LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 6 : 4 April 2006

Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Associate Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.

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PRACTICING LITERARY TRANSLATION
A SYMPOSIUM BY MAIL - SIXTH ROUND
Moderator: : V. V. B. Rama Rao, Ph.D.


There is a translation contest, and if you win, you get a cash award! Please read the message at the end of this article!


A Note From the Moderator

I start this round with a personal note and crave the readers' indulgence to read through this piece to the end. There is very famous Telugu lyric by late Sri Sankarambadi Sundarachari entitled maaa telugu tallikee. On receiving my English rendering along with the Telugu original in a broad kind of transliteration, our learned friend Professor Suresh Kumar sent me a note, which I reproduce below. Before going public with my rendering, I thought it would be worthwhile to announce a contest asking for renderings to be adjudged and awarded modest cash prizes.

Prof. Suresh Kumar's response reproduced here emphasizes some of the points we have made in the Symposium so far. The promised discussion on Translation Losses and Gains would follow eventually.


Professor Suresh Kumar

Dear Shri Rama Raoji,
Your translation of Telugu poem into English has given me an opportunity to review my remarks that you have kindly reproduced in the current issue of Language in India. I feel that your English rendering of the Telugu poem bears them out. It would be a futile exercise to look for the melody of Telugu and other cultural-cum-literary features, specific to Telugu, being ferried across to English without suffering damage in qualitative and quantitative terms. In a cross-cultural communication situation as the present one, value judgement may better be done in terms of the broadest parameters rather than the narrow one(s). Consequently, If I enjoy the English version of the Telugu original in the tradition of literary creation and value judgment of E, the translation is successful. Exactly this is my impression of the present English text that it is a quality product and meets the norms of E to the extent it can in a translational situation.
To sum up, I really enjoyed an English poem for a Telugu poem. The English version is in conformity with its own norms of poetry-specific expression system, preserving at the same time the cultural character of the original. I felt like reading a translation in terms of experience and an English composition in terms of expression. It is one of those ideal combinations of the two dimensions that a serious reader would be looking for. My submission that Robert Frost's opinion about poetry in translation needs to be reconsidered is strengthened by your successful endeavour. Performance levels differ and the theory has to take that into account. My congratulations to you for your achievement. All the best
Sincerely yours
Suresh Kumar

Professor Suresh Kumar (b.1937) retired as a Professor of Applied Linguistics at Central Institute of Hindi, Agra. His warm responses have been unfailing sources of encouragement.


Manjeet Baruah

On Translation

Translation is important for the spread of knowledge and culture. In many parts of the world, such as in the West, its significance had long been felt and worked upon. It is believed that India has generally lagged behind in this field. Perhaps, this is true and false at the same time. The diffusion of culture that is to be found in various parts of India is clearly an example of translation of texts and cultural practices that had been practiced over the ages. But the process has been unique. When the great Vaishnava saint of Assam Sri Sankardeva (16th century) started composing the devotional hymns and plays in an Assamese mixed with the Braj dialect, it was an introduction of north Indian Vaishnava textual and cultural practices in Assam through a distinct form of translation. Similarly, when the Pirs from Persia came to Assam (15th century), they started the zikir form of devotional music. It was a mix of Assamese and Sufi systems of hymns through a mutual exchange of words, spirit and musical styles. Similarly, Madhav Kandali's Assamese Ramayana (14th century) is both a translation of Valmiki's Ramayana and a localization of the story based on the socio-cultural realities of Assam. This practice of translating cultures has a long history in India.

… In some languages, such as Bengali or Assamese, translation has emerged as a distinct body of literary tradition. However, even then, it does not stand as significant to the overall body of literature in these languages. One of the greatest challenges being faced now is probably the necessity of translating texts into strictly coded 'national languages'. Dialects are still to gain their due place. This is a major difference between the translation process in the past and in the present.

The other problem currently faced is translating Indian language fiction into English. English, because of the historical situations, did not become a people's language in the country. Therefore, its idioms and imagery remained culturally alien to the literary traditions of India. Despite the beginning made in the 1930s through the works of Narayan, Raja Rao and Mulk Raj Anand, Indianization of English is still an on-going process. However, the present crop of writers writing in English is generally different from these three maestros in one important way. The latter's writings were not Diaspora writings unlike the former. Therefore, I suppose that maybe we need to reactivate that root to make English a truly people's language. This is important because till now, even the government has relied on translating Indian writings into English to spread it around in the world. Another way out of the problem could be the commendable efforts of the Sahitya Akademi to translate Indian literature in other languages like German, Spanish, etc., to carry it to different parts of the world. Surely, translation can and needs to have a bright future in a multi cultural country like India.

I have translated both fiction and poetry, and have enjoyed doing both. In prose, I translated short stories by Lakshminath Bezbaruah. Translating Bezbaruah was very difficult, for he writes in the colloquial language. Many words and idioms therefore have no equivalents not only in English but even in the standard Assamese language. And yet, this very style of his makes him so special. The problem was important in another way too, for to disturb his style of language would also mean disturbing his narrative. I had two options to begin with,
  1. that I more or less transliterate to keep intact his narrative, and
  2. that I break his narrative and translate in a very English way.

I was very satisfied with the way I translated his famous story Bhadari, for unknowingly, I managed to arrive at some kind of a balance between the two. Yes, it may be pointed out that, in a way, I have done injustice to his writing. But, by having to choose between structure and meaning, and retaining both, I felt that I did the best that I could at that time. When I read it accidentally some years later, I didn't find it a bad reading though. I think English cannot be completely customized either. To me, ideal translation is impossible. What we will have to strive for is a kind of balance. And I think we will have to treat the translated text as an entity on its own too, rather than only as a medium. It is something that has certainly been achieved in Europe.

Manjeet Baruah is currently pursuing his Ph. D. on Assamese fiction from the University of Delhi. He has translated both fiction and poetry. His published works include The Comedy of a Spark and Other Stories (Rupa & Co., 2003) and articles in Indian Literature (Sahitya Akademi's bi-monthly journal). His forthcoming books include a collection of poetry (with Indira Goswami) and novels.


Nirmalananda

Literary Translation as a Genre

Literary translation enriches the Target Language by opening up new dimensions and new vistas. It strengthens and makes it contented. Without that we would be the poorer. We would not be able to enjoy the beauties of world literature.

I hold that literary translation is many times more difficult than original creative writing. To create a literary artifact in one's own language, one need not depend on anyone. But the situation of the literary translator is different. Critics make a comparison of his work with the original.

For the literary translator the idiom and usage of both the languages and their cultures must be very familiar.

When rendering the work of a historical personage, the literary translator has to be extremely fair and faithful to the original. If it comes to that he may have to go in for long explanations to aid clarity.

Famous works in other languages, it is fine if the idea is rendered into the native language. It is neither fair nor enough to condense the original.

Nirmalananda is editor of Praja Sahiti, a journal published from Hyderabad.


K.Satchidanandan

Translation as Writing

Text, Translation, Authenticity: Towards an Indian Perspective

It is not accidental that the Indian equivalents for translation almost always connote other meanings, (which) recognize the non-identical nature of the source and the target. …In pre-colonial India, translations of texts within the same culture maintained not a paraphrasal relationship, but one of inter-textuality allowing plenty of diversity. … ours is a traditionally 'translating consciousness' unlike the monolingual literary cultures if Europe that are too self-conscious of the art. Again, we have never considered deviations from the original as sin: on the other hand we have admired the imaginative freedom of different translators of Ramayana whose differences are even more important than their commonalties since that was what established them as original poets in their languages and often the very founders of the languages themselves.

…Translation theories so far have mostly been dominated by translations involving Western culture. It is necessary to relocate the theory and practice of translation within hitherto unexplored Eastern, cultural contexts, Translation activity needs to be examined as policy, prioritization, empowerment, enrichment and culture learning within post-colonial contexts since cross-cultural relations are constituted not on an abstract trans-cultural universal of beauty, but on immediate encounters with cultural systems. Translation is also a celebration of difference and re-inventing of cultural identities.

…There is nothing like an 'authentic' original text and a unique authorial voice. If all works are ployphonic and polysemic, translation, like, reading, is a fresh composition, a construction. There is no single authentic translation either: each translation can only be one translation, and not the translation since there is no pre-existent meaning but meaning depends upon an interventionist reader creating his/her own text. The translator has first to become the intimate reader in order to surrender to the text and respond to its special call. 'The Translator' to quote Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, 'earns permission to transgress from the trap of the other - before memory - in the coldest spaces of the self'.

Translating is thus a simple miming of the responsibility to the trace of the other in the self.

…There is greater need today than ever before to bring our languages closer through translations within the country, while also translating from an into9 foreign languages…

(Excerpted at the instance of the author from his paper presented at a National Seminar of National Book Trust, New Delhi in 2003.)

K.Satchidanandan (b.1940) is a distinguished academic and poet, Secretary of Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi


KMVG Krishna Murty

Problems of Translation

Translation often leaves the sap out of the original and gives only the fiber. A good translator is required to have unique attributes to render him fit for the task. He should be a master of both the languages to be dealt with and capable of thinking in both languages. He should be conversant with the cultural milieu of both the languages. Besides he should have a creative mind with a literary bent. I It is good if he himself is a writer in his own capacity to be eminently suited for the task. It would be better if a translator is a scholar in as many languages as possible. He should avoid bureaucratic attitude, which displays blind loyalty in translating the words instead of total sense being conveyed. It is better to ignore Clichés idioms and proverbs as these are ethnic and culture specific, however, he should bring out the sense inventing his own literary expression in the translating language. The best suited translators could be those residing in the language boarders where both the languages are spoken as in the case of states in South India. Translations are bound to come out well if undertaken by persons belonging to the same language groups like Oriya, Bengali, Assamese, or Marathi Gujarati, and Konkani, or the Balkan, Slovak, and Anglo-Saxon Group etc..

It is not true that scholars in languages will be good translators. It is also not true that collegiate and University teachers ipso facto become good translators. Most of the inter-regional translations are mediated through English rather than from the languages involved. It may be inevitable in case of languages of other countries but it need not be so in case of Indian languages. Delhi based KATHA in fact encourages literal word to word translations instead of giving free choice to the translators. A good novel of Ms Indira Gowswamy has been literally spoilt and imported into Telugu by the Central Sahitya Academy, and the criteria for selecting the Translator is that he happens to be on the faculty of Potti Sriramulu Telugu University. I can quote several such instances. Much of the qualitative literary output comes only outside the portals of the Universities and bueauracratic literary academies who work on budgets to be somehow exhausted, deadlines to be somehow met and flow through the canals of financial years and aimless work calendars.

Personally I have never encountered any problems in translations as I was more than merely acquainted with three languages before my graduation and can understand most Indian languages being spoken as they have many words extensively drawn from Sanskrit and Packrat. And a word from Sanskrit is used in different languages in different meanings and different context. A good knowledge of the Classical language/es of the language group dealt will render the work of translation easy and elegant.

KMVG Krishna Murty (b.1943) a retired officer of the Reserve Bank of India and a freelancer with many publications. He translated Dominque La Pierre's long work on the Bhopal Tragedy.


Summing Up by the Moderator

Professor Suresh Kumar's letter inspired me to be very practical and led me to announce a contest. Literary Translation is not a challenging or even formidable thing as many suppose it to be. A mere desire to convey a text of one's own language into another language with a concern for the other language speaker should be enough to begin with. All translations are tentative: they last till another one, better, comes up. The joy of creation is there in translation too.

I wanted to put this idea of mine to test and very soon there would be a discussion on the validity of the idea.

Manjeet Baruah spoke for both Bengali and Assamese. There are many translations from Bengali to English and the other way but it is not the case with Assamese. In fact wonderful literature is coming up in Bodo, another important language in which the writers are voicing forth their concerns and interests.

It is difficult to see how English has not become a people's language in India. We can hope for an elucidation in the later rounds.

Nirmalanada has been kind in responding to my invitation to come up with his ideas.

Satchidanandan's long paper includes many things. There is one thing, which could not be included here from the excerpts here, which relates to one being executed for 'mis-mistranslating'. Etienne Dolet, the 16th Century French translator of Plato, we are told, was executed for the freedom taken with the original. This is the outcome of an extremist Fidelity stance.

Gayatri Spivak's understanding of the translator's role is a reflection of our liberalism, the spirit of our times. This leads the translator to use his insight, judgement and creativity to play the interpreter's role.

KMVG Krishna Murty has come up with his very personal views and a brief survey of the Indian scene. For a non-profit organization with limited resources, KATHA has been doing hard good work. They have come up with a format for the first time giving the translators an idea of what the organization has in mind and what they look for in the translations they sponsor. Ensuring some kind if uniformity is a step in the right direction. It does not, however, exclude other viable, desirable, options.


A Contest in Literary Translation From Telugu into English
maa telugu tallikee mangalaaratulu
uttama saahityaanuvaadaanki bahumatulu
aahvaanam

telugu jaati gauravaanni prOdichEsi aandhraraashtraavataranakin tODpaDina anEka rachanalalo sankarambaadi sundaraachari maa telugu tallikee kaliki turaayi. manajaati unnantavaraku ee uttejapoorvakamaina rachana mana cevullO ringumantoonE untundi.

deenini aanglam lOki sahityaanuvaadam cheyandi. vaaTilo - poteeki vaccina kavitalasankhyanubaTTi - aidu varaku - uttama sahityaanuvaadaalaku veyyi nootapadaharu roopaayala choppuna nagadu bahumathulu unTaayi. Ee poTee lo pravaasaalndhru edesamlovunna paalgonavachunu. mee saukaryam kOsam sankarambaaDi achana idigo:

Maa telugu tallikee malle poodanDa
maatelugu tallikee malle poodanDa
maa kannatallikee mangalaaratluloo
kaDupulo bangaaru
kanu choopulO karuna
chirunavvulO sirulu
doralinchu maatalli
gala galaa godaari kadalipotunTEnu
bira biraa krishnamma paruguliDutunTEnu
bangaara panTalE panDutayee
muripaala mutyaalu doralutaayee
amaraavatheE nagara apuroopa shilpaalu
thyagayya gonthulO taaraaDu naadaalu
tikkayya kalamulO tiyyandaaalu
nityamai nikhilamai nilachiunDEdaaka
rudramma bhuja shakti mallamma pati bhakthi
thimmarusu dheeyukti krishnaraayala keerti
maa chevula ringumani maarumrogEdaaka
nee aatalE aadutha nee paaTalE paaDuthaa
jai telugu talli jaitelugu talli

deeniki pravesa rusumu lEdu. mee sahityaanuvaadaanni vvbramarao@yahoo.com ku ee prakatana veluvaDina nelarojullOgaa mail ceyyandi. AndulO mee vivaraalanne ivvanDi. gaduvu mugisina rendu nelala lOgaa uttama saahityanuvadaalaki bahumati cekkuladwaara vijEtalaku vaarichchina cirunaamaalaki pampabaDataayi.

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Minority Rights and Education - The Question of Survival of Minority Languages | Madhu Sudan Das : A Tribute on the Occasion of Utkal Dibas | Practicing Literary Translation
A Symposium by Mail - Sixth Round
| Irony as an Intrinsic Feature in Short Stories by Khushwant Singh | An Overview of DUBLINERS | Bringing Up Children Bilingually - Problems and Prospects | Adopting a Constitution for a Nation -- The Last Days of the Constituent Assembly of India and the Adoption of Language Provisions | C-Semiology in Search of Panini | LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION
A Review of Professor O. N. Koul's Book
| HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR


V. V. B. Rama Rao, Ph.D.
C-7 New Township BTPS Badarpur
New Delhi - 110 044
India
vvbramarao@yahoo.com
 
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