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The in-depth study of Art of Translation demands more
attention not because it paves way for global interaction and offers an
excellent opportunity to undergo socio-cultural survey of various languages and
their literatures but also gives an opportunity to establish some kind of
relevance it has in the study and area of Literary Criticism. Translation
Studies can very safely be included as an important genre in the domain of
Literary Criticism since translation is an art prompting to peep into the
diversified lingual, cultural and literary content of a source language and
thus highlighting/appreciating the essence and niceties of the literature of
that particular translated language. In the context of Indian Studies, keeping
in view the multilingual and pluristic cultural nature of our country, Translation Agency has an important role to play. It is through
translation that we can look into the rich heritage of India as one integrated
unit and feel proud of our cultural legacy. The relevance of translation as
multifaceted and a multidimensional activity and its international importance
as a socio-cultural bridge between countries has grown over the years. In the
present day circumstances when things are fast moving ahead globally,not only
countries and societies need to interact with each other closely, but
individuals too need to have contact with members of other
communities/societies that are spread over different parts of the
country/world. In order to cater to these needs translation has become an
important activity that satisfies individual, societal and national needs.
It goes without saying that the significance and relevance
of translation in our daily life is multidimensional and extensive. It is
through translation we know about all the developments in communication and
technology and keep abreast of the latest discoveries in the various fields of
knowledge, and also have access through translation to the literature of
several languages and to the different events happening in the world. India has
had close links with ancient civilisations such as Greek, Egyptian and Chinese.
This interactive relationship would have been impossible without the knowledge
of the various languages spoken by the different communities and nations. This
is how human beings realised the importance of translation long ago. Needless
to mentiuon here that the relevance and importance of translation has increased
greatly in today's fast changing world. Today with the growing zest for knowledge
in human minds there is a great need of translation in the fields of education,
science and technology, mass communication, trade and business, literature,
religion, tourism, etc.
Defining Translator
Broadly speaking,translation turns a text of source
language(SL) into a correct and understandable version of target
language(TL)without losing the suggestion of the original. Many people think
that being bilingual is all that is needed to be a translator. That is not
true. Being bilingual is an important prerequisite,no doubt, but translation
skills are built and developed on the basis of one's own long drawn-out
communicative and writing experiences in both the languages. As a matter of
fact translation is a process based on the theory of extracting the meaning of
a text from its present form and reproduce that with different form of a second
language.
Conventionally, it is suggested that translators should meet
three requirements, namely: 1) Familiarity with the source language, 2)
Familiarity with the target language, and 3) Familiarity with the subject
matter to perform the job successfully. Based on this concept, the translator
discovers the meaning behind the forms in the source language (SL) and does his
best to reproduce the same meaning in the target language (TL) using the TL
forms and structures to the best of his knowledge. Naturally and supposedly
what changes is the form and the code and what should remain unchanged is the
meaning and the message (Larson, 1984).Therefore, one may discern the most
common definition of translation, i.e., the selection of the nearest equivalent
for a language unit in the SL in a target language.
Computers are already being used to translate one language
into another, but humans are still involved in the process either through
pre-writing or post-editing. There is no way that a computer can ever be able
to translate languages the way a human being could since language uses
metaphor/imagery to convey a particular meaning. Translating is more than
simply looking up a few words in a dictionary. A quality translation requires a
thorough knowledge of both the source language and the target language.
Translation Theory, Practice and Process
Successful translation is indicative of how closely it lives
up to the expectations as: reproducing exactly as for as possible the meaning
of the source text,using natural forms of the receptor/target language in such
a way as is appropriate to the kind of text being translated and expressing all
aspects of the meaning closely and readily understandable to the intended
audience/reader.Technically, translation is a process to abstract the meaning
of a text from its current forms and reproduce that meaning in different forms
of another language. Translation has now been recognised as an independent
field of study. The translator can be said to be the focal element in the
process of translation. The writer/author becomes the centre, for whatever he
writes will be final, and no two translators translate a text in the same way.
It is genegally believed that a writer to know the intricacies of the TL in
which he may wish to translate. As a matter of fact, it is not the writer of
the SL text who asks someone to translate his works into the TL; it is
primarily the interest of the individual translator which prompts him to
translate a work into his mother tongue. A successful translator is not a
mechanical translator of a text but is creative as well. We may say that he is
a co-creator of the TL text. . In fact, for a translator knowledge of two or
more languages is essential. This involves not only a working knowledge of two
different languages but also the knowledge of two linguistic systems as also
their literature and culture.Such translators have been seen to possess various
qualities which we shall briefly discuss later.
Linguiustically,translation consists of studying the
lexicon, grammatical structure, communication situation, and cultural context
of the source language and its text, analyzing it in order to determine its
meaning, and then reconstructing the same meaning using the lexicon and
grammatical structure which are appropriate in the target language and its
cultural context. The process of translation starts with the comprehension of
the source text closely and after discovering the meaning of the text,
translator re-expresses the meaning he has drawn out into the receptor/target
language in such a way that there is minimal loss in the transformation of meaning
into the translated language.This entire process could be graphed as under:-
Overview of the translation task
In practice, there is always considerable variation in the
types of translations produced by various translators of a particular text. This
is because translation is essentially an Art and not Science.So many factors
including proficiency in language,cultural background, writing flair
etc.determine the quality of translation and it is because of that no two
translations seem to be alike if not averse.
Translation turns a communication in one language into a
correct and understandable version of that communication in another language.
Sometimes a translator has to take certain liberties with the original text in
order to re-create the mood and style of the original.This,in other words is
called 'accommodation.' This has three dimensions: cultural accommodation;
collocation accommodation; ideological accommodation; and aesthetic
accommodation.Accommodation is considered a synonym of adaptation which means changes
are made so the target text produced is in line with the spirit of the
original. Translation is not merely linguistic conversion or transformation
between languages but it involves accommodation in scope of culture, politics,
aesthetics, and many other factors. Accommodation is also translation, a free,
rather than literal, kind of translation. Moreover, it is inevitable in
practice if the translation is to maintain the source message's essence,
impact, and effect. There is an interesting saying: A translation is like a
woman: if it is faithful, it is not beautiful; if it is beautiful, it is not
faithful. That is to say if you want to be faithful with the text while
translating you are bound to lose the beauty of the translated text and if you
try to maintain the beauty of the translated text you are sure to be unfaithful
with the original text.. Faithfulness was once considered the iron rule in
translation process but over the years when we take a closer look,
accommodation, or adaptation, is found in most published translations and it
has become a necessity too since keeping in view the averse
cultural/lingual/geographical/historical/political diversifications and
backgrounds of various languages and their literatures, accommodation,if not
compromising, is almost obligatory. Accommodation, too, has to be carried out
very sensibly, more especially when it comes to translating poetry or any such
text which is highly immotive and artistic in nature.For example translating
poetry has never been so simple. Robert Frost once said, "Poetry is what
gets lost in translation." This is a sufficient evidence of the difficulty
involved in translation of poetry. Because poetry is fundamentally valuable for
its aesthetic value, therefore, aesthetic accommodation becomes an art instead
of a basic requirement. A good poetry translator with a good measure of
accommodation and adequate knowledge of aesthetic traditions of different
cultures and languages, can be better appreciated by the target reader and can
achieve the required effect.
Qualities of a good Translator
A good translator should have adequate knowledge of the
SL(source language) from which he is translating into the TL which is generally
his mother toungue/target language. In order to produce an accurate translation
of the SL text he should have command over the grammatical, syntactic, semantic
and pragmatic features of the SL. In addition to this it is necessary that he
is well-conversant with the socio-cultural contexts of both the SL and the TL.
A good translator should be the author's mouthpiece in a way that he knows and
comprehends fully whatever the original author has said in his text. One of the
generally accepted characteristics of a good translation is that it should
resemble the original text or come as close to the SL text as possible. It
should appear like the original in the TL translation within the usual social
and cultural settings with some minor accommodation, if necessary,of course.
Usually it is also believed that the job of a translator is
a mechanical one-a simple rendering of the SL text into a TL text. But it is
not so. The translator has to perform a really difficult task. It is in a way
more difficult and complicated than that of the original writer. A creative
writer composes or pens down his thoughts without any outward compulsion. A
translator has to confine himself not only to the SL text but a host of other
factors also intervene in the process of translating the TL.
A good translator must have an adequate knowledge of the
subject or area to which the SL text relates so that the translator is able to
capture the spirit of the SL text. If he does not have an in-depth knowledge,
he may not be able to produce an accurate translation suitable for its intended
purpose. For example, if you want to translate the Bible or the Gita or any
other religious text, you must have adequate knowledge of those religious and
theological works.
A good translator should be careful of the choices that he
makes in using the TL. He should translate in the style, which is appropriate
for the target audience. The style should be such that it appears to be natural
and spontaneous to the TK readers. The translation in the TL should not sound
alien.
A translator does need certain tools to help him out in moments
of difficulty. These tools can be in the form of good monolingual and bilingual
dictionaries, encyclopedias, e-dictionaries, glossaries of technical and
standard works, etc. pertaining to the SL text.
A good translator must have patience and should not be in a
hurry to rush through while translating any text. He should not hesitate in
discussing with others the problems that he may come across. Morever, he should
not shy away from conducting micro-research in order to arrive at proper and
apt equivalents.
In short, a good translator should be a competent and
proficient bilingual, familiar with the subject/area of the SL text chosen for
translation. He should never try to insert his own ideas or personal
impressions in the TL text. His objective should be to convey the content and
the intent of the SL text as exactly as possible into the TL text. The job of a
translator is very rewarding and intellectually stimulating
Finally,a few words(based upon my close understanding about
translation study and activity) for up-coming translators and
translation-lovers.To translate from one language into another has never been
an easy endeavour.It is an exercise both painstaking and cumbersome and only
those who have engaged themselves with translation work can realize the complex
character of this Art. I have been associated with translation work for over
three decades translating from English, more especially, from Kashmiri/Urdu
into Hindi and back.
1-A good translator ought to be a good writer.
2-You needn't translate everything that has been written,
you need to translate the best only.
4-A good translator adjusts/accommodates and not compromises
with the original text.
5-Translators are like ambassadors representing and
exchanging the best of their literary world.
5-Art of translation is as old as makind, don't you
translate your thought before you speak it out? Some more suggestions:
1-Try to get into the mind of the writer.
2-Check your translation twice or may be thrice before
finalizing the script. Put the original passage "aside" and listen
to/read your translation with your ear "tuned in", as if it were a
passage originally written in the TL.
3-If your material is highly technical, with vocabulary that
is distinctive to a discipline, it is important that the translator has at
least some background or experience of that discipline. A good translator of
poetry and drama may be a bad choice for a chemical engineering or
biotechnology text.
4-If you have a native speaker of your target language
handy, particularly one who is familiar with the subject, that person could be
as useful as your teacher for final script-review. Take his assistance without
fail.
A few more guide lines for the translators:
Do not try to find difficult equivalent words in the hope
that this will add to the perfection of your translation.
Every language has its own punctuation rules and differ in
many ways; take care to punctuate correctly.
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