Humanities & Social Sciences 10 (2016 9) 2398-2405 ~ ~ ~ УДК 82-131=03.512.157=161.1 Translation Strategies in the Yakut Heroic Epic Olonkho: Lexical Problems (on the Nurgun Botur the Swift epic) Vilena G. Dyachkovskaya and Alina A. Nakhodkina* M. K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University 58 Belinsky Str., Yakutsk, 677000, Russia Received 22.03.2016, received in revised form 18.07.2016, accepted 30.08.2016 The paper views translation strategies regarding to lexical issues encountered in Yakut heroic epic “Nurgun Botur the Swift” by P. A. Oyunsky. <...> The authors give brief information on the olonkho. <...> Different definitions to the term ‘translation strategy’ are examined. <...> The authors apply componential analysis in the translation of figurative words and word pairs. <...> Culture specific vocabulary is considered to be one of the main lexical issues translator faces as well. <...> Keywords: translation, epic, olonkho, translation strategies, nonequivalent words, figurative words, word pairs, culture specific vocabulary. <...> Olonkho is an invaluable cultural heritage of the Yakut (Sakha) people. <...> According to the wellknown researcher of the Yakut folklore Georgy U. Germogenov – Ergis, “Olonkho is a magnificent monument to the unique Yakut poetic art, having intrinsic artistic, ideological and cognitive value” (Ergis, 2008: 214). <...> The term olonkho denotes both the concept for the Yakut heroic epic genre, and for single legends that compile this genre. <...> Olonkho takes a leading place in the Yakut folklore. <...> Olonkho embodied the whole spiritual culture of the Yakut people, expressed Vilena G. Dyachkovskaya, Alina A. Nakhodkina. <...> A great contribution was made by the remarkable study of Academician O. Boetlingk “On the Yakut language” and Khudyakov’s ‘”Verkhoyansky Collection”. <...> The author of “Dictionary of Yakut” E. K. Pekarsky carried out an extensive research in collecting and scientific editing of the Yakut folklore samples. <...> The Yakut researchers P. A. Oyunsky, G. U. Ergis, G. V. Ksenofontov, A. A. Popov, G. M. Vasilyev, I. V. Pukhov, national writer D. K. Sivtsev-Suorun Omolloon, folklorists S. I. Bolo, A. A. Savvin, P. N. Popov and many others made a considerable <...>