UNESCO Collection of Representative Works

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The UNESCO Collection of Representative Works (or UNESCO Catalogue of Representative Works) was a UNESCO translation project that was active for about 57 years, from 1948 to about 2005. The project's purpose was to translate masterpieces of world literature, primarily from a lesser known language into a more international language such as English and French. [1] As of 2000 there were about 1,300 works in the catalog representing over one hundred different literatures and representing around fifty Asian languages, twenty European languages as well as a number of literatures and languages from Africa and Oceania. [2] :13–14 It also sponsored the translation of some works between two less widespread languages, such as the translation of the Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata into Indonesian (in addition to eight other languages), or the Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz into Hungarian (in addition to two other languages). UNESCO financed the translations and publications, but UNESCO itself was not a publisher, instead working with other publishers who then sold the books independently.

Contents

Works were selected based on a number of criteria. Generally, new versions of translations already published were not undertaken and it was rare for a little-known contemporary author with only a small output to his name to be considered for inclusion. [1] Works were selected by the following procedure. Member States suggested lists of works which they consider to be representative of the values of their cultures. Internationally recognized cultural organizations, such as the PEN federation of writers and the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies were also called upon for advice in the establishment of the lists. In addition, suggestions were received from publishers who were willing to undertake the translation of particular works which they consider worthy of a place in the Collection. [1]

As of about 2005, UNESCO was no longer able to fund new translations. The UNESCO Digital Library (UNESDOC) provides information about works published under the project, as well as associated documents. [3]

Statistics

The following is a list of the major languages works have been translated into, with the number of works translated into that language:

Languages with significant numbers of works subject to translation include:

Significant groups of works translated from one language to another include:

Authors with significant numbers of translations include:

Related Research Articles

Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters in predictable ways, such as Greek ⟨α⟩⟨a⟩, Cyrillic ⟨д⟩⟨d⟩, Greek ⟨χ⟩ → the digraph ⟨ch⟩, Armenian ⟨ն⟩⟨n⟩ or Latin ⟨æ⟩⟨ae⟩.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urdu</span> Language spoken in India and Pakistan

Urdu is a Persianised register of the Hindustani language, an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan, where it is also an official language alongside English. In India, Urdu is an Eighth Schedule language, the status and cultural heritage of which are recognised by the Constitution of India; and it also has an official status in several Indian states. In Nepal, Urdu is a registered regional dialect and in South Africa, it is a protected language in the constitution. It is also spoken as a minority language in Afghanistan and Bangladesh, with no official status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hindustani language</span> Indo-Aryan language spoken in India and Pakistan

Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in North India and Pakistan, and functioning as the lingua franca of the region. It is also spoken by the Deccani people. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu which serve as official languages of India and Pakistan, respectively. Thus, it is also called Hindi–Urdu. Colloquial registers of the language fall on a spectrum between these standards. In modern times, a third variety of Hindustani with significant English influences has also appeared which is sometimes called Hinglish or Urdish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yasunari Kawabata</span> Japanese novelist (1899–1972)

Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal and are still widely read.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacred language</span> Language that is cultivated for religious reasons

A sacred language, holy language or liturgical language is a language that is cultivated and used primarily for religious reasons by people who speak another, primary language in their daily lives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National poetry</span>

This is a list of articles about poetry in a single language or produced by a single nation.

According to the definition by George L. Hart of the University of California, Berkeley, a classical language is any language with an independent literary tradition and a large body of ancient written literature.

Hindustani is one of the predominant languages of South Asia, with federal status in the republics of India and Pakistan in its standardized forms of Hindi and Urdu respectively. It is widely spoken and understood as a second language in Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Persian Gulf and as such is considered a lingua franca in the northern Indian subcontinent. It is also one of the most widely spoken languages in the world by total number of speakers. It developed in north India, principally during the Mughal Empire, when the Persian language exerted a strong influence on the Western Hindi languages of central India; this contact between the Hindu and Muslim cultures resulted in the core Indo-Aryan vocabulary of the Indian dialect of Hindi spoken in Delhi, whose earliest form is known as Old Hindi, being enriched with Persian loanwords. Rekhta, or "mixed" speech, which came to be known as Hindustani, Hindi, Hindavi, and Urdu, also locally known as Lashkari or Lashkari Zaban in long form, was thus created. This form was elevated to the status of a literary language, and after the partition of colonial India and independence this collection of dialects became the basis for modern standard Hindi and Urdu. Although these official languages are distinct registers with regards to their formal aspects, such as modern technical vocabulary, they continue to be all but indistinguishable in their vernacular form. From the colonial era onwards, Hindustani has also taken in many words from English, with an urban English-influenced variety emerging known as Hinglish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhammad Shahidullah</span> Bengali Linguist

Muhammad Shahidullah was a Bengali linguist, philologist, educationist, and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rahul Sankrityayan</span> Indian scholar and author (1893–1963)

Rahul Sankrityayan was an Indian author, essayist, playwright, historian, scholar of Buddhism who wrote in Hindi and Bhojpuri. Known as "father of Hindi travel literature", Sankrityayan played a pivotal role in giving Hindi travelogue a literary form. He was one of the most widely travelled scholars of India, spending forty-five years of his life on travels away from his home in locations like Russia, Tibet, China, Central Asia, etc.

Asian literature is the literature produced in Asia.

<i>Thousand Cranes</i> 1949–1951 novel by Yasunari Kawabata

Thousand Cranes is a novel by Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata which first appeared in serialised form between 1949 and 1951 and was published as a book in 1952.

Fort William College was an academy of oriental studies and a centre of learning, founded on 18 August 1800 by Lord Wellesley, then Governor-General of British India, located within the Fort William complex in Calcutta. Wellesley started the Fort William College to train the European administrators. He backdated the statute of foundation to 4 May 1800, to commemorate the first anniversary of his victory over Tipu Sultan at Seringapatam. Thousands of books were translated from Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Bengali, Hindi, and Urdu into English at this institution.

Arabic has had a great influence on other languages, especially in vocabulary. The influence of Arabic has been most profound in those countries visited by Islam or Islamic power.

The national language and official language of Bangladesh is Bangla according to the third article of the Constitution of Bangladesh. Almost 99% of Bangladeshis speak Bengali as their first language. Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987 made it mandatory to use Bengali in all government affairs except in the cases of foreign relations. According to a 2022 census, Bengali is predominantly spoken by 99% of the country's population and it also serves as the national language of the nation. The indigenous people of northern and southeastern Bangladesh speak a variety of native languages. According to the Ethnologue, there are 36 indigenous living languages, which include 17 Tibeto-Burman, 10 Indo-Aryan, 7 Austroasiatic and 2 Dravidian languages in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has 44 indigenous languages according to Professor Shameem Reza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persian language in the Indian subcontinent</span>

Before British colonisation, the Persian language was the lingua franca of the Indian subcontinent and a widely used official language in North India. The language was brought into South Asia by various Turkics and Afghans and was preserved and patronized by Local Indian dynasties from the 11th century onwards, notable of which were the Ghaznavids, Sayyid Dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Khilji dynasty, Mughal Dynasty, Gujarat Sultanate, Bengal sultanate etc. Initially it was used by Muslim dynasties of India but later started being used by Non-Muslim empires too, For example the Sikh empire, Persian held official status in the court and the administration within these empires. It largely replaced Sanskrit as the language of politics, literature, education, and social status in the subcontinent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suman Pokhrel</span> Poet

Suman Pokhrel is a Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist. Universities in Nepal and India have included his poetry in their syllabi.

Dr Akhtar Husain also known as Dr Akhtar Husain Raipuri was a Pakistani scholar, journalist and lexicographer. He is also the author of the book The Dust of the Road: A Translation of Gard-e-Raah that was translated into English many years after his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliotheca Indica</span>

Bibliotheca Indica is a series of "books belonging to or treating of Oriental literatures and contains original text editions as well as translations into English, and also bibliographies, dictionaries, grammars, and studies" on Asia-related subjects in other disciplines. The series was launched in 1849 and published by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta and subsequently by the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal and then by The Asiatic Society.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Maunick, Édouard J. (January 1986). "A library of world classics" (PDF). UNESCO Courier : 5–6, 8. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  2. Collection UNESCO d'oeuvres représentatives/UNESCO collection of representative works, 1948–2000 (PDF) (in French and English). Paris: UNESCO. 2000. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  3. "Series - Representative Works". Access to Memory (AtoM). Paris: UNESCO Archives. Retrieved 5 November 2024.