correct Lermontov’s mistake as regards male and female trees in original that embodied man and woman in love. This implication is absent in Lermontov’s translation, which form is wonderful but meaningless.

Let us address to the translations of the well known Russian poets and translators, who dared translate this wonderful German poem:

Afanasy Fet’s translation:

На севере дуб одинокий

Стоит на пригорке крутом;

Он дремлет, сурово покрытый

И снежным, и льдяным ковром.

Во сне ему видится пальма

В далекой восточной стране,

В безмолвной глубокой печали.

Одна на горячей скале.

Fyodor Tyutchev’s translation:

На севере мрачном, на дикой скале,

Кедр одинокий под снегом белеет,

И сладко заснул он в инистой мгле,

И сон его буря лелеет.

Про юную пальму снится ему,

Что в краю отдаленном Востока

Под мирной лазурью, на светлом холму

Стоит и растет одинока.

Leonid Pervomaisky’s translation:

Самотній кедр на стромині,

В північній стоїть стороні,

І кригою, й снігом укритий,

Дрімає і мріє вві сні.

І бачить він сон про пальму

Що десь у південній землі,

Сумує в німій самотині,

На спаленій сонцем скалі.

It’s impossible to count all the pitfalls and difficulties, all challenges waiting for the translator of an artistic work, poetical work in particular. The Belgian poet Charles Van Lemberg has written a poem “La Pluie” (the word which means „дощ” in French belongs to feminine gender). In this poem the rain is depicted in the shape of a wonderful young girl in the raincoat covered with wet sparklets, which are flowing down by strips. The rain in French is of a female gender. And in both Ukrainian and Russian it is of masculine (дощ, дождь) and whatever they would do, but our translators M. Rylsky and V. Bryusov had to change the image: both of them represented the rain as a wonderful young man. Or was there any other way-out?

This example proves that gender of nouns may be a dangerous trap for the interpreter. This especially concerns those who translate from/into close or related languages, e.g. from/into Slavic languages: боль n (neuter) – біль f, птица f – птах m, воздух m – повітря n, луна f – місяць m, etc.

Questions for discussion:

1. How is gender indicated in English?

2. What gender problem arises when translating poetry?

3. What is lost in translations of Lermontov’ and Lemberg’s poems?

4. What is the characteristics of the translation on the level of words?