Dear Readers,
A three-day workshop on translation organized by the Department of English at our University concluded today. It was supervised by Professor A K Singh of IGNOU. The speakers at the event were stalwarts in their respective fields and left us to ponder upon countless thoughts which ran deep into philosophy and varied themes of linguistics.
One gentleman pointed out how translation has got more to do with comprehension rather than reproduction of the exact words in the target language. It is only after an intimate rendezvous with the content that leaves one with a strong sense of affiliation that one can translate meaningfully. Another one quoted that,"Poetry lies not in the words but in the silence between them". He later on added a simile of music to further drive home his 'silence' part of the argument.
I was one of the translators at the workshop. I thoroughly enjoyed my job and came out with an English rendition of a very interesting Rajasthani folk-tale titled, Umade Bhatiyani ri Vat or the tale of Umade Bhatiyani. The job left me with a sense of inspiration. Long time back, when Rev. Valson Thampu ,the Principal of St. Stephen's College, started the Center for Translations there, I was all geared up to work a lot. All this while, however, not a word could be contributed for reasons which I myself cannot delineate. This workshop let me take the first step, no matter how minuscule to begin with. I sincerely hope to keep up the good work.....
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