TRANSLATION STRATEGIES FOR TRANSLATING OLD
MANUSCRIPTS
Nusrat Shikhbabayev
Qafqaz University, Translation Department, Khirdalan, Azerbaijan,
E-mail: nsixbabayev@qu.edu.az
Abstract
This study finds out translation difficulties that translators usually encounter while translating old (Turkic)
manuscripts written with Arabic script during the Middle Ages utilizing old Turkic manuscript (XI c. AD)
called “Dede Korkut”, discovered by German scholar H. F. f Diez in 1815 and gives suggestions how to
solve such difficulties and problems. This author strongly believes that study and analysis of such old
manuscripts and learning how misunderstanding or inaccuracies occur while translating them to English can
be useful for every researcher who is interested in translating old manuscripts written with Arabic.
Keywords: translation strategies; old manuscripts; difficulties in translation; old languages; Arabic script
Introduction
Of course, many problems are likely to occur while translating old languages. This is
especially true of those languages that are no longer currently in use and especially true of
those that have been completely forgotten. Some aspects of translation, such as accuracy,
ambiguity, or the effort to preserve the originality of SL (source language) meaning while
translating to TL (target language), be it either old or new language , has always been
1
difficult and problematic. This is so regardless of which language you are translating to or
from accept that when Old Turkic language is in a consonantal alphabet (in this case,
Arabic alphabet) the magnitude of difficulty in translating is significantly increased. This
is exacerbated by the fact that most words in Old Turkic are no longer used in modern
Turkic languages. So the author purposively selected some incorrectly or poorly translated
words and expressions as examples from one of the oldest Turkic books written with
Arabic script and tried to reveal some mistakes which are easily encountered by translators
while translating them from the Old Turkic language to English.
While translating from one language to another, it is usually said that something is lost
in the translation. Actually this can be true for any translation from one language to
another and the author finds it quite natural. Besides, this author believes that translation is
not the world-for-word process that is accepted by some from one language to another.
Instead, the author suggests that a translator should select the best fitting meaning of the
expression or sentences based on what the translator believes to be the most correct variant
of the original text. When it comes to old and historical manuscripts which are completely
in old or forgotten language, the difficulties and contradictions are increased exponentially
for several reasons. Translation of old manuscripts has always been a problematic and
difficult issue. So Therefore, let us consider some of the reasons these translations are
regarded as so difficult.
First , consider that before starting the translation of old manuscripts, the translator
should try to discern whether the manuscript is a copy or is the original. In the event it is a
copy of the original, and the original texts extant, the translator should travel and compare
the original with the copy he or she owns. It is, of course, important that this be done early
2
(i.e. at the beginning of study) in order to avoid errors inherent in working upon a flawed
copy. This one action will save the translator many frustrations and difficulties related to
the objections of others who are closer to the original text. Copies of the manuscripts or
copies of the copies may leave some difficulties or ambiguity behind, and finally cause
translation of such copies to be a waste of time.
In the event the original is not discovered, translators who intend to translate the old
manuscripts should try to get all available copies of the original. Their next step is to put
them together and compare all differences and similarities. After this comparison of all
existing forms of copy, the difficult decision should be made as to which words or
expressions in the manuscript to select as likely to be most authentic. If this is not done,
many different, and possibly dissimilar translations of one work may appear in future or
cause some concern or confusion to readers.
In order to develop a common method regarding how to translate Old Turkic
manuscripts written with Arabic script to English the author decided to consider first one
of the oldest Turkic legendary and historical books called “Dede Korkut” which is well
known in Azerbaijan and other Turkic speaking countries. The choice of this book as a
research point is based on two important considerations. These two points are extremely
important from a researcher's point of view. The first one we may call the “influence of
Turkic culture" which comes from the old Turkic oral culture of early Turks. Second
important consideration is the influence of both Arabic civilization and its language on
Turkic languages starting from 7th century AD . (Mirabile 1991: 27) and its wide usage in
X-XI centuries (Hajiyev and Valiyev 1983: 40)
3
Considering that the book of “Dede Korkut” fits both categories of concern (i.e. old text
and text written in Arabic script) the author proceeded in an organized fashion by first
searching for the original of this text. Not finding an extant original of this book, the
author then moved to the next level strategy mentioned above, which is to seek all
available oldest copies of the work and compare them. In this instance, this comparison
was done utilizing three copies of “Dede Korkut” which exist in the Vatican, the Berlin
and Dresden Museums in Europe. Since the original version of the manuscript doesn't
exist or not discovered yet we were obliged to lead this study only on those three available
copies that were mentioned above.
While reading or analyzing Dede Korkut manuscript it is quite easy to see above
mentioned traces left on the pages of the book. Accordingly, this author believes that in
choosing this book as an example, researchers will be helped to see some of the difficulties
that may occur while translating such manuscripts. This will assist in developing and
learning some more ways or strategies to translate the old or historical Turkic manuscripts,
especially those written in Arabic script, acceptably. However, one fact is very clear is that
Arabic and Turkic languages themselves belong in two different language families. It
seems obvious to this author that this fact has distinct implications for translation. Arabic
is classified as a so called Semitic language (Semitic Languages, Wikipedia) while Turkic
lies within the classification known as Ural-Atay (Ural Altay Dil Ailesi, Wikipedia).
Herein, then, lies the first and the most important problem that interferes with the
translation of Turkic manuscripts written with Arabic script, this then is a reason for the
scholarly decision to raise and study this problematic issue and bring some clarification for
4
further studies and illuminate the ways of the researchers intending to translate old Turkic
manuscripts or texts written with Arabic script.
Another of the most evident problems are the differences in cultural practices between
the culture of the original text and the new culture for which the text has been translated.
Having had such a difficulty, we think that translator must become conversant in the
cultural differences between the original language and the translated language of the text
and must not ignore any cultural factors. Culture is a cumulative experience, which
includes knowledge, belief, morals, art, traditions, and any habits acquired by a group of
people in a society. Culture also includes the total system of habits and behavior of which
language is an essential subset. Generally speaking, one culture should have one language.
(Hindrances in Arabic-English Intercultural Translation) This means that as a first step,
translator must be well acquainted with the cultural and social factors of both the present
and the past. Accordingly, translation of the old manuscripts or texts requires the translator
to be skillfully trained, to have good linguistic cultural and social knowledge. Hopefully,
by possessing such broad pertinent cultural knowledge, the translator can comprehend the
original text well and translate it correctly. The art of translating the old manuscripts, we
believe, requires, in addition to the above qualities, that the translator must have enough
knowledge in the old, SL as well as a good command of language knowledge in the
present TL. Such knowledge includes grammar, vocabulary, phonetics and punctuation.
Languages continually change over time. New words or expressions are being added
while others are left out or start to be used with different meanings. Consequently the old
language is replaced with a new one. One example is that of Shakespearean English as
compared with the English of the present. Similar changes still occur even in the present
5
day languages Consider the following: Once the word for “cool” in colloquial English was
used for the “weather”, but now it is used for many reasons, like to express the meaning
for “relaxed” “excellent”, “smooth” etc. For instance: “She is totally cool and easygoing”,
“This is a really cool setup!”, “This stuff is so cool. I am just floating” etc. (Richard 1975:
87) Similar examples exist for Old Turkic language. For instance, once the word for
“uchmaq ” in old Azerbaijani-Turkic language was a noun meaning “paradise”, but now it
is only used as a verb meaning “to fly somewhere” for birds, airplanes etc. As for the
words like “aytmaq” – (narrate), “esen” – (healthy), “tanuq” – (witness), “yom” – (good
tidings) (Damirchizade 1959: 143), they are no longer used in modern Azerbaijani-Turkic
language now. So this must be definitely taken to consideration in translation and
translators who intending to render the old manuscripts should be chosen from among
those who are already well aware of the old language and are already experienced in it. To
say that translators should learn old language and its writing rules first before they start
rendering it may not be realistic because it usually takes a long time to learn a language
and then start a translation! If any language learner started translating, all language
learners would be translators. Not every person who learns a language also translates well.
Accordingly it is better to choose those who already have enough knowledge about the old
language.
“Knowledge of the old language”, of course, includes familiarity with the idiomatic
phrases. There are some mistranslated idioms that the author would like to share. For
example, this proverb was lost from the text during its translation to English and was used
instead as if it was a typical sentence rather than a proverb. The well known proverb “They
say the neighbor’s due is God’s due” was translated as “Is this not a neighbor’s duty?”
6
(Shikhbabayev 2009: 79) like a question but not a proverb! Of course most think that it is
not possible to translate any text perfectly and therefore accept such misrepresentations to
be quite natural. However this author thinks translators should not ignore words or
expressions written in old or historical texts just because it is difficult to research them or
discover their actual meanings at the time of their writing. Accordingly, it is the author’s
opinion that translators should pay more attention to the old texts than they pay attention to
modern texts.
While Turkic manuscripts which are written in Cyrillic and Latin script are living and
modern languages, the classical Turkic written with Arabic script requires more study in
order to fully understand and appreciate.
Another concern is the Turkic translators’ lack of familiarity with the Arabic script
or Arabic writing rules which that were completely common for writing Turkic languages
in the past during between X-XX centuries (Hajiyev and Valiyev 1983: 40).
Unfortunately, some translations are done by those individuals who are only very wellinformed in Turkic and not able to render the intended meaning just because they are not
familiar with the Arabic phonetics, numerals or writing rules which had been applied in
those Turkic manuscripts written in Arabic script. So, each and every translator intending
to render a text written with Arabic script should learn Arabic writing rules well enough
before beginning to translate it or as was noted earlier, such translations should be
translated by those who already have the above mentioned skills. Old manuscripts report
to us about the past of nations. Translation and history of translation has shown that by
making any small mistake in the text it is quite easy to depict a civilized nation or person
as uncivilized, or vice versa. One example of such a mistake, is the investigation led by a
7
researcher Konul Huseynova in which she discovered a contradiction in the translation by
W. S. Walker. She noted the fact that as a result of single mistake in the first English
translation of “Dede Korkut” by W. S. Walker, in which the brave man, King “Kazan”,
who is highly respected among Turkic speaking people, is described as a baby killer and
a murderer. Consequently this mistake left a negative impact on readers about Kazan.
What was the cause of that expression being understood incorrectly?
The translator rendered the word for “falcon” (a bird) as a “baby” in the chapter of “The
Sack of the House of Salur Kazan.” According to the old Turkic tradition the killing of a
falcon which belongs to the enemy simply means to start a fight against them. The word
“toghan” with the first letter “t” in Old Turkic language means a “falcon” but the translator
understood it wrongly and rendered it as a “doghan” with the first letter “d” which means
“to give birth to a baby” (Shikhbabayev 2009: 9).
Let’s see the examples:
(1)
a.
Then let me reach the infidel,
Kill all his newly born.
Let me wipe off the blood with my sleeve from my forehead.
If I die for your sake let me die (Walker 1972: 30)
b.
I shall go to the unbeliever,
I shall rise again and kill,
I shall wipe the blood of my forehead with my sleeve.
If I die I shall die for your sake (Lewis 1974: 49)
c.
I shall go to the infidel.
Again I shall kill your falcon-enemy,
8
I shall wipe the blood of my forehead with my sleeve.
If I am killed, I shall die for your sake (Mirabile 1991: 49)
So it is clear that to kill a bird is one thing, to kill a human is another and the acts must
never be mistaken for each other or even compared. Herein a small mistake caused a big
problem and disgraced the King Kazan who still has a high reputation and is respected by
Turkic speaking people for his bravery and generosity. Usually, we can consider that
mistakes like that are connected to the lack of knowledge about the source language that
translator renders to the modern, target language. Fortunately, in later translations of the
legend called “Dede Korkut” the same mistake was not repeated. Unfortunately, there are
some translators who completely remove a sentence from a text rather than make any
further effort to translate it. Even worse, many don’t even leave a note about the exclusion
of the words or expressions from the text. One example of this, is the sentence “May Allah
bring you joy within three days” (Shikhbabayev 2009: 89) which is mentioned in the
chapter of “The Story of Bamsi Beyrek, Son of Kam Bure” in “the book of Dede Korkut”
but was completely removed from the text during the translation process. However one of
the three translators, W. S. Walker, managed to preserve the same meaning in the text and
translated it successfully. For example:
(2)
a. Have you some bread in your reed basket?
For three days I have traveled ceaselessly. Feed me!
May Allah bring you joy within three days. (Walker 1972: 60)
b. Have you any bread in the crock?
Three days have I journeyed; give me to eat.
(…..not translated…..)
(Geoffrey Lewis 1974: 77)
9
c. "Have you any bread from your leather cloth covering?
I have been on the road for three days; feed me!
(…..not translated…..)"
(Mirabile 1991: 88)
There is a similar sentence "Your lovely mane is similar to silk" (Shikhbabayev 2009:
116) which was left out by P. Mirabile in that the same chapter: However, unlike P.
Mirabile, G. Lewis and W. S. Walker translated it successfully!
(3)
a. Your little eyes are like two precious stones that shine at night.
(…..not translated…..) (Mirabile 1991: 84)
b.
Your lovely eyes shine like two torches in the dark.
Your lovely mane is similar to silk. (Walker 1972: 56)
c.
Your dear eyes are like two glowing jewels,
Your dear mane is like rich brocade. (Lewis 1974: 74)
Worse that the omission is that the translator who made the decision to leave out the
sentence didn't make any notation to indicate that this expression once existed in the
manuscript. He behaved as though that particular sentence in the manuscript was
unnecessary and that accordingly, there was no need or advantage to translating it.
However, as a result of the study this author discovered that the same sentence really
exists in Vatican, Berlin and Dresden Manuscripts.
It is suggested by this author that the translation of old manuscripts should not be an
individual effort, but rather should be a team effort involving both scholars and translators
who have theoretical and practical knowledge of languages as well as a strong background
in culture and history. Hopefully, such a team sitting and working intensively together
10
should be able to overcome such difficulties and any misunderstanding or
misinterpretation encountered in the text or presented could be solved by this functional
group.
Conclusion
Definitely, difficulties are expected when translating a language especially a language
that is not presently used or completely forgotten. Besides, some important aspects of
translation like accuracy and efforts to preserve the originality of the source language
meaning when translating the text, be it either old or modern language have always been
difficult regardless of what language you are translating to or from or how well the
translator experienced is. However, it is a fact that as long as people write a language in
completely different alphabet and writing rules, undoubtedly difficulties will occur or
even worse, it will double the difficulty. So the author selected some words and
expressions as an example in each three book translated by W. S. Walker (Walker 1972),
Geoffrey Lewis (Lewis 1974) and Paul Mirabile (Mirabile 1991) based on other three
copies (Ergin 1994; Jamshidov 1999; Isakhanli 2002) of one of the legendary and
historical books of the Turks, the book of Dede Korkut which was written in the Old
Turkic language with Arabic script, which is presently stored in the Vatican, Berlin and
Dresden Museums.
So this research suggests the followings:
Difficulties
11
1. The most evident difficulty in translating old languages written in Arabic script is the
alphabet itself including the writing rules of those languages.
2. Differences in cultural practices between the old and the new culture of the original
text.
3. The phonetic system of the languages. Absence of vowel signs in some languages
confuse readers.
4. The translators' lack of familiarity with script types like Kufic, Naskh, Thuluth, Ta'liq,
Nasta'liq, Riq'a, Diwani in Arabic (Arabic Calligraphy).
5. Some translators attempt to translate old languages on their own without seeking any
advice or help from others and avoid group working. Accordingly, translation of old
languages seems difficult or insolvable at first glance.
Suggestions
1. A translator should make it clear whether the manuscript is a copy or the original.
2. In the event the original text doesn't exist, a translator should try to obtain all available
copies or even the copies of the copies of that manuscript.
3. A translator must attain knowledge about the old SL and should have a good command
of present TL.
4. It would be better if a translator is chosen from among who is well-aware of the old
language.
12
5. A translator should be more careful while translating old languages and must avoid
even making a small mistake since old manuscripts bear importance for history.
6. A translator should try to seek the best fitting meaning of the word of the original and
not remove it instead in order to avoid wrong translation.
7. A translator should report what they have omitted in the original text no matter how
difficult the language is and give them in a note on the pages of their translation.
8. A translator should neither abbreviate nor extent the meaning in sentences when it is
repetitive or looks long.
9. A translator should not play on the words or phrases translating the same word in a
different way in the same translation.
10. In the event a professional translator is hard to identify, it is better to hire someone
who is rather experienced in SL than being a professional in the TL.
Works Cited
Arabic
Calligraphy.
Classic
Arabic
Script
Types.
Retrieved
from
http://www.arabiccalligraphy.com/classic-types (Accessed: August 8, 2012)
Damirchizade, Abdulazal (1959) Kitabi-Dede Qorqud dastaninin dili. Pedaqoji
institutların telebeleri ucun tedris vasaiti. Baki. API
13
Ergin, Muharrem (1994) Sozluk, Dede Korkut Kitabi II. İndeks-Gramer, Erzurum,
Tipkibasim
Hajiyev, Tofiq & Valiyev K. N. (1983) Azerbayjan Dili Tarikhi. Baki, Marif Nashriyati
Hindrances in Arabic-English Intercultural Translation by , Conceptualization of Culture.
Retrieved from http://www.bokorlang.com/journal/43culture.htm. (Accessed: August 12,
2012)
Isakhanli, Hamlet (2002) Kitabi-Dedem Qorqud Ashiqi. Baki, Xazar Universitesi
Nashriyati
Languages using the Consonantal alphabets, Wikipedia. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_alphabet. (Accessed: July 7, 2012)
Lewis, Geoffrey (1974) The Book of Dede Korkut. England, Penguin Books
Jamshidov, Shamil (1999) Kitabi-Dedem Qorqud. Baki, Elm
Mirabile, Paul (1991) Legends of Dede Korkut. Istanbul, Inkilab Kitab Evi
Ottoman Turkish language, Orthography. Wikipedia. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Turkish_language (Accessed: August 12, 2012)
Semitic languages. Wikipedia. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_languages.
14
Shikhbabayev, Nusrat (2009) Doctoral dissertation of Analysis of Dede Korkut English
Translations. Khazar University
Ural Altay Dil Ailesi. Wikipedia. Retrieved from
http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ural_Altay_Dil_Ailesi. (Accessed: July2, 2012)
Warren, Walker; Sumer, F. & Uysal, A. (1972) The Book of Dede Korkut, London,
University of Texas Press
15