What is translation?

What is Translation?

Introduction:

Translation is an anglicized form of a Latin word. In it, ‘trans’ means ‘across’ and ‘latum’ means ‘ to carry.’ In literal terms, it is an art of carrying across boundaries and barriers without losing the material that is carried over. In literary terms, to translate means to make another language like one’s own, to preserve meanings and significances across vocabularies, grammars and syntaxes. In other word, it is an art of carrying across of the matters of one Source Language (SL) into a Target Language (TL).

What is Translation?:

In the past, there were few books on “Translation.” Now, it is a different scenario.  In present, there are countless theories and hundreds of books on Translation.  “The theories of translation developed from purely linguistic approach of the sixties to textual focus of seventies, have now yielded place to the culture-based theory.” The terminology debated has added to the complexity involved in the Art of Translation. Some scholars such Theodore Savory define translation as an “art”; others such as Eric Jacobsen define it as a “craft”; while other describe it as a “science’. Horst Frenz even goes to extent of saying that “translation is neither a creative art nor an imitative art but stands somewhere in between the two.”

Translation and Translator:

The knowledge of the theory of translation will certainly help a practicing translator. Yet his grounding in principles and procedures leads him to decide upon or determine or invent his own translation method. SL and TL cultures and their cultural demands and pressures, nature of the text, the dominant trends in the field are the other forces that influence a translator’s decisions.

Translation in India:

In the Indian context, translation assumes added significance in view of the fact that India is a multilingual country. Indian culture is a mosaic of different sub-cultures in their linguistic plurality comprising different lingual regions, their regional literatures, and styles. Indian literature has had a rich tradition. Without translation, a large number of master pieces in each one of the Indian languages will remain locked up treasures to the readers who are not acquainted with the languages in which they are written. Even national integration will remain a dream if the best of the country is not circulated through translation.

It is only because of translation The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, Thirukkural and Gitanjali are available to the people all over the world. Reading the translated texts one can understand that there are so many good and best works written in other languages also besides his mother tongue.

Conclusion:

It is only due to translation, the thinkers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Viyasa, Tolstoy, Chekov, Isben and so many other famous writers and thinkers have come to limelight and enlightened the people of the world with their ideals.

Above all to catch up with the developed nations to become modern and to be ready and updated, we need translations of the latest books on Science, Technology, Trade, Business Management and so on. Moreover, translation is not, in the modern context, secondary to the original literature. It has an independent existence of its own. It is not reproduction alone but a recreation also. This is possible due to the development in the fields of Linguistics and Literary Criticism. Hence it could be stated that translation has now become “New Literature” or “Literature Three”.

Definitions:

1.      Translation according to Sussan Bassnett involves, “the rendering of a Source Language Text (SLT) into the Target Language Text (TLT) so as to ensure that the surface meaning of the two will be approximately similar and the structures of the SL will be preserved as closely as possible but not so closely that the TL structures will be seriously distorted.

2.      Eugene Nida says that “translation is a process by means of which a person who knows both the Source Language and the Receptor Language; decodes the message of the SL and encodes it in the most appropriate form in the RL.

3.      Peter Newmark says that “translation is a craft, consisting in the attempt to replace a written message or statement in one language by the same message or statement in another language”.

4.      J.C. Catford defines “translation as the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent material in another language (TL).”