TRANSLATING TURKIC ORAL EPICS INTO ENGLISH AND GERMAN: PROBLEMS AND INSIGHTS

Abstract

It is a well-known fact that the Turkic-speaking peoples of Eurasia and Siberia possess a rich heritage of oral epic poetry. Much has been written down, and in some areas the oral tradition of epic poetry is still flourishing today. While a few of the early texts, written down in the 19th century, are available in older German translations (A. Schiefner, W. Radloff), the majority of these epics can only be accessed either in their original language or (in some cases) in Russian translation. Translations of Turkic oral epics into European languages such as English, German or French are urgently needed in order to familiarize epic scholars outside the Turkic- or Russianspeaking world with this important corpus. Translating Turkic epics into European languages poses, however, a number of problems. In the following some of these problems are identified and discussed with reference to my translations of the Uzbek oral epics Ravshan and Alpamysh into German, the Karakalpak epic Edige and the Kirghiz epic Manas both into English. ´The latter translation is still ongoing; two volumes have so far been completed. The translation problems concern basic methodological questions such as the choice between a literary and a literal translation and the strategies available to overcome differences in linguistic structure between the source languages and the target languages. An important element in translation is not only the linguistic, but also the stylistic level of the text. In addition, a translation has to pay attention to paralinguistic aspects (e.g., music and performance modes) and to the cultural world of the original. The translator is not only a mediator between languages, but also between cultures.