Written word is a powerful tool to know about different people, places, cultures and art, especially those one is not familiar with. It is in this context that translations and translators play a very vital role. They act as a bridge leading to understanding and appreciating what is unfamiliar.
This came to the fore at the recently held Apeejay Language Festival in the Capital. The one-day event saw discussions on different aspects of translations providing diverse points of view.
Setting the proceedings rolling was Arunava Sinha’s impassioned keynote address. The noted translator of Bengali literature started by stating that the current political scenario is tending towards creation of a monolithic, one-sized, one-colour, one-flavoured identity for all. “We are seeing this attempt to reduce divergences between Indian in every aspect of culture and life and pulverise them to one or two or three identities to define everybody in terms of one language or one religion.” This according to him is to ensure a framework which is “shoehorned into a single form of existence so that there is no dissent for many years and generations.”
Given this scenario, Sinha feels that it is the writers who will have to voice their dissent against this as it is “their dharma to speak in multiple voices.”
Crucial role
When that happens, translations and their practitioners will play a crucial role. Why? “It behoves on all of them to amplify these voices in the language of local literature, poetry, music, mythology, oral traditions, etc to enable them reach out to maximum people.” Besides, he feels good translations “remind each of us that we are a diverse lot .”
He lamented that unlike in the past when people would learn a new language in order to discover its treasure trove of literature and then translate it to other languages, there is hardly any attempt in this direction. “I believe that in the past 25 years there have been no enquiries from Bangla publishers to their Tamil counterparts to have a Tamil book translated into Bangla.”
Agreeing with Sinha on the dismal state of translations, poet and critic, Sukrita Paul Kumar, who has translated Joginder Paul’s Urdu stories to English, still finds a ray of hope. “I do observe conversations taking place about this, which in a way is a step towards its revival.” Having said that, she cautions that not much attention is being paid to the quality of translations in India. “We need to understand and define what does translation mean to us? Does it entail carry over from one language to other, reflection or echo of the original, recreation, retelling or adaptation?” Further she wanted the focus to be on quality of translation. “We need to examine whether there is retention of the original text or its loss. It can also be a gain.” Elaborating she said, “Translation underlines negotiation between not just two languages but also cultures resulting in a new text which could possibly be more interesting than the original.”
Sukrita Paul Kumar
Getting at the crux of the translation issue, Paul stated that there is an urgent need to cultivate and enlarge its readership. Taking an example of English translations, she said, “Readership for English translations will be different from Indian writing in English. Therefore translators would have to empower themselves in English and target language and create new idioms. To acquire proficiency they will require confidence and competence. This means we have to develop our own discourse which unfortunately is yet to take place.” Like Sinha, she too exhorted to retain and revitalise the languages and diversities of the country. “The need is move away from politics and hierarchy of languages to look at the cultural cartography and realise the beautiful heterogeneity. The multilingual and varied art and cultures is what sets us apart from others and gives us a unique identity.”
Paul said understanding oral traditions could a play a major part in comprehending differences between people and places. Comparing different versions of the same tradition also tells us how these changed over time and region. “This is vital in order to sustain these traditions.”
CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 03/08/2015: Author Anuja Chauhan during an interview with The Hindu on her latest book The House That BJ Built, in Chennai on August 03, 2015. Photo: R. Ravindran
Yet, another session saw Urmila Gupta, Anu Singh Chaudhry and Maneesha Taneja who have translated popular writer Anuja Chauhan’s Battle of Bittora , The Zoya Factor , Those Pricey Thakur Girls and The House that BJ Built in Hindi. Expressing their joy in translating her works they shared the difficulties they faced while putting across some words, phrases and sequences in Hindi. Urmila said “to get a feel and understand the nuances of the Battle of Bittora (‘Ginni’) while travelling in the Metro, I started observing how boys behave.” In the course of translating, she says, she fell in love with all the characters of the book. Maneesha avers that while translating The House that BJ Built she was stumped by pornographic terms. I didn’t know how to translate them in Hindi. Agreeing with her, Anu said words like ‘ass’ and ‘flirt’ were tough to put in Hindi. “What made the endeavour worth the effort were the stories themselves which are close to reality. Situations Anuja mentions in her books wherein aunts pass comments on girls’ dresses and making hilarious statements are so true.” The three translators asked a pride of place . “Our works must be accorded respect in the literary world,” commented Maneesha. Anuja agreed with her. “I am glad that the Hindi translations of my novels have taken place enabling them to reach a wider audience.” In fact she was happy that the Hindi novels had captured the nuances and essence of the original. “My writing style is simple with the aim to communicate with the reader and that is what the Hindi translations too have done.”
