Mona Baker & Gabriela Saldanha. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (2nd edition)

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Agricola(c.1510–57),aLutheranreformerandfounderofliteraryFinnish.His

translationoftheNewTestamentappearedin1548,followedbyabouta

quarteroftheOldTestamentin1551–2.AformerstudentofLuther,Agricola

translatedwithaclearsenseofreligiousmission,inthebeliefthattheDivine

Wordshouldbemadeaccessibletoallpeople.InhisprefacetotheNew

Testament,hewritesthattheWordshouldbe‘public,comprehensibletoall

men,andconcealedfromnoone’(translated).Inaddition,hestatesthathisaim

istofollowtheoriginalascloselyaspossible.Alongsidetheoriginalsource

texts,AgricolaalsomadeuseofexistingtranslationsintoGreek,Latin,German

andSwedish:thisisevidentinhisFinnish,whichintroducednewloanwordsand

manifestedsomegrammaticalfeatureswhichwereborrowedfromvarious

languages,includingtheprenominal,articlelikeuseofcertainfunctionwords;

Finnishhad,andstillhas,noarticles.

AtthetimeAgricolawaswritingtherewasnowrittenstandardFinnish.There

wasalongtraditionofhomileticFinnishwhichhecoulddrawon,buthewasin

factcreatingthewrittenstandardlanguageashetranslated.Hebasedthis

standardonthedialectofsouthwestFinland,spokenaroundthecityofTurku

(ÅboinSwedish),whichwastheculturalcentreofSweden’sFinnishprovince.

TheSwedishauthoritiesencouragedtheideathatthesouthwestdialect,rather

thantheeasterndialectsspokenclosertoRussia,representedthemost

authenticFinnish.Agricolawasalsoconsciousoftheneedtoestablishageneral

standardlanguage.

AFinnishtranslationofthewholeBibledidnotappearuntil1642.The

translatorswereinstructedtostayclosetotheoriginaltextsandtoadheretothe

Lutheraninterpretation,towriteaFinnishthatwasasgoodandnaturalas

possibleandcouldbeunderstoodinallpartsofthecountry,andtomaintaina

stylisticunitybetweenthevariouspartsofthetranslation.Thetranslators’

committee,underEskilPetraeus,builtontheearlierworkofAgricolaand

othersbutworkeddirectlyfromtheoriginallanguages.Allthecostsof

translatingandprintingwerecoveredbythestate–anindicationofthe

importanceattachedtothework.ThistranslationoftheBibleremainedthe

standardversioninFinlanduntilthe1930s.Itplayedanenormousrolein

standardizingFinnishspellingandsyntax,andtheinfluenceofitsstylecanbe

seenintheworkofmanywritersandpoets,andevenoccasionallyinthepress

(seeJääskeläinen1989).

TranslationintoFinnishthusstartedwithbiblicaltranslation.Legaltranslation,

whichdevelopedlater,provedmuchmoreproblematic:thelawsoftheFinnish

provinceswereinOldSwedish,whichwasitselfanunfamiliarlanguagetomany

ofthetranslators;therewasnotraditionoforalorwrittenlegalFinnishtobuild

on,andmanyofthelegalconceptshadnoFinnishequivalents.Ittooktwomore

centuriesforstandardlegalFinnishtotakeshape(Aaltonen1986;Sandbacka

1986;Majamaa1991).

TheoldestFinnishtranslationofalegaltextdatesbackto1580;themanuscript

isinthehandwritingofMarttiOlavinpoika,chaplainattheSwedishcourt,but

theactualtranslationmayhavebeendonebyJaakkoPietarinpoika(Jacobus

PetriFinno).ThetranslationisheavilymarkedbySwedishinterference.Thefirst

printedversionoftheFinnishlawappearedin1759,translatedbySamuel

Forsén(Forseen),anofficialtranslatorintheStockholmadministration,butthe

Finnishheusedwasalreadyarchaic.ThroughoutFinnishhistory,legaltexts

havebeensignificantlyinfluencedbytranslationsandbyconceptsborrowed

fromotherlanguages,firstSwedishandlaterRussian.

Translationsofothertypesofadministrativetextduringthisperiod–statutes,

royaldecrees,etc.–wereatfirstproducedrathersporadically.Translationsof

edictswerereadaloudfromthepulpit(illiteracywashighandprintedmaterial

scarce).Inordertocopewiththeincreasingloadofadministrativeandlegal

translationandtomaintainsomedegreeofunifiedstyle,thefirstofficialpostof

Finnishtranslator(fromSwedish)wasestablishedbythegovernmentin

Stockholmin1735.Thetranslatorwasinstructedtotranslatecloselyand

accurately;thetranslationscontainedmanyloanwordsandstructurescopied

fromSwedish,andsomefromLatinorFrench.Ingeneral,theofficialtranslators

intheeighteenthcenturytendedtoadhereslavishlytosourcetextformsand

werelessinterestedinachievingnaturalnessinthetargetlanguage.Theofficial

Finnishtranslator’s

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postwasreestablishedaftertheofficialbreakwithSwedenin1809,andthe

numberofofficialtranslatorssoongrew.Oneinfluentialtranslatorwasthe

historianandlinguistReinholdvonBecker,whosoughttoliberatelegalFinnish

fromSwedishinfluence.

LiterarytranslationwasvirtuallynonexistentduringtheSwedishperiod.Finnish

literatureitselfdidnotbegintoflourishuntilthenineteenthcentury.Literature

waslongconsideredtohaveacorruptinginfluence,andtherewaslittledemand

yetforliterarytranslations:theliterateeducatedclasseshadaccesstoliterary

worksinSwedishandGerman,andtoalesserextentinFrenchandEnglish.

EducationforliteracywasundertakenbytheLutheranChurchfromthe

seventeenthcenturyonwards.Thecampaignnaturallyproducedaneedfor

thingstoread,fromanABCprimertoatranslationofLuther’sSmall

Catechism.Inordertomotivatethepeasantstolearn,in1686theauthorities

stipulatedthatpermissiontomarrywouldnotbegranteduntiltheyoungpeople

coulddemonstrateabasiclevelofliteracy.Thecombinedinfluenceofthe

Churchandtheadministrationthusensuredthatearlytranslationworkhada

definitepragmaticanddidacticpurpose,whichtendedtooverrule

considerationsoftargetlanguagenaturalnessoraestheticvalue.

Atthesametime,partoftheverymotivefortranslationwastoboostthestatus

oftheFinnishlanguage.TowardstheendoftheSwedishperiod,thepositionof

Finland–andthereforealsoFinnish–declinedwithintheSwedishstate,andin

Finlanditselfbilingualismbecamelesscommon,withtheupperandmiddle

classesretreatingmainlytoSwedish.Translationwasthusawayof

counteractingthistrend.

DuringtheSwedishperiodasawhole,translatorsoftenhadaratherapologetic

anddefensiveattitudetotheirtargettexts.Thetranslator’sworkwasnothighly

regarded,criticismwassevere,andthetranslator’snamewasoftennot

mentionedinthepublishedwork.Atthebeginningoftheperiod,translationhad

neverthelessbeenseeninpositiveterms,asawayofenrichingtheFinnish

languageandeducatingthepeople;bytheendofit,translationhadbecome

merelyameansofdefendingthelanguageandslowingdownitsdecline.

TheRussianperiod(1809–1917)

FinnshadlongbeeninvolvedinSweden’swarswithRussia.Thefinaldefeatof

Swedenin1809meantthatFinlandbecamepartoftheRussianEmpire,but

throughoutthefollowingcenturyFinlandacquiredalargedegreeoflegislative

andculturalautonomy.

Inthemid19thcentury,EliasLönnrot(1802–84,leadingfigureoftheFinnish

nationalistmovementandcompileroftheFinnishnationalepicKalevala)set

aboutrevisingandupdatingtheFinnishlegallanguageandretranslatingsomeof

themainlegaltexts.HealsotranslatedpartsofHomer,poetry,hymns,history,

scientificandmedicaltexts.Throughhistranslationsandlistsoftechnicalterms

hehelpedtocreateabasicFinnishvocabularyinbotany,medicineandlaw.He

wasaprolificwriterandpublishedmanyarticlesontranslation,dealingwith

mattersasvariedastheeffectsofshorteningwordsintranslationsofhymns,the

problemsoftranslatingpoetryandwaysofcreatingnewFinnishtermsin

differentfields.FinnishbecameanofficiallanguageofFinland,alongside

Swedish,in1863,butSwedishremainedtheprimarylanguageofthelawuntil

wellintothetwentiethcentury.Duringthisperiod,Russianwasalsoused,for

instanceonstreetsignsandinsomeofficialdocuments,butitneverattainedthe

statusofanofficialnationallanguage.

Themostimportantfeatureofthisperiodistheemergenceofliterarytranslation,

supportedbyaflourishingnationalliterature,firstinSwedish(manyofthe

leadingfiguresofthenationalistmovementwereSwedishspeaking)andthenin

Finnish(seeKovala1985).Oneofthetoweringfiguresintheearlydaysofthe

FinnishnationalistmovementwasthephilosopherandculturalactivistJohan

VilhelmSnellman(1806–81).Inthelate1840sheproposedthatanewjournal

befoundedtopublishFinnishtranslationsofliteraryclassicsfromothercultures,

forartistic,patrioticandeducationalreasons.TheideawassupportedbyElias

LönnrotandalsobytheFinnishLiteratureSociety(foundedin1831),which

wasawareoftheneedtointroduceliterarymodelsintoFinnishinorderto

stimulatethecountry’sownliteraryculture.Aftersomedelay(partlyforpolitical

reasonsandpartlybecauseofthe