by
Varsha Singh
The
main aim of translation is to serve as a cross-cultural bilingual communication
vehicle among people. In the past few decades, this activity has developed
because of rising international trade, increased migration, globalization, the
recognition of linguistic minorities, and the expansion of the mass media and
technology. For this reason, the translator plays an important role as a
bilingual or multilingual cross-cultural transmitter of culture and truths by
attempting to interpret concepts and speech in a variety of texts as faithfully
and accurately as possible.
Most
translation theorists agree that translation is understood as a transfer
process from a foreign language or a second language to the mother tongue.
Newmark says:
I shall assume
that you, the reader, are learning to translate into your language of habitual
use, since that is only way you can translate naturally, accurately and with maximum
effectiveness. (Newmark, 1988).1
If
translating is a discourse operation interposing between language and thought,
we should accept that in the art or skill of translating we are inexorably
going to come across assorted and numerous obstacles. Delisle illustrates translation
as a subtle exercise:
Translation is an
arduous job that mortifies you, puts you in a state of despair at times, but
also an enriching and indispensable work, that demands honesty and modesty.2
Flight of Phoenix,
a collection of poems by R.K. Singh, dominates itself with intense sensitivity
of eroticism and expression of inner-self as well. These tremendous features of
this collection of poetry, make the job of a translator much more difficult,
than any kind of translation of poetry is considered. The difficulties or
challenges in translating the poems of the collection Flight of Phoenix, can be categorized into three distinct parts:
(a) issues of structure, (b) issues of texture, and (c) cultural issues.
The
structural issues include certain aspects, such as, problems in translating the
images, idioms, phrasal verbs, enjambment and extraordinary language dealt by
the poet. For example, Poem no. 16 from the collection Flight of Phoenix is perfect for situating the issue of images
while translating poetry.
Poem
no. 16
Each
day I construct
myself
in new desires and
end
in emptiness
a
hollow shadow
I
move in dust and rest in
stony
webs of haze
In
this poem the poet presents some majestic images such as “hollow shadow” and “stony
webs”, which become a challenge for the translator. Here it becomes the
responsibility of the translator to
generate the similar sense created in the SL text (i.e. English) with the help
of exact equivalence present in the TL text (i.e. Hindi). As a result, one
finds suitable equivalents for these images, such as, “4o4a
saya\”
for “hollow shadow” and “p4rIle jal”
for “stony webs” by keeping the sense
of negativity alive in the translated version too.
R.K.
Singh uses lots of phrasal verbs and idioms in his poems, such as, “inside out”, “criss-cross”, “forsaken island”, “dumb myths”, “empty hunts”, “tamed
passages”, “dual single” etc.
These phrasal verbs and idioms become another matter of concern for a
translator, because, they are some fixed group of words with special meaning,
which is different from the meaning of the individual words.
Enjambment
comes as the next problem, or it would be better to call it a challenge, in
translation of this collection. This is such, because, most of the time if the
translator is not careful, enjambment may lead toward misinterpretation of the
SL text, and hence, the output would be completely incorrect. Example of such
misinterpretation can be seen in the following translation of poem no. 4 from Flight of Phoenix.
Poem
no. 4
When
sleepless poetry
fails
to negotiate night
I
wait for white dreams
जब बेनीन्द कविता
हार जाती रात से समझौते में
मैं बेरंग सपनो का करता इंतज़ार
Whereas,
the better translation would be:
जब रहूँ बेनीन्द
और कविता हारे समझौते में
तब रात करूँ मैं इंतज़ार
बेरंग सपनों का
In
the first attempt of translating this poem it can be seen that, it is the poem
becoming sleepless, which is not the
implied meaning and thus incorrect: whereas, in the second translation it is
the persona who has become sleepless, and thus it is the correct translation.
This is basically a transferred epithet, which requires keen observation of the
translator for a better result.
Compressed language used in this collection of
poetry is its most dominating and impressive aspect providing rhythm and tone
to the poems vis-à-vis leading
towards the textural issues in translation. This aspect of Flight of Phoenix can be seen as another big challenge for a
translator. Poem no. 22 is a perfect example situating the issue of
compressiveness in the poems of R.K. Singh.
Poem no. 22
Is
it the heat wave
or
stupor that I see
shadows
in the dark and call it vision?
In this poem one finds it visible that the poet does
not uses any punctuation mark, except a question mark at the end. This
describes the compressive nature of the poem, and thus, becomes a challenge in
translation. Similar problem is encountered in all the poems Flight of Phoenix.
As discussed earlier, that, compressed language
provides a variant tone to the poems of this collection, poem no. 24 would be a
suitable example describing this issue of tone in translating verses.
Poem no. 24
The
colour of night is the same everywhere
what
if my identity is not known
let’s
fuck the moment and forget the place
The tone of this poem is negative, where the persona
is talking about darkness and his unidentified identity. In this situation, any
kind of carelessness or incapability of the translator may lead toward
misinterpretation, as resulted below:
रागिनी की रंगत हर तरफ एक सी है
तो क्या अगर मैं अनजान हूँ
चलो इस स्थान से विरक्त हो
इस पल को हम शिकस्त दें
Here, the poem has resulted as over translation and
has become a romantic piece, which is not the original tone. A better version
for this poem would be:
रात हर तरफ एक सी
तो क्या अगर मेरी पहचान है छुपी
बिन फ़िक्र के अब जगह की
जी लें हम ये पल अभी
Here, one may find the tone of negativity alive, as in the original work.
As it is known that translation is not just a
linguistic procedure, it’s also a cultural one.
A translator faces several problems related to the
cultural issues, as one has to take care of the emotions, values and traditions
of not just a single culture but culture of the SL text vis-à-vis culture of the TL text. Poem no. 14 from Flight of Phoenix is a better example
presenting the cultural issues in translation.
Poem no.14
Winter
is caught in
waves
of narrow discussions
under
the blanket
fingers
move by nipples erect
without
sensing consummation
It is clear in this poem that it has some erotic
element; hence a translator needs to be careful in this situation. Careful
understanding becomes an essential requirement, because, the expressions and
sentiments of two different cultures cannot be same, they vary from each other.
Similar problem is noticed in poem no. 19 as well.
Poem no. 19
Bones
of levity criss-cross
at
the bottom of silence
there
is no shape in the mind
Translation
ख़ामोशी तले
होती आड़ी - तिरछी
शरीर उतावलेपन की
ज़ेहन में रहे नहीं
फिर आकार कोई
ख़ामोशी तले
होती आड़ी - तिरछी
शरीर उतावलेपन की
ज़ेहन में रहे नहीं
फिर आकार कोई
Present translation makes it clear, that, a slight deviation by the translator may lead the text towards a negative cultural impression, and may hurt the sentiments of the target readers.
Some other examples of the erotic elements which
create cultural problems while translating this collection are:
Poem no 59
I
smell my boneless
semen
under the pillow
weaving
legends in
half-dream
along her
hips
as I curl like rainbow
dying
winds splash down blots
Poem no.56
Like
a woman’s mind
resides
between her thghs joy
and
satisfaction
man’s
love and hatred
concentrate
on the crevice
though
he watches face
she
laughs when I say
love
and beauty is nothing
but
sabre and sheath
Poem no.52
The
split in cypress
is
vulva I know the roots
purush-prakriti
call
it Yin and Yang
our
basic sex, lingam and
yoni harmonise
Like
lotus rising
from
the depths of lake through mud
crossing
existence
One faces another kind of cultural implication while
translating the title of Flight of Phoenix, which is the most important
part of this collection. Phoenix is
basically a Greek mythical bird, the only one of its kind; hence, it becomes a
challenge for the translator to find out a suitable equivalent for Phoenix in Indian culture too. After
some research “Garud” comes as the
Indian mythical bird, which is considered the only one of its kind and very much
similar to the nature and features of Phoenix.
As a result, after translation, the title for Flight of Phoenix becomes गरुड़ की उड़ान in Hindi.
At last, it becomes necessary to say, that, there
are many more dominant ingredients that constitute the art of R.K. Singh’s
poetry and if the translator misses them, then a major constituent of Singh’s
poetry is lost. In fact, it cannot be demonstrated here, but it has to be
admitted that majority of full translations of the poems of this collection (F.O.P.) do turn out to be poor replicas
of the original, because, it is truly said by Frost that, it is poetry that
gets lost in translation. A literary translator, therefore, needs to be able to
use his/her art and craft “with responsibility to capture the spirit of the
original” avoiding both under-translation and over-translation.
About
the Poet
Born, broughtup and educated in Varanasi, he is a university
professor, teaching English language skills to students of earth and mineral
sciences. He has authored over 150 articles,165 book reviews and 34 books,
including Twelve collections of poems, among them, two jointly with U S Bahri,
TWO POETS (1994) and COVER TO COVER (2002), and two others, EVERY STONE DROP
PEBBLE (1999) jointly with Catherine Mire and Patricia Prime, and PACEM IN
TERRIS (2003, a trilogy collection, containing his haiku collection PEDDLING
DREAM). MY SILENCE AND OTHER SELECTED POEMS:1974-1994 (1996), ABOVE THE EARTH'S
GREEN (1997), and THE RIVER RETURNS (2006) are his other three important poetry
books. NEW INDIAN ENGLISH POETRY: AN ALTERNATIVE VOICE: R.K.SINGH (ed:
I.K.Sharma) is the latest publication on his poetry. It contains 22 critical
articles, six interviews and over a dozen review/comments by about 30
scholars.(Details from bookenclave@yahoo.com). He has received several awards
and honours, including honorary Litt.D. from the World Academy of Arts and
Culture, Taiwan, 1984, Michael Madhusudan Award, Calcutta, 1994 and Peace
Museum Award from Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, 1999.
References
1. Newmark, P.
1988. A Textbook of Translation. New
York: Prentice Hall. p.21.
2. Delisle, J.
and J. Woodsworth. 1995. Translators
through History. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia:
John Benjamin. p.63.
3. Singh,
R.K. 1990. Flight of Phoenix: A Collection
of Poems. Behrampur: Poetry Time Publications.
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