Language |
Year |
Translator |
Remark |
Swedish |
1841 |
M. A. Castrén |
Full translation of the 1835 Old Kalevala. |
1864–1868 |
Karl Collan |
Full translation of the 1849 Kalevala. |
1884 |
Rafaël Hertzberg |
|
1944 |
Olaf Homén |
An abridged edition |
1948 |
Björn Collinder |
|
1999 |
Lars Huldén and Mats Huldén |
|
French |
1845 and 1867 |
Louis Léouzon le Duc |
An important translation used by many other translators to bring Kalevala to their own language. |
1926 |
Charles Guyot |
Abridged version of Louis Léouzon le Duc's translation. |
1927 |
Jean Louis Perret |
Full translation in metric verse. |
1991 |
Gabriel Rebourcet |
Full translation. In old style French vocabulary. |
German |
1848 |
Jacob Grimm |
A short 38 line reading at a presentation in the Berlin Academy of Sciences |
1852 |
Franz Anton Schiefner |
A very important translation used by many other translators to bring Kalevala to their own language. |
1885–1886 |
H. Paul |
|
1967 |
Lore Fromm, Hans Fromm |
Full translation directly from Finnish. |
2004[1] |
Gisbert Jänicke |
Full translation. |
English |
1868 |
John Addison Porter |
Partial translation (The story of Aino[2]) via Franz Anton Schiefner's translation. |
1869 |
Edward Taylor Fletcher |
Partial translation directly from Finnish (with a lengthy essay). |
1888[3] |
John Martin Crawford |
Full translation, via Franz Anton Schiefner's translation. |
1893[4][5] |
R. Eivind |
A complete prose adaptation for children. |
1907[6][7] |
William Forsell Kirby |
Second full translation. Directly from Finnish. Imitates the Kalevala meter. |
1950[4] |
Aili Kolehmainen Johnson |
Abridged prose translation. |
1954[4] |
Margaret Sperry |
Adapted verse translation of song 50. |
1963 |
Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. |
Scholarly prose translation. Included with detailed essays and background information. |
1969 |
Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. |
Scholarly prose translation of the 1835 Old Kalevala. |
1977 |
Ursula Synge |
Abridged prose version. Using W.F.Kirby's translation as a reference. |
1989 |
Eino Friberg |
Editing and introduction by George C. Schoolfield. Imitates the Kalevala meter selectively. The songs in this version are also not of the same length or structure as in the original.[8] Released to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the original publication. |
1989 |
Keith Bosley |
Uses a syllabic verse form to allow for accuracy and metrical variety. Released to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the original publication. |
1992 |
Mauri Kunnas |
The "Canine Kalevala" is that of The Kalevala with the characters presented as anthropomorphized dogs, wolves and cats. The story deviates from the full Kalevala, presumably, to make the story more appropriate for children. |
Hungarian |
1871 |
Ferdinánd Barna |
Full translation via Franz Anton Schiefner's translation. |
1909[9] |
Béla Vikár |
|
1971 |
Kálmán Nagy |
|
1976 |
István Rácz |
|
1985[10] |
Antal Reguly |
Old Kalevala songs 1-3 and 29. |
1987 |
Imre Szente |
|
Russian |
1888[11] |
Leonid Petrovic Belsky |
An important translation used by many other slavic translators to bring Kalevala to their own language. |
1998[12] & 2006[10] |
Eino Kiuru and Armas Hiiri |
|
Estonian |
1891–1898 |
M. J. Eisen |
|
1938 |
August Annist |
|
Czech |
1894–1895 |
J. Holeček |
Full translation in metric verse. |
Ukrainian |
1901 |
Jevhen Tymčenko |
|
Danish |
1902 |
Ferdinand Ohrt |
Partial translation. |
1994 |
Hilkka and Bent Søndergaard |
|
Italian |
1909[13] |
Igino Cocchi |
Verse translation (hendecasyllable) |
1910[14] |
Paolo Emilio Pavolini |
Verse translation (original metre) |
1912[13] |
Francesco Di Silvestri Falconieri |
Prose translation |
1980 |
Liliana Calimeri |
Used Ursula Synge's version as a model. |
1988[13] |
Gabriella Agrati and Maria Letizia Magini |
Prose translation |
2007[13] |
Marcello Ganassini |
Verse translation (blank verses) |
Lithuanian |
1922 |
Adolfas Sabaliauskas |
|
1972 |
Justinas Marcinkevičius |
|
Latvian |
1924[10] |
Linards Laicens |
|
1965 |
? |
Uses trochaic tetrameter and syllable stress rhythm. |
Dutch |
1928[10] |
Maya Tamminen |
Partial prose translation. |
1940[10] |
Jan H. Eekhout. |
An excerpt in poetic form. |
1969 |
Jr. Henrik Hartwijk |
Translation of song #5. Published in the Yearbook of the Kalevala Society. |
1985[10] |
Maria Mies le Nobel |
Utilised German as well as English translations in his translation process. |
Serbian |
1935 |
Ivan S. Šajković |
|
Japanese |
1937 |
Kakutan Morimoto |
|
1961[10] |
Tsutomu Kuwaki |
|
1976 |
Tamotsu Koizumi |
|
Spanish |
1944 |
Alejandro Casona |
Based on Charles Guyot's version. |
1953 |
María Dolores Arroyo |
Partial translation via Perret's French and Pavolini's Italian translations |
1985 |
Ursula Ojanen and Joaquín Fernández |
Full translation directly from Finnish. |
1995 |
Carmen Crouzeilles |
Abridged prose translation. Published in Buenos Aires. |
1999 |
Juan B. Bergua |
|
Romanian |
1946 |
Barbu B. Brezianu's |
Full prose translation. |
1959 |
Iulian Vesper |
Full translation using an eight syllable verse form. |
1985[10] |
P. Starostin |
Published in Moldovan which is identical to Romanian. Abridged translation. |
Hebrew |
1954 |
Saul Tschernichovsky |
|
1978 |
Sarah Tubia |
|
Yiddish |
1954 |
Hersh Rosenfeld |
|
Belarusian |
1956[10] |
M. Mašapa |
Prose and poetry excerpts. |
Icelandic |
1957 & 1962[10] |
Karl Ísfeld |
This translation utilises the Icelandic "three-par" alliteration method. |
Chinese |
1962 |
Shih Hêng |
Translated via the Russian translation. |
1981[15] |
Sun Yong |
Translated via W.F.Kirby's English translation. |
2000[10] |
Zhang Hua Wen |
|
Esperanto |
1964 |
Johan Edvard Leppäkoski |
|
Turkish |
1965[16] |
Hilmi Ziya Ülken |
Translation of the first 2 songs. Using the Hungarian and French as basis. Published in the Yearbook of the Kalevala Society, volume 43 (1963) |
1982 |
Lale and Muammar Oğuz |
Full interpreted prose translation. Missing 25% of the original content for artistic purposes. |
Norwegian |
1967 |
Albert Lange Fliflet |
Nynorsk language translation. Based on an earlier unpublished translation. |
Georgian |
1969[10] |
M. Macavarian, Š. Tšantladze & G. Dzneladze. |
|
Arabic |
1970 |
Muhamed Said al-Juneid |
Abridged translation published in the yearbook of the Kalevala Society. |
1991 |
Sahban Ahmad Mroueh |
|
Armenian |
1972[10] |
A. Siras. Proosaa |
Abridged prose translation. |
Polish |
1974 |
Józef Ozga-Michalski |
Full translation based on the work of Karol Laszecki. |
1998 |
Jerzy Litwiniuk |
Full translation |
Komi |
1980 & 1984[10] |
Adolf Turkin |
Partial translation (Väinämöinen's playing and song 10.) |
Fulani |
1983 |
Alpha A. Diallo |
Book was published in Hungary, illustrated with Akseli Gallen-Kallela's artwork. |
Tulu |
1985 |
Amrith Someshwar |
Used Keith Bosley's Wanton Loverboy to aid in the translation of some parts. |
Latin |
1986 |
Tuomo Pekkanen |
|
Vietnamese |
1986 |
Cao Xuân Nghiêp |
Full prose translation. |
1991 |
Hoàng Thái Anh |
Full prose translation. |
1994 |
Búi Viêt Hòa's |
Full translation in metrical verse. |
Slovak |
1986[10] |
Marek Svetlik & Jan Petr Velkoborský. |
|
Hindi |
1990 & 1997[10] |
Vishnu Khare |
|
Slovene |
1991 |
Jelka Ovaska Novak |
Partial translation. |
1997 |
Jelka Ovaska Novak |
Full translation. |
Swahili |
1992 |
Jan Knappert |
Illustrated with Tanzanian Robino Ntila's graphics. |
Bulgarian |
1992 |
Nino Nikolov |
|
Greek |
1992 [10] |
Maria Martzouk |
Verse translation of the first 20 poems with prose translation of the rest. |
Faroese |
1993 |
Jóhannes av Skarði |
|
Tamil |
1994[17] |
R. Sivalingam (Uthayanan) |
Full translation. Introduction by Asko Parpola. |
Catalan |
1997 |
Ramon Garriga i Marquès, Pirkko-Merja Lounavaara |
Full translation directly from Finnish. |
1997 |
Encarna Sant-Celoni i Verger |
Abridged translation. |
Persian |
1998 |
Mahmoud Amir Yar Ahmadi and Mercedeh Khadivar Mohseni |
Full translation directly from Finnish. |
Macedonian |
1998 |
Vesna Acevska |
|
Croatian |
2001 |
Stjepan A. Szabo |
Partial translation in narrative form. |
2006 |
Slavko Peleh |
Full translation using the German translation partially. |
Low German |
2001[10] |
Herbert Strehmel. |
|
Oriya |
2001[10] |
Mahendra Kumar Mishra |
Prose translation. |
Udmurt |
2001[10] |
Anatoli Uvarov |
Summary. |
Veps |
2003[10] |
Nina Zaiceva |
Verse summary. |
Portuguese |
2007 |
Orlando Moreira |
Full translation. |
2009 |
José Bizerril and Álvaro Faleiros |
Partial translation. Only the first song. |
2009 |
Ana Soares & Merja de Mattos-Pareira |
|
Meänkieli |
2007[10] |
Bengt Pohjanen |
Translation of a select four songs. |