Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki

Early View (2024)

Publication date: 02.2025

Licence: CC BY

Editorial team

Secretary Paulina Kwaśniewska-Urban

Editor-in-Chief Magda Heydel

Issue Editors Renata Makarska, Hanna Makurat-Snuzik

Issue content

Przekład mniejszościowy / przekład mniejszości – łemkowska przestrzeń translatologiczna

Helena Duć-Fajfer

Przekładaniec, Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki, Early View (2024), pp. 7-30

In the text I attempt to take into account in the presented Lemko translations the influence of factors related to the underlying indigenousness of the language and culture of this community. Using Petr Murianka’s translations as an example, I point out the imaginative and ethos mechanisms linked to the land, drawing on folklore and indigenous tradition that are activated in them. I propose to revise, in the context of minority translation, the interpretation of concepts relating to the strategies used in cultural translation (exoticisation and domestication), highlighting the other-than-central conditions of attitudes to Otherness in minority communities. The article also proposes a new ‒ perhaps controversial from the perspective of traditional translation studies ‒ attempt to read Petr Murianka’s (auto)community biography A Vistula Continues to Flow as Translation. Translating one’s world into a neighbouring (dominant) language on one’s own terms somehow reduces the tension arising from the confrontation of indigenous cultural codes with institutionally shaped cultural schemas. I also characterise another kind of translation, carried out on Lemko soil by Petr Krynytsky, linked to the systematic preparation of a translation workshop effective in facing the challenges defined as crucial for a given text. This is how I define the fields of translational activities undertaken on Lemko grounds to indicate how they reflect important minority discourse beliefs and identity mechanisms and textual strategies developed in the majority-minority relationship. What is significant here is the epistemic and emotional potential embodied in language as a kind of antidote to the marginalisation and traumas that are a permanent minority experience. The activation of language in translation, the experiencing of language in translation, the deepening of awareness of difference, the raising of prestige, the strengthening of community, are values that I point to as positive effects of translation. Nor do I overlook the losses and concerns associated with the transfer, especially in pragmatic translation, of entire lexical-structural complexes inherent in institutional languages to the traditional cultural core. In my concluding remarks, I point out the positive dimension of reflection on Lemko translations and identify spaces for continuing research, e.g. in comparative terms.

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Dać wyraz lokalnemu myśleniu? Przekłady z języka dominującego na zdominowany na przykładzie translacji z polskiego na śląski

Karolina Pospiszil-Hofmańska

Przekładaniec, Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki, Early View (2024), pp. 31-51

The article explores the key challenges of translating from a dominant language into a dominated one, with a particular focus on translations from Polish into Silesian. It examines issues such as the target language’s codification (or lack thereof), the motivations that drive translators, and the constraints they face. When analyzing these translations, it is crucial to consider not only the selection of texts translated from Polish – which often reflects an activist and subversive stance against Polish political and cultural dominance – but also the limited number of translators (and the potential for a few individuals to dominate the translation market) and the absence of adequate training programs for future translators. These factors can significantly affect the translations’ quality and the broader efforts to revitalize the Silesian language and advocate for its recognition under Polish law.

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Hybrydowa natura przekładu jako droga wzbogacenia zasobów językowych i stymulowania rozwoju mikrojęzyków. Na przykładach tłumaczeń na język kaszubski i śląski

Hanna Makurat-Snuzik

Przekładaniec, Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki, Early View (2024), pp. 52-75

Any translation can be considered a hybrid phenomenon, as it reveals references to the Other, while at the same time it is a field of dialogue and meaning negotiation. In the case of translations into microlanguages, on the one hand, the hybrid nature of translation reflects subordination to the more powerful system and openness to foreign influences; on the other hand, the source text stimulates the growth of the weaker dominated ethnolect by providing it with linguistic patterns and structures, lexical units or stylistic paradigms, which are borrowed and assimilated in the process of translation. This article presents various dimensions of translation’s hybrid nature which are analysed on the basis of examples selected from several texts translated into Kashubian and Silesian. The article discusses translational innovations which are examined from three perspectives: 1. production of missing lexis, 2. creation of innovative linguistic structures that are equivalent to idioms, and 3. development of functional styles. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the hybrid nature of translations into microlanguages is not only revealed at the level of idiolectal textual transformations. The linguistic units produced in the process of translation are frequently incorporated into the common usage and contribute to the shaping of the target language system. In this context, not only is the act of translation a manifestation of power relations and a symbol of colonisation, but it also plays an important role in shaping the identity and development of the weaker microlanguage, indirectly contributing to codification and standardisation processes and enhancing the status and prestige of the target language

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Tłumaczenie Wilamowic. Przekłady na język wilamowski w XXI wieku z perspektywy autoetnograficznej

Tymoteusz Król

Przekładaniec, Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki, Early View (2024), pp. 76-89

This is an autoethnographic text – it is an analysis of my personal experience of creating and reading translations into Wymysorys language from the dominant languages (mainly Polish) and vice versa. Language revitalisation is linked to language planning. One of its aspects consists in taking decisions as to which of the needed activities are be undertaken and which have to be postponed due to an insufficient number of activists. Translation is one of such activities. Being engaged in the Wymysorys language revitalisation activities and a translator of this language, for many years have I faced various dilemmas concerning which texts to translate, in which direction, and whether translations should indeed make a vital part of language revitalization efforts. I have had a chance to witness changes in local language ideologies; the attitudes in Wilamowice have also changed significantly, as evidenced by the process of language revitalisation initiated in the first years of 21st century. This paper sums up my experience; it may interest both activists working in other minorised languages and sociolinguists wishing to analyse changing linguistic ideologies in Wilamowice.

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Klasyka literatury dziecięcej w regionalnych odsłonach. Konteksty i problemy translacyjne na przykładzie podhalańskich przekładów Le Petit Prince i Winnie-the-Pooh

Stanisława Trebunia-Staszel

Przekładaniec, Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki, Early View (2024), pp. 90-113

In the presented text, the author considers the role of translations of literary classics into local dialects and minority languages in the context of identity practices. She describes the genesis of translation activities into the Podhale dialect, referring to the Young Poland fascination with Górale culture, and then initiatives undertaken by Górale writers in the 20th century. The second main problem concerns the issues of translation practice and the relationship between the Polish language and the Podhale dialect, its condition and status in contemporary Górale culture. When discussing the above problems, the author draws on existing literature, as well as ethnographic data. She refers to her own experiences with translation practice, presenting them in the form of autoethnographic reflection.

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Gwara wielkopolska w przestrzeni społeczno-kulturowej. Analiza przekładów Winnie-the-Pooh oraz The House at the Pooh Corner A.A. Milne’a na regionalną odmianę polszczyzny

Julia Włodarska

Przekładaniec, Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki, Early View (2024), pp. 114-130

The article discusses the position of translations of the novels of A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at the Pooh Corner into the Greater Poland dialect by Juliusz Kubel against the background of the different stages of the dialect’s functioning in the social and artistic sphere. The article also provides information on the status of the dialect in the public space. Some of the issues addressed include the political, historical, social and educational situation of the region, as well as the impact of the radio on the evolution, popularization and promotion of the local dialect. It discusses the influence of Stanisław Strugarek’s work on the popularisation of the Greater Poland dialect and his influence on the later literary works in the dialect, including translations. The analysis of selected fragments of Misiu Szpeniolek and Dómek Szpeniolka includes a consideration of Juliusz Kubel’s translation choices and the ways in which the Greater Poland dialect culturemes were used in translation.

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Antologie polskich przekładów z literatur republik radzieckich. Prezentacja i analiza danych bibliograficznych

Kinga Rozwadowska

Przekładaniec, Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki, Early View (2024), pp. 131-147

Between 1945 and 1989, Poland’s position within the area of political influence of the USSR was reflected in the circulation of translated literature, notably through the significant number of published anthologies of translations from the minor literatures of the nations comprising the Soviet Union. In this article, I highlight the difficulties associated with obtaining bibliographic information on this topic from scattered and chaotic catalogue data. Additionally, I propose various interpretations of these data, sometimes consisting of contradictory information, as well as the absence of information. This presentation also aims to pose research questions arising directly from attempts to manage inconsistent data and to outline the general history of translations of the minor literatures of the Soviet nations in post-war Poland, which emerges from this data. The analysis of bibliographic data I present is also an attempt to show the ways in which Soviet Russia, as a center, facilitated the circulation of translations from the literatures of the Soviet republics. It may serve as a basis for developing research on these literatures in Polish translations, which would, on one hand, illustrate the extent to which their presence in Poland was politically conditioned and how those political factors regulated their reception, and, on the other hand, depict the Soviet empire in an ambiguous role of mediator that simultaneously “brings closer” the literatures of smaller nations and controls their presence in the target culture.

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Literatura światowa jako kanon i niewspółmierność. Gdzie jest miejsce dla romskojęzycznej twórczości Bronisławy Wajs?

Emilia Kledzik

Przekładaniec, Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki, Early View (2024), pp. 148-172

The article presents several possibilities for the historical-literary ordering of Romani literature (world literature, minor literature, national literature). On the basis of the work of Bronislawa Wajs (‘Papusza’), who has so far functioned in world literature and national literature in distant translations, it demonstrates what aesthetics of Romani literature are desirable in a canon understood as a collection of simulacra and refractions. It also reflects on the value of Wajs’s Romani-language work, revealed in 2020, and how the notion of ‘world literature’ can be reformulated to make a place for it.

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Języki i kultury rdzenne Meksyku w przekładzie na język hiszpański: od rdzennej tradycji ustnej do hybrydycznej literatury dwujęzycznej

Iwona Kasperska

Przekładaniec, Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki, Early View (2024), pp. 173-186

In the context of the existing cultural and linguistic asymmetry in Mexico, translation of literary texts from indigenous languages into the hegemonic Spanish is an expression of the struggle to decolonize the Mexican literary polysystem. Self-translation perfectly illustrates the social, political, cultural and linguistic conditions in which the so-called new indigenous literature is currently developing. The article outlines the linguistic situation in Mexico, i.e., the diversity and status of indigenous languages, efforts to revitalize them and reinforce their presence in the public space, by means to teaching and literature. The status of indigenous languages in this complex social context has an impact on literary production and the character of publications, which are necessarily bilingual, as well as the subjects of books written in the indigenous languages and then translated into Spanish. Other conditions include norms related to publication: and editorial policy, but also allows authors to introduce their own norms. New technologies allow for publishing in virtual spaces and to promote indigenous languages and cultures, oral traditions included. Adhering to the traditional orality as far as forms and subjects are concerned combined with change of the communication channel from oral to written on the Internet, shows modes of adaptation to modernity and a skillful search for the possibilities of a hybrid expression of one’s own identity with an aim to decolonize ways of thinking and attitudes towards Mexican indigenous peoples, their languages and literatures.

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O przekładaniu szkockości

Dominika Lewandowska-Rodak

Przekładaniec, Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki, Early View (2024), pp. 187-207

The aim of this article is to explore the problem of rendering contemporary literary depictions of Scottishness in Polish. One of the most important aspects of late 20th- and 21st-century Scottish prose is the formation and preservation of national identity as distinct from what we tend to view as Britishness (which many – and certainly many Scots – consider synonymous with Englishness). This self-building is done though narratives that make extensive use of culture-specific items, but especially language – primarily English, but different from the standard, heterogeneous, often dialectally marked, drawing from Scots, and characterised by an internal tension that has to do with the paradoxical predicament of contemporary Scottish authors: a predicament which involves writing against the language that they themselves use in their work, countering the Britishness which they are, after all, a part of. The example of Scotland thus complicates our perception of English as an obviously dominant language and especially as a linguistic monolith, stable and uniform. Drawing from the postcolonial thought of Maria Tymoczko, Michael Cronin and Gayatri Spivak, this article offers an overview of selected works of important contemporary Scottish writers – James Kelman, Irvine Welsh, Denise Mina and Douglas Stuart – and their translations into Polish, authored by Jolanta Kozak, Jędrzej Polak, Hanna Pawlikowska-Gannon, Maciej Świerkocki, Krzysztof Cieślik and Maciej Studencki. This overview seeks to shed light on Scottish identity as a cultural and especially linguistic phenomenon, explore how it is rendered in Polish translations and reflect of what implications these renditions have for our understanding of Scottishness, but also Britishness at large.

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Nieprzekładalność jako mit: krytyczna rewizja pojęcia saudade

Gabriel Borowski

Przekładaniec, Issue 49 – Mikrojęzyki, Early View (2024), pp. 208-224

This article aims to discuss untranslatability as a myth, using the Portuguese concept of saudade as an example. The first part is dedicated to reconstructing the most significant moments in the development of the concept, with particular emphasis on reflections regarding its translatability into other languages. The second part proposes employing Barthes’ concept of myth in the reflection on untranslatability, which will be briefly illustrated with a contemporary example: the lyrics of the song representing Portugal at the 66th Eurovision Song Contest in Turin in 2022. The third part presents concluding remarks that also serve as a basis for further considerations on the issue of untranslatability, including its role in reinforcing unequal power relations between languages.

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Contents PDF Authors PDF

Słowa kluczowe: minority translation, Lemko translation, intuitive translation, minority discourse, indigenous cultural codes, Lemkoization, linguistic asymmetry, Silesian language, Upper Silesian literature, minorization, dominated language, dominant language, translation, hybridity, microlanguage, Kashubian language, Silesian language, normalisation, Wymysorys, language revitalization, language documentation, minorized languages, revitheatralization, cultural anthropology, dialect and identity, Podhale, highlander, Miś Kudlocek, Mały Królewic, translation practice, postcolonial dimensions of translation, The Greater Poland dialect, translation into dialect, local identity, children’s literature, Winnie-the-Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner, anthology, translation, Soviet literatures, bibliography, intermediary language, Romani writings, intercultural translation, world literature, Papusza, native languages of Mexico, indigenous literature, translation, orality, hybridity, Scotland, contemporary Scottish prose, linguistic and cultural identity, dialects in translation, postcolonial translation, untranslatability, myth, saudade, Eurovision

Funding information

The publication of this volume was financed by the Jagiellonian University in Kraków – Faculty of Polish Studies.