The following is an interview with novelist and poet T.Galsan, who is a winner of Bolor Tsom (Crystal Cup), the most prestigious literary competition of Mongolia. He has published over 110 books. While writing his novels, he diligently worked in the film industry for 18 years and contributed significantly in introducing and explaining film-related terms. He has been credited in over 50 film productions.
Many Mongolians, mostly elders, are saying that the traditions and customs of Tsagaan Sar celebration are being lost. Some people say that the customs were distorted because the celebration was banned for a long time and that some traditions were forgotten. Can you explain what the real meaning and significance of Tsagaan Sar is, as well as its customs?
Nothing is eternal in this world. Tsagaan Sar was originally celebrated during autumn when there were plenty of dairy products, but Chinggis Khaan changed the celebration date to spring. He didn’t do this on a whim though.
Chinggis Khaan made the order to make Tsagaan Sar a dual celebration for welcoming a new spring after overcoming a harsh winter and celebration of the fact that they’ve aged by one more year as the earth completed a whole orbit around the sun. He took account of astrology and physics of the universe.
This custom has sacred traditions. Going to greet elders and relatives isn’t an ordinary event.
Some historians explain that the Manchu people feared that Mongolians would become invincible if they continued to build stronger bonds among themselves through this tradition and banned Tsagaan Sar. The tradition was preserved because Mongolian wise politician and diplomat J.Sambuu made herders continue to celebrate Tsagaan Sar. Can you tell us about the celebration’s history?
Long ago, the most important rule for Tsagaan Sar was to ensure that people wore clean clothes, were debtless and that they did not quarrel with others. It was essential to resolve quarrels and arguments, and settle one’s debts before greeting a new year.
Attires people nowadays are wearing are too excessive. Some people are walking around looking like painted dragons in their silk outfits, silk brocade and dozens of ornaments. Even Chinggis Khaan didn’t wear silk during Tsagaan Sar. So many TV shows and programs are broadcasted about Tsagaan Sar’s customs and traditions but most of them are off the track.
Tons of kheviin boov are stack up as tall as the Migjid Janraisig’s statue and the owner sitting behind the dish can hardly be seen. The number of layers of kheviin boov to be stacked up depends on people’s age.
New Mongolian terms have been made for commonly used foreign words such as “computer”. Is it possible to name all foreign objects with Mongolian words?
Of course it’s possible. Mongolia is the first nation to have conquered and united all cultures in the world under one empire.
Most importantly, Mongolians are able to reach the root and peak of intelligence as we have an ancient writing system. If we’re able to do this, then we have the ability to accurately name anything.
There are two million more words behind the 330 common words Mongolians use nowadays. Novelist and translator J.Nergui made a list of all foreign words that have entered the Mongolian language vocabulary. He cooperated with the Mongolian Academy of Science and consulted on new Mongolian terms for each and every word with scientists, scholars, novelists and translators of different age groups when he became the Head of the Council of the Official State Language. He was able to assign Mongolian phrasing to the most commonly used 1,300 Mongolian terms we use today. But people aren’t using the Mongolian terms and instead increasing the number of foreign words.
Words change and evolve all the time. Is it possible to admission “Mongolianized” words to official writings?
Certainly, new terms will be created as science and international relation advances. Precisely at this time, the ones who have realized the significance of Mongolian language are people who’ve lived abroad.
Foreign words are being used straight away without being translated when there are so many ways it can be named in Mongolian language. Even so, there are thousands of Mongolians endeavoring to protect their mother language. Whether they’ve graduated or not, these people are patriots.
Among Mongolia’s population of three million people, probably one million of them contemplate and beat their brains out trying to remember the Mongolian name for a specific item or object. It was very nice to gather some of these people and discuss certain words. They were very enthusiastic too. I am shocked by some people’s stupid belief that using more foreign words will make them appear as if they know a foreign language. In fact, the quickest way to destroy Mongolia is to destroy its language. The public might think that I’m narrow-minded, but it’s not like that. Journalists and media outlets must make the public become aware of this threat.
I’ve been officially invited to teach Mongolian language to the public via Soyon Gegeeruulegch channel this spring. I’m very grateful for that.
You received considerable criticism for naming coffee bean as “borgol”, chocolate as “borkhosh”, microphone as “duu tsatsral” and billiard as “yovortsog”. People said that you were simply naming things with whatever came to your mind. Can you comment on this?
I didn’t make up the name “borgol” for coffee bean. I’ve heard and seen countless things. Our ancestors found out about different types of animals and plants when they went to tropical countries. They met an animal that made the sound “arrr” and named it “arslan” (lion). Just like how mothers and fathers are differentiated, they named female lions “erslen”. Similar to this, someone found a brown fruit and named it “borgol” because it was brown inside and out and remained brown after being dried. This term was recorded in a five-language dictionary during the Manchu reign. The explanation says that the brown fruit will energize and wake you up if it is drunk with water after drying.
A man named Shariibuu, who used to be a Japanese army colonel, started teaching Manchu language at Mongolian universities. Shariibuu’s student proved that coffee bean was translated as “borgol” in the dictionary through contraposition by comparing dictionaries of five western languages with eastern dictionaries.
Mongolians had been using this thing called “borgol” for over 2,000 years. Nobles and scholars still knew borgol but everyone gradually forgot about it after the large empire collapsed and dispersed into smaller nations.
Prominent linguist S.Galsan complimented me that the word “yovortsog” was the most accurate word for billiard. I didn’t make up this word either. I just can’t remember from which page of which book I read the sentence that said a yovortsog made of ivory was in the chamber of a Khunnu emperor. But I did create the term “duu tsatsral”.
There are several ways of naming something such as accurately naming, creatively naming and “guigarchlan” naming. Guigarchlan naming is when you make foreign words sound more local. For example, “garaash” (garage). New terms similar to these were introduced at the meeting of the Council of the Official State Language, which I mentioned earlier, and those who attended the meeting carefully discussed new terms and developed more than 1,300 Mongolian terms for foreign words after a long discussion.
There are arguments about the spellings of ordinary, simple words. Everyone keeps insisting on their own individual rule and the public is confused about which rule to follow. What do you think about this issue?
Passing a separate law for Mongolian language was in fact the most commendable event of last year, the Year of the Sheep. In any case, the independence of the Mongolian public’s intelligence has been secured through the law.
However, the Law on Mongolian Language has been locked in a metal safe because of people like Secretary-General of the Parliament Secretariat B.Boldbaatar who can’t do their jobs properly. This is one of the biggest regretful events of the Year of the Sheep, so it must be corrected in the Year of the Monkey.
The Law on Mongolian Language should be urgently put into force now that the Council of the Official State Language has been liquidated. The council released a guidance on the spelling of both Mongolian and foreign words used in Mongolia. Everyone should follow that guidance as those who don’t will be imposed with penalty in accordance with the law. The new law is more realistic than previous legislations because it has specified implementation methods and measures if the law isn’t abided.
How many new words have you added to the Mongolian language?
I haven’t counted them before, but a scientist had identified me as the “novelist with the largest vocabulary”. Actually, I’m the student of the novelist with the largest vocabulary. If words had been copied and used, it isn’t new. New era always brings new developments, advancements, ideas, creations, and realizations. It’s possible to express all of them with our mother language. I deliberately say out loud a foreign word sometimes. Immediately afterwards, I apologize and say the proper Mongolian term. It’s not that I can’t find a Mongolian word for something but rather to encourage people to use Mongolian words and learn that there is a Mongolian word for it.
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