Students of the English Department of the Faculty of Foreign Languages of I. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University (CHSPU) became the winners of the 1st All-Russian competition of translation of Soviet songs about the Great Patriotic War “Do Russians Want a War?”, which was organized by the English Department of Petrozavodsk State University.
CHSPU students won two of the available student prizes:
- 2nd degree diploma was awarded to Ekaterina Yakovleva and Victoria Osipova, 3rd year students, for the translation of the song For that Guy by Mark Fradkin and Robert Rozhdestvensky;
- 3rd degree diploma was received by Julia Ilyina, also a 3rd year student, for translating the song Eternal Flame by Rafail Khozak and Yevgeny Agranovich.
In total, 20 students of the English Department took part in the contest. The songs chosen for translations are written and composed by prominent Russian poets and musicians. They remind us of the heroic page of our history, help preserve the memory of the Great War, of the Great Victory.
Entries in the contest were evaluated by a panel of international judges who are native speakers of the English language.
The novelty and complexity of the competition lies in the fact that the students had to translate the songs from their mother tongue into a foreign language. It was definitely a challenge to preserve the content, imagery and meter of the poem. Another evaluation criterion was the opportunity to sing the translated text to the original tune.
Participating in the Great Patriotic War song translation contest was both an honor and a challenge for our students. It was an invaluable linguistic experience that helped reveal students’ skill and creativity.

June 7, 2019