[tamil] translation lecture text - long
Since the interest is in translation, I would like to post the text of my
lecture at the International Institute of Tamil Studies delivered in a
workshop on translation organised by the "Tamil Ilakkiya Sankappalaiyin
Kural Peetam" of the Government of Tamilnadu.
And on 19.11.2000 I am delivering another lecture on "Writing in Tamil for
the Internet". If any of the Tamil.net friends would like to make any
observation on the subject, you are welcome.
Ramani
Dr.N.Ramani
Off: Reader, Department of English, PSG College of Arts and Science,
Coimbatore, 641014
Res: 11A Shringar Nagar, Peelamedu, Coimbatore, 641004
Text of the Lecture delivered
On Translating Fiction (English-Tamil)
at International Institute of Tamil Studies
for Tamizh Ilakkiya Sanga Palagai Kural Peetam
in the Workshop on Translation held on 30.10.2000
PART ONE : What is Fiction?
The question "What is fiction?" may perhaps become a philosophical question.
To evade the question, Henry James would allude to a good humoured feeling
that prevailed when he wrote "The Art of Fiction", ".a novel is a novel, as
a pudding is a pudding, and out only business with it could be to swallow
it."
Any art can be philosophically termed a delightful spectacle. Yet theory is
also interesting. But insofar as we are concerned in context, the
demarcation of the theory of fiction becomes imperative.
Fiction is at once as free and serious a branch of literature as any other.
It lives upon the existence of freedom. The only obligation of fiction is
that it be interesting.
A work of fiction, be it a novel or a short story or a play or a narrative
poem inclusive of the lofty form of poetry, the epic, is a personal, direct
impression of life.
Possessing a sense of reality which is immense and myriad in forms is the
first and final virtue of any writer of fiction. Experience, again, has no
limits and it is never complete too. To quote Henry James, ".it is an
immense stability, a kind of huge spiderweb of the finest silken threads
suspended in the chamber of consciousness and catching every air-borne
particle in its tissue. It is the very atmosphere of the mind; and when the
mind is imaginative - much more when it happens to be that of a man of
genius - it takes to itself the faintest hints of life, it converts the very
pulses of the air into revelations".
Questions of art are questions of execution. Thus a writer of fiction comes
to work on the story and fiction, the idea and the form, the needle and the
thread.
PART TWO : What is Translation?
Translation is one of the ancient professions in the world. Eugene
A.Glassman would say that almost two thousand years before Christ ". a
considerable part of Babylon's official business was carried on by corps of
scribes who translated royal edicts into the various languages of the
empire."
And we are living in a different empire now; the impersonal and yet the
intensely personal empire of the virtual world. There are many different
people of different languages are moving around in the virtual world and
constantly bumping against each other. Translation has become part of
teleworking and there are translation agencies assigning work across the
internet and making sumptuous gratia. It is fitting indeed that Kural Peetam
has chosen to conduct a workshop on translation in this context.
There had been translations and translations - the official translation, the
translation of texts with information in various disciplines of both
humanities and sciences, translation of creative writing, translation of
religious texts and so on. This workshop has begun the first round of a long
task in organising this workshop with its focus on translation theories and
training in translating creative writing. Perhaps in the years to come,
there may be other workshops conducted by Kural Peetam to facilitate the
translation of other types of literatures in other languages into Tamil and
Tamil literature of various kinds into other languages.
The fundamental principles of translation as Nida would summarise from the
writings of one of Luther's contemporaries, Etienne Dolet of France, reads
as follows:
1. The translator must understand perfectly the content and intention of the
author whom he is translating.
2. The translator should have a perfect knowledge of the language from which
he is translating and an equally excellent knowledge of the language into
which he is translating.
3. The translator should avoid the tendency to translate word for word, for
to do so is to destroy the meaning of the original and to ruin the beauty of
the expression.
4. The translator should employ the forms of speech in common usage.
5. Through his choice and order of words, the translator should produce a
total overall effect with appropriate tone.
(Eugene A.Nida, Toward a Science of Translating, (Leiden : E.J.Brill, 1964)
pp.15-16)
The principles come to us from the year 1540 and still sound remarkably
up-to-date.
Subsequent remarks by various other authorities on translation can easily be
quoted.
"The relevant unit of meaning for the translator is not the word, but the
message."
"The words may be English but the grammar is not; and the sense is quite
lacking."
(She fed them/She served them their food. For «Åû «Å÷¸ÙìÌ ¯½× ÀâÁ¡È¢É¡û.)
"The translator first analyses the message of the source language into its
simplest and structurally clearest forms, transfers it at this level and
then restructures it to the level in the receptor language which is most
appropriate for the audience which he intends to reach."
"One tries to produce in the reader or hearer in the receptor language the
same reaction to the message that the original author sought to produce in
the immediate readers or listeners."
±ý §¾¡Æ¢ ¦º¡ýÉ¡û -
"²ö, ¿£ ¦ºýº¢ÊÅ¡ÉÅý."
¿¡ý ¦º¡ý§Éý,
"¯½÷׸û ÁÃòÐô §À¡É ¯Ä¸¢ø
¯½÷§Å¡ÊÕôÀ§¾ À¡Åõ."
My friend the lady observed,
"Hey, you are sensitive!"
I said,
"In a world of the insensitive
To be sensitive is a sin indeed!"
Look at the changes in language that are very obvious and yet consider if
the impact of the Tamil and English versions remain the same.
"No translation can succeed one hundred per cent; every translation suffers
some loss of information, some addition of information and possibly some
distortion of information."
An example would make the point clear.
Vajpayee, our Prime Minister is a poet too and most of us know that his
poems have been published under the title "My Fifty One Poems".
One of the poems has the following line:
A translation in English would read as follows:
"Get a big part of Kabir's bedsheet."
But the translation of this one line needed four lines in Tamil as well as
English to convey what exactly the poet intended to convey.
Áɾ¢ø áÁ ¿¡Áò¨¾ ¿¢Úò¾¢ ýÁ¡¨Å
¿¨ÉòÐò ШÅòÐì ¸ºì¸¢ô À¢Æ¢óÐ
¦ÅûǡŢ¢ðÎ S¾¢Ã¢Â¢Î¦ÅýÚ
¦º¡ýÉ¡§Ã ¸À£÷.
"The meaning must have priority over the stylistic forms."
"Dynamics (in Dynamics of Translation) means that 1) the translation makes a
natural use of the linguistic structures of the receptor language and that
2) the recepients of the translation understand the message with ease."
"In addition to the grammar and syntax of the source language we also need
to understand the meanings of words."
The mouse is a nocturnal quadraped.
±Ä¢ ÃÅ¢ø ¿¼Á¡Îõ ¿¡ýÌ ¸¡Ö¨¼Â ´Õ À¢Ã¡½¢.
The mouse is a peripheral input device.
¾¸Åø¸¨Ç ¯ûǢΞü¸¡É ´Õ ¸ÕÅ¢§Â ÍðÊ.
My little Mouse, is my tea ready?
¸ñ§½, ±ÉìÌ Ë ¾Â¡Ã¡¸ ¨Åò¾¢Õ츢ȡ¡?
Sometimes the translator knows that he does not really understand but he
hopes that it will be safe enough to say what it (the original text) says."
Even when the meaning is understood in the source language, it is
misrepresented in the receptor language owing to inadquacy of familiary with
expressions in the receptor language.
Let us take the word 'tie' for example.
He tethered the cow. «Åý Á¡ð¨¼ô À¢ÊòÐì ¸ðÊÉ¡ý. HeHe tied the cow.
He knotted his tie. He wore his tie. «Åý ¸ØòÐô À𨼠¸ðÊì ¦¸¡ñ¼¡ý. He tied
the tie.
He fastened the sheets together. «Åý ¾¡û¸¨Çî §º÷òÐì ¸ðÊÉ¡ý. He tied the
paper (script).
"Transfer is essentially a subjective process that goes on in the minds of
translators as they struggle in their role as bridge between the meaning of
the source language and the various options open to him in expressing that
meaning in the receptor language."
"Even if there were a dictionary and grammar - in many cases there are
neither - translation cannot be done in a cultural vacuum and in one's spare
time."
"Translation is an equivalence of thought which happens to be expressed
verbally in a variety of ways."
"Their job is to translate - to communcate, not invent."
And the last quotation :
"There seem to be three necessary tests which any work of transference from
one language to another must pass before it can be classed as good
translation. The first is simply that it must not sound like a translation
at all. (The second is) that a translator does his work with the least
possible obtrusion of his own personality. The third and final test which a
good translator should be able to pass is that of being able to produce in
the hearts and minds of his readers an effect equivalent to that produced by
the author upon his original readers."
Having thus seen what is fiction, we have also seen how translation is seen
by many. That takes us to the business on hand - Translating Fiction between
Tamil and English.
PART III : What makes Fiction?
I would like to suggest the DNDR formula to refer to the elements of fiction
with which a translator has to deal -
Description-Narration-Dialogue-Reflection.
We have already seen that fiction "takes to itself the faintest hints of
life, (it) converts the very pulses of the air into revelations." How
exactly does fiction achieve this?
There is description in fiction and such description provides the substratum
on which the story is narrated. No incident in the human context could ever
happen without in some way affecting the human consciousness thus leading to
reflection. Insofar as human experience consists of experience not in
isolation but in interaction, dialogue is exploited to reveal characters,
perspectives and even values. Withal, a strange and subtle combination of
description, narration, dialogue and reflection produces a certain total,
overall effect with appropriate tone.
The business of the translator is to experience this total, overall effect
of fiction firsthand and to translate the same into the receptor language
for the reader in the other language to experience what he has himself
experienced on his reading of the original. In other words, one who
translates fiction ferries across description, narration, dialogue and
reflection in a certain subtle combination as is found in the original and
recreates a certain mental phenomenon akin to the one he has himself
experienced.
Let us now see how such a combination can be traced in a work of fiction.
You can now read the excerpt from Thankar Pachan's novel "onpatu rupay
nottu"
On closer observation you will find that the first paragraph describes one
summer morning. The terms of description are clear and vivid. But then, the
word "«¿¢Â¡ÂÁ¡¸ô Àð¼Ð" reveals a perspective and therefore the paragraph
illustrates a subtle combination of description and reflection.
One is likely to take the second paragraph for a narrative paragraph but it
is really a descriptive paragraph insofar as it describes a habitual
routine. The third short paragraph continues to describe. The fourth and
fifth paragraphs have a combination of description and reflection. The time
shifts to the present at the sixth paragraph and we come across the first
narrative paragraph. However, along with an account of what is happening the
writer has not failed to report the reaction of the character to the
situation. And in this combination, he has subtly suggested a sense of
relief the character experiences and it is such a common sentiment that
relieves the sense of frustration in the minds of the people who live a hand
to mouth existence in a far-off town into which they have been transplanted
to eke out a living. The seventh paragraph is out and out reflective. The
next three paragraphs, 8 through 10 take up the narrative thread and
intentions as well as reflections are subtly interwoven through the
narration. The eleventh paragraph becomes reflective again but with a
difference. While the earlier reflections had been reminding him of his
abjectivity, the reflection herein gives the character a sense of relief -
the sense of relief consequent upon a certain self esteem. Other incidents
are accounted for in the next three paragraph and the character's reflection
dominates in the text. The fifteenth paragraph witnesses a swing between the
description of the habitual and the recalled.
Such combination of the Description-Narration-Reflection continues in the
paragraphs that continue with the addition of the fourth element, Dialogue.
The cynical Manager, the uninhibited counter girl and the kind proprietor
with whom the character comes to speak charge the situation with their very
human presence revealed through the powerful human medium of interaction,
dialogue.
Such is the stuff that the translator has to deal with.
Let us see what demands are being made on the translator. As far as the
narrative and descriptive part of the extract is concerned, the translator
is beset with the problem of managing the verbal groups in his sentences.
The use of verbs in simple present tense, simple past tense, present as well
as past perfect tenses are to be exploited if he were to recreate the text
in its original form and spirit.
Secondly, he comes across what appears to be the most confounded problem of
the translator, finding verbal equivalences.
What could be the English expressions for the following?
Íð¦¼Ã¢ôÀÐ, «¿¢Â¡ÂÁ¡¸, ¸¡¨Ä ŢŸ¡Ãí¸û, ÒðÎ §À¡ðÎì ¦¸¡ñÎ, ´Õ ±Æ×õ Õ측Ð,
«§Ä측¸ò à츢, º÷¦ÃýÚ ²È¢ô §À¡öÅ¢ÎÅ¡÷¸û, À¢Îí¸¢ì ¦¸¡ñÎ §À¡öÅ¢ÎÅ¡÷¸§Ç¡,
°÷Å¢ðÎ °÷ ÅóÐ À¢¨Æò¾ø, Á¡¼¡ö ¯¨Æò¾¢Õì¸ ÓÊ¡Ð, Àø Ç¢òÐì ¦¸¡ñ¼¨¾,
§¸ÅÄÁ¡¸ Õó¾¡Öõ ÀÚ¢ø¨Ä, ÜîºôÀðÎõ ¸×ÃÅò¨¾ ÆóÐÅ¢¼ìܼ¡Ð, ÁÉÍìÌû ÒÄõÀ¢§Â
«Æ¢ó¾ Á¡¾¢Ã¢. À¡÷ì¸ ±ò¾¨É§Â¡ Å¢"Âí¸û, «ÅÇ¢¼õ, ¸ñ¸¨Çô À¡¾ò¾¢ý Á£Ð À¾¢òÐ,
ÍÕ즸ýÈÐ, ó¾ô À¢¨Æô§À, ÃñÎ §À÷ ±ýÈ ¸½ì¦¸øÄ¡õ, À¡òåÓìÌô §À¡É§À¡Ð ..
That is it, that is our problem - I could hear you say without saying it
aloud. Perhaps the workshop in the afternoon will help us work out a
workable solution to our problems.
But then our trouble does not stop with finding verbal equivalents for such
items mentioned. It proceeds further into what kind of sentence construction
is to be used for what purpose; what kind of word order is more appropriate
in English though we can produce sentences in English maintaining the word
order in the original. For example, where could yesterday, by train, here
and to address a seminar go if the following sentence in Tamil were to be
translated into English.
´Õ ¸Õò¾Ãí¸¢ø ¯¨Ã¡üÈ §¿òÐ í§¸ ¿¡ý âø§Ä Åó§¾ý.
Think of the following possibilities.
I came here yesterday by train to address a seminar.
Yesterday I came here to address a seminar by train.*
Yesterday I came by train to address a seminar here.*
Think of the other possibilities also.
And the problems are not over. How could the translation suggest the sense
of abjectivity, consolation, curiosity, longing, and above all the
predicament of enjoying a concession at the expense of a good man's sadness
which seem to be spread like a canopy above the D-N-D-R of the text? In
other words, if a certain fine thread of reality has been revealed in the
text with the intention of creating a certain state of mind in the reader,
how is the translator going to do the same with the help of another
language, the content remaining the same.
Perhaps we can find answers to our questions during the workshop in the
afternoon.
_________________________________________________________
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