Alum Translates Harry Potter Series into Kazakh for the First Time

Sayat Mukhamediyar, who graduated with his master’s degree in Russian translation and interpretation in 2018, did just that with his translation of the series into Kazakh.

When he first read the series himself 20 years ago, he knew the protagonist as “Gary.”

“In Russian, the name Harry is translated to Gary,” said Mukhamediyar, who grew up in Kazakhstan, a former republic of the Soviet Union, where most people are multilingual. Most people speak and use Russian in public and professional spaces, while Kazakh is considered a “kitchen language” that is shared among peers, Mukhamediyar said.

While Kazakhstan gained independence in 1991, most of contemporary literature available in the country is still primarily Russian translations. Kazakh language titles tend to be limited to folk tales and other books less appealing to young people.

“I remember myself as a kid and how I struggled to get through the Russian text [of Harry Potter]. You can’t always consult with someone,” Mukhamediyar said. “When something is available in your own language it helps you understand the text and the methods of the author. Then you can fully immerse in this new world.”

Translating One of the World’s Best-Loved Books Ever

Mukhamediyar spotted a job listing for an in-house translator at Steppe & World Publishing a year after graduating from the Middlebury Institute. Steppe & World’s mission is to expand available titles in the Kazakh language, particularly contemporary global bestsellers like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Chronicles of Narnia, and the Harry Potter series, which has sold more than 600 million copies worldwide since 1998.

“Harry Potter is one of the most famous series in the world. It’s been translated into 80 languages and sold millions of copies. Why not Kazakh?” Mukhamediyar said. “It is a kind of masterpiece of children’s literature that could last for many years and still be read as a classical book in fantasy.”

He drew on his deep connection to the language landscape of his home and his training at the Institute to navigate this huge and complex translation project.

From 2019 to 2022, Mukhamediyar worked with a team of three to translate all seven Harry Potter books. The team worked together on the first book, but Mukhamediyar took the lead on the first, third, fourth, fifth, and seventh titles in the series.

Tackling the first book took about six months on its own, and the fifth book, coming in at 870 pages, took nearly nine months. He also translated other books in the extended Harry Potter universe, including Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac. 

Translating fantasy books comes with its own challenges and opportunities. Fantasy words like wizard spells and character names were sometimes transcribed verbatim while others provided a chance to bring local color into the text. For example, instead of transcribing a character’s last name as “Longbottom” as it appears in English, the Steppe & World team used a funny combination of “long” and “bottom” in Kazakh.

“When you see something in Kazakh that has the same meaning as the original one, it’s funny and people aren’t expecting it, especially children,” Mukhamediyar said.

While the non-wizarding world of Harry Potter is set in Great Britain, Mukhamediyar said the team found ways to insert Kazakh details that brought humor and surprise to the stories. For example, a character originally written with a Cockney accent was given a Western Kazakh one instead.

“When you translate into other languages these types of unusual speech features can be lost. So we tried to add our own regional differences in speech or features present in Kazakh to give to these characters,” Mukhamediyar said. “It sounded so naturally Kazakh, it was so funny to see these characters speak in their own Kazakh way.”

Bigger Than a Book

These translation projects not only enrich the culture of Kazakh readers but also may trailblaze new opportunities for other translators, Mukhamediyar said.

“Influencing and improving something in your country makes you proud of your job. It makes me realize I should keep going at this job and keep translating books especially,” he said. 

“Sayat is a great example of the young intellectual elite of Kazakhstan that is emerging right now, whose native tongue is Kazakh,” said Professor Rosa Kavenoki, head of the Russian Translation and Interpretation program. “It was a huge honor to be chosen as head of that group of translators. Publishing a highly popular author in Kazakh elevates a perception of the national identity, gives more incentives to learn Kazakh, and makes people, particularly the new generations, conscious of their heritage. Middlebury should be proud to influence the formation of people like Sayat.”

Mukhamediyar credits his Middlebury Institute education with the freedom he feels to play with the translation. 

“Everything I learned from MIIS were the bricks that laid the foundation to help me translate all of these books.”