Tariq Khan1 & Priyanka Tripathi2
1Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru. ORCID: 0000-0003-2763-9675. Email: tariq.khan@gov.in
2Indian Institute of Technology Patna. ORCID: 0000-0002-9522-3391. Email: priyankatripathi@iitp.ac.in
Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.12
Language and translation are phenomena in which the splendours of human intellect abound and become easily perceptible. Perhaps, that is why language and translation are concomitants even though the symbiotic relationship between the two remains occasionally recognized and often ignored. Both language and translation have been playing an instrumental role in creating and carrying forward the access and advances of knowledge, culture, literature, science and technology. Therefore, it is natural that academic writings concerning the issues of language and translation manifest in variegated forms and gets utilized as a means of and pretext for serving different purposes by writers and translators. This issue of the journal encapsulating eight papers may serve as an example to demonstrate the diverse ways in which scholarly pursuits have engaged language and translation and the relationship of mutualism between the two. Here is a bird’s eye view:
An instance of translation necessitates not only a successful transfer of meaning from one language to another but also that of the style of it. Therefore, the instantiations of translation are examples of comparative stylistics. Panchanan Mohanty in his paper liberates translation from the rigmarole of transcreation, adaptation, literal translation etc. and advocates it to be a free text by citing various examples. According to him, the differences that lie between the free and the literal trends in India are primarily due to the oral and the literate traditions. The paper by Sushant Kumar Mishra illustrates the Indian tradition of translation and recreation of metanarrative texts and in doing so he discusses how factors such as ideology and style influence the actions and outcome of the translation. Shilpi Gupta’s paper is an outcome of a translation project. This paper contextualizes the translation of Anzaldua’s book Borderlands in Indian languages. The salient aspect of this paper is that it foregrounds the translation of a work that represents not only mixed language but also diverse perspectives. This paper offers insights about translation challenges arising due to cultural peculiarities and gaps.
Language testing and evaluation are issues that merit attention on par with language teaching and learning. In recent years, automated assessments have become very popular. Shanti Murugan and Balasundram S. R. argue that such popular advances may be easy and economical; however, their application needs to improve considerably. In this paper, the authors demonstrate how affix-based distractor generators can be more reliable especially for generating multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and cloze tests. Automated assessments have also become part of ELT classrooms where a shift towards a student-centric model has been observed. Amal Tom and Nagendra Kumar’s paper discusses the integration of technology in ELT, analyses different perspectives and approaches of individual teachers in developing and evaluating language skills and argues further on how exploring digital avenues have been complementary to traditional classroom teaching especially in the context of effects of the recent pandemic. The paper by Amritha Koiloth Ramat and Shashikantha Koudur examines the role of dictionaries in the modernization of a language. Their paper focuses on Hermann Gundert’s Malayalam-English bilingual dictionary in the context of modernization of Malayalam. Further, this paper discusses the emergence of a new Malayalam that is relatively free of Sanskrit.
The cultural aspects that remain ingrained in translation have frequently occurred in the discussions and the nuanced reading of these translations has successfully stimulated interesting debates too. The paper by Azhar Uddin Sahaji offers a biography of the word ‘noor’ and presents the changes it has undergone while transcending from Classical Arabic to modern languages such as Punjabi and Hindi. Azhar argues that in the process of translation and adaptation the word ‘noor’ has not undergone any large-scale semantic change. The value attached to this word remains unaffected while the change has mostly occurred at the level of transliteration. Febin Vijay and Priyanka Tripathi’s paper explores literature as one the most challenging genres to translate. Exploring the genre of crime/detective fiction through Abir Mukherjee’s A Rising Man enriched with rhetorical devices, puns, and idiomatic expressions the paper clearly indicates how literary genres have evolved significantly over the decades and differs depending on the theoretical framework. The discourse concerning language and translation has kept growing and adding diversity to itself thereby modifying the parameters of the representation. The advancements in various other domains of human intellect have also benefitted from this diversity and contributed to it as well. This issue of the journal stands testimony to the signifying practice of translation. It interrogates our comprehension of reading and writing and also brings to the forefront the location of textual authority along with the possibilities and challenges of translation.
Hope the readers will have a riveting experience!