One of the difficulties in interpreting and translating is conveying culturally bound idioms from one language to another. CyraCom International’s Akmaral Mukan is part of our Language Services Department, which oversees the training and development of Voiance’s interpreters. She is also an applied linguist who recently developed a leading guide to Kazakh idioms.
Voiance Language Services, LLC is the business and government servicing brand of CyraCom International, Inc. Our financial strength, on-shore infrastructure and large interpreter network are reflected in consolidated reporting through our parent company, CyraCom International, Inc.
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A Kazakh man greets his neighbor: Мал-жан аман ба? “Are your souls and livestock well?”
The neighbor replies: Аман. Қара домалақтарың тәуір ме? “Well. Are your black spheres feeling better?”
This seemingly simple conversation, somewhat incomprehensible when literally translated, illustrates how challenging it is to convey culturally bound concepts from one language and culture into another. How do you best translate or interpret the Kazakh greeting into English effectively and efficiently? Obviously, it is more than just saying “How are you doing?” Where would livestock, something so important in the Kazakh culture, find its reflection in the English greeting? And why do we refer to small, cute children as black spheres?
The other day, I heard my son’s daycare teacher say ‘hold your horses’ to one of the impatient babies. I immediately wondered how this English idiom would translate. Would it retain its full flavor in Kazakh, the language of people historically known as horse-riders? No, not only does it not translate literally, it also does not have a close equivalent involving any type of livestock.
Finding solutions to these types of challenges was one of the reasons I began to compile a dictionary of Kazakh idioms. My goal was to take language learners from everyday vocabulary to complex cultural concepts embedded in simple words. I organized the idioms into cultural categories such as color, number, livestock, clothing, food, nature, etc. so users could see the cultural connection between the idioms. I also provided literal translations which will undoubtedly amuse or baffle my readers, but are very helpful in retaining the idioms in memory. After all, how can one forget ‘a black sphere’ as a reference to a child?
* To learn more, please check out my recently published A Learner’s Dictionary of Kazakh Idioms:
