Achievements and Shortcomings In
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30.12.2019-05.01.2019 • No: 240 7 ACHIEVEMENTS AND SHORTCOMINGS IN TRANSLATING KAZAKH LITERATURE INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES Literature is a great tool that shows rich culture The project currently being implemented has In November 2019, at the headquarters of the and spirituality of the people to the world com- already begun to produce some concrete re- Egyptian Supreme Council for Cultural Affairs munity. However, since the independence of sults. Thus, at the London Book Fair held in in Cairo, an Arabic language version of this an- Kazakhstan, the issue of translation and print- March 2019, Cambridge University Press and thology was presented. The Council and the ing of literary works in the Kazakh language the National Bureau of Translations of Ka- MediaHub publishing house worked on the has not received much attention. On the one zakhstan, with the support of the Embassy of publication and edition of the Kazakh literature hand, it was caused by the crisis, which had Kazakhstan in the United Kingdom, presented collection. The anthology from this publishing been taking place in Kazakhstan’s literature the anthology of contemporary Kazakh litera- house will be distributed to about 4,000 librar- since 1991 until the present. Although the gov- ture in English. ies, universities and research centers in 22 ernment assisted the writers, it was not suffi- In September 2019, the presentation of the an- countries, members of the Arab League. In cient for them. Talented poets and writers often thology of contemporary Kazakh literature other words, some 500 million Arab readers had to publish their works at own expense to published in Spanish took place at the head- will get acquainted with Kazakh literature. convey them not only to local readers but also quarters of the Cervantes Institute in Madrid. As for the Chinese version of the anthology, to foreign ones. Some authors translated their The translation of the two-volume collection the translation was completed. It is expected works either using their own resources or with into Spanish and translation quality assurance that the collection will be printed after the ide- the help of sponsors and relied solely on their were carried out with the support of the Minis- ological examination by the Chinese govern- own strength to be recognized abroad. That is try of Culture of Spain, while the Cervantes In- ment. why there is no specific data on how many lit- stitute conducted general editing work. To Kazakhstan’s creative alliances with other erary works and books have been translated print the collection, the project experts selected countries in the literature industry are rare, but from Kazakh into other languages. Moreover, the Visor-Libros publishing house among sev- this is true for other countries too. Although the one of the reasons of the lag in this sector is the eral Spanish publishing houses. Being one of countries have developed political and eco- the six official languages of the UN, Spanish is nomic relationships, literary and cultural col- lack of specialists with foreign language skills also the mother tongue of 18 countries in Latin laboration is lagging. In that regard, the presen- among Kazakh poets and writers. America, apart from Spain. The anthology, tation of Kazakh literature within the frame- Moreover, there was no agency responsible for published in 10,000 copies, will spread across work of the “Spiritual Renaissance” program the promoting of Kazakh authors abroad. Two all Spanish-speaking countries. Thanks to this, abroad has been a great example for many major organizations that bring together Kazakh approximately 600 million Spanish-speaking countries. poets and writers, the Union of Writers of Ka- people will have an opportunity to familiarize Among the Turkic-speaking nations, Kazakh zakhstan and the Kazakh PEN Club, have been themselves with the spiritual heritage of the poets and writers have a good relationship with engaged in literary translations only in the last Kazakh people through literature. their Turkish counterparts. The well-grounded 3-4 years and have been showing concrete re- The presentation of the Russian version of the organizations such as TURKSOY and the Un- sults. Although the issue of literary translations anthology, published by the Lomonosov Mos- ion of Writers of Eurasia develop literary remained on the agenda, there was no compre- cow State University (MSU), was held in Mos- friendship among the nations. Although the ex- hensive financial support. cow in October 2019. The translation work was act number is unknown, the works of 3-4 Ka- Comprehensive support from the state began jointly done by the Union of Russian Writers zakh poets and writers are translated into Turk- after the adoption of the “Spiritual Renais- and the MSU Publishing House. The Russian ish every year. The Kardes Kalemler Maga- sance” program of the First President of the Re- version of the anthology with a total circulation zine, published under the Union of Writers of public of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. of 20,000 copies will be distributed to more Eurasia, has been helping Kazakh poets and Two institutions established under this pro- than 3,500 libraries, universities and research writers to be recognized in other countries. gram, the National Commission for the Reali- centers in 14 countries. According to Aida Azerbaijan is the second country after Turkey zation of the “Spiritual Renaissance” program Balayeva, Russian-speaking readers from Rus- with a high level of literary ties with Kazakh- and the National Bureau of Translations, have sia, the CIS and the Baltic countries will be stan. Although there are few translators be- been contributing to the gradual solution of the tween the Kazakh and Azerbaijani languages, able to better understand the Kazakh national the unions of writers of the two countries are abovementioned issues. While the commission image, culture and traditions through this liter- has been closely monitoring the implementa- working at a high level. ary anthology. The translation of Kazakh liter- Presenting to the world the collection of works tion of these works, the translation bureau has ature into Russian is very important. While the of 30 poets and 30 writers written during the shown good results in the promotion of Kazakh readers of the two countries know Russian, the years of independence is a great breakthrough authors abroad and the familiarization of the relationship of Kazakh poets and writers with for Kazakh culture. Although there was little best world literary works to Kazakh readers. Russian colleagues is not developed. To com- effort to raise Kazakh literature to a high level One of the main tasks of this program is to pensate for this gap, the Kazakh-Russian liter- after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in recent translate contemporary Kazakh literature into ary almanac was published. So far, three alma- years, the state has provided support and taken the six official languages of the UN (English, nacs have been published. Due to this almanac, some positive steps in that regard. However, Arabic, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Rus- literary relations with the Turkic people in Rus- there are still problems to be resolved. For ex- sian). According to Chairwoman of the Na- sia have also been developing. ample, translation of Kazakh literature into for- tional Commission Aida Balayeva, this initia- During his speech at the presentation of the eign languages and foreign literature into the tive will give a great opportunity to demon- French version of the anthology held in Paris, Kazakh language is not unified. As a result, strate history and culture of our people to the Executive Director of the National Bureau of critical comments were made about the anthol- world. For this purpose, 30 writers and 30 po- Translations Rauan Kenzhekhanuly stated that ogy that began to be published in foreign lan- ets have been selected within the framework of the translation work of the anthology into six guages within the framework of the “Spiritual the “Contemporary Kazakh Culture in the languages of the UN had involved leading Renaissance” program. Therefore, it is neces- Global World” Program. As part of the project, translators and writers of these countries. sary to form a unified literary translation a two-volume collection called “Anthology of When selecting translators, attention was paid school. However, the National Bureau of Contemporary Kazakh Poetry” and “Anthol- to their knowledge of history and culture of Ka- Translations, which has been doing a lot of ogy of Contemporary Kazakh Prose”, which zakhstan. Moreover, some of the translators positive work since its establishment, is confi- are 500 pages each and include works of these were given an opportunity to stay in Kazakh- dent that with due regard to critical views these authors, was released. It will be distributed to stan. It is also noteworthy that during the work issues will be solved in the near future. From a literary and cultural institutions of 90 countries the translators have established links with the strategic point of view, literature is a long-term around the world. As a result, more than 2.5 authors. Even after the completion of this ideology, so the recognition of Kazakh litera- billion people in the world will have the oppor- work, foreign publishing houses were inter- ture in the world contributes to the prosperity tunity to learn about Kazakh literature. ested in translating other works of the authors. of Kazakhstan. Written by Erkinbek Turgunov, Eurasian Research Institute, Kazakhstan Politics, Foreign Affairs, and Security Economy, Finance, and Energy Society and Culture Starting January 1, 2020, Uzbekistan as- Summing up the results of its activities President of Kazakhstan Kassym- sumed the 2020 CIS presidency, during in 2019, the Astana International Finan- Jomart Tokayev signed a law introduc- which it plans to submit for adoption cial Center announced that it became a ing stricter penalties for those who com- more than 10 conceptual documents hub for more than 350 companies from mit serious crimes.