Translations: Know The Ins And Outs

By Author: Dips Dixon
Total Articles: 71
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Translation originates from the Latin word ‘translatio'. The word in itself doesn't pretend to be that important. It is a very unassuming word and seems boring to many. But in reality, it is one of the most important things between a writer and a reader. However well one has authored a book, whatever be the piece of writing, an epic or a novel or just a matter of few words, until the language is available or ‘translated' into the language of the reader it makes little sense. In all the disciplines of the world, not all the texts that are a part of the curriculum are in the vernacular. It needs to be translated in order to translate the thoughts of the writer into the minds the reader or one has to be prepared to let go of texts that are not written in the language that he is familiar with.
Translations of and from the source language to the target language is how it is known as. There has never been a ‘correct' translation but a ‘good' translation. The process of translation is more intricate than one can imagine it to be. It is categorised ...
... in two ways: a paraphrase which stands for the ‘restatement' of a piece of writing in other words and a word-for-word translation or the ‘literal translation', known as a metaphrase. In this context, we cannot ignore transliteration-which is again the exact translation a system of writing or mapping into another, transcription-which is the practice of converting, mapping or representation of speech into the written medium and transcreation-which equates to the complete and total re-creation of one language to another. We can say that in the above cases the process of translation is driven with a purpose and has an intended reader or audience it wishes to cater to, for example, in the application of marketing of an idea, as part of a school curriculum, for the launch of a product or services, etc.
A good translation would be that which has the retained the ‘bhava' (the thought, feeling or emotion) and the ‘rasa' (the flavour or the essence) of the original piece of writing.