Lost and found in translation
Translators often bring different worlds to the readers in the languages they prefer. On International Translation Day, they talk about the challenges in maintaining the essence of a story, the resources they tap into, and share a few recommendations.
Prabha Sridevan Justice (Retd)
I got into translation by sheer chance. I had just read a short story collection by R Chudamani...I try to bring the essence and tone of the writer, which is difficult in fiction. One title in Chudamani’s story was madiyil poonai about a girl trying to fix her marriage. She had tuberculosis some time ago and this information goes to the boy’s parents. The title means if you mean a cat on your lap and a cat crossing your path is a bad omen right? but if it’s on your lap, it will jump anytime. Mini Krishnan (the editor) and I thought Cat On The Lap was ridiculous, so we thought of Who Could Have Told Them? For titles, it isn’t necessary to translate exactly, it may not work as you want to catch the reader’s attention. In Tamil, we use the word mozhipeyarpu but I saw the etymological meaning in 2-3 languages and it means ‘carry’. I’m carrying a story from one language to another. Tamil is different across castes; I don’t want my English in a Thopil Meeran book to be the same as the Imayam one.
Arunava Sinha, co-director, Ashoka Centre for Translation
(I maintain the essence) by keeping the choice of terms and the tone of the target language simple and not making it too literal. However, I am not comfortable with the idea of ‘essence’ since it reduces an entire text to a single idea. Texts are rich and mean many things. The translator’s job is to ensure that the multiplicity of readings is possible. If anything, that is the essence. I use dictionaries, online and offline. Not Google Translate, unless it’s to have a laugh. The Internet at large, and Google Images, in particular, to visualise objects and find corresponding terms in other languages. A couple of go-to people for abstruse references. The author when possible.
Recommendations: Moustache, by S Hareesh, translated from Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil; Alipura, by Gyan Chaturvedi, translated from Hindi by Salim Yusufji; Poonachi by Perumal Murugan, translated from Tamil by N Kalyan Raman; The Parrot Green Saree by Nabaneeta Dev Sen, translated from Bengali by Tutun Mukherjee
Ministhy S, translator
The challenge is to retain the authenticity and rawness of an original work. In Malayalam novels, there are a lot of phrases where the author has employed a play of words. I make maximum effort to capture the spirit. Usually, there are phrases in English that match the idea. If not, then I find words with the closest meaning. It’s a balance between staying faithful to the original work and conveying its essence. It is these challenges that bring the translator’s creativity and proficiency in language to the fore. I try to do justice to the work, but the ultimate test is, is the essence intact? The first resource is always the author’s original work. So far, I’ve translated the works of KR Meera, VJ James, Sonia Rafeeq and Sheela Tomy. For each, I soak myself into the body of their work and the topics their books unfurl.
Recommendations: Translation of the Holy Bible — from English to other regional languages. It is such a masterwork and will remain forever a benchmark. The fact that its first translations were a collective effort of nameless figures from history also lends it much gravity. Then, there’s the new generation of translators: Arunava Sinha, Nisha Susan, and J Devika. They are all doing an excellent job.
Thirupurasundari Sevvel, architect-planner/ author
One has to understand the intent of the content and the story, and not get stuck with word-by-word meaning. It clearly gives the best output. Reading, interaction, and discussion with fellow translators and authors about the reason for certain translations has evolved and helps in getting new perspectives. Understanding the dialect and context of the words is an important challenge because we have to translate documents about a geography or cultural landscape that we may not be aware of. Sensitivity is key.
Recommendations: R Chudamani’s Echoes of the Veena and Other Stories and Seeing in the Dark translated from Tamil by Prabha Sridevan; Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan - Fresh Floods translated by Pavithra Srinivasan; Bama’s Karukku, translated from Tamil by Lakshmi Holmstrom
Leela Sarkar, Singaporean-Indian writer and translator
I learned Bengali to converse with my husband’s family, which then led to reading books from Bengal, like the works of Tagore. The people from East Bengal speak differently than those from the West. People from marginalised communities speak differently. It is important to capture these nuances. It is difficult but that’s the work. This is what led me to create a Bengali-to-Malayalam dictionary. The one thing you have to keep in mind while translating is to make sure what the author intended comes across in your words. I usually choose the corresponding Malayalam idiom or the one that conveys a similar sentiment to the one the author has written. For words, there can be multiple meanings. It is important that your translation is accurate or closer to what the author meant. But, it shouldn’t be too literal, without the soul and the imagination of the author. The message, the time...everything should be reflected in the translation. After all, it is their work.
Recommendations: When I began my translation adventure, I loved MN Satyarthi’s works
Ritam Sur, translator
While translating any phrase from Japanese to English, the initial things that I keep in mind is to maintain the tone, in-depth meaning, and rhythm of the phrases. I personally think that knowledge, stock of words, and an enormous grip on English and Japanese vocabulary are necessary to become a good translator. The struggles that I faced while translating were that some of the English words didn’t make proper sense when those phrases were translated from English to Japanese A particular phrase I had trouble translating was ‘Ichi go ichi e’ which in English means ‘once in a lifetime’. Recommendation: Mikagura Uta (It’s a Japanese Religion Tenrikyo’s Singing book)
Kavitha Muralidharan, writer, journalist and translator
My first full-fledged translation was Perumal Murugan’s Amma, and later, Sri Lankan writer Muthulingam’s books. For Murugan’s Kongu dialect, it was impossible to translate the flavour. He had used the word orambarai, and I was wracking my brain for oromborai, but Google didn’t come up with an answer. He said later it meant relatives. There are some things you lose and gain in translation, The challenge is translating originality in their voice, but trying your best to bring out the essence. In Sandalwood Soap, the title was a revelation. I read it once and went through the protagonist’s pain. When I translate, I go through the pain again. It is one thing to read and another to translate, as you get into the story’s soul.
Recommendations: AR Venkatachalapathy’s translation of Pablo Neruda and Rumi. Imayam’s works
translated by Prabha Sridevan
Arivukkarasi Manivannan, project manager-cum-content writer at Ekommerce360
The translation has to retain the essence of the source text. The challenge lies in choosing the terms yet maintaining the tone of the language and retaining the essence. This can be tackled with a conscious mind to make the language simple and by paraphrasing the translated text multiple times. I use printed and digital dictionaries, search engines and research papers. It is now mostly online since many glossaries and other resources have been collated by the TN government and are made available on the Tamil Virtual Academy website. The government online search engine Sorkuvai is handy.
Recommendations: The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story written In Tamil by A Revathi, translated by V Geetha; Karuppu Udambu translated by Anuradha Anand; and Aayirathoru Kaththikal translated by Latha Arunachala