Translation in ... Ukraine

       A reader alerts me to an interesting look at Book translation in Ukraine, or Read much but not anything by Daryna Schwartzman at forUm -- Ukraine being a market that is linguistically (and otherwise ...) close to Russia(n), which compounds some of the problems/issues they have.
       So, for example:

As sad as it sounds, modern Ukrainian book market is having hard times, especially the sector of books in translation, and poor quality of translation is its major problem.

"I try to buy books in the original. Fortunately, I can read in ten languages of the world. I just do not trust translations. Many translators cheat and translate not from the original, but Russian or Polish. My friends say they've seen even machine translation," avid reader Oleksandr Budnyk complains.

       The second-hand translation problem is a predictable one in this kind of small market (that, on top of it, is linguistically so close to a neighboring one) -- but that certainly doesn't make it any more palatable.
       Some fascinating titbits -- like Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex-author Oksana Zabuzhko pointing out that gullible Western publishers often sold Russian publishers rights still covering all the former Soviet states.
       And:

According to the writer, foreign literature in Ukraine is not considered a part of proper literature process. "Even classics of Ukrainian translation is not published that often. Translation reviews are not present at all. The thing is that there are many people doing a good job in translation, but the whole "translation sector" in Ukraine comes down to the couple "publisher (client) - translator". We do not have any professional community with experience exchange or control mechanism, any feedback," Zabuzhko sums up.

       (So much as I (and many others) complain about the US and also UK situation -- hey, it could be a hell of a lot worse.)
       I do like the suggestion:

Oksana Zabuzhko recommends to set up a boycott to those publishing houses, which publish books in translation from third languages.

       (Though I note that doing that in the US would hit a couple of major publishers .....)
       A sad summing up has it that:

While modern Ukrainian literature is entering the XXI century, Ukrainian books in translation still cannot leave behind the XX century. The country lack translators, financing and elementary human decency.

       Harsh judgment .....