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Абай институтының хабаршысы. №6 (12), 2011

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Abai Kunanbayev was a great Kazakh poet, 

composer and philosopher. Abai’s main contribution 

to Kazakh culture and folklore lies in his poetry, 

which expresses great nationalism and grew out of 

Kazakh folk culture. Before him, most Kazakh poetry 

was oral, echoing the nomadic habits of the people of 

the Kazakh steppes. We want to introduce to abroad 

our country, its history, tradition and culture. We can 

introduce it only through translations. Only by reading 

the Kazakh works can foreign people know who are 

kazakhs, the style of their life, their thoughts and so 

on. All information comes only through translation.

The main requirement to a good translation 

is that it should be natural or that it should read as 

smoothly as the original. Literary translation should 

be adequate, should follow the original to the fullest. 

Translators have to be loyal to original text, they 

shouldn’t give the way to liberty. 

Magnetic  fi eld of the author’s poetry does not 

open up all of a sudden. It is not clearly showed in the 

text. It is embedded in the subtext or supertext. It is 

the translator’s task to fi nd out which variant is closer 

to the original. 

A phraseological unit is a complex linguistic ph

enomenon. Understanding the phraseological units’ 

artistic role in poetry, their identifi cation and transfer 

to another language is not an easy task. The transfer of 

meaning and the artistic function of the phraseological 

units of great poets such as Byron, Pushkin and Abai to 

other languages   require from a skilled translator 

deep knowledge and poetic talent. There are several 

objectives for the translator: knowledge of the 

basic issues of the phraseology theory; the same deep 

knowledge of the phraseological units’ values of two 

languages; and an adequate transfer of their meanings, 

semantics, expressive and stylistic features in the 

translation.

The practical implementation of these objectives 

depends on the level of pre-translation analysis 

and interpretation of a phraseological unit by a 

translator. Even at early stages of the phraseological 

units’ pre-translation analysis, the translator starts 

facing many diffi culties. The main ones are the 

following: defi nition of the phraseological units’ 

structure; understanding their textual, contextual and 

hid 

den meaning, content, idea; determining their 

artistic and aesthetic functions; fi nding the phra-

seological units’ full and approp riate alternatives in the 

target language; fi nding the closest alternative of the 

phraseological units in the language of translation; 

descriptive transfer of the   phraseological units’ 

values in translation, etc. Each of these 

tasks corresponds to a certain stage of phraseology 

trans lation. 

Addressing issues revealed during the 

initial stages of the above-mentioned phases is 

of great importance. The translator who does 

not know fully both languages can easily make 

mistakes. There are frequent errors found in current 

translations of Abai’s phraseology in Russian and 

English. These fall into several types. First, the 

translator is not taking the entire phraseological unit 

as a stable indivisible phrase, but rather is dividing and 

translating it word by word. This distorts the meaning 

of the phrase. Second, the translator cannot fi nd in the 

Russian language existing equivalents of the original’s 

given phraseological units. Third, he perceives the 

fi gurative units used in the original language as 

phraseological units and translates them as they 

are. Therefore, in such cases we can’t say that 

the content, meaning and artistic features of the 

original are conveyed adequately. 

The main requirement is that the transla-

tor 

 should strive to translate a phraseological 

unit using similar phraseology of the other lan-

guage. However, in most cases translators don’t ma-

nage to fi nd appropriate phraseological units in the 

target language. In such cases a translator has to 

use other recognized translation methods such as: 

tracing, descriptive, lexical, selective translation and 

contextual replacement. 

We believe that the lexical, grammatical and 

semantic transformations can be used during trans-

lation of phraseology if they are used in convenient 

and suitable places. 

This old Kazakh phraseological unit 

“kara kyldy kak zharu” translates as cutting a horse’s 

tail in half. However, its fi gurative meaning refers to 

a sense and method of distributing justice fair and 

even-handed. This phraseological unit has existed with 

Kazakhs for a long time. The phraseological unit is used 

to refer to the high level of fi gurative justice exhibited 

mainly in the proceedings, in the settlement of various 

household, social and other confl icts  between 

individuals, groups, tribes and ‘uluses’ (nations), which 

has been handled in the past mainly by the 

Biis and Aksakals (elders). In his poem “So Here is 

Old Age, Sad Thoughts, Sensitive Sleep”, Abai used 

this old, well-known Kazakh phrase. In the poem text 

it serves for deeper understanding of the justice and 

fairness concept. D.Brodsky translates this line into 

Russian as follows: 

Абай институтының хабаршысы.  №6 (12), 2011

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“A wise person keenly penetrates deep into things, 

 Breaks the hair into forty pieces”.

The translation conveys the meaning of the 

original to a certain extent. We cannot deny that. But 

it is impossible not to notice the presence of extra, 

extraneous words. You cannot negate the fact 

that they do not prevent disclosure of the verse 

meaning. But the extra, extraneous words still have had 

their infl uence on the nature of the original and on the 

creative individuality of the author. The single line 

“Akyldy kara kyldy kyrykka bolmek” phraseological 

unit in the original (literally: a clever person would 

divide the horse hair into forty pieces), in the translation 

of D. Brodsky takes two lines. The extra words used 

in the translation “Zorko pronikayet v glube veshey” 

(keenly penetrates deep into things) are words 

that the translator added himself. In the Kazakh-

Russian dictionary the word “kyl” is translated 

as “hair of a horse tail or mane” . In D. Brodsky’s 

translation the unit associated with the “horse” has 

been missed. Not horse hair but a piece of human hair 

is presented to a reader. Therefore, in order to make 

it more understandable to the reader, the translator 

should have used not just “hair” but “horse hair”. In 

addition, the translator omitted the “kara” (black) 

epithet which was present in the original. Perhaps 

this is due to the fact that the translator has not 

considered the word “black” in the original as 

important enough to translate. In the language system 

of the original, “black” has a specifi c meaning. If 

it is removed the phraseological unit loses its 

meaning. The result is the diminished meaning of the 

poet’s thought, as well as the artistic originality and the 

aesthetic impact of descriptive and expressive means 

of the poem. Additionally, in literary translation a 

connotative, i.e. a hidden meaning of a word, plays 

an important role. In Kazakhstan, we believe that it 

would be more effective if the translator conveyed 

the phraseological unit used by the author into the 

Russian language by fi nding a similar equivalent 

in Russian.

After identifying and studying phraseological 

combinations in a text of a poem, the translator must 

fi rst search for a similar phraseological unit in a target 

language that carries an equivalent sense.

To return to our example, in the history of any 

people there were fair and honest leaders. Take 

for example, King Solomon, who remained in 

history thanks to his wise and just management, 

his name is still known to many people today. 

There is a well-established combination of words 

«the Solomonic decision» in the Russian language 

associated with the name of this king, and this 

phraseological unit still exists. In other words, 

if a translator uses such consolidated phrases that 

are understandable to the reader, it would be the 

translator’s more appropriate decision. 

A. Kodar translates this verse as follows: «A 

reasonable person would think all sides» . The 

translator conveyed the idea of the original not word 

for word, but in such a way that the reader could 

easily understand it. In this case, although the 

general meaning of the original phraseological 

unit was conveyed, the phraseological unit itself has 

completely disappeared. Two translators translated 

one phraseological unit in two ways: if A. Kodar 

conveyed the meaning of the phraseological unit in his 

translation, D. Brodsky translated the phraseological 

unit word for word. 

Yu. Kuznetsov could not be drawn away from 

the order that D. Brodsky was sticking to, and at the 

level of a word for word translation he created the 

following: «Umnyi mozhet rassech vdol na sorok 

chastey” (A Smart person can cut into forty parts). The 

translator did not show the subject to be cut (horse hair), 

in this line. However, he added a second line in which 

he wrote “tonky volos”, (thin hair), which then made 

the translation of the original content understandable. 

We know that this is a common inversion that is met 

in translated poems. But the fracture of the author’s 

fi gurative structure is apparent. In addition, the 

conceptual meaning of the original text has not been 

properly conveyed in the translated version. 

In the original version there is information about 

the color of the horse hair but it is not known whether 

it is thin or thick. But the translator uses a “thin hair” 

combination. We believe that the word «thin» is 

not necessary in the translated text. The concept 

of «thin» is already incorporated within the 

meaning of the word «kyl» (horse hair). Although the 

translator is trying to convey the exact meaning of 

the line, he hasn’t reached a substantial result. The 

line meaning is close to the original to a certain 

degree. The translator tries to convey exactly 

the meaning of the poet’s poem and seeks every 

possible way to reconcile with the meaning of the 

original. This is why it is translated word for word.

 None of the translators who have translated 

the phraseological units into Russian has not 

been able to accurately convey the meaning of «en 

adil» (most fair) when translating to Russian. Instead, 

they have focused on the thickness of the hair, the 

Абай институтының хабаршысы. №6 (12), 2011

89

action of cutting hair, missed the subtlety of the 

meaning conveyed the color of the hair... and in the 

process, missed adequately conveying the concept of 

justice that the poet was relaying.

 Now let’s pay attention to the English version 

of the poem line as translated by D.Rottenberg using 

Brodsky’s Russian translation:

 «Beneath the surface looks the keen-eyed sage. 

 He splits a hair in four times forty parts». 

Rottenberg composed the lines of the poem in the 

same sequence as Brodsky’s translation. Splitting the 

hair by forty pieces is similar to the “rascheplyaet volos 

na sorok chastey” (splits the hair into forty pieces) 

of theRussian translator. Rottenberg’s understanding 

of the Russian translator’s phrase “pronikayet v 

glube veshey” (penetrates deep into things) actually 

is more like another Russian phrase “uvidit to, chto 

nakhoditsa pod vami” (sees what’s beneath you). 

By doing consecutive translation of the original 

text but using the Russian version as a basis, D. 

Rottenberg makes the same mistakes that have been 

made by the translator into Russian. As a result, the 

made   in the Russian language mistakes are repeated in 

English. Also the made by D. Rottenberg omissions 

are added to this. All this has had an opposite effect 

on the translation quality. 

In Abai’s poem “Oh, Kazakhs, my poor people” 

one of the lines entirely consists of a phraseological 

unit “Auzymen orak organ onkey kyrtyn” 

(literally: you windbags mow everybody with your 

mouth). “Auyzben orak oru” (literally: to mow harvest 

with one’s mouth) is a fi gurative  phraseological 

unit. This phraseological unit is translated 

by S. Lipkin in the following way: “Rezhet vsekh 

bez razbora tvoi serp yazyk” (your sickle language 

mows everybody without consideration). There is 

“auyzben orak oru” (to mow harvest with one’s mouth) 

phraseological unit in the literary Kazakh language, 

and there are also people referred to as”orak auyz” 

(literally: “sickle-like mouth”), which has a totally 

different meaning. “Orak auyz” means an eloquent, 

wisecracker man. But the “auyzben orak oru” words 

combination generates the meaning of “a windbag 

person who does nothing”. The translator has 

destroyed the “auyzben orak oru” (to sickle 

harvest with a mouth) concept of the original and 

used the concept similar to the “orak auyz” (sickle-

like mouth) instead. The used in the translation 

“serp yazyk” (sickle language) corresponds to the 

Kazakh “orak auyz” (sickle-like mouth). Instead, the 

two phraseological units “molot yazykom” (to grind 

with a tongue) and “palets o palets ne udarit” (not to 

do a hand’s turn) in the Russian language form the 

full content of the “auyzben orak oru” phraseological 

unit of the original. Coordination of these units and 

their use in maximum accordance with the original 

depends on the translator’s skill level. 

 The word “kyrt” (talker, windbag) to which the 

poet is critical, in the translated version is given as 

“perfect, eloquent man”. Lack of suffi cient knowledge 

of the original meaning, the poet’s native language, 

the peculiarities of verbal speech in the poem creation 

system led the translator to such signifi cant errors. 

Let’s pay attention to the translation made 

by Yu. Kuznetsov: “A tvoiy pustozvony gremyat 

yazykom” (And your windbags rattle with 

their tongues). If we compare the translation of 

Yuri Kuznetsov with the work of other translators, 

his version is most similar to the meaning of the 

original. But even here there is no precision and clarity, 

nor the work effort to attempt to uncover the national 

peculiarities of the poem. A. Kodar translates this 

line this way: “Pogryazshiy v pustom suyesloviy 

sbrod” (the mired in an empty idle talk rabble). 

There are contours of semantic content in A. Kodar’s 

translation. But he also could not fi nd a full analogue in 

the target language, or at least a similar phraseological 

unit as used in the original. M. Adilbayev translated 

the same line as follows: “Nesete vzdor, kosite vsekh 

podryad” (you talk nonsense, mow everybody). 

It seems that the general meaning of translation is 

somewhat similar to the original. But if you look 

closely, it becomes obvious that the translator was 

unable to convey the fi gurative colors of the poet’s 

thoughts. 

R. Mc’ Kayn translated the line into English like 

this: “And you rattle your tongue with idle talk”. If 

the line is translated literally into Russian, you 

get this: “I ty trepesh svoim yazykom pustomelya” 

(And you twaddle your tongue you windbag). The 

meaning of the original text is preserved. But there is a 

similar phraseological unit that exists in English. For 

example, the «Great cry and little wool» “All talk, and 

no action”phraseological units which could be used 

instead of descriptive translation of R. Mc’Kayn. In 

other words, the descriptive method used by Mc’Kayn 

is acceptable translation of the meaning. However we 

suggest that if there is a corresponding phraseological 

unit in the target language, that the translator use this 

so that the fullest meaning is conveyed in the context 

of the reader’s own language. 

Абай институтының хабаршысы.  №6 (12), 2011

90

In the above poem of Abai you can see 

the “Bіr urty mai bіr urty kan” (Fat on one cheek, 

blood on the other) phraseological unit. This unit is 

used to describe a man in whom live the diametrically 

opposite, contradictory, contrasting qualities, i.e. it is 

about the type of people who are capable to do good 

things with one hand while doing the evil things with 

the other. S.Lipkin translates this phraseological 

unit this way: “Zlo na levoi sheke, na pravoi dobro” 

(The evil on the left cheek, the good on the right 

one). The poet’s “fat on one cheek, blood on the 

other” idea has been given by the translator as “the 

evil on the left cheek, the good on the right one”. The 

notions of right and left do not harm the meaning of 

the original, but you cannot see meaningfulness 

of the translator’s thoughts, his ability to 

think artistically. Yu. Kuznetsov carries this line as 

follows: “Gde dobro ili zlo, um li tvoi razberyot” 

(Where is the good and the evil, would your mind 

be able to distinguish?). In the original the idea is 

not given as a question sentence. The fact that the 

translator has translated the phraseological unit not 

with a phraseological unit but with the questioning 

sentence has led to distortion of the original’s mean

ing. Therefore this translation cannot be attributed to 

translations which accurately convey the meaning of 

the original. A. Kodar translated this line as follows: 

“V krovi i obzhorstve ni den i ne god” (not a single 

day without blood and gluttony). The thoughts that 

are present in the original have also undergone great 

changes here. The used combination of words “not 

a single day without blood and gluttony” is out 

of place. The poet did not refer to any meaning   

associated with a season: there is nothing about the 

day or the year in the original. Using meanings  , 

concepts and ideas in translation that are not available 

in the original brings a shadow on the author’s 

poetic art and creative individuality. In the translation 

of M. Silchenko this line is translated: “Na odnoi 

sheke u tebya krov, na drugoi maslo” (blood on your 

one cheek, oil on the other). Although the translator 

carried the line’s meaning, he could not disclose the 

value in the same exciting, visual, deep sense way as 

does the author of the original.

R. Mc’Kayn has translated the line into English 

as: «Now you have blood on one cheek and 

grease on the other». The consecutive translation 

of Richard Mc’Kayn was based on M. Silchenko’s 

translation: the line corresponds to M. Silchenko’s 

translation word for word. 

In the deepest sense, Abai is referring to the 

opposing sides of character that can exist in an 

individual and the contrasting periods of good times 

(“fat”) and bad or hard times (“blood”) that have 

existed in the history of the Kazakh people. When 

Kazaks read Abai’s poetry, they understand this deep 

and dual meaning of the phrase. It is the diffi culty of 

the translator into Russian and again into English to 

capture this fullest sense of the poem and in an artistic 

manner as well. 

We tried to cover the translation of phraseological 

units of Abai’s poems in this article. None of the 

translators could fi nd in English and Russian languages 

appropriate phraseological units that would be similar 

to the author’s phraseology. This is due to the fact 

that it is extremely hard to translate Abai’s poems into 

foreign languages. Not every translator, only the true 

masters of their craft can convey to a target language 

the unique originality of the poetic genius of Abai. 

 

References

1. Каidar А. Thousand fi gurative expressions (Каzakh – 

Russian phraseological dictionary). – Аstana , 2003.

2.  Кunanbayev  А. Selected poems / translated by A. 

Kodar. – Аlmaty, 1996. 

3. Кunanbayev А. Volume І . – Аlmaty, 2002.

4.  Кunanbayev  А. Abai. Book of words / translated by 

R.Mc’Kayn. – Аlmaty, 2009.

5.  Кunanbayev  А.  Аbai. Thirty seven poems. – Аlmaty, 

2006.

6.  Кunanbayev  А. Selected poems / translated by 

D. Brods ky. – Моscow, 1981. 

7. Kunanbayev A. Poems / designed by V.Chistyakov. – 

Moscow, 1971. 

8. Silchenko М. Abai’s creative biography. – Аlmaty, 

1957.

9. Syzdykova R. Каzakh-Russian dictionary. – Аlmaty, 

2008.

10. Bassnett S. “Translation studies”, Revised Edition. – 

London and New York, 1992. 

11. Toper M. V. Ganiev. Literature and translation: 

Problems of theory. – Moscow, «Progress», “Litera”, 1992. 

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