My tryst with translation.

As the title says, this post is all about translation. What it belies though, are the tribulations I've had to face in regards to 'T'. That will be explained in the next few paras.

You have to realise that this post was not written in one sitting; the first 3 or so paras were written last week, while the rest fell into place tonight, or should I say this morning as it's almost 5am?

I don't really know what got me interested in translations- it just happened that a few years ago while reading a Marathi travel book, I had this urge to translate it into Englishand get it published! I had visions of approaching the author and publisher with a fully translated copy, hoping they would be open to publishing an English version. As it turned out that plan fizzled, probably because the task was too big too early. For the record I haven't finished reading the book as well!

My second go at translating happened a few days back, when I responded to an ad in the paper, where Hindi translators were required. I met the concerned person and was given about six pages to translate on a trial basis.As of now I've submitted them and am waiting for a reply, as the boss is out of town and she takes the decisions.

What do I enjoy about translating? In my opinion there's nothing comparable to writing an original piece of prose or poetry, if one's lookingat creating something new. The sense of satisfaction one derives out of writing something is probably on a completely different level. Having said that, though, translation has it's own joys. The process of making the first, rough draft, looking up the dictionary for the most apt word is enjoyable in itself. This is followed by a second and in most cases the final draft. Here, it's about giving the finishing touches; most of the hard work is done in the first draft. I quite enjoyed the way a certain passage shapes up, first the rough cut and then the polishing as in the case of a diamond. The challenge lies in conveying as closely as possible the essence of a certain sentence in the original language.This has to be done as lucidly as possible, without the language getting too weighty. In my opinion, a translator can take some liberties with the words she uses as long as the meaning conveyed remains the same and she doesn't deviate too much from the original language.

This brings us to my third go at translating. Fed up with waiting for the lady boss to return, I scouted a bit more on job websites and found another translating job up for grabs. I met the concerned person and guess what...this time I had to translate a Hindi movie into English. Looked exciting to me...I got the DVD home and did the first 15 minutes as a trial. A small aside here; the movie I was given was Tezaab, a movie I'd enjoyed as a child. It brought back fond memories, was fun translating the song Ek, Do, Teen..., something which I'd hummed endlessly. The translation was okayed, and then I was told I'd have to wait a few days for someone from their office to call back with remuneration details. I waited a few days and got back in touch with my contact there. She tells me of all conceivable reasons that her boss is out of town and we'd have to wait till she gets back!! Just look at the heights of coincidence being scaled here:)! As things stand today, I'm still waiting for them to call me.

I have this uneasy feeling that I may have to look for another translating assignment here, and am not up to the task really. Guess I'll persist with these people for the time being. And will keep you updated on developments on the translating front.

That's all about the big 'T', folks. See ya and take care.