The Secret History of the Mongols

Mongolia's famous and treasured historic, book, The Secret History of the Mongols is an outstanding memoir of ancient Mongolian literature.

President N. Enkhbayar made an important statement to remind Mongolians of the importance of the work.
He said: '"The Secret History of the Mongols' is an historic timeline and encyclopedia illustrating the ancestry of Mongolian great kings, people's lifestyles, national history, Mongolian language, folk tales, customs, tradition and religion.

Despite the fact the original text, written in Mongolian script has never been found, the discovery of one of its first texts transferred into Chinese kanji more than one hundred and fifty years ago was the beginning of studies on the text. At the beginning of the past century Count Tsend translated the book from Chinese kanji into Mongolian script and academic, Ts. Damdinsuren rewrote the book into contemporary Mongolian language, making it easier for everyone to read.

Many scholars have translated "The Secret History of the Mongols" into their own language, extending its readability throughout the world and today the book has been translated into more then 20 languages and published more than 100 times. There are several different editions in English including translations by: Wei Kwei Sun, 1950 to 1957, translated it in India; A. Walley, 1963 and Urgungu Onon 1990, 1993, 2001 in the UK; Kuo yi Pao, 1965, F.W.Cleaves, 1982 and P. Khan, 1971 in the US and Igor de Rachewiltz, 2006 in Australia. Most of the translations are works of prominent Mongolists or scholars who have Mongolian backgrounds.

Professors and scholars of the National University of Mongolia (NUM), suggested in a dedication to the 800th anniversary of the establishment of the Great Mongolian State, veteran Mongolian veteran, N. Dorjgotov and renowned diplomat and experienced translator, Z. Erendoo translate 'The Secret History of the Mongols' into English. The second edition of this translation has been published.

The good idea of the NUM professors has become a reality and the book is favored to be better and more accurate compared to other translations because it was done by Mongolians with Mongolian language and customs and with participation of scholars who study the "The Secret History of the Mongols". The translators studied and compared semantics and syntax of the Mongolian and earlier English translations and edited the book as it had been expressed through the mind of foreigners into an accurate Mongolian version.


Translators, N. Dorjgotov and Z. Erendoo delivered a presentation on their translating experiences at a conference, 'The Foreign Translation of 'The Secret History of the Mongols'. Mr Erendoo said, "This was a rare opportunity where a Mongolian person was given the duty to translate 'The Secret History of the Mongols" from the Mongolian original text into English. Realizing that all this responsibility had been given to us, we were honored to be given the role and did our best to make the translation accurate and closer to the Mongolian language as possible compared to previous translations."

Many names of tribes, people and places were standardized with Mongolian linguistics to overcome differences between versions of names of people and places. The process solved the problem faced by foreign translators who did not know the origins of names or the original way of writing subjects and tended to guess or make them up while translating.

Mistakes and inaccuracies were edited and systematized with the support of studies of Professor and official editor, D. Tumurtogoo, expert on the subject, 'Detailed Studies on the Mongolian Language of the Mid Century'. The second English publication of 'The Secret History of the Mongols' is interesting in the way the paper, color and design of the book resembles ancient old books and sutras.

The project was a positive experience for Mongolians who independently translated treasured book into English. In the future, any errors in the publication will be revised, corrected and edited with each new version. The book is a bridge to take the symbol of ancient Mongolian literature to international readers through English.

Bat-lreedui Jantsan,
Ph.D.Sc, Professor at the National University of Mongolia