Archives

by Sena Thoradeniya

A perception common to all book publishers, readers and certain literary critics in Sri Lanka is that, literary translations rendered into Sinhala from various source languages, are very much in demand than the original writings of local writers. Various reasons are attributed to the "rise" of translations and the "decline" of the original work. In this article the writer will not discuss this matter any further since the data available to support or reject this proposition are not sufficient and it is beyond the scope of the present discussion.

Present day literary translators of Sri Lanka can be categorized into four broad groups. (1) Those who are engaged in translations only, concentrating on world classics and considered to be the veterans in the field (2) Those who engage in translations as well as original writings (3) Amateurs and newcomers who treat translations as their "entry point" to the field of literature. For them translations provide the easiest and "obstacle free" path in search of an identity. (4) Those who concentrate on less lofty works without any recourse to translation methods, mainly for commercial purposes and the consumption of not so informed about world literature.

Despite the fact that bookshops are inundated with translations, readers, critics and also some translators themselves opine that there are few quality translations and very few can match what are considered as the best. Again various reasons are attributed to low quality in translations, a topic discussed at many fora.

The writer identifies an important reason for low quality in translations, hitherto received less attention of the analyst, viz. translator's knowledge of Translation Methods that provide the translator the basic skills to make a translation as an art and a craft. In the recent times, translations have received the attention of linguists and a new discipline called Translatology or Translation Methods has emerged, a major field of studies in Applied Linguistics.

Many problems of translations occur due to lack of linguistics knowledge of the translator. The writer does not wish to deal with this subject any further as that should be treated in a separate article. Translation is the ability of effecting translations linguistically. It is no exaggeration that a person who is linguistically trained and oriented would be more competent as a translator, that others.

Translation Methods

Although many universities in the West, teach Translation Methods as an independent discipline and many books, journals, research articles and encyclopedias are available on the subject yet, translation as an academic discipline has not fully developed in Sri Lanka and not all translators have recourse to Translation Methods. It is heartening to state that the University of Kelaniya teaches Translation Methods in its linguistics programmes conducted at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Some linguists in Sri Lanka in association with state agencies have made attempts to disseminate knowledge of Translation Methods to literary translators in the recent past.

Certain NGOs also have conducted courses for all types of translators, not exclusively to literary translators. But this knowledge is still not imparted to a wider section of literary translators or the majority is unaware of such interventions. It is sad to say that university teachings and other interventions have not borne any fruits improving the quality of translations in Sri Lanka.

The discipline of Translatology dismisses many misconceptions prevalent among translators, that translation is a linear activity, making ideas of one language available in another language.

Many translators are unaware of the existence of a separate discipline called Translatology, and that they can benefit if they have an exposure to linguistics, which can be studied systematically and scientifically.

A collaboration of the translator and the linguist is needed. If this vital collaboration is not in effect the translator should have an exposure to linguistic representations. Characteristics of translations, problems in translations, translation methods, qualitative standards of translations and changing patterns of translations were the main issues debated with regard to literary translations rendered into Sinhala from various source languages.

Taking part in these debates some hypothesized that the pattern of Sinhala literary translations were undergoing an evolutionary period.

No one has done an empirical study testing this hypothesis either to support or reject it.

Condition

The writer posits that there are certain conditions that the translator must fulfil and certain questions the translator should answer before undertaking a translation of any literary work written in any country in any source language.

They are: (1) Who is the original writer selected by the translator and why? (2) From among the writer's many works what is the particular work that has been selected for translating and why? (3) The place the writer and the particular work occupy in the literatures of his or her native country and probably in world literature. (4) Why the particular writer and the work are important to us in Sri Lanka and read in the target language? (5) In what ways the translated work will help in the enrichment of our literature, aesthetics, exchange of experiences, communicating among the two communities and how it will help to raise the level of appreciation of the reader? (6) How will the translated work be relevant to today's socio-cultural context in Sri Lanka? These conditions may be demanding but ignoring these vital aspects of literary translations is harmful to a highly valued genre of literature.

With the exception of the few veterans in the field, others in Sri Lanka select any book which he or she comes across and give various reasons to justify the act. What are the criteria used in selecting a book for translating? Many translators do not have a judicious answer to this.

Some justify the act saying, the original was provided by an academic, or a friend or a relative who visited a foreign country. Some say unashamedly that accidentally they found the original work on the pavement.

For certain others it is the best work they have ever read while at school (a long time ago, probably as a supplementary reader at post-primary level) or they select an imaginary "masterpiece" in world literature. Due to this, popular fiction, teenage romance and "pulp" enter the book market as translations.

It is fortunate that in Sri Lanka that there are a few translators who embark on translations with a mission to accomplish, introducing to the Sinhala readers the classics of world literature and works which represent modern trends and new perspectives in literature, new voices, literatures of national consciousness, and national reconstruction, political and social identity and change, post colonial experiences, and literatures of assertion and social and cultural liberation.

It is the view of the present writer that before selecting an original work for translating the translator must have an in-depth knowledge of the following:

(1) All or major works of the writer whom the translator has selected;

(2) The author's world view, philosophical and political ideas;

(3) Literary and critical studies published by the author and intellectual background of their creative writing, relation between the writer's ideas and contemporary thought in the case of modern literature.

(4) Origins, development and quality of writings in that country and the contribution of the author to the development of literature in his or her native country and how the author has been rated and evaluated in his or her own country;

(5) Critical essays written about the author, his works in general and the chosen work for translating in particular.

(6) His or her role in the contemporary literary and cultural scene in his or her native country; (This factor can be expanded to literature in the region, continent or world in the context of major writers).

(7) Socio-cultural and political environment of the country.

Culture

Translations cannot be made successfully without a knowledge of political and social systems of the times and the society and culture of the country in which the original work was written. Knowledge of intellectual and moral system, familiarity with literary traditions and conventional symbolism of the country is necessary. One needs not go further in assessing the relevant fields of knowledge.

Any item of information or any subject cannot be ruled out as irrelevant in translations. If the would be translator does not have a knowledge of at least a few of the above or his critical attention to the above is scanty, he or she should not select an original work for translating, is the present writer's view. To elaborate this point the writer wishes to draw a few examples from African Literature in which the writer is more familiar, as an Africanist who has studied African Literature in-depth. Since the list of writers is too long, for discussion purposes we will select three eminent writers produced by Africa, namely Chinua Achebe, considered as the "father of African Literature", the noble laureate Wole Soyinka and the radical or the flame of "uhuru" (independence) Ngugi wa Thiong'o of Kenya.

In addition to their literary creation, they display their wisdom, literary talents and prolificacy as African writers.

Their views of the role of the African writer, African literary image, writer in a modern African state is very much important in understanding their works. The critical essays, books, journals articles written about these authors are enormous.

The translator should be aware of these writings as well as their contributions to African literary theory, black aesthetics, and their views about the African ideal and its manifestations, black culture and black consciousness, and nation building and in the case of Achebe and Ngugi their ideas of de-colonisation and neo-colonisation, their disillusionment with post-colonial irresponsibility and how they evolve values rooted in African experience.

Soyinka's views on Yoruba mythologies, Yoruba world view and cosmology, archetype and rituals are informing principles of his writings that are essential to any translator.

If not how can one understand and appreciate his novels, poetry and drama, let alone translating them? Soyinka in his creations represents three deities, Ogun, Obatala, the god of creation and Sango, the god of lightning and electricity. Ogun is the master craftsman, artist, farmer, warrior, god of creativity, essence of destruction, guardian of road, god of metallic lore, explorer, hunter, god of war, and custodian of the sacred oath.

The translator must identify the existence of an African world and its civilisation and African literature not as an appendage of English literature or the so-called Commonwealth literature. It is African in essence and substance.

When we take Soyinka's works, especially his poetry and novels, a view persists that his language makes them obscure and difficult to understand. Books are being written by academics to provide a framework for reading Soyinka's text, making reading Soyinka easier and illustrate that the difficulties of the language and manifestations of a carefully structured and well interpreted work of art.

Oral tradition

An understanding of African orature and oral tradition is also necessary to understand modern African literature as it draws enormously from oral tradition. Africans say that traditional cultural heritage has a significant role to play in the development of a relevant African culture. Achebe uses Ibo proverbs, idioms, similes and axiom profusely. In Africa, using proverbs is a traditional style of communication, associated with wise elders transmitting rich experience. They are part of African culture, which is concerned with the wisdom, values beliefs, attitudes, practices of ancestors and communal living. A person's wisdom is assessed in the way he uses proverbs. Proverbs are also used in attacking an adversary verbally. In "Things Fall Apart", Achebe writes, "among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which worlds are eaten." Translator faces many problems in rendering these proverbs into Sinhala. Historical experience such as Nigerian civil war or secession of Biafra and Mau Mau uprising of Kenya, provide the background in many African writings.

A girl's nubility rites or ceremonies performed on her attainment of puberty and female circumcision is also important in understanding African rites.

The translator must understand that these rites are the means by which a girl is introduced into the community as a full-grown woman. In East Africa where female circumcision is prevalent, a bond is formed among the women circumcised, together they work as a team, helping one another. Older women as experts educate the girls. A "bond of womanhood" is established among young women and between generations. This should not be constructed as the writer is advocating the retention of female circumcision. What is the criterion to judge a successful translation? How a translation becomes effective and successful? Can a reader appreciate fully a translation without reading or having no knowledge about the original, and if so how? Even for annual literary awards yardstick used to select the best translation of the year is not known. Apparently the reputation of the author of the original work, the title of the book, and the name of the translator are considered more important than any other aspect. No evaluation of translations are being done comparing the original work with the translation. Some say that there is no necessity to make a comparison between the original and the translation. I tend to disagree with this proposition for many reasons.

What happens in most of the cases is that the evaluators evaluate the original title and the author of the original and the translator, without evaluating the translation. It is not the translated work that wins the award. Without comparing the translation with the original a systematic evaluation cannot be done.

The translator has a social responsibility as any other writer, businessman or entrepreneur. It is linked with the way he renders a translation to a target language for the audience who cannot read or have access to the original. The writer considers, maintaining fidelity to the original work is a manifestation of the social responsibility of the translator, as the reader wants to read a translation as identical to the original. Flaws

In 1998, the present writer contributed an article title entitled, "African Literature Translated into Sinhala" to the Cyril C. Perera, Felicitation Volume, whereby I made a comparison of the original works and their Sinhala translations.

This was a pioneering effort hitherto not undertaken by anyone. I have no information to say that anyone has done a similar study afterwards. The major flaws of these translations identified by the writer can be listed as:

(1) Lack of fidelity to the original work; wrong reading of some words, phrases, sentences, in the source language and rendering them into the target language and in preserving the form and content, maintaining the meanings and style.

(2) Change of narrative posture, without understanding fully the distinctions of the narratives; rhythm and the speed of the narrative; dialogues in the original rendered as narrations and vice versa and changing the narrative style and the art of story telling of the original writer.

(3) Changing the sequence of the narration.

(4) Translation losses as omitting narrations which are relevant to the event, time and character; This happens when the translator has a scant knowledge of the African society, its history, politics, rituals, customs and social mores.

(5) Summarising and deletions.

(6) Unwarranted additions that the original writer would not have thought of.

(7) Distortions of meaning and dissimilarities in the original and the translation.

(8) Wrong word usage and incompleteness in the translation.

(9) Multiple meanings given to the same phenomenon appearing at different sections in the translation.

(10) Wrong rendition of African personal names and place names.

(11) Indegenizing the African proverbs and idioms, figurative expressions like similes, metaphors, symbolism and subtle meanings and nuances and getting deceives by superficial similarities and cognate words in the source language and target language and failure to retain the "Africanness" of the novel.

(12) Wrong lexical adjustments.

(13) Titles of the translation not conveying the exact meaning given in the original. Many of these flaws are unpardonable. The translator does not have any right to do so and he is morally obliged to sustain the narrative style, art of story telling and the form and content of the original. The flaws that the writer had identified may be found in other translations too. They have not come into focus since there are no such studies conducted.

Target language

Translating from one source language to a target language is not a right of the translator. It is a privilege enjoyed by the translator, maintaining the fidelity to the original work in every respect. Translating a work with fidelity to the original rendering a translation, as an original work without distortions and doing justice to the original is a big challenge. Thereby the reader would not feel that he is reading a translation. When I say an "original" it does not mean taking out the plot, events, incidents, characters and narrations from the original an compiling a new work as certain "translators" do. He is only a plagiarist. Similarly we cannot follow the methods adopted by our ancient writers when they rendered Pali texts into Sinhala. Modern translations are entirely different and the objectives of translation are much more broader. The translator is not a person who "tells" stories written in another language as in supplementary readers. The reader is not interested in knowing a story, but the way it was told. Now the stories are not told in order as they occur.

There are novels of great diversity. If the purpose is story telling, or making an abridged translation, an adaptation, an interpretation or retelling a story for the use of school children, disregarding linguistics aspects of translations or other translation errors can be excused. Even classics of world literatures have appeared as "As Retold By" which helped students to enhance their reading skills and other language skills including grammar. In an unabridged translation meant for adult audiences and the discerning reader these errors cannot be overlooked.

Earlier we said that the translator is not expected to indigenize a text. Among the Ibos in Nigeria there is a rich oral tradition. When naming their children they are concerned about the meaning the name conveys.

In a translation, a personal name which conveys the meaning the Immortal One was translated into Sinhala as "Amaradeva"! The god "Ani" becomes "bahirawaya"; "Udala" tree as "maila gaha"; An African mask as a "gopalu yaka"; palm oil as "thala thel" (gingelly oil) or coconut oil. In a recent English translation of Sinhala short stories, just out of press, under the editorship of some university dons, "Upasaka Mahattaya" is translated as "Mr. Upasaka"!

Distortions

When there are translation losses it is an injustice done to the original work and the writer and distortions are tantamount to vulgarization of the text and original writer's art of writing. The unsuspecting reader who does not have access to the original would create a wrong impression about the writer's style and art of story telling and students may give wrong interpretations at examinations as some of these translations are prescribed texts for examinations sometime or other.

The writer considers even the way the paragraphs are broken is important in a translation; how the original writer has arranged the paragraphs. He may use long sentences or short sentences, arrange them into short paragraphs or long paragraphs; variation in the length of sentences or paragraphs also confirms to his narrative style and they exemplify to the rhythm and speed of the narrative.

Creative writing is not an easy task. Writing in Sinhala a text written in a foreign language is much easier than an original work and translating. Translating is much more difficult than original writing, because the translator is bound by the original work, with full of limitations. The writer would like to postulate a new analogy to the original work and its translation.

This idea was originally put forward by the writer in an article appeared in "Ravaya" in 1999. The work in a source language is like a child of a natural father. The creator of the work is its father.

The translator who translates it to a target language is like a surrogate mother. The translator loans his or her womb to give birth to the same work in a different language. Why? The original writer cannot write the same book in the target language. A translator translates an original work, as there is a necessity. In the absence of any global language common to all communities translations have become a major mode of communications, awareness and understanding and it fulfils a need to communicate. The translator is a mediator between two communities. The reader and the two communities depend on the mediator for communication purposes.

He or she is morally, socially, and professionally responsible for both communities as he or she acts as the link between the two.

The translator gives his or her womb to the original writer to "give birth" to the same work in a different language.

This is how the translator intervenes in the process. But the surrogate mother cannot abort the foetus or disfigure the child or make him a disabled.

What the translator does is bearing a "child" on behalf of the author from "her" own "egg" fertilized by the author.

(The writer is a novelist, short story writer, translator and a critic) 

back Artscope

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager