An Investigation into Translation of Folk Literature in Iran

Folk literature which has been translated into Farsi as Adabiate Ammeh is one of the most important parts of every nation's literature and a great manifestation of the worldview of its people. The literature has an inseparable relationship with the culture of people. The set of beliefs and traditions which has been formed through centuries and is considered cultural treasure of a nation needs to be collected, recorded and translated carefully if it is going to become eternal and global. The important task has been done during past centuries by writers and translators. What seems to be ignored or dose not received appropriate attention is a deep investigation into the works of the two groups. In this article through a descriptive and analytical way, the investigators try to study in detail the folk literature translated into Farsi. At first in order to clarify the concept which the investigators mean when discussing translation of folk literature, different definitions of the term is presented and discussed and the intended one is clarified. Then, different categories and sub-categories of the vast field is investigated and discussed. In each category, examples of Iranian and global folk literature are presented to show the boundaries of the field. The study of translation folk literature begins with a historical investigation of translated works and then they are introduced. Looking statistically at the status of literature translation in general and folk literature specifically in the last decades in Iran and studying some translated works, the investigators concluded that though translation of folk literature is increasing, it suffers from various problems. Cultural differences between Iranian people and those in the West and Far East have made the translators consider the important factor in translation of folk literature. A clear consequence of this consideration is the strategies taken by translators, rewriting and adaptation are two examples. The cultural difference has had another important consequence and that is external censorship and sometimes Self-censorship. The problem seems to be more remarkable in translation of that part of folk literature which pertains to children or translation of children literature. An overall consequence of the strategies and activities of translators sometimes is a translation product which cannot be considered faithful, in the sense of exactly presenting foreign culture, but is a translation with a function totally different from the function of the source text.

کلیدواژه ها:

Folk Literature ، Culture ، Translation ، Translation Approaches ،