Translation as Literature Three

Translation Studies is a branch of humanities dealing with the systematic, interdisciplinary study of the theory, the description and the application of translation, interpreting or both these activities. Translation is indeed a discipline in its own right, not merely a minor branch of study, but a vastly complex field with many vast reaching rami- fications. This paper highlights the importance of translation studies in the modern world and covers the major problems encountered while translating a text from its SL to TL. Also, it focuses on considering translation or the translated work as ‘Literature Three’ giving it an independent status. The difference between the source and the target text is a shift of expression. This shift makes translation new writing or creative writing. So on viewing the prospects of translation, both for international communication and globalization, it will play a crucial role more than ever before. Language is generally defined as a means of communication and it is a distinctively human possession. Human beings all over the world communicate among themselves through dif- ferent and numerous languages. This creates the need for communication among different communities of the world through transference or substitution of meanings from one language to another. This can be achieved only by translation for it will bring the people of the world together.

Translation which was once seen as a fundamental act of human exchange is perceived in the present day as an interdisciplinary field of study. It is not just the transfer of texts from one language into another, it is today seen as a process of negotiation between texts and between cultures. As an interdisciplinary discipline, translation studies borrows much from the different fields of study that support translation. These include comparative literature, computer science, history, linguistics, philology, philosophy, semiotics, terminology and so forth.
The concept of translation varies from age to age and country to country. The theory of translation has developed differently in the East and the West. In the East translation has always been regarded as 'New Writing' but in the West the theory of translation has developed from the purely linguistic approach of 1960.Originally translation was undertaken from the other tongue to the mother tongue. For example, earlier Indians used to translate Sanskrit texts into regional languages and during the British period from English into Indian languages. Now, in the post-colonial era, Indians are trying to translate texts written in Indian languages into the languages of the world, particularly in English.
Translation is indeed a discipline in its own right, not merely a minor branch of study, nor yet a specific area of linguistics, but a vastly complex field with many far-reaching ramifications. Translation studies explore new ground, bridging the gap between the vast area of stylistics, literary history, linguistics, semiotics and aesthetics. According to Dr.Johnson it involves the process of "change into another language, retaining the sense" which is indeed the basic objective. (Das 1) The purpose of translation is not to facilitate the communication between two different languages and cultures, the actual purpose of translation is to build the nation.
The practice of translation is not without its limitation. The first point that comes to mind is that what should be the length of translation?. Should it be longer or shorter than the original?. In case of free translation, when translation be-comes a paraphrase, it becomes much longer than the original. Moreover, the numbers of words do not remain the same in both the languages -SL and TL. For instance, only nine words in English 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' make use of all the 26 letters of English alphabet. But no Indian language can use all the letters of its alphabet with the help of nine words. The major limitation of translation is that it cannot successfully convey or transform professional jargons, critical terms and idioms from one language to another language. Faithfulness in translation is indispensable and when it is abandoned, translation turns out to be a paraphrase. In case of cultural expressions, the limitation of translation becomes clear for cultural idioms are hard to translate and restrict translatability.
Translation of rhythm and rhyme schemes in poetry is impossible. Metaphor, pun and irony also severely limit the translatability. Superstition, folk-belief, myth affect the role of translation. Rustic words and slangs used in literary works enhance the limits of translation. While translating, the translator must fully understand the sense and meaning of the original author, although he is at liberty to clarify obscurities. He must have a perfect knowledge of both SL and TL and he must avoid word-for-word renderings.
Traditional theorists divided translation into two types -literary and non -literary. In literary translation the translators were concerned with both 'sense and style'. But in non -literary translation the emphasis was on sense. Chandra Sekar Patil calls literary translation -"a transplantation of experience". (Das 28) Translation is neither "transliteration" nor "transcreation" and it has to guard against the danger of word for word literal translation as well as taking too much liberty. Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system or system of rules for such practice. It should not be confused with translation, which involves a change in language while preserving meaning. Translation performs mapping from one alphabet into another. It means identifying the corresponding words in one language to their meaningful equivalent in another language. Transliteration, on the other hand essentially means converting words in one language to words in another language by means of their close approximation in sound. This is usually done because it is more intuitive or easier and meaningful corresponding words simply do not exist in the target language.

ReseaRch PaPeR
A translator de-codes an SL text and then re-codes it in the Target Language. The difference between the source and the target text is a shift of expression. This shift of expression makes translation new writing or creative writing. A translator ensures the survival of writing across time and space, an intercultural mediator and interpreter, a figure whose importance to the continuity and diffusion of culture is immeasurable. Though the task of the two is different, both original and translation are now viewed as equal products of the creativity of the writer and the translator. The best translation is that which though based on an original writing, never reads like a translation. It should give the feel of an original writing done in the source language.
It may be noted that in literature the original Source Language text is itself a translation of the creator's ideas, notion, etc. Translation has been defined variously and the purpose of it is to make the SL text available in the TL for the reader to get the true meaning of it. Other than this translation also enables the comparison of the style, characters, setting, traditions and culture, between two languages. Thus a comparative study has been made by Dominic Savio in his "Voice Of The Voiceless' between Jayakanthan and Mulk Raj Anand.
While concluding two important things come to mindthat is, what is the status of translation and how to rate a translation?. Paradoxically enough, we always translate our thoughts and ideas into a language. In fact, we don't think in a vaccum -we think in a language. Since language is not the fully adequate medium to translate our thoughts and ideas -we do not express ourselves completely in a language. No writer or person has been able to say because of the elusive nature of the language. That means something is also missed in the original creative writing. Hence, there is no point in saying that since something is lost in translation, translation should not be undertaken. When translation fails to 'carryover', transliteration and transcreation help us to tide over the problem. The next question is where to place a work of translation in the source language or in the target language. May be, in both and neither.
A work of translation if taken as a version of SL text, belongs to SL. Otherwise it may be taken as an addition to TL and hence, forms a part of TL. But the best thing is to take translation as 'literature three' having an independent status of its own. Being modeled on original creative writing, 'translation' does not cease of the creative. Translation is both creative and intuitive and there fore, can be taken as 'Literature Three' written in TL based on SL. In the 21 st century, translation will play a major role in bringing the literatures of the world together for the benefit of the mankind. Both for international communication and globalization, translation will play a crucial role now more than ever before.