Lost in translation…No more

A literature festival held in the city got authors of repute to the city. The presence of Hindi literature favourites like Narendra Kohli, Mamta Kalia, Balendu Dwivedi made it a hit among youngsters who went to attend the lectures there. The company of such stalwarts is bound to start some discussions that become the talking point of the literary circles.One such session with author Balendu Dwivedi, whose renowned book 'Madaripur Junction' is going to see an English translated edition by March, threw light on the topic of translation of Hindi works into English. The author who spoke in the session with other Hindi authors called it " a necessity for better reach of the work" but emphasized on how important is the need for a good translator. Elaborating upon the point of discussion he said "Hindi literature has emotions which are difficult to to translate into English. The muhawre, lokukti and sounds do not have an alternative in other language, thereby reducing the effect of using these lines in writing. For instance, in my book I've used the lokukti 'ghar mein bhooji bhang nahi" which in colloquial Hindi indicates to a person who is extremely poor. When read in Hindi, it would be understood by people who know this. But for everyone else, socio-cultural context is more important. Thus, translation ensued incorporating using italics and getting a footnote explaining the meaning for an English reader. This is how imagery gets diluted in translation." Looking at their interest in original texts we spoke to a few young bibliophiles from the city to understand what they prefer more – the translated versions or the original language text.


When MBA student Ishita Shrivastava first received Premchand’s short story collection as a gift a year ago, she immediately devoured the book in two months’ time and was wondering why she hadn’t actually read these classics before. She was so taken by the stories that she would go and watch the plays based on these stories whenever she could, and liked the Hindi script much better. Eventually, she got the Godaan in Hindi for herself, and realised what she had been missing out in the translated work. “After reading the original text that had been written by Munshi Premchand, I figured that the true emotion was getting lost in translation. However, I cannot deny that I got introduced to the stories because of the translated work.” Like her, many others have been introduced to famous Hindi or Urdu authors’ works through their translated texts, which has got them to hunt down the original text. 23-year-old Suyash Gupta, who is also a member of book reading club in the city states, “I’ve picked up numerous poems and prose of Gulzar’s in English translations. Mind you, there is not one, but a myriad of authors translating the same prose to English, and there was always a difference. This inconsistency led me to picking up his Hindi collection. And I was impressed – not just by the bevy of emotions, but by the beautiful words he had used, which the translated work could not do justice with”.
Importance of good translation
Another important point that Dwivedi emphasised upon is choosing the translator well. "I have rejected close to five translators before finalising upon Rajya Sabha sachivalay deputy director Sanjay Dev for translation of Madaripur into English. The hunt was tough for me because the story is satire and nothing in the story is direct. It is a reference, a dig at the scenario existing in this town of eastern UP. I zeroed on Sanjay after reading his other works and comparing them to original. Even he took his time to fully understand the book before translating." The readers agree. “While most of the translations lose out on nuances of the original text, it is important to be as close to the original as possible. Because thoughts of the translating author could also have a heavy impact on the original authors’ work. So a copy that does not having glaring mistakes and misinterpretation will get more readers than others” says Simran Sharma, a English Literature, PhD scholar.

Once the bookworms got a glimpse of the vast imagery of Hindi, there was no looking back for them. They have been investing in finding the original texts in bookstores and libraries. “I had read Two by Gulzar in English first, but then I read an article where he said he wasn’t too happy with the translation, even though it was largely done by him. After reading Do Log in Hindi, I understood what he meant. My connect with the latter was instant and I could feel the emotion of the people who went through partition” comments law student Pooja Ratnani. Her friend Radhika Vyas, agrees with Pooja and adds, “The understanding of situations, emotions, and relationships is much better in the original language of the author. Otherwise the explanation in English translation of what word means what, and footnotes etc. gets just too exhausting. The essence of the story gets diluted.”


“But that’s how we learnt English too while growing up! By looking up meanings of different words in the dictionary as we read short stories in textbooks” reasons Aman Hussain, a CA aspirant who loves Urdu poems, and tries reading them in original text. “I know how to read Urdu, but had never delved into the literature part of it. After finding some old books my mother read of Allama Iqbal, Faiz Ahmed – I thought of giving it a chance. Most of the words you get by context only, but if I get stuck I quickly look it up on my translation app. However, the effort is completely worth it, as I have an upper hand over those who read his translated works” he adds. Other readers who have new found love for the Hindustaani zubaan (as Gulzar calls it) have either started engrossing themselves in Hindi Shabdkosh or get the word to word translation on apps. “I prefer the old school way of looking up words in the dictionary. In this case it is the Shabdkosh. Since Hindi is my mother tongue it’s easier for me to get the context. If in case there is an archaic shudh hindi word, I look it up. I don’t find it taxing, because let’s face it – we do this for western author novels too. Be it American, British or German authors, we do not get words from their time and culture. So it’s just the same for the books of Indian language authors. The sheer joy of discovering these beautiful words, makes it worthwhile”.
"Youngsters read and understand English better because it is the accepted medium of communication these days. They read more of it to keep up with their counterparts across the globe. However, a good translation makes them levitate towrds the original text and they put in efforts to read and grasp that subject. I have even seen some of them take up a said language as a subject of study - like Urdu - to read more in that literature. Exhaustive oeuvre of certain languages attracts bookworms to pick up that language in order to read better." - Balendu Dwivedi, author
"While working with hindustaani zubaan, we encounter a lot of imagery which is dense with the emotions of the writer. Most of the times in translation, the words may come out beautifully, but they betray the original compositions’ emotions." – Gulzar sahab, at a literature fest held in Bhopal.