پژوهش نامه انتقادی متون و برنامه های علوم انسانی
پیاپی 23 (پابیز و زمستان 1390)

Iran and Ottaman history have always had a lot in common regarding history، culture، and religion. Being neighbor and vast common borders، having same religions، having a lot in common regarding language، literature، and Art caused the two nations have mutual effects in each other’s history. Ottoman Turkish with a lot of derivations (borrowings) from Persian and Arabic words is classified as one of the Islamic languages which had been the official language of Ottoman emperor at the old times. Considering the historiography، during the long period of having relationship with Iran، the Ottoman historians have written about Iran issues and events briefly or in detail، due to the fact that the two countries are neighbors، have similar language and interim developments. To historians such works are of value and worth consideration. In Qajar era، especially at the time of Nasser al-Din Shah (during Nasser al-Din Shah Reign) some of these works have been translated into Persian، among them are such works as Hamidi Hitory translated by Ali Gholi Khan، Biography of Sultan Abdul Hamid and the situation of the Ottoman Empire during his reign، translated by Mohammad Hassan Khan Etemad ol-Saltaneh. Ever since the tradition of translating Ottaman history texts didn’t blossom، and was neglected. Because of such background and the fact that researches about Ottoman basically lack a rich literature، it is necessary to recognize the well known works and main and authentic sources in historiography of Ottoman، and particularly historiography of Iran and Ottoman relations، and translate them into Persian. In that case all the needed materials for deep bilateral research will be provided. This study، aims at introducing literature in the field of translating history texts from Ottoman to Persian in the last two decades، and the selected works and sources with a glance at the reasons. At the end some suggestions and strategies for reaching this goal is presented.

History as a science is the outcome of integration of historians and reporting historical facts and includes the present and past time horizons. Present time horizon can be represented through knowledge، insight، historian’s methods and values. In fact، historians owe this not only to the society they live in، but also to the dominant circumstances in world community. Furthermore، if historians storage of knowledge and thought come to realize (are summarized) in their language and literature whether in oral، written or conceptual forms، and if our understanding of the science of history is dynamic and in accordance with the fluidity of language، and since intellectual and cognitive legacy in every society is crystallized in form of language، translating texts is the only way that makes the connection and understanding of dominant dialogs in the society possible and pave the way for the societies to enjoy the intellectual and cognitive legacy of other societies. In the field of historical knowledge where multiple scientific dialogs and historiography schools have developed، and especially since in the last decades of twenty century when various approaches in the field of methodology and epistemology has become common practice، translating new studies in the field، helps history researchers in using and enjoying other societies legacies and provides means for enhancing the educational value (role) of history. The effective role of translating texts in the field of historical methodology and epistemology in interaction and development of historians’ thoughts and opinions (the interaction between the historians’ thought in the society of the source language and historians’ thought in the target language) as the people who have effective roles in the evolution of history as a science has been discussed in this article.

Translation of texts and creating an appropriate bridge between two concept domains with different forms not only is a science، but also an art. Mostly those translations are considered to be trustworthy and valid which provide proper equivalents for the concepts in the target language. Confirming the complicated task of a translator and praising the hard work of respectable (honorable) translators of our country، mentioning some delicate but key points in translating history texts، can make these kinds of translations more valuable، and can result in a brighter perspective for these kinds of translations. Transferring historical names from foreign languages into Persian is a very complicated task because of the difference between alphabets and transcriptions of each letter. This matter can be more problematic if the names are not that well-known and the translator is not familiar with the specialist in the field. In other words، the translator has been very successful in translation the sentence in general، but being successful in finding appropriate equivalents for all the historical (scientific) names endangers the translation itself. In the last two decades translations of this kind have been done، where the translator has no specialty in the field. Although these translations can be considered good regarding transferring the concepts، because of not observing the principles of translating historical names (places or people) have violated the principle of loyalty unconsciously. Flawless use of historical names in the appropriate places not only adds to the value of translation، but also contributes to the understanding of the original text، and in other words the vagueness resulted from an unfamiliar name will disappear. This study aims at providing some important points in translating history texts; also، some delicate points about how translated history texts can be edited are mentioned.

After Arabic and Persian، Turkish is considered as the third language of Islam world. Therefore، Ottoman scientists and scholars in addition to writing books in their own language have translated different kinds of texts from Arabic and especially Persian into Ottoman Turkish. Since tenth century، more than hundreds of books have been translated from Persian into Ottoman Turkish. This tendency still continues in modern Turkey. Contrary to this trend، very few numbers of texts have been translated from Ottoman Turkish into Persian and in fact they can be counted by one’s fingers. It was just during Naseri period and after construction of Homayouni Dar al Tarjoma (Translation House) that some of the texts and sources of Ottoman were translated by the Turkish translators into Persian. The strange thing is that after Naseri period this trend of translating Turkish texts into Persian almost stopped completely. Iranians huge and serious neglect of translating Turkish texts and sources into Persian، more than anything، resulted in weakening the cross border Iran history books and sources while significant parts of the Ottoman sources include precious information about Iran history from Safavids to Qajars. Therefore، getting familiar with the Ottoman texts and sources، and translating them into Persian requires serious effort. While European orientalists have been translating Ottoman sources into their own languages for more than two decades، in Iran there is no even relative knowledge about these works. In this article، at first the importance and necessity of translating Ottoman texts are explained. Then، in a case study the importance of Osman Pasha History and its translation into Persian is discussed.

Literary biography of Majma''-ol-Khavas was written in 1016 (lunar/hijri) in Turkish، by Sadeqi-Beik Afshar، prominent writer in Safavid era، and in 1327 solar/hijri (1949) was edited and translated into Persian by Dr. Abdol Rasul Khayam Pour، a professor in Tabriz University. This biography provides us with very precious information about literary situation in Turk and Tajik communities of Iran at that time. Furthermore، flourishing of literature and art and their importance among kings، princes، and governors of Safavid emperor، and some of the kings and tribal chiefs of Ottoman، Gurkani، and Uzbak are reflected in Majma''-ol-Khavas. Sadegi beik-Afshar was born in Tabriz، and studied painting. Due to flow of political events he went to Qazvin and Isfahan، and got acquainted to many of outstanding Artists of Tabriz، Qazvin and Isfahan schools of painting. He also mentioned names and biography of some of these painters in Majma''-ol-Khavas due to their poetic nature. Not only does this article aim at providing an explanation of the importance of this book in historiography of Safavid era، but also it tries to criticize some shortcomings of its translation.

In the newly published textbook of historiology for pre-university students، subjects like literature، art، and mankind have been used to introduce and discuss many of the fundamental topics in the field. It has been mentioned that the connection between history and these sciences has an important and delicate role in informing the readers about the truths، providing them with a new insight. Since in real life situations، students’ account of different subjects is holistic، this integrated approach in the newly published book can open their eyes to new perspectives، and also provide them with new opportunities regarding history and historiography. In this way، they can recall and reconstruct their roots and identity inspired by noble values. Therefore، the book has been reviewed by some of the opinion holders and experienced teachers after the book was written، and before its use in educational settings as a textbook. These reviews provided new insight into how it can be revised in order to be more effective and proper in the teaching-learning process. It is worth to mention that comparing to the other books in the field، this book benefits from a new approach and its content and the number of pages are compatible with the syllabus guideline. Furthermore، notable weak or positive points have been considered. In this study، data gathering has been done through open-ended questionnaires and interviews. In general، the results Reflect some positive and some negative reviews، and in some cases constructive suggestions are introduced.