Translation help

[Uladzimir Katkouski]

Dear Elena,

I believe this  piece would make sense only for those concerned with the
Belarusan language. In case you are curious, here are very brief
clarifications (but I guess you know it all yourself???):
"Paleskaja" language was an attempt by several Palessie activists including
Alexander Lukashuk (currently director of Belarusian department in Radio
Free Europe / Radio Liberty) to make their dialect as a separate language
and promote their separatism movement. "Great Lithuanian" language is simply
a reference to Belarusian language (usually used by nationalists who want to
disassociate themselves from Russians). Jatviagian (Sudovian) is a real
Baltic language which unfortunately got extinct (more info here:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/6623/). Since Jatviagians populated
the Palessie region some people incorrectly call their regional dialect
(which is some sort of a mix between Belarusian and Ukrainian together with
original local vocabulary) Jatviagian. Bulgakau is the chief editor of Arche
magazine, who is quite revolutionary in introducing new words (or
long-forgotten words) back to our language. "Vincukouka" is a reference to
Vincuk Viaczorka (a great linguist and a politician) who is currently
working on "updating" Taraszkievica system to fit to modern needs.
"Szupauka" is a reference to Siarhiej Szupa, the director of Baltic Waves
radio, and also a linguist. The term "Naszaniuka" is definitely a refeerence
to modern "Nasza Niva" not to their ancestor from the beginning of the
century.

I had a laugh or two while reading this passage, but my overall view is that
the paragraph in question would make no sense whatsoever for anyone not
familiar with the problems of Belarusan language reform.

Please feel free to write more questions,


----- Original Message -----
From: Elena Gapova <e.gapova at WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
To: <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 10:05 PM
Subject: Translation help


> Dear fellow sufferers,
>
> I am now working on a paper on the language situation in Belarus and have
> difficulty translating a quote I need.
>
> The piece is a play with the mythology of the nation's origin, political
> independence, prior and contemporary attempts to cannonize orthography etc
> all expressed as a language issue. I am mostly concerend with the names of
> Slavic tribes/languages from who belarusians supposedly originate (esp.
> kryvychy and kryuje) and with the names of orthography variants derived
from
> personal names, like Tarashkewitsa (is there a "standard" way to render
> these?).
>
> The text reads (most people trained in Slavic studies will not have
> difficulty understanding):
>
> У сувязі з тэхнічнай немагчымасцю забяспечыць поўны плюралізм рэдакцыя
> "Фрагментаў" паведамляе, што часова перастае прымаць тэксты на палескай,
> прускай, яцьвяскай, вяліка- і малалітоўскай мовах, тэксты, напісаныя
> арабскім і габрэйскім пісьмом, а таксама пераклады ў стыле "радыкальнай
> булгакаўкі". Тэксты на крыўскай мове мусяць праходзіць экспертызу ў
"Крыўі".
> З правапісных варыянтаў для нас прымальная "коласаўка" і першыя 5
варыянтаў
> "тарашкевіцы": клясічны, вінцукоўка мадыфікаваная, шупаўка, нашаніўка,
> эмігрантаўка, а таксама індывідуальныя мутацыі на тле вышэйназваных
> сістэмаў.
>
> In very clumsy English:
>
> As it is technically impossible to provide absolute pluralism, the
editorial
> board of “Frahmenty” announces, that temporarily texts written in
> polesskaya, prusian, jats’vyazhskaya, great- and small-lithuanian
languages,
> texts written with Arabic and Hebrew script, as well as translations in
the
> “radical Bulgakauka” style will not be accepted. Texts in the Kryuskaya
> language should be sent to Kryje for expertise. As for the orthography, we
> accept “Kolasauka” and the first five variants of “Tarashkewitsa”:
> classical, Vintsukouka modified, Shupauka (from the names of two
> intellectuals currently working on orthography issues - E.G.), Nashaniuka
> (Nasha Niva was a turn-of-the -century newspaper - E.G.), emigrantauka
> (emigrant style?), as well as individual mutations of the above mentioned
> bodies.
>
> Is this at all translatable in a way that would be meaningful for a
Western
> (educated) reader (are there suggestions at least for some words)? Or is
the
> only way to resort to explanatory notes (then all the fleur d'orange is
> gone, of course).
>
> Elena Gapova
>
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