Works of Vygotsky and Their Translations: On Some Concepts

The article examined the translations of Lev Vygotsky's works, specifically "Psychology of Art," "Educational Psychology," and "Thinking and Speech," in the USSR, Russia, and Brazil. It highlighted how translation variations led to misinterpretations of Vygotsky's ideas, particularly the concept of the "zone of proximal development," which was inconsistently translated in Brazilian editions. The authors proposed a new translation, "zone of imminent development," to better reflect Vygotsky's original intent and address the translation challenges that distorted the understanding of his cultural-historical psychology concepts.