The paper analyzes the methods of translating ethnographic realities through the case study of poetic works by the Karelian poet A. Volkov. In its theoretical approaches, the study relies on the works of A. V. Fyodorov, G. R. Gachechiladge, E. G. Etkind. This topic is important since the translated heritage of Karelian-speaking authors has not yet been studied. The research relies on the figurative-semantic, contextual, systemically subject-based approaches, which are integrated within a holistic comparative analysis of the original text and the translations. One of the challenges for this study is the difficulty of translating poetic texts, since Karelians tend to speak metaphorically, often with no match to be found in the Russian language. Translators most often use three methods of rendering ethnographic realities: substitution, calque, and transliteration. The science of literary analysis makes allowances for the unavoidable collaboration of the author and the translator, which is manifest in the spiritual, intellectual and stylistic affinity. This is especially true for newly scripted literatures, such as the Karelian-language literature, in the situation where native speakers are not many. Karelian-speaking poets avoid translating each other's works into Russian. In making a translation, the authors try to keep in mind at least three aspects: precision, accuracy, and adequacy. This is the key problem in the theory, criticism and practice. According to researchers G. R. Gachechiladze, S. Goncharenko, the critical characteristic of a good translation is precise and accurate rendition of the meter, rhythm, stanza structure and other elements of a poem; for Vyach. Ivanov, B. L. Pasternak it is the sound and the meanings of the work; for L. N. Sobolev, V. V. Koptilov, A. A. Akopova, the central problem is to reproduce the poetic imagery. The lack of uniform criteria for comparing the original text and the translation causes difficulties in working out the methodology. Translators of A. Volkov's works: A. Mishin, O. Moshnikov, and A. Rastorguev, strove to replicate not only the style, images and meanings of the original, but also to reproduce the ethnical semantics. The translators decided on the accentuation and looked for stylistic equivalents, thus approximating the translation to the original as much as possible.