Calcutta, India
ICBS Workshop on Regional Studies in Translation
By Victor A. van Bijlert and Bhaswati Bhattacharya
Observing an increasing demand for scientific books in Bengali translations, the International Centre for Bengal Studies, Calcutta and Delhi chapters, organized a two-day workshop to brainstorm the problems involving translation from Western languages into Bengali and vice-versa. The ICBS chose the peaceful atmosphere of the 'Ramakrishna Mission' Institute of Culture in South Calcutta as the venue for this international enterprise. A major force behind the preparations of the workshop was Abhijit Dasgupta (Delhi).In his word of welcome, Jayanta K.Ray (Calcutta) stressed the need to match Western material sciences with what Indian spirituality can offer. Willem van Schendel's address landed the participants in the middle of the major questions to be discussed. The ICBS had started translation work through small but concrete projects. It is important to make available in Bengali new scholarly writings in European languages on Bengal. This is especially necessary as Bengali students increasingly study through their mother tongue rather than English. Translators often face the problem of having to invent Bengali words for new Western sociological terms and concepts. Van Schendel mentioned the following problems to be solved: How to innovate academic Bengali; How to deal with regional variations in the language; Can there be guidelines for the future; What about the quality of the existent translations; New standard transliteration for Bengali needed?
The keynote address by Sisir Kumar Das (Delhi) referred to the remote past of India, when Indian works had been translated or transcreated by foreigners into their own languages. In modern times 'the responsibility of translation of our works' lies with the intellectuals in the Indian Subcontinent itself.
Reproduction of meaning and fidelity of translation.
U.N.Singh (Hyderabad) gave a long and fascinating paper on translation as manipulation. One of his thesis is that the history of translation is the history of creative changes in the receiving society. Manipulations in translation have creative and productive effects on the reader. Singh illustrated his contention with numerous examples taken from poetry and literary prose in Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Maithili, Hindi, and Bengali.
Subhendu Dasgupta (Calcutta) posed questions: does the translator create the reader? and will the reader understand the translator? Subsequently Dasgupta asserted that the translator cannot take any freedom as far as the subject is concerned. But he can choose words which might fit in the particular sociological context that makes sense to the reader. Since the languages used by the author and the translator are not the same, the latter can assume some freedom in the act of translating.
Jiben Sidhanta (Calcutta) argued that 'the actual indeterminates of linguistic meanings vis-à-vis the logical positivist's meaning-criterion' are reviewed by examining them in the light of deconstruction and its counter position, structuralist semiotics. This is to justify interpretative freedom in translating. Sidhanta concluded by saying that the translator must ensure maximum fidelity compatible with communicative ease.
The discussant, K.Sen (Calcutta) suggested regarding translating as a separate literary genre oscillating between rendering and reproduction.
Regional studies: Bengal
Victor van Bijlert (Leiden) argued that whereas economic globalization means the hegemony of Western models, cultural and communications globalization offers ways of resistance to Western cultural dominance. Translations from non-Western cultural capital such as Bengali culture are the very beginnings of a process of resistance and true global communication subverting Western dominance.
Carolyn Brown (Iowa) presented herself mainly as an able and sensitive translator of Bengali poetry into English. By showing good examples of Bengali poems she had translated, she illustrated the various problems faced by translators. The dictionaries cannot be relied upon entirely. One has to assume that the right word is somewhere just around the corner, but not in the dictionary as such. In order to translate poetry it is necessary to think in images rather than mere words.
Meghna Guhathakurta (Dhaka) enumerated the unifying ecological elements of Bengal as part of Eastern India and set them against the political divisions which had been created three times in this century. Especially the Partition of 1947 had caused many changes in political and educational outlooks.
The discussant Abhijit Dasgupta (Delhi) posed some questions with regard to the papers: How do we bridge cultural gaps in a globalizing world? What is the image of the East of India? How does one deal with Bengali cultural hegemony?
During the discussion it was observed that translators at present are more concerned with literary texts than scientific texts and texts on social science. The latter two genres would pose less difficulties as science has universal pretensions.
Special issues in translation
Speaking as an historian and as a translator from Dutch into Bengali for the ICBS, Bhaswati Bhattacharya (Leiden) stressed the need for sufficient and reliable linguistic tools for the translator. As far as Bengali is concerned, these are virually non-existent and leave much to be desired. The problems of translation into European languages other than English would perhaps not be much different from those in translating into English. Bengali linguistic tools for Dutch do not yet seem viable as the market for them is too small. However, better dictionaries and grammar books for Bengali are necessary.
Swapna Bhattacharya (Calcutta) discussed her difficulties when translating a work on social history or political science from German into Bengali for the ICBS. The first problem is the construction of sentences in German, the second has to do with choice of Bengali expressions for German technical terms like 'state' and 'political systems'.
Madhav Prasad (Calcutta) distinguished between rewriting and translating. With the advent of Bible translations, the emphasis has always been on fidelity. This and modern concepts like authorship and copyrights prevent us from translating as rewriting. Translations from Indian languages are still dominated by Indological prejudices.
In the general discussion the following points were made: Bengali dictionaries and other tools are not responding to the needs of the user. More linguistic codification in both Bengals is needed. In Hyderabad there is a successful computer project on modern Indian languages.
ICBS translation programme
Kunal Chakrabarty (Delhi) focused on common problems the readers of ICBS books are likely to face. Suitable Bengali equivalence of technical terms and standardization of these terms in Bengali is necessary; Uniformity in Bengali usage should be maintained; Use of inverted commas in partial quotation necessary?; How to transliterate European names and words into Bengali?; Standardization in the use of diacritical marks.
Ranjan Chakrabarti (Calcutta) proposed that the ICBS should enlarge its scope and include translations of nineteenth-century Bengali classics, for this period has been formative for the modern history of the Subcontinent. There should be enough freedom for the translator and not too many guidelines. A translated manuscript should, however, be edited by professional editors to ensure quality control.
Mansur Musa (Dhaka) sketched the history of preparing translations from Indian languages from the early Buddhist period upwards to the planned scientific translation activity in the beginning of the nineteenth century in Bengal, especially at Srirampore College and Fort William College. For the future, Musa predicts the process of translation and intellectual enrichment will continue.
Summarizing the points made, chairman Jayanta K. Ray suggested the problem lies not in the lack of dictionaries, but lack of time and diligence on the part of the translator. Uniformity and standardization may be unimportant as they also do not exist in the case of American and British publications in English.
One of the net results of this inspiring and rich workshop has been the establishment of an informal network on producing a new Bengali-English dictionary.