The challenges of translating English, Italian and Russian psychological terms

This article explores English–language terminological units within the field of psychology and addresses the challenges faced by translators when translating psychological texts from English into Russian and Italian and vice versa. The primary objective of this study is to identify the specific problems involved in translating psychological terms from English into Russian and Italian, as well as to propose possible strategies to tackle these challenges. The article presents terminology utilized in English, Russian and Italian, along with examples of borrowings from English into these languages. It examines various translation options for the same term through the lens of English-language psychological terminology. The relevance of this article is underscored by the active integration of specialized psychological terms into everyday language, the increasing interest in psychological research, and the rising demand for translation services in this domain. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the primary reason for the difficulties encountered in translating psychological terms from English into Russian and Italian is the translator's inadequate understanding of the conceptual content of the terminological units. Additionally, the translator's lack of knowledge regarding the foundational ideas, concepts, and theories of specific psychological schools and approaches further exacerbates the issue. Consequently, this hampers the process of selecting equivalent terminological units in the target language and ultimately diminishes the quality of the translation. It was found that most of the difficulties discussed in this article are typical for translating scientific psychological texts from English into Russian, whereas a translator working with the English-Italian language pair faces such challenges much less frequently.