A two-day seminar on ‘knowledge text translation in Kannada’ began today at Mangalore University with an expert expressing fears that if a language did not open up itself for translation it may face the threat of extinction.
Inaugurating the seminar Shivarama Padikkal, professor, Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies, University of Hyderabad said that if there was no translation such a language would become stagnant. “Hence there is a danger of such language dying,” he said.
Mr. Padikkal said that translation is like a window to the world. If a language did not accept translated works it may suffer from poverty of knowledge.
The professor said that a translator would have to transfer the power of the text and not mere its meaning.
National Translation Mission under the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru and S.V. Parmeshwara Bhatta Institute of Kannada Studies, Mangalore University have organised the seminar.