Bulletin of the Bishkek State University

This study examined the translation of Kyrgyz children’s literature into English through a linguocultural lens, treating literary texts as essential vehicles for conveying a society’s worldview, traditions, and collective consciousness. In an age of accelerating globalisation, children’s literature functions not merely as an aesthetic artefact but as a potent instrument of socialisation and the intergenerational transmission of nomadic cultural values. The principal aim of the research was to investigate the strategies employed in rendering national and cultural realia, value systems, and symbolic elements in translated Kyrgyz fairy tales. Addressing a notable lacuna in translation studies, the work focused on the still largely underrepresented literatures of Central Asia in the English-speaking scholarly domain. Employing comparative-typological and analytical methods, the study scrutinised the mediation of key linguocultural markers – such as kinship terms, symbolic imagery, and culture-specific items – between the distinct cognitive universes of Kyrgyz and Anglophone cultures. Close analysis of selected translated fairy tales illuminated the inherent tensions between domestication and foreignisation strategies. Particular attention was paid to the rendering of Kyrgyz realia, including “kiyik” (a species of wild deer), “airan” (fermented mare’s milk), “zhayanamaz” (a prayer rug), and “tunduk” (the wooden crown of a yurt). The findings demonstrated that while explicitation techniques – such as descriptive glosses and transliteration – facilitated reader comprehension, they occasionally risked diluting the deeper symbolic, ecological, and philosophical resonances embedded in the source texts. Additionally, the research offered a categorisation of Kyrgyz folktales according to their portrayal of social power and moral order, ranging from egalitarian narratives of justice to subtle reflections on authoritarian structures. Ultimately, the study concluded that systematic scholarly analysis and high-quality direct translation of Kyrgyz children’s literature into English are indispensable for safeguarding national cultural identity, averting alienation, and enriching the global circulation of literary voices

References